Wedge Fitting - Great Article from "Park Golf Academy"

I had the opportunity to read an article this week that was so good that I just had to provide you folks the link to it. Here you go...

http://parkgolfacademy.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/get-more-wedge-for-your-money/

The author is Martin Park of the Park Golf Academy in Denmark (yep, the world is global).


Wedge fitting is fascinating because to me players can improve significantly their games by having the right wedges and putters in their bags. But it seems like the design of wedges has - for the most part - not changed significantly from the original Sarazen design from about 50 years ago.

Martin Park discusses the following key elements related to picking the right wedges for you.....

LENGTH

LOFT

FLEX

LIE ANGLE

SWINGWEIGHT

GRIP

BOUNCE

SOLE WIDTH

HEAD FINISH

GROOVES

SHAFTS


Lots of possible ways to find clubs that can really help you!


You may also want to read some of his other articles....they are excellent!


The Fit Is IT!!

Tony

Short Game - Short Game - Short Game!

Every few weeks there is a post on the AGCP forum that just seems to get lots of attention and responses.


The latest one relates to wedge bounce and wedge sole width - how important are they to wedge play, how does one do correct wedge fittings? So far over 25 responses to the initial question on this one, and a lot of good ideas on how to do wedge fitting. Mostly I am talking about sand wedge fitting.


For me the key lessons learned from the posts are.....


1. Getting good at wedge play is well worth the effort. If you can find a good teaching pro who can teach you good wedge technique and particularly sand play technique, you can overcome many of the missed shots that are part of a normal round of golf.


2. There is no one wedge that is good for all conditions of play. Some will play well in soft sand, some in harder sand. Some in soft fairways, some in tight fairways. And some can help you if you tend to "pick" the ball, where some others can help you if you tend to hit your wedge shots fat.


3. If you can find a fitter who has a variety of wedges with different bounces and sole widths, you should consider hitting shots will these different types of wedges and see what works best for you. Experiment.............see what wedge type can work well for you and your game and course conditions.


4. Finally............and this was not in the post but is my personal view............most players are better off not attempting to use a lob wedge. You might consider, in fact, carrying two sand wedges - one with a "normal" amount of bounce and sole width, and one with a wide sole design. Then you will have the tools to hit shots from a wide variety of lies and sand types.


Tony

56 Blog Posts?

Tonight before I started writing my weekly Monday post, I noted that I have now done this 56 times. It is hard for me to believe that I have been doing this blog for more than a year.


I am in Atlanta tonight but miss the fact that my new Scratch Wedge Demo Heads came in the mail today. You might want to get on the Scratch Golf site..... www.scratchgolf.com. They are making some of the best-selling new wedge heads in golf. Their niche is that their wedge heads are designed for different kinds of club swingers. They sell three different designs of wedge heads for different kinds of wedge shot swings.....you can answer three simple questions on their web site and determine of Digger/Driver, Driver/Slider, or Sweeper/Slider wedge head designs will best fit your game. They sell both forged heads and cast heads.....and the cast heads are very good, some are in play on the Nationwide Tour.


My plan is to build 4 demo sand wedge clubs - one each of the cast and one of the forged - and allow you folks to try them and see what you think. If you are interested, come to Centenial on a Saturday sometime after the Thanksgiving holiday and hit some balls with these wedges....I think you will be presently surprised!


Tony