Wedges are an essential part of your golf game.
Your golf wedges will help your golf score significantly.
Some players only know how far their short shots can go with their wedges.
Understanding how far a full swing wedge shot will go is essential to your golf course management.
In this guide, we will help give you an idea of how far you should hit your wedges and some tips for hitting them further if needed.
How Far Should I Hit My Wedges?
How far you hit your wedges will depend on two main factors; the speed of your swing and the specifications of the wedge itself.
The faster you swing the golf club, the further it will go.
Players with very fast swing speed will have a hard time controlling the distances they can get with their wedges.
As far as the specifications of the wedges are concerned, the pitching wedge has the least amount of loft, so it should travel the furthest.
The lob wedge has the most amount of loft and will travel the shortest distance.
We will break down each wedge for you and give you some ideas as to how far you should hit your wedges.
Pitching Wedge
A pitching wedge usually has about 46-43 degrees of loft.
The loft in a pitching wedge makes it an excellent club for shots around the green and from the middle of the fairway.
Pitching wedges are very forgiving and often become a favorite golf club in the bag of most golfers.
If you have a very fast swing speed, you will likely be able to hit your pitching wedge about 150 yards.
Average swing speed players can hit their pitching wedge about 120 yards, and slower players will hit about or around 100 yards.
A full swing pitching wedge shot is going to come into play quite often.
You can also use pitching wedges to hit pitch shots and chip shots when you are close to the green.
Because of the loft on the pitching wedge, it is going to fly for a short time and roll for a long time when you use it around the green.
Most people use the general rule of thumb that it will be in the air for 1/3 of the shot and on the ground for 2/3 of the shot.
Gap Wedge
A gap wedge fills the gap between a pitching wedge and a sand wedge.
The loft differences between these two clubs can often be quite broad.
A gap wedge is usually around 50 or 52 degrees of loft.
Many people will have a gap wedge that matches their pitching wedge, and others will have one that matches their sand and lob wedge.
This is more of a preference than a strict rule in golf.
They are generally speaking better players will us a gap wedge that matches their high lofted wedges.
Higher handicappers will use the gap wedge that matches their irons.
The gap wedges that are an extension of the iron set are generally cavity back and much more forgiving than a blade type wedge.
These wedges are great for a full swing shot, and for most average swinging players, it will be right around a 100-yard shot.
Again gap wedges can be used around the green just as it can be used from the fairway.
Gap wedges also can be an excellent help for longer bunker shots.
Sometimes if you still have a thirty-yard bunker shot, it can be hard to hit the sand wedge and have enough distance.
The gap wedge can solve this problem.
For slower swing speed players, the gap wedge may go about 80 yards or so.
Sand Wedge
Yardages on a sand wedge can vary quite a bit because of the varying degrees of loft on a sand wedge.
A sand wedge could have anywhere from 54 to 58 degrees of loft.
Most sand wedges are going to be more like a wedge than iron, but some iron sets come with matching sand wedges.
A typical 56-degree sand wedge should go about 80 yards for a golfer with average swing speed.
Players with slow swing speed are going to be closer to 50-60 yards for a sand wedge shot.
It is not very often that a player will use a full swing sand wedge shot to approach a green.
Sand wedges are most often used for smaller shots around the green where there is a lot of spin and loft required to complete the shot.
Hitting a full swing sand shot can sometimes be a risk because of how close you are to the green.
If you feel that hitting a half swing type shot with a pitching wedge may be safer, that is certainly fine to do.
Lob Wedge
A lob wedge can be anywhere from 58 to 64 degrees.
This club has the most loft of any other club in your golf bag.
A full swing with a lob wedge will go around 60-70 yards for an average swing speed player.
Lower swing speed players may only get 30-40 yards with a full swing lob wedge.
Again, this is not a very popular shot and should not be used that often.
The lob wedge is going to be best suited for shots that need a lot of loft and spin and is located very close to the green itself.
A full swing lob wedge shot can be challenging to pull off, and it may leave you short or long of the target.
