What are some things to look at when deciding the right club, loft, and bouce?

is your "miss" usually fat or thin? Are you a digger?

You have to look at wet conditions vs hard conditions also.

Lower bounce is better is hard conditions, but higher bounce is easier to handle in wet conditions. If you are in texas, its been so dry here I had trouble adjusting to the wet conditions when hitting pitch shots.

I like either 8 degree or 10 degree bounce, seems to be in the middle.

Also the higher bounce is better for bunker shots, but its harder to hit a flop type shot with higher bounce.

I think a 58 degree with 8 degree bounce is sort of the jack of all trades club. Enough bounce for bunkers, but not too much that you can still hit flop shots and get your club under the ball and hit it high when needed.

If you are a beginner, I wouldnt recommend a 60 degree as even single digit handicaps have trouble hitting those at times. I would go 56 degree with mid bounce or 58 degree with mid bounce.

Try looking up the specs on your existing irons/wedges. I took this route and got the loft and bounce information for my clubs. If you have a gap wedge, try to be 4-5* more than your gap wedge for enough difference in distance to make the club worth it. Next look at the conditions where you usually play and your swing type. Playing in DFW, the fairways tend to be dry and a high bounce club usually creates issues hitting from the fairway. Toss in the fact, that most courses here have work to do in their bunkers and a high bounce club also has given me fits. As Eric alluded to your swing type will make a difference The following link will help you get more info for selecting a wedge. Sure it goes to Titleist, but it can be applied to any number of wedg manufactures as the information still holds true. http://www.titleist.com/vokey_wedge_guide/

I recently purchased a Vokey 54-11. The 54* loft was 5* more than my gap and the 11 bounce was middle of the road. It has made a drastic difference so far as I can hit it easily in the fairways and bunkers. It came down to Titleist or Cleveland wedges, but the salesman cut me a heck of a deal on a display model and I chose Titleist. I hope it helps as I went through this in 2011.

54 degree. I dont know your skill level but generally speaking it takes more skill to hit a higher degree wedge consistently around the green than a lower degree wedge. I play with a lot of tourists out here in Vegas and see a lot of 90-110 rounds played. If I see a guy chipping with his pitching wedge on hole 1 it gives me a much better feeling about the next 17 holes. If they try to hit a simple chip with a 58 or a 60 we could be in for a long day. a 54 is more versatile than a 58 or 60. You can hit most sand shots with it and hit greens from out to 110 yards.

If I was buying it would be a 54 either Titleist, Cleveland or Mizuno.

As stated earlier, the bounce depends a lot on the conditions you normally play. But something in the 8-10 range should be safe.

[This message has been edited by agsalaska (edited 1/19/2012 12:39a).]

I like the latest Ping wedge, for what it's worth. I know you didn't ask about brands, but that's just my 2 cents.

And I agree with what has been said above. There is nothing at all wrong with utilizing a PW around the green. A SW can be used almost exclusively in the sand and you can still be darn good around the green.

I use my sand primarily for pitching when I need to and sand shots. Around the green I'm most comfortable with a 9i.

There is great advice from the previous posters. My only two cents is to add that Titleist, Cleveland, Ping, Taylor Made, Callaway all make great sand wedges. Bounce and loft are the key, so between manufacturers within the same loft and bounce specs you just need to find something that looks and feels good to you. Cleveland has a little heavier head feel than Titleist.

What's hard about buying a sand wedge is the relative difficulty of "try before you buy" and also finding the right bounce for varying turf conditions throughout the year. Sometimes green approaches get soft and mushy in front, yet there are times when we are playing off firm, tight lies near the green.

As others have noted, high-bounce wedges are best avoided in Texas because they will kill you in firm sand and firm turf.

If you are in Houston, I think Swanson's has a few Titleist demo wedges where you can take them out to the short game area and try them.

They are a small company, but I would highly recommend wedges from Scratch Golf. I bought some myself and have loved them after the first two rounds. Here is their website: http://scratchgolf.com/

While $99 for a wedge isn't unreasonable, especially with all the customization options, I went the cheaper route and bought them from rock bottom golf, because they were $30/club cheaper. http://www.rockbottomgolf.com/scratch-golf-8620-milled-chrome-wedge.html

Titleist SM4's are $129 at PGATourSuperstore

The scratch golf wedges are awesome. They have had some issues as a company but the wedges are as good as you can find.

I have a 54 degree Miura sand wedge that is about 10 years old. There is a sweet spot at about seventy yards out where you literaly do not feel the ball at contact. There is not a wedge produced today as good as it.

Isn't that the brand Ryan Moore used to play?

I think he played Scratch

I ended up buying the Vokey SM4, which I used yesterday and loved. I struggled a little when I had to pitch off of dirt bare spots but I think that was more user error than anything.

What loft?

I went 56-11.