Wedge Bench
Sixty minutes including work on the turf tray. Wedges are the clubs where local conditions matter most and where a national fitting chart helps least.
Strong Lofts Broke the Bottom of the Bag
Pitching wedges have been getting stronger for twenty years. A modern game improvement pitching wedge can be forty-three degrees, which is close to what a nine iron used to be. Meanwhile the fifty-six degree sand wedge people buy has not moved at all.
That leaves a thirteen degree hole between two clubs, which for most golfers is thirty yards of the course they simply cannot cover with a full swing. They compensate with a half shot they have never practised, and wonder why the scoring zone is where their rounds fall apart.
The first thing we do at this bench is read the actual loft of your pitching wedge on the machine, because the number stamped on it is frequently not the number it measures. Once that is known, the ladder builds itself.
- Pitching wedge, as measured43°
- Gap wedge added48°
- Sand wedge53°
- Lob wedge58°
- Step between wedges4–6°
- Resulting carry steps~12–15 yd
One worked example, not a prescription. A golfer with less speed needs four-degree steps; someone with more can carry five or six.
The Part Almost Nobody Gets Fitted For
Bounce is the angle between the leading edge and the lowest point of the sole. Grind is what has been removed from that sole to change how it behaves when the face is opened. Together they decide whether the club digs, skips or slides.
Roughly 4° to 6°
Suits firm ground, tight lies and a shallow, sweeping attack. Punishing out of soft sand and unforgiving if you take a divot.
Roughly 7° to 10°
The answer for most golfers here. Copes with the seasonal swing between soft summer turf and firm winter ground without being wrong in either.
Roughly 11° and up
Suits a steep attack, soft conditions and fluffy sand. Can feel like it bounces into the ball on very tight lies unless the grind compensates.
Reading a sole on a bench tells you what the numbers are. Watching it enter and exit real turf tells you what it does. Every wedge session includes tray work, and it is regularly the moment a customer changes their mind about which head they wanted.
Two Seasons, Two Different Wedges
Central Savannah River turf changes character dramatically across the year. Summer Bermuda is lush and grabby, and a sole that digs will take a chunk out of it. By January the same fairways are dormant, firm and tight, and a high bounce wedge will skip off the surface into the belly of the ball.
Sand around here is not uniform either. Some clubs run coarse, heavy sand that swallows a low bounce club; others have shallow, firm bunkers where a wide sole is a liability.
The practical answer for most golfers is a mid-bounce set with one specialist club at the bottom chosen for their home course. If you play two courses regularly with different sand, tell us and we will fit around that specifically. It is exactly the kind of thing that never appears in a national fitting chart.
- Which courses you play most and their sand type
- Whether you take a divot with a full wedge
- How often you open the face around the green
- Where you practise, and whether it is off mats
- Whether you play year round or mostly one season
- The greenside shot you avoid attempting
Free Wear Report on What You Already Carry
Wedge grooves wear out, and they wear out much faster than golfers expect — particularly for anyone who practises off a mat or plays out of sand regularly. Worn grooves do not lose distance; they lose the ability to hold a green, and they lose it gradually enough that nobody notices the day it happens.
We gauge groove depth at the centre of the face and inspect the edges with a loupe on every wedge that comes through, whether you are buying anything or not. There is no charge for it. Half the time the report says your wedges are fine and you should stop worrying.
How to check them yourself- Length60 minutes
- Fee$120
- Credited against a buildYes, 90 days
- Turf tray workIncluded
- Groove reportNo charge
- Grinds available19
- Full-swing gappingDown to ~60 yd
The Cheapest Strokes in the Bag
Correct gapping under a hundred yards is worth more to a scorecard than ten yards off the tee, and it costs a fraction as much to fix.