I’m currently using just a gap wedge and a 56. Dropped my 60 as it was costing me a couple of shots every round and it’s made a big difference and things are simpler. I’ve also got good at bump and runs with a pitching wedge and a 8 iron. Got to keep it simple!
To 60 degree or not to 60 degree, that is the question... Theoretically one should use a variety of lofts selecting each club based upon the lie, the slope, length of shot, and how much green is on the runway. If you have the time to practice all lofts and can excel with each club you are golden. Unfortunately, most weekend warriors, even those with hitting mats at home, have minimal time invested in perimeter green and bunker shot practice. Those mortals, in my opinion, are better served with gaining skill and confidence with a single club with whatever loft they can hit with trust and conviction.
Thats the problem I ran into having a bunch of different wedges. I just don't have the time to learn them all. My chipping has gotten way better focusing on one stock shot with one club.
I just found out Marquez was a golfer! pretty cool guest appearance! great content as always.. I definitely carry both 56 & 60 but I definitely like my 50 sometimes also lol
I used both but I tend to use the lob wedge 60” more all around the green , as a beginner golfer the logic of having more bounce makes it feel safer . Great video as always ❤
A lob wedge has less bounce than a 56...check it out. And if you use the 56 and open it to about 60, you increase the effective bounce. Scratch player for over 50 years...never carried a 60.
A beginner should never try to use a 60" wedge. There are some regular golfers who struggle with a 56" wedge who should also avoid a 60". Work with a Gap wedge and Sand wedge around the green until you get good/comfortable.
Using a 60 one year screwed up my chipping for 8 yrs afterwards. My take is you must practice a LOT of hours with a 60 and almost as much with a 56. Rather play with a gap or PW or even bump and run 9 irons; IF possible. Hate opening the club, screws up my aim with the ball tending to go right (for RH). The fact that your explanation on how to use 60 is complex demonstrates the skill level (practice for hours) needed. Works for you, but past videos showed you spent days practicing the short game. Tight lies, rough, etc changes everything for 60s and quite a bit for 56s too.
so after that I finally watched the video and I would have to say that I would have done it significantly differently. For one, any lie where putting was a decent option, I would have included putting. Short fringe in front of the green, side hill lies 5 feet off the green, anything where there was a decent chance of putting the ball near the pin, I'm putting. So the downside of putting is underestimating how thick the grass is and not getting enough on the ball to even make the green, or over-playing the putt and running it off below the pin. This absolutely is one good reason to use a wedge instead of putting however as you noticed on that one chip into that "V" that if you chip into the back face of the V you can easily come up short where the ball doesn't even make it onto the green. It just bounces backwards or stalls right there. This is a classic dilemma, a tight lie behind a fair amount of rough that can still be putted over but it's complicated. The supposed strength of the wedge is that you can one-hop and spin-stop or "check" the shot, which none of you guys even tried to do. Taking that off the table it's a simple matter of who is closer plus who ran the ball close enough to the hole to almost make it directly. This is where a 60 supposedly has an advantage over a PW because you can drop the ball on the green just past the back lip of the V and have it roll out to the pin where with a PW it's almost always going to roll past the pin if you do get it over that lip. But the 60 can roll and stop in front of the pin where the PW stops behind the pin. In any one test anything possible can happen. So again there are pluses and minuses to each club. With a PW it's easier to get it on the green and if you don't worry so much about the rollout that's fine. You're on the green. You can even chip more towards the notch at the left and lessen the chance of having the ball stall-out in the V. The PW is almost always going to at least give you a putt, and if it's a good lie then you have a decent chance of making that putt. The downside is the PW is going to bring into play the chance of running it off the back of the green. But the 60 is going to double or triple that risk of blading the ball off the green plus also double the risk of catching the blade in the turf and leaving the ball short. It will give you a good chance of dropping the ball near the pin and having it stop there, but how much better risk of that, and how much spin are you actually going to get? The whole point here is that you can get bogged-down in technicalities and fail to even get the ball to the green, or you can just focus on getting the ball to the green and deal with what you have left when the ball stops moving. If you're good enough to get controllable, reliable spin, that takes 2/3rds of the problems off the table and the 60 might make perfect sense for you to hit most of the time. If you are not capable of generating and controlling spin then the PW probably makes more sense because it is easier to get the ball where you want it to go and then you just deal with where it stops moving. The big differentiator is having to loft the ball to a degree that you cannot easily do with a PW, or carry the ball a distance that you cannot carry easily with the 60. If you play the PW with an open face you can get a surprising amount of loft on it without much risk of blading it. It's still not going to be as lofty as a 60 but by the same token there is usually less risk of blading the ball with a PW. Neither is really great on bad lies, deep or shallow grass that you might want to resolve with an 8 or 9-iron. It's a question of playing near the extreme of each club. I never like to play to the extreme of a club, either short or long, because then you have to focus on one special thing to make the shot while you need to do the other normal things to make the club work. So the uphill chip to a tight lie, you don't need to take that one-hopper and deal with the rollout. You also don't need to fly the ball with a 60. On that shot I prefer to stall the ball near the top of the slope by hitting it into the face of the slope with maybe a 7-iron then having it pop over the lip and just stop. But of course there are other ways to do that, and that shot runs the risk of not even making it to the top of the slope or missing the side and going well past the pin, maybe even off the green on the back. It's just the risk that you take by even