Get More from Your Gap Wedge

Ted Johnson

A few years after Bernhard Langer won the 1993 Masters, legendary Wilson Golf clubmaker Robert Mendralla showed me one trick Langer had in his bag that led to his reputation of having the world’s best short game.

Mendralla, whose resume as clubmaker stretched from Arnold Palmer to Seve Ballesteros, had a wonderful touch when grinding wedges to the specs of touring pros. Langer asked Mendralla to forge a sand wedge head with 50-degrees of loft, which he then used as his pitching wedge. The larger head enabled Langer more surface and grooves with which to manufacture shots, and few could be as creative with the chips and approaches as Langer.

Langer’s trick can be found in today’s stronger-lofted gap wedges, some as low as 46 degrees. These clubs have lofts closer to the traditional pitching wedges of old but have the larger heads with more grooves, inducing more spin.

The real advantage to stronger gap wedges, as seen in this Bob Vokey model by Titleist, is a sole that’s thinner than other wedge models but thicker and more rounded than that in a traditional pitching wedge. A thinner sole reduces the chances of bouncing through tight fairway lies, which produces those dreaded “skulled” shots.

With 8-degrees of bounce but with a rounded leading edge, this wedge reduces the chance of “digging” – known as “chunking: to you and I – but still slides under the ball for that clean contact feel, which is how you get the ball close.

Remember, the closer to the green the more your errors are magnified. Adding one or two wedges in place of traditional 9-iron and pitching wedge might lead to cleaner contact when it matters most.

 

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.