Sandwedge bounce

I play with a GW(50/08), SW(56/12), LW(60/10) and am having difficulty hitting my 90-100m approach shots using my SW. I fear I have too much bounce on my SW, and am therefore blading a disturbingly high number of approach shots from the fairway. As you can imagine this is very frustrating given the ideal scoring opportunity.

Also, since I use my LW for all my bunker shots (cant remember the last time I needed to use a SW in the bunker), I am considering getting a SW with a lower bounce (8 deg).

Would love to hear your thoughts and get some advice!!!

With only 8 deg bounce will I still be able to use the SW for “long” bunker shots?

Quick thoughts.

12 deg bounce of SW is rather high.

I started w Vokey 10 deg bounce, moved to 8, and now the Miura SW has 9 deg.

I think 8 deg bounce, on longer bunker shots is ok, perhaps requiring a touch more accurate point and angle of entry in the sand. W practice it should be fine.

Ways to mitigate:

Hit current SW/12 with ball further back in stance to avoid topping, club will deloft, so choke down accordingly

Hit current LW/10 for longer bunker shot by moving ball to middle of the stance, square face, and take less sand

Get SW w 10 deg bounce

One more thing to try, and this is a simple test. Get some of those lead weight stickers, and stick some weight at the back of your wedge to increase the swing weight. See if you still blade your shots. Normally when I top my shots, my swing is too fast for the swing weight of the club. If I slow down, or add swing weight, the topping stops.

Lee36328 wrote:

Get SW w 10 deg bounce

Does vokey come in 56/10? Cause i would prefer getting that ... Website suggests they only have 56/8 and 56/11. I guess i could get the latter and grind of a degree or two!
http://www.titleist.com.sg/golf-clubs/wedges/vokey-spin-milled.aspx

thought if on fairway, should take the ball before the divot??? so the bounce shouldnt come in play right???

TourSwing wrote:

Lee36328 wrote:

Get SW w 10 deg bounce

Does vokey come in 56/10? Cause i would prefer getting that ... Website suggests they only have 56/8 and 56/11. I guess i could get the latter and grind of a degree or two!
http://www.titleist.com.sg/golf-clubs/wedges/vokey-spin-milled.aspx

Sorry, I guess I might be off by 1 degree, probably the 56/11, followed by the 56/8.

And yes, it's always useful to grind it to fit your swing just right. Very pro like that.

I have a Vokey Spin Milled Oil Can Mens Sand 56°-10° (Bounce) True Temper Dynamic Gold Steel Wedge. feel free to PM me if you are interested.

I just read that adjusting loft has a one to one relationship with bounce ... Which means i could take a 56/11 and bend it to a 55/10, thereby having 45,50,55,60!!! If 55/10 isnt all that great i could further grind it to 55/09!

Alternatively, i could get a 54/08 and bend it to a 55/09!

Time to see a clubfitter again!!

cwpei8888 wrote:

I have a Vokey Spin Milled Oil Can Mens Sand 56°-10° (Bounce) True Temper Dynamic Gold Steel Wedge. feel free to PM me if you are interested.

Pm sent

duffader wrote:

thought if on fairway, should take the ball before the divot??? so the bounce shouldnt come in play right???

Yes to ball first contact, but more bounce means a raised leading edge, and an increased chance of blading it because of that. AOA becomes important, and once must come in steep taking a deep divot.

Apparently, pros prefer lower bounce, as it allows a shallower AOA ... But that has its own complexity! Especially on soft ground where digging in becomes a big issue.

Hmmmm...... pros prefer lower bounce??? So by just changing bounce, will be able to get the distance that they want??? Theory golf always seem so easy....

duffader wrote:

Hmmmm...... pros prefer lower bounce??? So by just changing bounce, will be able to get the distance that they want??? Theory golf always seem so easy....

Wish it were so easy!! More than distance , its the desired spin and trajectory!

When i said pros prefer low bounce it was a very generalized statement , in fact pros have different wedges with same loft and different bounce that they choose between depending on the course conditions.