playing but obviously if you fly the ball clean over the lip it's probably going to have significantly more energy than if you bounce it off the side. We can spend hours weighing pros and cons. It's all about having the skill to pull off a shot, and making the shot easier and more natural with less downside means that it will be more likely to happen. I just prefer to reserve 60s for shots like balls that land in that thick scruff of long waste at the bottom of an elevated green, where I know that I can bring the face up almost parallel with the slope, there's very little chance of blading the ball (or problems with doing so) and it's just a pop-shot to boost the ball up to the green. This is just right in the wheelhouse of a 60 wedge. But still you have to weigh the exact shot in question. The harder that you hit a PW the more problems you bring into play so you want to make sure that the green is wide-enough to avoid hitting the ball through the green and down the slope into a pond, say. Tight lies vs long lies tend to naturally favor a 60 because in general there's less runout. And again. Anything close to the green, I'm going to putt if at all possible. Anything far away from the green, where there is a lot of grass, I'm going to chip. Any thing that makes me nervous about reaching the green distance-wise, I'm going to go for a PW. Anything that makes me nervous about getting UP to the pin or not rolling down off the green, I'll probably go with an open-face PW, MAYBE a 60. The 60 is just the last choice unless I'm hitting away from a hazard that takes the risk out of blading the ball or hitting it long vs towards such a hazard and putting it in play. I'm never going to intend to hit with spin and stop the ball near the pin. If I had that skill it would very possibly go the other way. But not having that spin, my concern is having the ball go not high enough and too short, too high and too long or almost as bad, just the right height to have it roll right over the green and go too long. So you see it's never a clear-cut decision until you get "too close" to the limits of a club where I can't comfortably swing the club and get out of it either the distance or the height that I want. I never want to have to swing the club uncomfortably, with either too much power or too little. Nobody ever wants to have to try to short-side a 60 and blade it right over the green or just fluff it and leave it 3 feet in front of the green, defeating the entire purpose of even hitting it in the first place. Likewise there are positions around the green, depending on the exact green in play where no matter which club you hit, it's just better to not try to hit directly to the green from that lie because it is almost impossible to stop the ball on the green not to mention near the pin. I don't think that you came even near to really examining this choice in real play but also you didn't even look at spin as an issue. Also obviously the player skill factors in, if you're a modest player then you probably will hate a 60 no matter what shot you take with it. It's a club that tends to bite more than it helps. No surprise at all that a player with a modest run-of-the-mill short game prefers a PW over a 60. You are Mr. Short Game. You should have been all over a 60deg wedge.
50° & 54° for me. I stopped using a 60° about 15 years ago. Lowered my scores quite a bit doing that. Then invested in a fresh 50° & 54° two years ago and WOW. Scoring mid to high 70's about 90% of the time.
Good stuff…not sure I agree with the “you want knuckles down/bowed wrist through impact.” All would depend where you start…if you have a strong grip and go knuckles down with a 56, you could easily turn it into a 50 degree and take away all the bounce…and, using the Hackmotion, that range would be too extreme going from a strong grip (+25 to +35 extension at address). Knuckles down would be too much …and, I would disagree that having too much extension would cause a shank. This has been studied and videoed with high speed cameras…
For most amateur players, the 60 gets you in more trouble. I have one and only use it when I'm short sided or in a bunker. The rest of the time, it's 50 low spinner or 54.
I would say that I only need my PW since I only use my PW. But if you were forced to choose just one, the one that you choose is the one that you think that you will need most.
Truth is: if you are really good in this game, you can make pars with one club only (like a 5 or 6 iron, have seen people done it). If you are bad, you can have 20 clubs and you are still bad. For wedges, I think only bounce matters, loft not.
You lucky guy...only carrying one club must be nice! Imagine how good you'd be with a full bag! Watch out PGA record book...here comes Liang8255! Since you don't need or use any of the others... I'll buy the other 13 from you! Let me know.
I am in the camp of a 60 but I spent an entire summer developing it. I only chip with my 60 and I have it down to a clock system from 10,20, and 30 paces from the hole. I dropped from around 16 handicap to a 11 handicap. My up and down % went up drastically after working on my chipping that summer.
to me the diff between 56 and 60 is in the full shot . i know i hit my 56 between 100-110 carrry on a full . I know i hit my 60 80-90 on a full . If i need to hit a shot thats less than 80, i just adjust accordingly . But around the greens , i usually will take a PW and bump and run ( if i can ) . If i have to carry something , or the situation calls for it , usually 56 . But if im in the rough and have a little cushion to work with i’ll hit 60 from.l green side
I don’t carry a 60* wedge (58* is my most-lofted wedge). I am an excellent (and I mean REALLY excellent) wedge player, and I carry a 48*, 53*, and the 58* wedge, all with similar sole grinds. I am with Marquez in that I can easily use my 48* wedge from those greenside conditions, especially when I want a bit of run-out or if the green is sloping toward me. However, if the greens are rolling very fast or the green slopes away from me, I will take my 58* wedge and “nip” it, or even hit a “toe pitch”.
There shouldnt be any wrist motion in chip shots, there are basically two swings you need to have chipping and thats 9 and 8 o'clock, all of them you should perform with your torso (stiff pendulum). The wrist action makes it a pitch shot.
Great video! Love that you were using both lofts all around the greens. Short sided, in rough, uphill lies, etc. Note their takeaway on almost all shots is the same distance as the finish. Very key to these shots!
Dam you making this video. lol. 20 years I never had a 60 until a week ago. And to be honest I love it. It’s almost like chipping with training wheels I feel. I’d stick with my 56 on bunkers and odd lies. But I am a massive fan of the 60 for gentle flops and tight pins.
