How to Match Your Sand Wedge to the Sand

I have an old book (2002) called Turn Three Shots into Two by PGA Master Instructor Bill Moretti. It's a book on various facets of the short game, and I found some info in the section on sand play that may be news to many of you.

While most of us recognition on how to play from various forms of sand, we do not continually realise that we are having trouble gambling from distinct forms of sand because we've got the wrong sand wedge for the process. I can inform you this from enjoy. For a long time I concept I couldn't play from the sand until I located out I had the wrong amount of jump for the sand at my favorite route. Once I were given the proper wedge, I had no greater problem.

According to Moretti, while you pick out a sand wedge you need to keep in mind the type of sand at the courses you may be playing, the burden of the club, and the way the wedge fits in with the relaxation of your set. The 3 predominant layout variables that you need to take into account are:

• the loft (Moretti's specs are from 55 to 58 degrees, but now they can easily range from 52 to 64)
• the bounce (typically from 8 degrees or low bounce, to 13 degrees or high bounce), and
• the swingweight (D1 to D8 -- that's light to heavy -- although women's clubs can go down to C8 and I've seen men's clubs up to E2)

Swingweight is just a measure of how heavy the club head feels relative to the club's grip. A higher swingweight makes the club feel heavier at the top of the swing and slows down your change of direction.

Moretti makes the following pointers:

• If you play a variety of courses -- that is, many different types of sand -- you should stay in the middle of those ranges for loft and swingweight.
• If you play mostly hard sand and elevated greens, pick a wedge with more loft (higher number), less bounce, and a lighter swingweight.
• If you play mostly soft sand and heavy rough, pick a wedge with less loft (lower number), more bounce, and a heavier swingweight.

And those choices reflect the way you'll want to use your sand wedge:

• In the softer sand you'll want to use the bounce more so you make a shallower swing to let the club head slide under the ball.
• In the hard sand you use the bounce less so you make a steeper swing that's more like a chipping stroke.

Those are the basics. And of course there's no law that says you can carry one of each -- a high loft / low bounce wedge for short game shots off tighter lies, and a low loft / high bounce wedge for fluffier lies.

Just for the report, I at the beginning had a fifty six-degree wedge with round 10 ranges of jump. The problem became that my path had very tender sand. I went to a 52-diploma wedge with 13 stages of bounce and immediately started out hitting excellent bunker photographs.

Believe me, the proper sand wedge is a genuinely brilliant piece of gadget.

Of path, it is possible you play something else, like a direction with smooth sand and deep bunkers. That could indicate a high loft / excessive soar wedge, wouldn't it? But one of these membership could be very specialised and might not get used enough to hold its weight on your set. Your neighborhood seasoned can get you geared up for what you want.

But at least now you know the fundamentals of matching sand wedge to sand.