By Matt Smith
Nothing says more about a golfer than his wedges. From shining companions, fresh off the peg, to a ‘trusty-rusty’ that look like it has been in the family for generations, this is the go-to club whenever you are in bother around the green and the one you lean on more than any other to get you out of trouble. 

Whether you are a weekend hacker or a recovery master like Rory McIlroy or Justin Thomas, the wedge is your tried-and-trusted friend to get that ball on the dancefloor.

But discovering which is the right fit for you is no quick fix, and almost every golfer will have a different suggestion when it comes to choosing a lofted club. 

Just like any other part of the game, if you are starting out — or deciding the wedge in your bag is not doing the job — visit your local pro or club fitter to try out the full range on offer. You will be surprised just how many, and varied, options are out their, and you can get the right fit tailor-made to suit your needs. 

In the groove
While it can be a wrench to part with a club that has seen you through the best and toughest of times, every top pro will tell you a wedge is the club that needs replacing more often than the others. 

If you are a weekly golfer, chances are you will see a decline in performance after around two years of regular use (75-100 rounds). This is, as you may expect, down to general wear and tear, with the club face seeing a lot more of the ‘dirty’ side of the game (rough and sand) than, say, a driver or putter. 

Even range use takes its toll, as harder range balls can impact the endurance of your wedge significantly.

“The grooves on the face of wedges tend to get worn out after frequent use and this can result in a drop in performance,” says Dean Cheesley, CEO of eGolf Megastore. “The main areas that get impacted, the launch angle, spin and control, are clear indications that it is time for a replacement.”

If you are seeing a drop-off in performance around the fringes, it might not be you. Double-check the face of your club, especially if it is on the older side. If you are loath to part with your pal, a specialist club-fitter should be able to get it re-grooved. However, as is often the case, sometimes a club is past its best and it is time to go shopping. 

What suits?
As mentioned above, every player is different, so the needs of their wedge varies. However, it is generally agreed that a pitching wedge should be a few swingweight points (amount of weight in the bottom two thirds of a golf club compared to the top third) heavier than a player’s 9-iron, with a lob wedge a slightly more again.

Then comes the bounce and grind.  Bounce is the angle of the sole measured against the ground. The more bounce, the more the bottom of the club is raised and prevents it from digging into the turf and sand.

The grind on a wedge is the geometry of the sole, which can be manipulated by ‘grinding’ material from the heel, toe, trailing edge and leading edge to perfect how the club interacts with the turf. 

Again, this is a process that is almost unique to every golfer to get the most out of your club. Grinding will help create a steeper or shallower swing, depending on each golfer’s needs, and a visit to your local club-fitter is a must to get the perfect result.

As a rule of thumb, steep swingers benefit from wider soles (high bounce) and those with a shallow swing gain more from a narrower sole (low bounce). Each to their own.

How many?
To complicate/simplify matters, depending on your view, some pros recommend golfers carry a mix of high and low-bounce options in their bag for versatility as terrain around the greens is varied and sometimes one option is better than the other, regardless of swing. 

Of course, you can get too much of a good thing, and it is recommended that a golfer does not go too heavy on the number of wedges in their bag (remember, for every wedge, you have one less elsewhere). It is suggested that a long wedge (120 yards) to the shortest is used to begin with until a player finds exactly the right fit for them in terms of distance, spin and control. If you have more than four wedges, maybe a visit to the pro is in order. 

TaylorMade Hi-Toe Milled Grind (RRP AED 835)
TaylorMade Golf may have produced the leading all-round wedge in the Hi-Toe 3 — capable of producing the entire range of short-game shots to help unlock creativity and save strokes around the green.