I picked up a Ping Glide Pro forged in 59 at Christmas and has been amazing for me from grass and sand. Have 52 and 54 and 56, been using 54 and 59 but when the ground gets wetter and less roll in the UK winter and it’s pure carry I expect to be going 52,56, 90
Thanks for all the videos, I have definitely lowered my scores as a result of your videos. For wedges, I guess I have totally different thinking. I don't really care about the loft as much as I care about the bounce of my 60 and 56 wedges. My 60 has 6 degrees of bounce, (I may replace it with a 4). My 56 has 14 bounce. My mentality is tight lies, always the 60, sand always the 56, rough depends on whether the ball is up or buried. I very rarely open the face on the fairway and especially in the rough. In the rough, too many times I tried opening the face only to hit the ball 20 yards high, in the air and 3 feet forward. I try to hit the ball solid with a descending blow then the divot, no wrist release until after contact. I always get positive, consistent yards. When I open the face on the tight lie or the rough I'm extremely inconsistent. Of course sand, I open the 56 in the sand even with the bounce as usually I have to stop it faster. I've been in the sand a couple of times with cart path only and I didn't go back to get the 14 bounce, 56, (laziness) and had disastrous results with the 6 degrees of bounce in the sand with the 60. The only time I use the 56 (14 bounce) on the tight, fairway lie, is when my chip is 20 to 35 yards as the 60 I have to hit it way harder. I have better results with the 56, 1/3 swing, descending blow at that yardage. All out swing my 60 travels 60 yards and my 56, 85 yards. I carry 60, 56, u, pw, 9,8,7,6,5 3w, driver, so 12 clubs with the one putter. I'm in the process of giving up the 5-iron as I only hit it maybe 3 yards greater than the 6-iron and am experimenting with woods. Either way maybe I can carry a 58 12 bounce?
I’m never worried about digging my leading edge into the turf. I always have the opposite worry. When I open the face, it feels like I’m exposing the leading edge to the BALL more and now I have more chance of skulling it over the green. I feel like when I keep my face more square, I’m less likely to thin it or skull it. Could you talk about that some in a video, please?
Dear Mr. short game, I’m having problems with some clubs can you help; I’m struggling with my wedge my sandwich my pitching wedge 987654 iron driver, three wood and five wood oh, and my Potter. Any help would be appreciated lol
What if you 56 has 12 degrees of bounce and doesn’t that make it harder to open the face as opposed to a 60 with 6 degrees of bounce. Genuine question.
I’ve always had success flopping a 60 with very little green to work with over a trap or something. I took a 5yr break from neck fusion and trying to get back into it. It doesn’t happen often. Just buying wedges and want to make a smart informed decision. Thank you for your help. 56 it is. Haha
Anyway to put it succinctly I would say that I think about using a 60 a whole hell of a lot more than I actually use one. I almost never use one. I tend to dismiss the use of any club for a shot, and likewise any shot, if I have a real chance of missing it. And I won't take that shot or use a club for that shot in that case unless I either have no real alternative or I don't want to spend the time and energy trying to position the ball for a better shot. Which is why I have started to play Nitros at $16 for 24 balls at Wal-Mart. If I miss a shot so badly as to lose a ball on it and I'm playing by myself, I'll purposely take two or three more shots at it until either I'm sure that I've gotten it at least once or someone pops-up behind me and I have to move, and I'll leave them a few free balls for their trouble. Nitros are decent-enough balls to play with regularly, at less than $1/ball I'm not bothered about losing a dozen of them per round and the practice is definitely worth the $10 extra per round. I'm not going to throw-away a bunch of balls just to practice using a club that I almost never hit for fear of losing strokes with it! At Wal-Mart a box of used Pro-V1s are $29 for TWELVE and even playing straight golf that box won't last me more than 15 rounds. I'm going to lose at least 1 per side anyway plus the ones that I find to add to that 12-pack. So it's all just a question of how you want to try to lower your score. By either taking risky shots during real play and losing balls or not taking risky shots during real play and eating the strokes that you lost by playing conservatively while worrying about losing balls. I don't think that the way to improve is to worry about losing balls first, last and foremost. I like to play aggressively just short of the point of losing balls, and I can only get good at that while running the risk of actually losing balls. I'm not going to go out and do that with a bag full of $5 balls any more that I'm going to play such high-risk shots that I lose 24 $1 balls a round. But I will take the chance on losing 5 $1 balls a side. On a $50 course, throw in $15 on 20 lost balls, $10 on gas and $25 on food, drink and tips and that's $100/round. Try that for 10 rounds, then take your game to your average $150-$200 course and see what happens. You may not play great golf, but you're probably not going to stink-up the course, either. You might even come out looking halfway-impressive.
I play a lot, and was given a greater mind, I should be called a genius, I developed different shots, including the magic chip, feather chip, high chip, I experimented with 64 vs 56, my pattern was closer with a 64, but I managed to sink one with the sand wedge
I carry 5 wedges. I used to carry 6. But since I lost some distance due to back surgery, I had to throw in a hybrid. 43, 48, 52, 56 and 64. My “PW” is the 43. Lofts are super strong nowadays. So if we don’t count that, then 4 I suppose
The only reason I have a LW is for the really short popup chip shots to a really high flop. Sometimes I use it toe down for a bump and run. But I could easily just open the face on the 56°. But I use my other wedges 48° - 56 more like an iron for the short distance shots from 60 to 100 yards. Really I think I could get by with just the 56 and control those other longer shots with a pw.
I keep a driver, 3H, 5H, 5-PW, AW, 52, 56, 60, P. Driver goes 260-270, 3H is around 220, 5H around 200-210, 5i - 190-205, 6i 180-195, and so on. Gapping is 10 yards with a 5 yard variance (if I make solid contact). Was thinking of adding a 3 wood and either dropping the 3H or one of the wedges. I really only hit it off the tee box and would prefer my 5h or 5i if I need a long second shot Then again, I also go rounds without using either my 52 or 56. What do you think?
Knuckles down. What an amazing tip for squaring up the longer clubs at the top and maintaining the wedge clubface through your chips. I also like to squeeze the inside of my elbows (Ben Hogan move) toward the sky to maintain the triangle, allowing for crisp contact. Though this does deaden the hands, you may not get as much spin... Thank you!
