Wedge Shafts - How Do YOU Feel?

In the interest of being curious, when I get wedges with steel shafts to regrip I always check the flex of the shafts.

Just about every time, the shaft flex is - based on the flex standard that I use - XStiff to XXStiff. This is becoming less and less of a surprise to me, but now I am wondering why most of these shafts are so stiff.

Clearly wedges are for the most part "feel" clubs. Yes, you might hit a full sand wedge or lob wedge from time to time, but mostly you are hitting 30 to 50 yard shots, pitches around the green, and sand shots.

I know of at least one player who likes his sand wedge to be very stiff - he calls it "rebar" - particularly for use in sand shots. I also, though, know a lot of fitters who have great success building wedges that are actually slightly softer in flex than the other shafts in a set.

It all comes down again, then, to that wonder four letter golf word - Feel. And particularly for wedges, it is worth finding out if you perform better with wedges that are very stiff, or wedges that are a bit softer than the other irons in your bag.

Tony

Dear Santa - Bring me a Scratch Wedge!

I recently built four Scratch demo wedges particularly so a new client could test them. We did this testing today and he liked the playability of all of them. But he particularly liked the "Driver/Slider" grind with a KBS R flex wedge shaft. It was fun to watch, because he is a good player (3 handicap and has been lower) and has great feel with clubs. He could easily feel the difference between an S flex wedge shaft and the R flex one.......hitting the R flex shaft made less than full swing shots much easier to control.


When I order these wedge heads for him tomorrow, I think I will add a Digger/Driver grind cast wedge head for me. Scratch sells three wedge grinds - Sweeper/Slider, Driver/Slider, and Digger/Driver. I completed the Scratch Wedge Evaluation form on their web site and it is clear that the Digger/Driver is a good fit for the way I hit wedge shots......misses most often fat shots. This grind helps players like me to still get good shot results even when we hit a little behind the ball.


All wedges are simply not the same and do not play the same. Scratch is really on to something with their line of wedges, and their sales have skyrocketed since Ryan Moore started endorsing their clubs. I believe I am the only clubfitter selling Scratch wedges in East Tennessee......so if you are interested in them please get in touch with me and come to the Centenial Teaching/Fitting Center sometime to try one out.


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