Bounce, c'mon bounce....

Hi Nikhil,

Thanks for your support and also your questions, I think understanding more about how bounce works on wedges and how much having the correct bounce and sole design can help is something a lot of players could benefit from. I've addressed each of your queries below:

1.

Bounce is:  it’s the angle between the leading edge and lowest point on the sole. If you look at a wedge, the trailing edge is lower than the leading edge. This is the bounce angle. With that trailing edge being lower than the leading edge it helps to create relief and help the club to slide thru the turf.

Our wedges are marked with what the effective bounce is of each club, the effective bounce is a little more art than science. It’s how the wedge will play around the greens.  It takes into consideration not just the bounce angle, but the sole width, the camber, and the sole grind. 

The wider the sole width the more effective bounce it has as there is more surface area of the sole coming into contact with the club. Conversely a narrow sole width will reduce effective bounce

The more enhanced the camber or curvature of the sole the less effective bounce it has and vice versa for a sole with reduced camber.

The sole grind is the shape, contour and amount of relief ground away from the trailing edge of the sole from heel to toe. The more the sole relief the less the effective bounce.

2.

Fitting for wedges is really important. Think of most amateur golfers. They only hit 6 - 8 greens in a round, if they are having a good day. So on the majority of holes, you are going to be using a wedge. And wedges are required to hit so many different shots - bunker shots, fairway shots, lob shots, little pitches. Wedges need to be versatile and every player is different. It’s never one size fits all for wedges. Your wedges are exclusively used in your scoring zone, used well they can save you plenty of shots every time you play, that’s why it's so important to have your wedges fitted and why we have so many options. 

Our wedge fittings have two main aspects: bounce fitting and yardage gapping. In the bounce fitting portion, we figure out your swing type. Most players fit into one of three types:  slider/sweeper, neutral, or driver/digger. That will help us recommend some bounce options to try.

SLIDER-SWEEPER STYLE PLAYER

• Club head has a shallow angle of attack
• Minimal ground contact
• Shallow divots and less sand displacement
• Able to slide the club under the ball with the face open

Slider/Sweepers are best to wedges with medium bounce for versatility or choose wedges based on the typical course conditions in which you play. For firm conditions a wedge with less bounce. For soft conditions, a wedges with more bounce

NEUTRAL STYLE PLAYER

• Club head has a moderate angle of attack
• Medium sized divot
• Moderate sand displacement

Neutral style players are best to choose wedges with moderate bounce for versatility or choose wedges based on the typical course turf conditions in which you play.

DRIVER-DIGGER STYLE PLAYER

• Club head has a moderate to steep angle of attack
• Full divot
• More sand displacement
• Trends to play shots with a square face relying on the loft

Driver-Diggers are best to choose wedges with more bounce for maximum playability from the sand. For firm conditions, choose a wedge with medium bounce. For soft conditions, choose wedges with more bounce.

If you made a substantial change to your technique you may find it necessary to be re-fitted for your wedges. Otherwise like with the other sections of your bag a fitting would only be needed when you are looking to upgrade to something newer.

3.

Bounce is not overly customizable on your irons. If we are looking to strengthen or weaken the lofts of someones irons we would definitely take into account their turf interaction before doing so, as strengthening loft will lessen bounce and weakening the loft will add bounce. This because the sole of the clubs trailing edges position is changed when loft is adjusted.

Hope this helps,

Gene