I have a SIM Max set 5-lob. The bottom clubs are 49-54-59. I don't think it matters much to my game, but I did use a 56 degree once while traveling and I really liked it.
Because I play single-length clubs, my SW is 36.5" long, the same as an 8-iron. This is an inch-and-a-half longer than standard. The benefit is that the SW swings like the other clubs from the fairway. But the downside is that it is less versatile around the greens. (You can either choke down or open the face, but not both--doing both brings the toe into play and can flip open the face at impact.) Thus, I use the LW for most bunker shots and all lofted shots around the green. Another thing: I use the least amount of loft possible. I'd rather take the variability of the fairway with a bump-and-run over the variability of a lob. Not that I'm afraid of the lob--I'm not. But I'm more accurate with the bump and dealing with the turf in front of the green.
A 56 or a 54 will do just about any shot on a golf course. I think most players don’t need a 60. But Carrie it for that one shot around where they think it makes sense.
It’s funny because short game expert Dan Grieve would say NOT to rotate your leading hand down on chip shots! There is a use for it in his words but normally he would not advise that. I do that pro Lowry like to draw his short chips and he is one of the best on the tour for chipping
I’m guilty of always using 60 all the time (except for bunkers) in the past. But I’ve recently changed to keeping the ball as low as possible now, even using irons to chip/pitch. If I need to get over a hill or something, I’ll still pull it out but I find clubbing up and keeping it low is helping a lot.
I'm probably guilty of using 60* too much around the greens. 56* is more forgiving - it's amazing how much difference a couple of degrees of bounce can make. I switched last year to using 56* virtually all the time from the greenside bunkers and it's been a game-changer for me.
SO GOOD! Love the lesson with the chip and pitch shots! Going to find your lessons with the sand shots next! Thank you! Keep them coming! You’re real good!!! 😍👏👏👏👏
I'm either PW (45) or gap (50) around the green unless I have to go over something. I've played with several people that love their lob wedges but only get 1 or 2 shots per round close to the flag. I see lots of fat shots and lots of short shots from folks using 60 degree wedges. Miss hits on lower lofted wedges work out tons better than miss hits on high lofted wedges. I play better and have fewer decisions if I go gap wedge to sand wedge in the bag.
PW is my highest lofted club with the exception of the occasional use of a sand wedge out of bunkers. I use a 3 hybrid for shots on short grass around the green (bump and run shots).
In the dry western state that I live...most of our courses have the combination of fluffy sand and tight lies. In order to get out of the sand I need a lot of bounce on my 56* sand wedge...making it a terrible choice for opening up with the tight lies around the green. So...I bag a 60* lob wedge with 3* of bounce for tight lies. For normal chip shots with room for roll out, I also carry a 53* gap. I love the combo of a high bounce sand, and a low bounce lob...it gives me a ton of options around the green!
The bounce / grind on the wedge + your swing type (shallow or steep) + the course conditions (dry, firm, soft, type of grass, etc) + the lie your ball is in + the desired shot shape you want all combine to result in a specific wedge being the one you “should use” for that specific shot. Its not that you cant hit a different wedge just fine, but one of the ones in your bag will always be “best” for the shot at hand
I’m currently using just a gap wedge and a 56. Dropped my 60 as it was costing me a couple of shots every round and it’s made a big difference and things are simpler. I’ve also got good at bump and runs with a pitching wedge and a 8 iron. Got to keep it simple!
I have the same configuration. I use the 56 a lot, and mix in pw and 8 irons just as you do for runners. Works for me as well.
To 60 degree or not to 60 degree, that is the question... Theoretically one should use a variety of lofts selecting each club based upon the lie, the slope, length of shot, and how much green is on the runway. If you have the time to practice all lofts and can excel with each club you are golden. Unfortunately, most weekend warriors, even those with hitting mats at home, have minimal time invested in perimeter green and bunker shot practice. Those mortals, in my opinion, are better served with gaining skill and confidence with a single club with whatever loft they can hit with trust and conviction.
which is my 60 baby, all day long. don't care what the haters say.
Thats the problem I ran into having a bunch of different wedges. I just don't have the time to learn them all. My chipping has gotten way better focusing on one stock shot with one club.
I just found out Marquez was a golfer! pretty cool guest appearance! great content as always.. I definitely carry both 56 & 60 but I definitely like my 50 sometimes also lol
I used both but I tend to use the lob wedge 60” more all around the green , as a beginner golfer the logic of having more bounce makes it feel safer . Great video as always ❤
A lob wedge has less bounce than a 56...check it out. And if you use the 56 and open it to about 60, you increase the effective bounce. Scratch player for over 50 years...never carried a 60.
@@GeezerTony I agreed , I struggle to keep the face open I don’t know why being so simple 🤷🏼♂️
A beginner should never try to use a 60" wedge. There are some regular golfers who struggle with a 56" wedge who should also avoid a 60". Work with a Gap wedge and Sand wedge around the green until you get good/comfortable.
Watched this on the day of a match. 58 degree default changed to open 52. Ideal, chipped and pitched much more consistently.
I’m a big believer that wedges all are feel. Play any wedges you feel good with and have the shots you need with. I have a 52,54,58 set up
My wife calls me Mr Short Game in the bedroom😊
I use 52, 54, 58. Probably all mental but for me a 60 is too hard to hit consistently.
That is also my preferred gap
Using a 60 one year screwed up my chipping for 8 yrs afterwards. My take is you must practice a LOT of hours with a 60 and almost as much with a 56. Rather play with a gap or PW or even bump and run 9 irons; IF possible. Hate opening the club, screws up my aim with the ball tending to go right (for RH). The fact that your explanation on how to use 60 is complex demonstrates the skill level (practice for hours) needed. Works for you, but past videos showed you spent days practicing the short game. Tight lies, rough, etc changes everything for 60s and quite a bit for 56s too.
so after that I finally watched the video and I would have to say that I would have done it significantly differently.
