Bending new wedges

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By Shane H

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  • 13 Replies
  1. Shane H

    Shane H

    Hi there,

    I'm looking to get the new SM4 Wedges this season. I would like the wedges to have 4 degree loft gaps starting off of my AP2 pitching wedge, but my PW is 47 degrees. Currently, my wedges are: 47, 52, 56, 60. I would like them to be: 47, 51, 55, 59.

    Would it be better to bend the wedges to add loft, or bend them to decrease loft?

  2. brad t

    brad t
    Shobonier, IL

    Personally speaking, I wouldn't bend them unless you need to adjust the lie, such as more upright or flat. I don't think there is anything wrong with your existing setup and the gain would be minimal for those distances. You can compensate for your one degree loft by ball position. I've got the same setup except for my PW, which is a 48. I know my distances for my wedges, but for me, it's just as much feel as it is mechanics when I'm that close to the hole. Just one opinion. Best wishes.
  3. David R

    David R
    Olathe, KS

    i just ordered some new vokes and i got a 52 56 60 all bent 1 degree strong so its 51 55 59. that is the best way i think

  4. Cameron D

    Cameron D
    Newport, RI

    Shane, 

    When bending strong or weak, you should keep in mind what you are doing to the bounce angle.  It is a one for one, so bending your wedges 1* strong will reduce the bounce by 1*.  Also keep in mind your yardage gaps, so they don't exceed 10-15 yards.

    Cameron

    1-888-TITLEIST 

  5. george t

    george t
    Old Lyme, CT

    great question - I've just ordered AP2's myself and I'm anxious to see the yardage gap between the AP2 PW and my 52* Vokey

  6. Jerry S

    Jerry S
    Carlsbad, CA

    I would probably bend the to be weaker since that adds a degree of bounce. Bounce is in general a good thing. However, if you have thought about bounce and think an 11 deg bounce in the 55 would be good then buy a 56-12. Or you can by a 54-12 and your 55 will be a 55-13. I like what you are doing, designing a set of clubs that have even gaps. Once you play with them, you may find that they just aren't perfect for you. Sometimes 4 degrees of loft, although arithmetically symmetrical, may not provide the symmetric yardage carries you want and maybe you'll want to take the 51 back to the stock 52, or up to a 50. I bend my clubs and my son's clubs all the time to get the gaps and lies we need. Go get fit at TPI and they bend every club before you hit it (or at least check it). good luck, Jerry

  7. Lou G

    Lou G
    San Diego, CA

    Expounding on my other post..... Since you are going to buy new SM4s, I would lean toward buying a 50-08 and bending it to 51-09 and a 54-11 and bending it to 55-12. The 60-07 you could bend to 59-06 (or you could take a 60-10 and bend it to 59-09). The reason I bought a 50-08 and bent it to 51 was because I got rather comfortable with a DCI W (which is also 51-09). As far as 55-12, I developed another comfort zone with my do-it-yourself SW (it was 55-12). This is a good setup for most conditions. IF you wanted to decrease loft and wanted to go the high bounce route, 52-12 bent to 51-11, 56-14 bent to 55-13, and 60-10 bent to 59-09. I personally wouldn't take a standard bounce GW or SW and deloft (this is 52-08 or 56-11). You lose effectivity on soft conditions.
  8. Lou G

    Lou G
    San Diego, CA

    Shane H said:

    Hi there,

    I'm looking to get the new SM4 Wedges this season. I would like the wedges to have 4 degree loft gaps starting off of my AP2 pitching wedge, but my PW is 47 degrees. Currently, my wedges are: 47, 52, 56, 60. I would like them to be: 47, 51, 55, 59.

    Would it be better to bend the wedges to add loft, or bend them to decrease loft?