Rule of thumb: tight lie , less bounce ... And soft/wet/sandy lie more bounce

I see..... damn complicated. Guess some of my kakis are better golfers. Able to use the same wedges irregardless of the conditions.

Must be , thought there was a time when Tiger Woods could break par on a club course using only a 7-iron in the bag!

bottomline is still the swing that determines everything. If they need to change clubs on different conditions, then i dun think they are really good pros. I think wedges are like one of the most used clubs in their bag and i dun think they will want to change it every now and then.

I see your point .. but its not a matter of "needing" to change clubs depending on conditions, but more to do with "optimizing".

Anyways, I dont know any pros firsthand , and am only conveying what I have read on various forums .. maybe someone could check with their pro and confirm back to us ..

Regardless, I'm not a proponent of different bounce wedge sets for weekend golfers, getting used to one set of wedges is hard enough! However, i do feel that a player should carefully choose his wedges (loft and bounce) to suit his/ her game and while keeping local conditions in mind.. the same way one would choose shafts, lie angles, etc

I agree with choosing the right loft and bounce. But i also believe in giving time and getting use to it is more important.

my sand wedge has 14 bounce but I have no problem, cos I'm hitting down ...

TourSwing wrote:

Must be , thought there was a time when Tiger Woods could break par on a club course using only a 7-iron in the bag!

If he is only using the 7iron, why carry a bag?

Denmeister wrote:

TourSwing wrote:

Must be , thought there was a time when Tiger Woods could break par on a club course using only a 7-iron in the bag!

If he is only using the 7iron, why carry a bag?

Because he can't stand the thought of paying Stevie just to hold the 7 iron. So, must carry bag, and weighed down with rocks possibly.

Denmeister wrote:

TourSwing wrote:

Must be , thought there was a time when Tiger Woods could break par on a club course using only a 7-iron in the bag!

If he is only using the 7iron, why carry a bag?

Golf digest has an interesting "whats in the bag" section ... you should check it out ... plenty of "other" interesting stuff in the bag

zhenxua wrote:

my sand wedge has 14 bounce but I have no problem, cos I'm hitting down ...

yup , thats why the TourStriker is so cool .. it trains you to hit down with forward shaft lean ... and the bounce doesnt come in your way

duffader wrote:

I agree with choosing the right loft and bounce. But i also believe in giving time and getting use to it is more important.

Agreed!

I envy you. You must be a strong player to use SW for 90m-100m approach shots. I could only use my GW (52 deg) to do so. Coming back to your question, my feel is that contact could be the solution. Not sure whether bounce would have issues at this distance since the key would be ball first than turf.

Btw, I use up to 9i in the greenside bunker if the pin is further away, and depending on the distance from the pin, the other wedges also come into play.

Quest wrote:

I envy you. You must be a strong player to use SW for 90m-100m approach shots. I could only use my GW (52 deg) to do so. Coming back to your question, my feel is that contact could be the solution. Not sure whether bounce would have issues at this distance since the key would be ball first than turf.

Btw, I use up to 9i in the greenside bunker if the pin is further away, and depending on the distance from the pin, the other wedges also come into play.

I also envy you. for 100m, I use 9i.

Anyway, back to the topic, bounce is very impt to me for green side bunker cos I open the clubface like mad, and hit 2 inches behind the ball. hence I rely heavily on the bounce to "pop" the ball up.

However, people who are accurate and dont fall into the greenside bunker, the I think maybe bounce is not impt

I find bounce, especially in bunkers, to be very key. I have a high bounce LW and a low bounce LW.

For a course with fine, powdery sand, I bring LW w more bounce.

For a course with heavy, wet, mud-like sand, I bring the low bounce LW.

Sometimes, a course will have both (sigh!), forcing me to bring both wedges, kicking out a longer iron from the bag.

Oddly enough, I don't find myself using the AW often. So, I hit either a full swing SW, ball slightly back in stance, or a choked down PW for the distance.