For one, any lie where putting was a decent option, I would have included putting. Short fringe in front of the green, side hill lies 5 feet off the green, anything where there was a decent chance of putting the ball near the pin, I'm putting.
So the downside of putting is underestimating how thick the grass is and not getting enough on the ball to even make the green, or over-playing the putt and running it off below the pin. This absolutely is one good reason to use a wedge instead of putting however as you noticed on that one chip into that "V" that if you chip into the back face of the V you can easily come up short where the ball doesn't even make it onto the green. It just bounces backwards or stalls right there. This is a classic dilemma, a tight lie behind a fair amount of rough that can still be putted over but it's complicated. The supposed strength of the wedge is that you can one-hop and spin-stop or "check" the shot, which none of you guys even tried to do. Taking that off the table it's a simple matter of who is closer plus who ran the ball close enough to the hole to almost make it directly. This is where a 60 supposedly has an advantage over a PW because you can drop the ball on the green just past the back lip of the V and have it roll out to the pin where with a PW it's almost always going to roll past the pin if you do get it over that lip. But the 60 can roll and stop in front of the pin where the PW stops behind the pin. In any one test anything possible can happen. So again there are pluses and minuses to each club. With a PW it's easier to get it on the green and if you don't worry so much about the rollout that's fine. You're on the green. You can even chip more towards the notch at the left and lessen the chance of having the ball stall-out in the V. The PW is almost always going to at least give you a putt, and if it's a good lie then you have a decent chance of making that putt. The downside is the PW is going to bring into play the chance of running it off the back of the green. But the 60 is going to double or triple that risk of blading the ball off the green plus also double the risk of catching the blade in the turf and leaving the ball short. It will give you a good chance of dropping the ball near the pin and having it stop there, but how much better risk of that, and how much spin are you actually going to get? The whole point here is that you can get bogged-down in technicalities and fail to even get the ball to the green, or you can just focus on getting the ball to the green and deal with what you have left when the ball stops moving.
If you're good enough to get controllable, reliable spin, that takes 2/3rds of the problems off the table and the 60 might make perfect sense for you to hit most of the time. If you are not capable of generating and controlling spin then the PW probably makes more sense because it is easier to get the ball where you want it to go and then you just deal with where it stops moving. The big differentiator is having to loft the ball to a degree that you cannot easily do with a PW, or carry the ball a distance that you cannot carry easily with the 60. If you play the PW with an open face you can get a surprising amount of loft on it without much risk of blading it. It's still not going to be as lofty as a 60 but by the same token there is usually less risk of blading the ball with a PW. Neither is really great on bad lies, deep or shallow grass that you might want to resolve with an 8 or 9-iron. It's a question of playing near the extreme of each club. I never like to play to the extreme of a club, either short or long, because then you have to focus on one special thing to make the shot while you need to do the other normal things to make the club work.
So the uphill chip to a tight lie, you don't need to take that one-hopper and deal with the rollout. You also don't need to fly the ball with a 60. On that shot I prefer to stall the ball near the top of the slope by hitting it into the face of the slope with maybe a 7-iron then having it pop over the lip and just stop. But of course there are other ways to do that, and that shot runs the risk of not even making it to the top of the slope or missing the side and going well past the pin, maybe even off the green on the back. It's just the risk that you take by even playing but obviously if you fly the ball clean over the lip it's probably going to have significantly more energy than if you bounce it off the side. We can spend hours weighing pros and cons. It's all about having the skill to pull off a shot, and making the shot easier and more natural with less downside means that it will be more likely to happen. I just prefer to reserve 60s for shots like balls that land in that thick scruff of long waste at the bottom of an elevated green, where I know that I can bring the face up almost parallel with the slope, there's very little chance of blading the ball (or problems with doing so) and it's just a pop-shot to boost the ball up to the green. This is just right in the wheelhouse of a 60 wedge. But still you have to weigh the exact shot in question. The harder that you hit a PW the more problems you bring into play so you want to make sure that the green is wide-enough to avoid hitting the ball through the green and down the slope into a pond, say. Tight lies vs long lies tend to naturally favor a 60 because in general there's less runout. And again. Anything close to the green, I'm going to putt if at all possible. Anything far away from the green, where there is a lot of grass, I'm going to chip. Any thing that makes me nervous about reaching the green distance-wise, I'm going to go for a PW. Anything that makes me nervous about getting UP to the pin or not rolling down off the green, I'll probably go with an open-face PW, MAYBE a 60. The 60 is just the last choice unless I'm hitting away from a hazard that takes the risk out of blading the ball or hitting it long vs towards such a hazard and putting it in play.
I'm never going to intend to hit with spin and stop the ball near the pin. If I had that skill it would very possibly go the other way. But not having that spin, my concern is having the ball go not high enough and too short, too high and too long or almost as bad, just the right height to have it roll right over the green and go too long.
So you see it's never a clear-cut decision until you get "too close" to the limits of a club where I can't comfortably swing the club and get out of it either the distance or the height that I want. I never want to have to swing the club uncomfortably, with either too much power or too little. Nobody ever wants to have to try to short-side a 60 and blade it right over the green or just fluff it and leave it 3 feet in front of the green, defeating the entire purpose of even hitting it in the first place. Likewise there are positions around the green, depending on the exact green in play where no matter which club you hit, it's just better to not try to hit directly to the green from that lie because it is almost impossible to stop the ball on the green not to mention near the pin. I don't think that you came even near to really examining this choice in real play but also you didn't even look at spin as an issue.
