Best Wedge Grinds?

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By James E

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  • 6 Replies
  1. James E

    James E
    Wauwatosa, WI

    I struggle with the choosing the best grinds and limiting the hit to my wallet.

    For full shots I am a bit of a digger so tend to like more bounce on turf from soft to reasonably firm. But on hardpan on full shots I often have too much bounce.

    For sand shots I like a lot of bounce so that is pretty easy.

    For greenside shots I often have chips off very short grass and often off soft to reasonably firm turf (so more bounce is acceptable). But I also play courses where the turf is very firm and with short grass and tight lies (so less bounce needed) .

    Finally I also face shots from longer grass from a variety of turf firmness. In the fall very firm and at other times of the year more less firm to soft.

    So around the greens is really the difficult part of finding the right grinds/bounce given the potential variety of lies.

    Are there grinds available that I can get away with performing in all these scenarios or is the solution, like I have had to do in the past, to buy multiple wedges (spend a lot of money) and use each wedge for the course conditions for that day/time period/course?

    Maybe this is the best summary of what challenges of selecting the best grinds/bounce I face. Think of this scenario. A golfer plans to travel to Ireland and play inland (soft) courses and links (firm) courses. And the golfer can only bring 2 or 3 wedges (52, 56, 60 or 54, 60). What grinds would you bring on that hypothetical trip?

    Thanks for any advice/suggestions.

  2. Chris92009

    Chris92009
    Ohio

    I am very similar, try the F or S grind on gap/sand wedges and K grind on high loft wedges...JAT

    Good Luck!
  3. James E

    James E
    Wauwatosa, WI

    Chris,

    Thanks a lot. I have the Fs on my SM5 52* 12* and 56* 14* and I have the M grind on my SM5 60* 8*. I like them a lot but there are certain times where they are not as flexible as I would like.

    I like the ideas. The demos I use are standard length and lie and I am 2* up and +1/2" so I struggle on using demos as they are just a little different than what I am used to. But I am going to try your suggestions, thanks.

    Is there a grind that Vokey offers that I can have less bounce when square for those firm and tight lies chipping but significantly increased bounce as the clubface is opened for soft sand shots, softer conditions etc?

    Thanks again for the help and advice.
  4. Doug E

    Doug E
    Urbana, MD

    Chris92009 said:

    I am very similar, try the F or S grind on gap/sand wedges and K grind on high loft wedges...JAT

    Good Luck!

    I like your thinking. Just ordered 50.08F/54.10S/58.12K in the new SM6s.

    Have always played a low bounce 60* LW, but love the new K-Grind full-soled 58.12 for sand and flops from rough.
  5. Ashley L

    Ashley L
    Kennesaw, GA

    For me, I really like the M grind as its a mid to low bounce grind. Allows me to play a variety of shots from a variety of lies. I also have a 60 degree K grind that's a high bounce wedge for sand and soft turf.
  6. James E

    James E
    Wauwatosa, WI

    Ashley,

    Thank you very much. I have the M grind on my 60* SM5 and I do like it. I like that I can open the face and it lays on the ground pretty nicely. I do get a bit steep from the fairway so I worry about the bounce for those shots. Thanks for the info.
  7. Mark F

    Mark F
    Greenville, SC

    Hi James,

    Like you I am a bit of a digger and have a somewhat limited budget so here is what I play. My iron set is the 716 AP 1s so I have a 43* P wedge and a 47* strong gap wedge. Titleist no longer posts what the bounce is for the set wedges but Cathie told me that the gap wedge is about 8*. I also carry a Vokey SM5 52/12 with the F grind. I turned this down to 51* which lowers the bounce to 11*. I have a Vokey SM6 56/10 sand wedge with the S grind. This way I keep the 4-5* loft spacing between the wedges for the full shot yardage gaps. I do not carry a lob wedge as I have found that the 56* gets the ball high enough for anything I need.

    I live in South Carolina so the turf here goes from tight and firm during the winter dormant season to the softer turf spring time and back to the firmer hot summer ground. I have found that the 10*-11* bounce range seems to work for all of the shots I need. Not too much for the harder ground but not too little for the softer conditions. I do not have a place to do a lot of practice so my wedge game tends to be pretty straight forward. If I find that the conditions are somewhat softer than I'm used to, I just play the ball a touch further forward in my stance and this adds a bit of extra bounce as needed.

    So, to sum this all up, I prefer to have the mid-range bounce ( 10*-11*) and find this to work well for my game. As I am a bit of a digger I prefer the F and S grinds that the Titleist website says are for steep/digger swings.

    Hope this helps. Fairways and greens.

    Mark F.

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