lessonspin
by Blake Thomas, PGA
Director of Instruction
University Club of Baton Rouge
set your goals for spring 2018
Wedges are typically the clubs players
have a tendency to not think about all that
often. Most people will walk into the pro
shop and simply grab a 56 degree wedge off
the rack, peel the wrapper off and go play.
These clubs are often the last clubs to be
replaced in the bag as well.
In my opinion the wedges you choose
to play have a very important role in your
success on the golf course. So let me walk
you through the process of how we fi t players
for the scoring clubs in their bag.
The fi rst phase of a wedge fi tting is what
we call a “Gap Test”. We ask the player to
hit full shots with their pitching wedge to
determine the exact carry distance with
that club. We then start testing diff erent lofts
to get the optimal carry yardages with the
number of wedges the player would like to
carry in the bag. The desired carry distance
between wedges is between 10-15 yards,
which typically equates to a 4-6 degree loft
variation between wedges (ex. 46, 50, 54,
58).
Phase 2 will be
to determine if the
player needs more
bounce, less bounce,
or something in
between for each
wedge. We use a
lie board to help
determine where the
player falls.
* Contact towards
the leading edge- this
will indicate a steeper
angle of attack and
will require more
bounce
• Contact towards
the center of the
wedge-this
will
indicate a neutral
angle of
attack
and will require a
wedge with medium
bounce
• Contact towards
the trailing edge –
this will indicate a
shallower angle of
attack and will require
less bounce
One
important
piece of information to
remember about your
wedges, a new sand
wedge will typically
generate
around
10,000 rpm’s of spin,
a sand wedge that has 125+ rounds of golf
will generate around 7,000 rpm’s of spin. If
you are having trouble holding greens and
getting the ball to stop near the hole you
might want to consider getting new wedges.
The staff at Backspin thanks
Blake Thomas for providing
lessons for the last three months!
We’re hoping he becomes a
regular! To contact Blake, email
him at blakethomasgolf@
gmail.com.
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