Also obviously the player skill factors in, if you're a modest player then you probably will hate a 60 no matter what shot you take with it. It's a club that tends to bite more than it helps. No surprise at all that a player with a modest run-of-the-mill short game prefers a PW over a 60. You are Mr. Short Game. You should have been all over a 60deg wedge.
I go from a 50 GW to a 56 MG4 TW grind. You can manipulate the club loft easily with a wedge like that and do away with anything higher lofted.
50° & 54° for me.
I stopped using a 60° about 15 years ago. Lowered my scores quite a bit doing that.
Then invested in a fresh 50° & 54° two years ago and WOW. Scoring mid to high 70's about 90% of the time.
agreed. if you’re not Phil Mickelson, lob wedge is not for you.
@@JayDee28 ..if you're not Nostradamus, predicting the future of random golfers on the Internet is not for you.
I use 7iron with putting style where ever it is possible around greens. Bunkers and ruff 56 degree club.
I carry most commonly 52 and 58 and 52 gets most of the action. 2 wedges only gives me more options on longer end of the bag.
Good stuff…not sure I agree with the “you want knuckles down/bowed wrist through impact.” All would depend where you start…if you have a strong grip and go knuckles down with a 56, you could easily turn it into a 50 degree and take away all the bounce…and, using the Hackmotion, that range would be too extreme going from a strong grip (+25 to +35 extension at address). Knuckles down would be too much …and, I would disagree that having too much extension would cause a shank. This has been studied and videoed with high speed cameras…
For most amateur players, the 60 gets you in more trouble. I have one and only use it when I'm short sided or in a bunker. The rest of the time, it's 50 low spinner or 54.
I would say that I only need my PW since I only use my PW.
But if you were forced to choose just one, the one that you choose is the one that you think that you will need most.
I like to use me GW for those kinds of shots. I feel I have more control with it other than the LW
Truth is: if you are really good in this game, you can make pars with one club only (like a 5 or 6 iron, have seen people done it). If you are bad, you can have 20 clubs and you are still bad. For wedges, I think only bounce matters, loft not.
You lucky guy...only carrying one club must be nice! Imagine how good you'd be with a full bag! Watch out PGA record book...here comes Liang8255! Since you don't need or use any of the others... I'll buy the other 13 from you! Let me know.
Bounce and grind
I’m all about the chipper.
you're like a walking exercise in bad logic
yes but what if you are ambitious and a show-off
I am in the camp of a 60 but I spent an entire summer developing it. I only chip with my 60 and I have it down to a clock system from 10,20, and 30 paces from the hole. I dropped from around 16 handicap to a 11 handicap. My up and down % went up drastically after working on my chipping that summer.
...ah, a man familiar with the 80/20 rule.
45/50.5/54/58. 54 degree is my favorite wedge
camera man did not follow shots. really gotta be behind or something.
to me the diff between 56 and 60 is in the full shot . i know i hit my 56 between 100-110 carrry on a full . I know i hit my 60 80-90 on a full . If i need to hit a shot thats less than 80, i just adjust accordingly . But around the greens , i usually will take a PW and bump and run ( if i can ) . If i have to carry something , or the situation calls for it , usually 56 . But if im in the rough and have a little cushion to work with i’ll
hit 60 from.l green side
...what *do* we need in life...that is indeed a question that we should ponder on occasion...
I don’t carry a 60* wedge (58* is my most-lofted wedge). I am an excellent (and I mean REALLY excellent) wedge player, and I carry a 48*, 53*, and the 58* wedge, all with similar sole grinds. I am with Marquez in that I can easily use my 48* wedge from those greenside conditions, especially when I want a bit of run-out or if the green is sloping toward me. However, if the greens are rolling very fast or the green slopes away from me, I will take my 58* wedge and “nip” it, or even hit a “toe pitch”.
There shouldnt be any wrist motion in chip shots, there are basically two swings you need to have chipping and thats 9 and 8 o'clock, all of them you should perform with your torso (stiff pendulum). The wrist action makes it a pitch shot.
Little confused only because I struggle with wedges,.. knuckles down you said in the back swing, then keep them down through the swing?..
I only use my 60 when I am short sided, in a trap and wanna go high, or dealing with a strong slope and wanna land it soft
Great video! Love that you were using both lofts all around the greens. Short sided, in rough, uphill lies, etc. Note their takeaway on almost all shots is the same distance as the finish. Very key to these shots!
Dam you making this video. lol. 20 years I never had a 60 until a week ago. And to be honest I love it. It’s almost like chipping with training wheels I feel. I’d stick with my 56 on bunkers and odd lies. But I am a massive fan of the 60 for gentle flops and tight pins.
Couldn't watch. TOO MANY FREAKING ADS wanted to play first.
I picked up a Ping Glide Pro forged in 59 at Christmas and has been amazing for me from grass and sand. Have 52 and 54 and 56, been using 54 and 59 but when the ground gets wetter and less roll in the UK winter and it’s pure carry I expect to be going 52,56, 90
Thanks for all the videos, I have definitely lowered my scores as a result of your videos. For wedges, I guess I have totally different thinking. I don't really care about the loft as much as I care about the bounce of my 60 and 56 wedges. My 60 has 6 degrees of bounce, (I may replace it with a 4). My 56 has 14 bounce. My mentality is tight lies, always the 60, sand always the 56, rough depends on whether the ball is up or buried. I very rarely open the face on the fairway and especially in the rough. In the rough, too many times I tried opening the face only to hit the ball 20 yards high, in the air and 3 feet forward. I try to hit the ball solid with a descending blow then the divot, no wrist release until after contact. I always get positive, consistent yards. When I open the face on the tight lie or the rough I'm extremely inconsistent. Of course sand, I open the 56 in the sand even with the bounce as usually I have to stop it faster. I've been in the sand a couple of times with cart path only and I didn't go back to get the 14 bounce, 56, (laziness) and had disastrous results with the 6 degrees of bounce in the sand with the 60. The only time I use the 56 (14 bounce) on the tight, fairway lie, is when my chip is 20 to 35 yards as the 60 I have to hit it way harder. I have better results with the 56, 1/3 swing, descending blow at that yardage. All out swing my 60 travels 60 yards and my 56, 85 yards. I carry 60, 56, u, pw, 9,8,7,6,5 3w, driver, so 12 clubs with the one putter. I'm in the process of giving up the 5-iron as I only hit it maybe 3 yards greater than the 6-iron and am experimenting with woods. Either way maybe I can carry a 58 12 bounce?
