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In golf, a gap wedge, also known as an approach wedge, is a wedge used to hit a shot with higher and shorter trajectory than a pitching wedge and lower and longer trajectory than a sand wedge. The name derives from the club's design to fill the "gap" between sand and pitching wedges.
Over time the loft angle on irons in matched sets has been reduced for multiple reasons. Manufacturers, always wanting to advertise longer distances than their competitors, sometimes "cheat" by de-lofting their iron sets by a degree or two compared to their competitor's set, producing between 2-5 yards of extra distance per degree of "strengthening". In addition, several significant advances in clubhead design, most notably the 1970s development of investment-cast "cavity-back" designs, and the 1990s introduction of clubfaces that increased backspin to improve "bite", resulted in clubs with higher launch angles and flight paths for the same loft angle than their predecessors. Clubmakers then compensated for this in both cases by reducing loft, to translate that higher flight path into greater distance. Currently, the pitching wedge of a typical matched iron set has a loft similar to a 9-iron from the 1980s, at about 46 degrees, and much stronger lofts are found in game improvement sets. [1]
However, sand wedges generally have not received this same reduction in loft, even as they were designed with similar weight-distribution and backspin-improving features. This is because the sand wedge is typically not used with distance in mind; its eponymous purpose requires the traditional 54-56° loft angle in order to dig into the soft sand surrounding the ball and lift it out. The sand wedge's nominal loft and "bounce" angles have not changed appreciably from Gene Sarazen's original concept based on the niblick. Cavity-backed, perimeter-weighted sets may de-loft this club by a degree or two compared to a forged set, but this is nowhere near the amount of loft reduction seen in the numbered irons. This leaves a "gap" in loft angle between the pitching and sand wedges of up to 10 degrees, causing a distance difference with a full swing of up to 30 yards, both of which are differences normally seen between irons two or more loft numbers apart (e.g., between a 7 and 9 iron) instead of "adjacent" lofts as the PW and SW traditionally are.
As a result, some players who had upgraded to these newer de-lofted iron sets began carrying the pitching wedge of an older set, lofted around 50-52°, to "fill the gap". This additional wedge, with a full swing, falls between the average distances of a sand and pitching wedge, allowing the player to fine-tune their approach shot's distance without needing excessive variations in swing speed. Clubmakers, sensing an opportunity, began to offer a purpose-built wedge in this general loft range starting in the early to middle 1990s. These have become known colloquially as "gap wedges" due to their origin, despite various proprietary names applied to wedges in this class by their manufacturers.
Gap wedges are loosely defined, but typically have the loft between that of a pitching wedge and sand wedge, between 50 and 54 degrees. [2] At the extremes there is redundancy with either the pitching wedge (typically 48°) or the sand wedge (typically 56°), however some players will "fine-tune" the lofts of these other wedges to their play style, leading to alternate loft choices for a gap wedge. Most players look for a separation of 4 degrees between clubs, and so with the standard pitching and sand wedge lofts, the complementary gap wedge would be 52°.
Within the range of lofts seen in gap wedges, the angle that the sole makes to the ground at address, also known as the club's "bounce angle", varies from 0° up to 12° or more. Lower lofts typically benefit from a lower bounce angle, suiting their use as effectively an "11-iron" for shots from firmer lies such as grass. Higher lofts, generally used from softer lies where the ball may have dug itself in more, require a higher bounce similar to the sand wedge to dig in and then lift back out of the ground. The most common 52° wedge is sold in a wide range of bounce angles; 8° is a common "medium bounce" choice, allowing the golfer to use the club in a variety of lies, from the fairway or rough to "fried egg" semi-embedded sand or mud situations.
The relation between actual loft and bounce can change based on how the player addresses the ball; the more forward the ball, and the more open the clubface, the higher the effective loft and bounce angles. Some clubmakers will vary the amount of bounce that the sole has from toe to heel, allowing the player to fine-tune the club to the specific situation by opening it. When square at address, such a club behaves more like a lower-bounce pitching wedge, while when opened, the club behaves more like a sand wedge (without the bounce becoming too high and making a "skulled" shot more likely, as it would with a constant bounce angle from tow to heel). A few manufacturers call attention to this by labeling the wedge "D" for "dual wedge", indicating it can be used as either a pitching or sand wedge (or anything in between).