    Remember that adding loft increases bounce and decreasing loft decreases bounce. Quite frankly I would leave your set as is. 51,55,59 is a good set of lofts but 51-07,55-10 and 59-06 are not the best bounces. Your gap wedge should have enough bounce for long bunker shots in softer sand and the sand wedge should work in all conditions (55-12 is good). The lob wedge can have lower bounce because you want to use it in hard sand or on tight lies. My wedge set is 50-08 bent to 51-09, 54-11 bent to 55-12; 58-04 and 62-07 are stock. I have my 50 and 54 lie angles 1/2* upright and 58 and 62 lie angles 1* upright to keep in line with lengths and lie angles of the rest of my iron. This setup works for me in a majority of conditions. The 58-04 and 62-07 have pretty wide flanges so they work well on either hard or soft lies (the former plays like an old school SW). The 55-12 (54-11) has a narrow sole so it actually works on tight lies. My 9 iron is 45* and what I do for the inbetween distance from it to the 50 is choke down half inch or so.
  9. David Browning

    David Browning
    Ohio

    I'm with Cameron on this one. Also, since you're looking at the SM4's, you're going to have to take the various grinds in to effect as well. Like, if you take a 54* and bend it to a 55*, the grinds and bounce may differ than, say, bending a 56* to a 55*. 

  10. AJF

    AJF
    Beavercreek, OH

    My experience was the PW at 47 and the 52 was too much gap. During fitting the pro suggested and we ended up dropping the AP2 PW and we went with a vokey 48 bent to 47 and we bent the 52 to 50. I also play a 54 and 58 so this gave me the ideal gaps.
  11. Lou G

    Lou G
    San Diego, CA

    AJF said:

    My experience was the PW at 47 and the 52 was too much gap. During fitting the pro suggested and we ended up dropping the AP2 PW and we went with a vokey 48 bent to 47 and we bent the 52 to 50. I also play a 54 and 58 so this gave me the ideal gaps.
    Actually, I didn't really like the 48 or 52 Vokeys. 35.75" is a bit long for a PW for me. I also tried 52s (a Harmonized, Vokey and a RAC) in 2008 and they didn't do anything for me - not much of a distance difference between them and a 55* wedge. I've always seemed to like a 50 or 51. For me, bending a 52-08 to 50-06 is too low of a bounce for a gap wedge since I use it for long bunker shots in soft sand. My 9 iron is 45* and my Vokey 50-08 is bent to 51-09. Both are 35.5" long and 64.5 lie angle. I don't have a problem with a 6* gap between those two clubs because there is an overlap of 5 yards between the fully choked shot of the 9 iron and the full swing of the 50. The rest of wedges are gapped pretty well. I played with a set of irons that had a 47* PW and 55* SW and got pretty adept at working the PW (both were GI irons so they were pretty easy to hit from soft bunkers).
  12. AJF

    AJF
    Beavercreek, OH

    Hey Lou

     

    Horse for courses obviously as they say... However you mention that you tried the vokey 48 in 2008. Have you  tried the new SM4. OMG, its a pure and with the shaft options you can't go wrong. Its was funny we are having this discussion. Rory mentioned on the website that he dropped the PW from the MB and went with the new Vokey.   Hit'em well!

  13. Lou G

    Lou G
    San Diego, CA

    AJF said:

    Hey Lou

     

    Horse for courses obviously as they say... However you mention that you tried the vokey 48 in 2008. Have you  tried the new SM4. OMG, its a pure and with the shaft options you can't go wrong. Its was funny we are having this discussion. Rory mentioned on the website that he dropped the PW from the MB and went with the new Vokey.   Hit'em well!

    The 48 was this year (was a SM3). The 52s were in 2008. Anyhow, my Eye 2 9 iron is 45* loft and one of its up points is that it works very well for longer bunker shots. I don't carry the set PW because it has only 2.5* less loft than my 50-08 (which is bent to 51). The 9 iron and 50-08 are both 35.5" with a lie angle of 64.5.
  14. Todd R

    Todd R

    So here is my issue:

    I hit my titles AP1 "P" wedge (43 Degree) exactly 100 yds . I hit my AP1 9 iron (38 degree) exactly 130 yds. My problem shot is 115 yds. I hate chocking down on a 9 iron. Is it possible to get a wedge bent to 40 degrees?

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