How critical is the bounce * on a sand wedge

[oldracer]

Having had/having nightmares about getting out of bunkers, I looked at my gear. 51/7 57/14 and a 58/9. All of this is certainly conditional on my crappy technique I know but I'm after a general consensus on what people use. My 51 is the go to gap/pitch and goes pretty good for me. I use it also for hard lies on sand which also works ok. My dilemma is the 57, I think it has too much bounce as I don't get the "feel" for it and haven't spent much time on the 58 but that might be the answer, 9* bounce instead of 14*. Having read a bit about sand play and wedges, the articles always refer to the type of sand you play in, well mostly the sand I get in is crappy, hasn't been raked forever or is mutilated prior to me getting in there so not sure I have a specific type. My home course the bunkers aren't tended very well so it's a lottery, just after some ideas, thanks

[talbo]

I use either a 56/10 or 60/04 depending on the lie and depending on how hard or soft the sand is. Low bounce for harder more compacted bunkers and even for some fried egg lies, higher bounce works better for softer sand. I use a shortish very wristy action in the sand for green side bunkers and in my experience (I'm a hack) the most important thing is you cannot allow the arms or wrists to stall through the ball.

I wouldn't normally recommend anything instruction wise, but imo this guy knows what he's talking about and his short game video you can download is a bargain.

http://montescheinblum.com/short-game/

[virge666]

Bouce is easy to work out.

Low bounce = DIG
High Bounce = Skid

use the above to match out your wedges and you systems.

if you play a lot of shots off hard packed ground... then low bounce.

If it is fluffy and the ball sits up... then high bounce.

opening up the club through impact will also add bounce.

[jimandr]

Two questions, and the first one might be a stupid one.

Firstly, how do you know how much bounce your club has. It doesn't seem to be printed anywhere on my wedges.

Secondly, which is worse. High bounce out of a digging lie, or low bounce out of a lie where you should be skidding the club under the ball.

Ideally, to cover all bases, your sandy would go one way and your lobby the other if this is an issue. Do people actually do this?

[benno_r]

I play my wedges on bounce:
56deg high bounce = fluffy rough, soft / soggy fairway, soft sand. Anywhere there is a chance of the wedge digging in and hitting fat, I use this.
60deg low bounce = Wet / hard bunkers, tight hard fairways, bare patches etc, concrete paths. Anywhere the only way to take a divot is a pick axe, I use this.

Not a hard and fast rule by any means, but what I use as a guide.

Cheers,
Ben

[wizard_of_oz]

Crappy bunker technique will be the over riding factor here unfortunately.

[Daves]

Two questions, and the first one might be a stupid one.

Firstly, how do you know how much bounce your club has. It doesn't seem to be printed anywhere on my wedges.

Secondly, which is worse. High bounce out of a digging lie, or low bounce out of a lie where you should be skidding the club under the ball.

Ideally, to cover all bases, your sandy would go one way and your lobby the other if this is an issue. Do people actually do this?

In terms of versatility, a lower bounce is a bit more useable in the sense that you can add bounce as Virge mentioned by opening the face right up. You can't remove bounce as such as effectively.

[Icestorm959]

I use a 56/16 as my main sand wedge (but switch to my 51/4 if the sand looks like concrete).

I absolutely love this bounce, I'm performing much much better out of the bunker with the 56/16 than I was with the 58/8 that I had earlier. My technique is usually just to smash the living bollocks out of the sand about an inch or two behind the ball though, so with the lower bounce that I had before the club was digging straight into the sand and I was not getting enough ball and therefore struggling to get it out of the bunker. If you're technique is more ball and less sand by default you may be better off with a lower bounce?

[oldracer]

Two questions, and the first one might be a stupid one.

Firstly, how do you know how much bounce your club has. It doesn't seem to be printed anywhere on my wedges.

Secondly, which is worse. High bounce out of a digging lie, or low bounce out of a lie where you should be skidding the club under the ball.

Ideally, to cover all bases, your sandy would go one way and your lobby the other if this is an issue. Do people actually do this?Hi Jim, thanks for the reply. My Callaway 58 has 9* on the hosel and my other 2 are Miuras which according to their website show the bounce for both the Y grind 51* and the C grind 57* and I use the 51 for the hard stuff and trying to get use to the 57 for the soft stuff. Again I'm sure it's all technique and I've really only spent the last 3 weeks solid on bunkers so I can't expect a huge improvement immediately.

[Daves]

I use either a 56/10 or 60/04 depending on the lie and depending on how hard or soft the sand is. Low bounce for harder more compacted bunkers and even for some fried egg lies, higher bounce works better for softer sand. I use a shortish very wristy action in the sand for green side bunkers and in my experience (I'm a hack) the most important thing is you cannot allow the arms or wrists to stall through the ball.

I wouldn't normally recommend anything instruction wise, but imo this guy knows what he's talking about and his short game video you can download is a bargain.

http://montescheinblum.com/short-game/

A good video, well worth the $20.

[oldracer]

absolutely Daves, thanks Talbo will be an invest in short order when we get back home.

[oldracer]

Crappy bunker technique will be the over riding factor here unfortunately.totally with you there Wiz, knowing that I need to sort it out I was just after a general consensus on spec once I become the "Sevy" of 2014. Truth be known you can use a bloody 8 iron at any time if yur good enuff, I'm not, yet!!!! :)

[oldracer]

I use a 56/16 as my main sand wedge (but switch to my 51/4 if the sand looks like concrete).

I absolutely love this bounce, I'm performing much much better out of the bunker with the 56/16 than I was with the 58/8 that I had earlier. My technique is usually just to smash the living bollocks out of the sand about an inch or two behind the ball though, so with the lower bounce that I had before the club was digging straight into the sand and I was not getting enough ball and therefore struggling to get it out of the bunker. If you're technique is more ball and less sand by default you may be better off with a lower bounce?big bounce Ice and for some stupid reason that scares me which I need to overcome, as they say bounce should be your friend, thanks for the reply cheers

[oldracer]

thanks for all the replies gents, tuition, feel and practice is the order of the day, then sort the bats out if required after that, cheers racer

[markTHEblake]

Old race, do you play in comps or alone/social?
If the latter, when in bunkers do a bit of maintenance and give yourself a normal lie. It makes no sense to practice out of potholes.



Crappy bunker technique will be the over riding factor here unfortunately.

LIKE.

[highballin]

I wouldn't normally recommend anything instruction wise, but imo this guy knows what he's talking about and his short game video you can download is a bargain.

http://montescheinblum.com/short-game/

+1 on this. Have both the short game and wedge video. Like the way he teaches has helped me a lot.

[Icestorm959]

big bounce Ice and for some stupid reason that scares me which I need to overcome, as they say bounce should be your friend, thanks for the reply cheers
Yeah i was like that first, was scared of smacking down hard so tried to play light flop shots out of the bunker with 8deg bounce, kept topping or shanking it as a result. Once I started smashing all the way through with my arms though I found out that bounce in the bunker is definitely your friend!

[oldracer]

Old race, do you play in comps or alone/social?
If the latter, when in bunkers do a bit of maintenance and give yourself a normal lie. It makes no sense to practice out of potholes.




LIKE.hey MTB, recently got my cap but the sand killed me, just had 3 weeks hols and threw balls in the sand at every opportunity playing socially, played them as they laid then raked and reset and did it again and again so they were good lies that I could get out of but not generally to where I wanted them but hopefully that will come. You take what you get in comp I know. practice practise and when I'm done with that...do some more as long as the technique is right!!!thanks for the reply