There is little consistency in labeling gap wedges; most manufacturers simply label the wedge with its angle, optionally including additional information about the amount of bounce (sometimes the angle measure, more often a series of one to three dots indicating "low", "medium" and "high" bounce). Some manufacturers call it an "Approach", "Attack" or "All" wedge, labeling it in these cases with "A". The Karsten Manufacturing Company, maker of the Ping brand of golf clubs, favored the use of "U" for "utility wedge", but currently only uses this label on wedges sold in matched sets; most individual Ping wedges are currently labelled with their angle. It is actually uncommon to find a gap wedge labeled "G"; Adams Golf, Cobra, Mizuno, and Wilson are among the few manufacturers that do so.
The necessity of the gap wedge is contested by some golfers and clubfitters, [3] who assert that this additional wedge would not be necessary if clubmakers had not de-lofted the clubs in the first place as a marketing move, to attract amateurs looking for more distance from each number. In addition, many matched sets do not include a gap wedge, when most clubmakers have included the pitching wedge since irons first began to be offered as matched numbered sets in the 1930s. The end result, critics claim, is that the 3 and 4-iron of a matched set have become just as hard to hit as the 1 and 2-irons of the 1970s, and with the average golfer carrying a set numbered between 4-iron and gap wedge, clubmakers might as well simply reduce all their labelled loft numbers by one, making the pitching wedge a 9-iron and the gap wedge a pitching wedge. Instead, most clubmakers continue to include the 3-iron and exclude the gap wedge from matched sets, which forces golfers to buy a 3-iron they are extremely unlikely to ever use, while not getting the much more important gap wedge and so having to buy it individually.
For their part, clubmakers contest that the modern golfer demands customization; wedges (including gap wedges) are available in many combinations of loft and bounce angle, allowing the player to choose exactly the combination they find most useful. Including a 52-degree mid-bounce wedge in a matched set may prove useless to a golfer who prefers a different loft or bounce than this standard offering. They also contend that, adjusting for inflation ($1.00 in 1970 would have the same buying power as $6.13 in 2014), [4] the price of a matched iron set has decreased over this time period, even as design and manufacturing advances have genuinely increased the distance and accuracy that the average golfer can expect, compared to a club of an older design but similar launch angle. They also assert that these design advances have made the modern long irons easier to hit well than older generations, so golfers should at least try these long irons before removing them from the bag. Lastly, some manufacturers do in fact include a gap wedge as part of a matched iron set, often removing the 3 iron to provide the same overall number of clubs in the set (and in response to the concern about including such a difficult-to-use club). Ping, for instance, offers its G-series iron sets in two loft ranges, 3-PW and 4-UW.
A sand wedge, or sand iron, is a type of golf club, an open-faced wedge primarily designed for getting out of sand bunkers. It has the widest sole of any wedge, which provides the greatest amount of bounce, allowing the club head to glide through sand and avoid digging in. After Gene Sarazen had success in 1932 with a new club that he had invented for sand play, its popularity quickly grew. The club can be advantageous in other soft lies—such as thick rough, soggy ground, or mud—and is also used from firmer grass lies for lobs or chips.
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". The cup holds a flagstick, known as a "pin". A standard round of golf consists of 18 holes, and as such most courses contain 18 distinct holes; however, there are many 9-hole courses and some that have holes with shared fairways or greens. There are also courses with a non-standard number of holes, such as 12 or 14.
A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; hybrids that combine design elements of woods and irons are becoming increasingly popular; putters are used mainly on the green to roll the ball into the hole. A set of clubs is limited by the rules of golf to a maximum of 14 golf clubs, and while there are traditional combinations sold at retail as matched sets, players are free to use any combination of legal clubs.
A golf ball is a ball designed to be used in golf. Under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than 1.620 oz (45.9 g), has a diameter not less than 1.680 inches (42.7 mm), and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits. Like golf clubs, golf balls are subject to testing and approval by The R&A and the United States Golf Association, and those that do not conform with regulations may not be used in competitions (Rule 5–1).
The following is a glossary of the terminology currently used in the sport of golf. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Old names for clubs can be found at Obsolete golf clubs.