Whenever you play a round of golf, you always want to choose a shot that you should be able to pull off 9/10.
If a full swing lob shot is a shot you can pull of 2/10, do not hit it.
Practice this shot and then learn to incorporate it when you get a bit better at the game.
Why Are Wedges Not Very Forgiving For Full Swing Shots?
If you look at the construction of a traditional golf wedge compared to iron, you will see quite a few differences.
The wedge itself is going to be more of a blade shape that does not offer much room for forgiveness.
Wedges also have a bounce on them, and bounce will affect how they perform on a full swing shot.
Bounce is a great thing when you are working on a variety of shots around the green, but for full swing shots, it can be a little tricky.
If your wedge has a high level of bounce, it could “bounce” across the turf without taking the proper divot.
Recently companies like Cleveland have started to make cavity back design wedges.
These wedges are making it much easier to hit shots around the green with a lot more forgiveness.
This has given higher handicap golfers the ability to use high levels of spin in their short game but still get forgiveness.
The cavity back wedges are not going to feel quite as good as the blade wedges, but they will have some excellent performance.
What Is The Best Gap Between Wedges?
With all the different wedge choices on the market, it can be challenging to decide which ones you need for your bag.
You should try and make sure that you have even gaps between your wedges if you want the highest level of performance.
The gaps should be four or five degrees and should give you some consistency when you are trying to determine which shots to hit.
Most amateur players are going to use a 52, 56, and 60-degree wedge.
Within this set of wedges, they will have varying degrees of bounce to make sure that there are a variety of shots they can play on each hole.
Does A Half Swing Wedge Shot Go Half the Distance?
If your pitching wedge goes 100 yards for a full swing, then you may assume that it goes 50 yards for a half swing.
This is not the case in golf.
Since there is so much variation in a person’s golf swing, some people may hit the ball just as far with a half swing.
Some people have a golf swing that is not very efficient or something that throws the timing off at some point in the swing.
If this is the case, there will probably not be much difference between the large swing and the short swing.
Many professionals will tell you that for most shots, they think about taking a ¾ swing.
There are not many instances that pros will feel the need to take a 100 percent full swing and overextend themselves.
The only way to know how far a half-swing wedge shot will go is to practice hitting shots of different lengths.
How To Practice How Far Wedges Should Go?
The best way to figure out how far your wedges are going is to spend some time practicing the distances on the range.
Pick a target that is approximately fifty yards from you.
Grab your pitching wedge, gap wedge, sand wedge, and lob wedge.
Take swings until you learn how to hit each of these clubs fifty yards.
It will take some time to develop the feel, but it will give you tremendous variety when you get to the golf course.
If you stand at a forty-yard shot and you know you can hit four or five different clubs, you are giving yourself a significant advantage.
How Many Wedges Does A Golfer Need?
There is no perfect answer to the number of wedges a golfer should have in their golf bag.
Most of the time, you will want to have at least three.
Something like a pitching wedge for forgiveness and longer shots.
Something like a lob wedge that will give you high spin and loft when close to the green.
And something like a sand wedge for when you are in between.
If you have the room in your bag to carry an extra club, the gap wedge is a great fill in.
If you only can have a pitching wedge and one other wedge, make sure that the other wedge has more than 55 degrees of loft.
You will want to have this extra loft to help you out of bunkers and get the ball up and down quickly.
What Is A 64 Degree Wedge For?
A 64-degree wedge is a very high lofted lob wedge.
Some people who like to play a lot of flops and lob shots are going to enjoy this golf club.
If this is not something you are used to playing and you don’t think it will benefit your game, you are probably better off going with a 60 degree.
A sixty-degree wedge will at least give you a little distance in addition to the high spin and high launch.
Conclusion
It can take a little time to learn the distances on all of your wedges.
You will need to spend some time practicing and working on hitting shots of different distances.
The more you work the wedges, the easier it gets to have confidence when you are on the golf course.
Always remember that distance in golf is directly related to swing speed.
If you are struggling with getting the distance in your wedges, make sure that you are playing with a club that correctly matches your swing speed.
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