I’m never worried about digging my leading edge into the turf. I always have the opposite worry. When I open the face, it feels like I’m exposing the leading edge to the BALL more and now I have more chance of skulling it over the green. I feel like when I keep my face more square, I’m less likely to thin it or skull it. Could you talk about that some in a video, please?
In TX you learn to use a 7 or 8 if you have less than 10' of fringe. More than that you need a 50 max.
Dear Mr. short game, I’m having problems with some clubs can you help; I’m struggling with my wedge my sandwich my pitching wedge 987654 iron driver, three wood and five wood oh, and my Potter. Any help would be appreciated lol
Heck I can’t either one worth a darn even with much practice. I just use my Gap and Pitching wedges.
54 58 for me. Great content here.
I love seeing MKBHD breaking into UA-cam golf.
More footage of MKBHD 😊
What if you 56 has 12 degrees of bounce and doesn’t that make it harder to open the face as opposed to a 60 with 6 degrees of bounce. Genuine question.
Yes, but why would anyone want to open a 60? I have a 56 with 10 bounce so if I open it to 60 it adds 4 degrees of bounce to 14.
I’ve always had success flopping a 60 with very little green to work with over a trap or something. I took a 5yr break from neck fusion and trying to get back into it. It doesn’t happen often. Just buying wedges and want to make a smart informed decision. Thank you for your help. 56 it is. Haha
I hit a flop shot this week in league play that was so good I was accused of sandbagging. My 60 is clutch.
seems like if you are opening the Face of 56 Degree to look like 60 Degree then are you really hitting a different shot?
What would the correct difference be between the length of the various wedges? Or are the the same?
50 - 54 - 58 ..I’ve always left balls incessantly short with any 60’s (they’re crap:)
if you can’t manipulate a sand wedge you prob need to work on your game and a 60 won’t save you
If you tend to de-loft wedges in uncertain situations, like i do, a 60 degree is great, turns it into a 56.
Anyway to put it succinctly I would say that I think about using a 60 a whole hell of a lot more than I actually use one. I almost never use one. I tend to dismiss the use of any club for a shot, and likewise any shot, if I have a real chance of missing it. And I won't take that shot or use a club for that shot in that case unless I either have no real alternative or I don't want to spend the time and energy trying to position the ball for a better shot. Which is why I have started to play Nitros at $16 for 24 balls at Wal-Mart. If I miss a shot so badly as to lose a ball on it and I'm playing by myself, I'll purposely take two or three more shots at it until either I'm sure that I've gotten it at least once or someone pops-up behind me and I have to move, and I'll leave them a few free balls for their trouble. Nitros are decent-enough balls to play with regularly, at less than $1/ball I'm not bothered about losing a dozen of them per round and the practice is definitely worth the $10 extra per round. I'm not going to throw-away a bunch of balls just to practice using a club that I almost never hit for fear of losing strokes with it! At Wal-Mart a box of used Pro-V1s are $29 for TWELVE and even playing straight golf that box won't last me more than 15 rounds. I'm going to lose at least 1 per side anyway plus the ones that I find to add to that 12-pack. So it's all just a question of how you want to try to lower your score. By either taking risky shots during real play and losing balls or not taking risky shots during real play and eating the strokes that you lost by playing conservatively while worrying about losing balls. I don't think that the way to improve is to worry about losing balls first, last and foremost. I like to play aggressively just short of the point of losing balls, and I can only get good at that while running the risk of actually losing balls. I'm not going to go out and do that with a bag full of $5 balls any more that I'm going to play such high-risk shots that I lose 24 $1 balls a round. But I will take the chance on losing 5 $1 balls a side. On a $50 course, throw in $15 on 20 lost balls, $10 on gas and $25 on food, drink and tips and that's $100/round. Try that for 10 rounds, then take your game to your average $150-$200 course and see what happens. You may not play great golf, but you're probably not going to stink-up the course, either. You might even come out looking halfway-impressive.
I play a lot, and was given a greater mind, I should be called a genius, I developed different shots, including the magic chip, feather chip, high chip, I experimented with 64 vs 56, my pattern was closer with a 64, but I managed to sink one with the sand wedge
Once you go Edison wedges you mover go back!
I carry 5 wedges. I used to carry 6. But since I lost some distance due to back surgery, I had to throw in a hybrid. 43, 48, 52, 56 and 64. My “PW” is the 43. Lofts are super strong nowadays. So if we don’t count that, then 4 I suppose
58, i can use it around the green and as far back as 75 yds.
52 and 56 for me
The only reason I have a LW is for the really short popup chip shots to a really high flop. Sometimes I use it toe down for a bump and run. But I could easily just open the face on the 56°. But I use my other wedges 48° - 56 more like an iron for the short distance shots from 60 to 100 yards. Really I think I could get by with just the 56 and control those other longer shots with a pw.
I have a 49 and a 56 and I don't need any other wedge
@@si018 Just open the 50 2 degrees and aim a bit left.
I keep a driver, 3H, 5H, 5-PW, AW, 52, 56, 60, P.
