There's a guy who is the pro at one of the local clubs but years ago, when I first took up the game, he did teaching at an independent setup not affiliated with a club. Took a few lessons from him including one wedge game lesson. Especially pitching. This was late-90's.
He had two wedges that honestly I think he had used since at least the Nixon administration. Maybe he got them as graduation presents from middle school or something ;-)
I asked him about the loft and bounce details on them. He said he'd had them so long he didn't remember. It was something like, "This one is 57 degrees and other is 56 degrees. Don't know the bounce but they're shaped different. Oh, wait a minute. Maybe I got the other one bent. I think they're both 57 but I use them for different kinds of lies".
I guess a good wedge is something you want to stick with...he sure could land one ball after another on the same pitch mark from 30 yards away. Remarkable feel and rhythm.
Brent,
I'm always amazed at how when amateurs buy a new set of the latest and greatest irons (code for delofted and longer:
)
....that they also replace their wedges.
If you have a wedge that works, why would you want to go through the learning curve of how the club interacts with the turf (crucial). how it flies, and how it releases (most important)
Jeff, congratulations on your award. I'm sure it's well deserved. With the new conforming wedges, how often are you replacing them. I play 80 rounds a year and practice a lot. I'm leaning towards replacing my 60 every year. I use it out of our bunkers which have pretty coarse sand. I use an old sand wedge to practice bunker shots to save a little wear on my gamer.
Rob,
When I was practicing a bit I would wear my SW clean in about 2 years, but really only replaced them thy actually got a bit concave which did affect flight.The last 2 years I have been battling trying to find the right wedges so wearing out grooves hasn't been a problem as I've done a lot of switching.
Titleist says get new wedges every 80 rounds which I think is total hooey, but I guess if someone always used to always having deep predictable grooves that make sense. I played for many years before Eye 2's with a Wilson Staff that had no grooves after awhile.
You simply adapt-lower spin is very useful for many pitches and chips-not so much on fuller shots when the grass is wet.
Pat,
Most commonly I see amateurs who think they can go from 20 to zero by perfecting their "swing".
I often play with amateurs in a Pro-Am who hit more fairways and as many greens as I do and they don't break 90-they then want me to help them with their "swing" after their round.
Video and a Trackman can't help that guy but it's stunning how many want the bells and whistles rather than practicing to targets and situations-especially inside 100 yards.
Can you imagine hooking up Trackman to a free throw shooter? (though video could be useful for that)
I talk a lot about course management, but unless it's a special course rarely does architecture per se come up.
The shorter and straighter one hits it, the more it comes up as they can afford to try to hit particular areas of a fairway.
I'm not a huge fan though of crap like leaving a full shot in as I stress learning to hit quality half shots instead (IMHO the guy from 30-40 yards out will beat the pants off the guy from 100-if the guy from 30 out learns how to pitch)
. If one lays up he now has to hit 2 good shots-rather dicey for a higher handicap