More tilt means higher loft angles, which means higher shot trajectories and shorter distances. We'll dig into specific wedge features and technical specifications below, but for our purposes in this section, you only need to know about loft-the degree of tilt a club's face has. When you're getting ready for your next shot, you have more than one type of wedge available, and each wedge is used for different purposes.
This gradual change created a loft angle gap between the standard pitching wedge and sand wedge, and that's how creatively-named gap wedges came to be.
I mean, who doesn't want to hit the ball further? Remember what we said earlier about golf constantly evolving?įrom the 1930s through the 1990s, golf club manufacturers gradually decreased the loft angles of nearly every club so they could advertise longer distances and sell more clubs. Pelz's lob wedge had more loft than both the pitching wedge and sand wedge, which allowed golfers to drill approach shots with a higher launch angle and stick them near the pin with more precision. In the 1980s, short-game coach and former NASA physicist Dave Pelz developed the lob wedge in response to more challenging modern greens, which were elevated, sloped and surrounded by hazards. When Spalding Sporting Goods Company produced the first standardized, numbered set of irons, they repurposed the niblick as a 9 iron, which led to the development of the first dedicated approach club: the pitching wedge.Īround the same time, a golfer named Edwin MacClain designed and patented the first sand wedge purely out of personal need he spent a lot of time hacking away in bunkers with his ill-suited niblick.įor 50 years, golfers made do with these two wedges. Wedges are a relatively new innovation in the history of golf, first appearing in the 1930s as players needed a club with more loft than the niblick for more accurate approach shots. The first written record of a game resembling modern golf comes from 16th century Latin and Dutch books, but there are records of civilizations all around the world playing golf-like, stick-and-ball games as far back as the 11th century Chinese-1,000 years ago.Īs the game of golf has evolved over the last millennium, so, too, has the equipment. We'll also zoom out and take a big-picture look at distance gapping and club selection before finishing with some golf wedge FAQ. Then, we'll explore the technical stuff and explain how each factor impacts your shot: This guide has everything you need to answer that question.įirst, we'll introduce the four different types of wedges: Wedges are a crucial part of your short-game arsenal, and the right wedge can be the difference between a makeable putt inside eight feet and three-putting from the edge of the green. 80% of your handicap is determined by these shots.70% of the shots you take come inside 100 yards.If you're looking to improve your handicap - and let's be honest, you are - your wedge game is one of the best places to start.Īre you ready for two mind-blowing stats that will send you running to fix your short game?
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