In the sport of golf, a wedge is a subset of the iron family of golf clubs designed for special use situations. As a class, wedges have the highest lofts, the shortest shafts, and the heaviest clubheads of the irons. These features generally aid the player in making accurate short-distance "lob" shots, to get the ball onto the green or out of a hazard or other tricky spot. In addition, wedges are designed with modified soles that aid the player in moving the clubhead through soft lies, such as sand, mud, and thick grass, to extract a ball that is embedded or even buried. Wedges come in a variety of configurations, and are generally grouped into four categories: pitching wedges, sand wedges, gap/approach wedges and lob wedges.
A pitching wedge is a wedge used to hit a shot with higher and shorter trajectory than a 9-iron and a lower and longer trajectory than a gap wedge.
Ping, Inc. is an American sports equipment manufacturing company based in Phoenix, Arizona. It focuses on golf equipment, producing golf clubs and golf bags. The company was founded by Karsten Solheim, following a career as an engineer at the General Electric company. In 1959, he started making putters in his garage in Redwood City, California. In 1967, he resigned from his job at General Electric to develop the PING company.
Wilson Staff is Wilson's premium golf brand aimed at tour professionals and serious players. Wilson designs and manufactures a full range of golf equipment, accessories, and apparel using the Wilson Staff, Wilson, ProStaff, Profile, Ultra and Hope brands. Wilson's other lines are generally considered to be "big box," "value," or "economy" brands, while the Wilson Staff line provides higher quality equipment used on all major professional golf tours.
The shaft of a golf club is the long, tapered tube which connects the golfer's hands to the club head. While hundreds of different designs exist, the primary purpose of the golf shaft remains the same: to provide the player with a way to generate centrifugal force in order to effectively strike the ball. When properly gripped the player can hit the ball further and more accurately, whilst applying less force.
Golf equipment encompasses the various items that are used to play the sport of golf. Types of equipment include the golf ball, golf clubs, and devices that aid in the sport.
Early golf clubs were all made of wood. They were hand-crafted, often by the players themselves, and had no standard shape or form. As the sport of golf developed, a standard set of clubs began to take shape, with different clubs being fashioned to perform different tasks and hit various types of shot. Later, as more malleable iron became widely used for shorter-range clubs, an even wider variety of clubs became available.
A wood is a type of club used in the sport of golf. Woods have longer shafts and larger, rounder heads than other club types, and are used to hit the ball longer distances than other types.
An iron is a type of club used in the sport of golf to propel the ball towards the hole. Irons typically have shorter shafts and smaller clubheads than woods, the head is made of solid iron or steel, and the head's primary feature is a large, flat, angled face, usually scored with grooves. Irons are used in a wide variety of situations, typically from the teeing ground on shorter holes, from the fairway or rough as the player approaches the green, and to extract the ball from hazards, such as bunkers or even shallow water hazards.
A hybrid is a type of club used in the sport of golf with a design borrowing from both irons and woods while differing from both. The name "hybrid" comes from genetics to denote a mixture of two different species with desirable characteristics of both, and the term here has been generalized, combining the familiar swing mechanics of an iron with the more forgiving nature and better distance of a wood.
A putter is a club used in the sport of golf to make relatively short and low-speed strokes with the intention of rolling the ball into the hole from a short distance away. It is differentiated from the other clubs by a clubhead with a very flat, low-profile, low-loft striking face, and by other features which are only allowed on putters, such as bent shafts, non-circular grips, and positional guides.
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit a ball into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
The golf swing is the action by which players hit the ball in the sport of golf. The golf swing is a complex motion involving the whole body; the technicalities of the swing are known as golf stroke mechanics.
A lob wedge, also known as a lofted wedge or an L-Wedge, is a wedge used in the sport of golf, known for being one of the shortest-hitting clubs and providing the most loft on a shot. Lob wedges are used to produce shots with a very high arc, and are most often used for shots over hazards and other obstructions. Due to the high arc of the shot the lob wedge, like the other wedges in the set of irons, produces little roll after landing on the putting green and can even be used to produce backspin if necessary. Lob wedges are one of the newest additions to the modern collection of golf clubs and, along with the sand wedge and gap wedge, were not included prior to 1931.
David T. Pelz is an American golf coach, known for his expertise and published writing on the art of the short game, particularly putting.