Wedge Session
Bounce and grind chosen against the turf and sand you actually play, and every loft gauged — because new wedges arrive from the factory with more variance than a club sold on precision has any business having.
Bermuda Turf Is Not a Generic Surface
Most bounce and grind charts are written for a national audience and default to something that works everywhere and excels nowhere. The Triangle has its own conditions: overseeded Bermuda that is lush and grabby through summer, dormant and unforgivingly firm from December through March, and bunker sand that varies enormously between the older Raleigh clubs and the newer Wake County builds.
A wedge with generous bounce that glides beautifully through August rough will bounce off firm January turf into the equator of the ball. A low-bounce grind that is superb on tight winter lies will dig in summer. Fitting locally means choosing where in that range you want to live, and often means recommending different bounce figures across your two or three wedges rather than one figure for all of them.
We ask which courses you play most and fit against those conditions specifically.
New Does Not Mean In Spec
Twelve months of gauge readings on wedges that arrived here brand new, straight from a retail box or a manufacturer's order.
| Stated Loft | Heads Gauged | Mean Deviation | Worst Seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50° gap | 34 | 0.6° | 1.8° |
| 52° gap | 41 | 0.5° | 1.5° |
| 54° sand | 29 | 0.7° | 2.1° |
| 56° sand | 52 | 0.6° | 1.9° |
| 58° lob | 31 | 0.8° | 2.3° |
| 60° lob | 38 | 0.7° | 2.0° |
Wedge gapping is typically four degrees. A two-degree error on one head closes half a gap on its own, and nobody would ever know without putting it on a plate.
Where the Set Wedge Ruins Everything
Modern pitching wedges got strong
A pitching wedge that came with a game-improvement iron set is frequently forty-three degrees or stronger, where the traditional figure was forty-seven or forty-eight. Nobody tells the golfer this, so they buy a fifty-two degree gap wedge and inherit a nine-degree hole they cannot cover.
Three wedges are usually enough
Four is common and often one too many, particularly for players who do not have the short game repertoire to use a sixty degree properly. We would rather see three well-gapped wedges and a hybrid than four wedges crammed into eleven degrees.
Shaft weight mismatch
Wedges frequently ship with heavier shafts than the iron set they follow, which changes feel abruptly at the club a golfer needs the most touch with. It is correctable and rarely noticed.
Bounce copied from a tour player
Tour bounce selections are made for tour turf conditions and tour angles of attack. Copying a low-bounce lob wedge from a professional who takes a shallow divot is a reliable way to blade a chip.
Book Session F
Seventy minutes. Bring your pitching wedge as well — wedge gapping is meaningless without the club above it.