Driver goes 260-270, 3H is around 220, 5H around 200-210, 5i - 190-205, 6i 180-195, and so on. Gapping is 10 yards with a 5 yard variance (if I make solid contact).
Was thinking of adding a 3 wood and either dropping the 3H or one of the wedges. I really only hit it off the tee box and would prefer my 5h or 5i if I need a long second shot
Then again, I also go rounds without using either my 52 or 56.
What do you think?
Knuckles down. What an amazing tip for squaring up the longer clubs at the top and maintaining the wedge clubface through your chips. I also like to squeeze the inside of my elbows (Ben Hogan move) toward the sky to maintain the triangle, allowing for crisp contact. Though this does deaden the hands, you may not get as much spin... Thank you!
I like to stroke my moustache before driving.
Amazing the benefits from engaging in good grooming before play.
@@touristguy87 you forgot to stick out your tongue!
I have a SIM Max set 5-lob. The bottom clubs are 49-54-59. I don't think it matters much to my game, but I did use a 56 degree once while traveling and I really liked it.
Because I play single-length clubs, my SW is 36.5" long, the same as an 8-iron. This is an inch-and-a-half longer than standard. The benefit is that the SW swings like the other clubs from the fairway. But the downside is that it is less versatile around the greens. (You can either choke down or open the face, but not both--doing both brings the toe into play and can flip open the face at impact.) Thus, I use the LW for most bunker shots and all lofted shots around the green.
Another thing: I use the least amount of loft possible. I'd rather take the variability of the fairway with a bump-and-run over the variability of a lob. Not that I'm afraid of the lob--I'm not. But I'm more accurate with the bump and dealing with the turf in front of the green.
A 56 or a 54 will do just about any shot on a golf course. I think most players don’t need a 60. But Carrie it for that one shot around where they think it makes sense.
It’s funny because short game expert Dan Grieve would say NOT to rotate your leading hand down on chip shots! There is a use for it in his words but normally he would not advise that. I do that pro Lowry like to draw his short chips and he is one of the best on the tour for chipping
I’m guilty of always using 60 all the time (except for bunkers) in the past. But I’ve recently changed to keeping the ball as low as possible now, even using irons to chip/pitch. If I need to get over a hill or something, I’ll still pull it out but I find clubbing up and keeping it low is helping a lot.
Cool video, and great cameo!
I'm curious about how you ended up playing with Marques? (And sad you didn't show more of his game...)
I'm probably guilty of using 60* too much around the greens. 56* is more forgiving - it's amazing how much difference a couple of degrees of bounce can make. I switched last year to using 56* virtually all the time from the greenside bunkers and it's been a game-changer for me.
SO GOOD! Love the lesson with the chip and pitch shots! Going to find your lessons with the sand shots next! Thank you! Keep them coming! You’re real good!!! 😍👏👏👏👏
I'm either PW (45) or gap (50) around the green unless I have to go over something. I've played with several people that love their lob wedges but only get 1 or 2 shots per round close to the flag. I see lots of fat shots and lots of short shots from folks using 60 degree wedges. Miss hits on lower lofted wedges work out tons better than miss hits on high lofted wedges. I play better and have fewer decisions if I go gap wedge to sand wedge in the bag.
You really need to review a STOW STICK. It has made quite a positive difference in my game
PW is my highest lofted club with the exception of the occasional use of a sand wedge out of bunkers. I use a 3 hybrid for shots on short grass around the green (bump and run shots).
I like both. 56° for anything 70 - 100 yards, 60° for anything under 70 yards, as a general rule for me.
In the dry western state that I live...most of our courses have the combination of fluffy sand and tight lies. In order to get out of the sand I need a lot of bounce on my 56* sand wedge...making it a terrible choice for opening up with the tight lies around the green. So...I bag a 60* lob wedge with 3* of bounce for tight lies. For normal chip shots with room for roll out, I also carry a 53* gap. I love the combo of a high bounce sand, and a low bounce lob...it gives me a ton of options around the green!
you need enough to make 14 clubs
depnding on what my set irons P ends, i usually do a 52 56 and 60 degrees
I use 56° when I’m a little further from green and 52° when I’m closer to the green. I removed 60° three years ago.
50*-54*-and 58* is my favorite wedge set up. I can make my 58* back up on the green, so it spins plenty.
I play 46,52,58 no problem with gapping.
@12:14: I think I would have putted that ball.
With this wrist movement are you not worried about a shut club face and the ball going left?
Not at all. As long as you keep everything moving you'll be fine
@@MrShortGame do you use this wrist movement for mid yardage pitching (30-75 yards)?
My go to is my 55 degree Sand/2nd wedge. Great video.
60 is the best wedge in the bag for me, it’s called practice. That’s how I became gooder lol
I use 52 and 58
one wedge 56.
but seriously who decides how we can use our wedges "most effectively" and what are the criteria and test methods by which they determine this?
The bounce / grind on the wedge + your swing type (shallow or steep) + the course conditions (dry, firm, soft, type of grass, etc) + the lie your ball is in + the desired shot shape you want all combine to result in a specific wedge being the one you “should use” for that specific shot. Its not that you cant hit a different wedge just fine, but one of the ones in your bag will always be “best” for the shot at hand
58 SW, if I need to open it for a flop it works great.
50-55-59 is the setup im currently rockin
Most random and unexpected collab
That dog is gorgeous!
55 for me..F that 60
Matt.. did you move?
first, clean those irons.
60 degrees with 6° of bounce all day. 'from my cold dead hands'.
Honestly….. unless you’re a scratch golfer, you shouldn’t have anything over 56-58*.
You are not that good.
wow what an original thought, you must be *that* good I bet
Shirt I carry a 64 degree a 56 and a 52 thank you very much.