Forums

Cleveland wedges: personal experiences

• genorb 1,255 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 9:42 AM

  I thought the following information/experience might be useful so I share it.

  Long preamble:

  1. As a matter of fact, most players use 3 wedges (I will not enter here into the philisophical discussion if it's better to have 4 wedges without 3wood/hydrid or to have 3 wedges with 3wood/hydrid :) ).
  2. Many players are also using the burner 2.0 irons. For these clubs, the PW is 125yds. I found this club reliable down to 105yds more or less. If I choke more, the ball start to roll too much for my taste (yet it depends on conditions). 
  3. I use also the "Z satin TP 64°" (50yds). With this wedge I can easily do full shots between 35 and 50 yds (I find it more accurate to make a 35yds full shot than a 35yds flop, but other players might disagree, question of style). Even 30yds full shot still work well. 
  4. Consequently, I have to span around 105-35 = 70 yds with 3 wedges. This is rather large. Indeed, with 8 irons, one span more or less 220-105 = 115 yds. This  means around 40yds with 3 irons.

  Consequently, choosing the right wedges is quite crucial and quite tiedous. I decided (arbitrarily) to keep my two wedges "Z satin TP 64°" (50yds) and "Z satin TP 60°" (77yds) because I am too lazy to relearn my (very) short game. So I was searching for a new wedge to better bridge the gap between 77yds and 105yds (my third wedge was 93yds).

  Cleveland CG16 52° Wedge (L74+) (115yds):

  I made the mistake to buy this wedge. I do not mean that this club is bad, I just mean it was not suitable for the gap I have to bridge. Yes sometime, I don't think enough :) . But it was reported that backspin was working so well even for strongly choked shot that I thought it would be OK.

  I tested how much I had to choke to get 80yds or so. Starting from full shot it's around the fourth avatar movements. But then, the shot is not reliable at all, at least this is my experience. Indeed with full backspin, either the ball was stopping almost dead (fine) or it would make a big jump after the bounce and roll quite long.

  So if you have to bridge a similar gap (80-105yds) don't use that wedge. Perhaps some players can master this wedge to get reliable shot when they choke a lot but I was not able.

  Cleveland CG16 56° Wedge (L76+) (100yds):

  So I finally bought that wedge. Since I have to choke much less to bridge the gap, it works perfectly well. A 80yds shot will stop dead with around 1/4-1/2 backspin (I didn't tested yet with big tailwind). The remaining "gap" between 100 and 105yds is so small that depending on conditions I can either use this wedge or the PW (anyway it's already much better than with my previous 93yds wedge).

  Hope this can help some players to avoid to repeat my mistake :). 

  Regards

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 10:28 AM

  You're missing a very key shot there, Genorb-the PW punch. I didn't see you mention it when referencing the choking. It punches 108 and is very accurate. You already figured out the right wedge to get but try your 105 distance with the PW punch-it doesn't get blown around as much as the 100W with very little roll out. Top spin can get you to 115 with it. Also, the 80W puts the Satin77 to shame. Only 3 yards different but measurably more accurate and it punches 68. Since the 100W punches 84 you really tighten gaps. This assumes you use the punch shot. You do, right?  :-)

• genorb 1,255 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 11:53 AM

  Hi Jim,

  thanks for your nice inputs!!

  YankeeJim:

  This assumes you use the punch shot. You do, right?  :-)

  This is on my to do list :).

  Well not totally. I of course use it when I am in some nasty rough. I use it also on the green, even if the right occasions are rare (when getting close to the hole with a putt is tiedous, for example when you are at the begining of the green on st-andrews #17 and if the pin is behind the bunker). But I never used it yet from the fairway for an approach shot :) .

  Indeed, my strategy is to learn every shot step by step and try to master any new shot before to learn a new one (and because I am quite lazy, this process can be long lol). For example, I never used flop before reaching legend tier (now I use it a lot). But I still have to learn flop from sand (already know it from rough). So I still have many things to learn :) . This is why this game is not easy to master, many possible different shots from the same spot (especially when getting close to the green).

  Regards

• zagraniczniak 1,984 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 1:08 PM

  Gen, can't argue with your success, but with the Cleveland wedges anyway the punch shot from the fairway plays the same as a full shot - with no added backspin, the ball will check up almost perfectly assuming no change in elevation (add a bit of backspin if there's a major uphill shot). The essential difference is distance, not roll-out.

  (This is different for longer irons, where I agree I wouldn't normally use the punch shot on an approach from the fairway.)

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 1:32 PM

  The punch shot with the Satin64 is incredibly accurate all the way down to 15 yards. A great shot for anytime inside 41 yards. I had no clue until AvatarLee clued me to it. What a discovery!   :-)

• genorb 1,255 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 2:36 PM

  zagraniczniak:

  Gen, can't argue with your success, but with the Cleveland wedges anyway the punch shot from the fairway plays the same as a full shot - with no added backspin, the ball will check up almost perfectly assuming no change in elevation (add a bit of backspin if there's a major uphill shot). The essential difference is distance, not roll-out.

  (This is different for longer irons, where I agree I wouldn't normally use the punch shot on an approach from the fairway.)

  YankeeJim:

  The punch shot with the Satin64 is incredibly accurate all the way down to 15 yards. A great shot for anytime inside 41 yards. I had no clue until AvatarLee clued me to it. What a discovery!   :-)

  Thanks you so much to both of you for your insights and for sharing your experience and knowledge!! This is very valuable and I appreciate.

  I guess I will give a try to punch shots sooner than expected :) .

  Thanks for speeding up my learning process.  

  Regards

  PS:

  zagraniczniak:

  Gen, can't argue with your success

  Well, in my view, the most important is to have fun and to meet nice people. Moreover, it's just a game. Success, even tiny, in real life is much more important :) .

• Boomerboy44 1,514 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 3:10 PM

  A Legend with a 58.40 avg.  Man you must be doing something really wrong with your wedges.  LMAO   I think you will be OKAY,  As you say have fun.............

• genorb 1,255 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 3:45 PM

  Boomerboy44:

  A Legend with a 58.40 avg.  Man you must be doing something really wrong with your wedges.  LMAO   I think you will be OKAY,  As you say have fun.............

  Well, I didn't want to be clumsy or irritating or something :) . I just wanted to show, among other things, that whatever your level of play is, you have always something to learn, especially from others. This is true here but also in real life. Have fun too :).

  Regards

• Boomerboy44 1,514 Posts

  Tue, Sep 13 2011 5:08 PM

  genorb:

  Boomerboy44:

  A Legend with a 58.40 avg.  Man you must be doing something really wrong with your wedges.  LMAO   I think you will be OKAY,  As you say have fun.............

  Well, I didn't want to be clumsy or irritating or something :) . I just wanted to show, among other things, that whatever your level of play is, you have always something to learn, especially from others. This is true here but also in real life. Have fun too :).

  Regards

  TRUE....TRUE.!!   and THANX for the kind words.

   

• pillsy 489 Posts

  Wed, Sep 14 2011 6:22 AM

  YankeeJim:

  You're missing a very key shot there, Genorb-the PW punch. I didn't see you mention it when referencing the choking. It punches 108 and is very accurate. You already figured out the right wedge to get but try your 105 distance with the PW punch-it doesn't get blown around as much as the 100W with very little roll out. Top spin can get you to 115 with it. Also, the 80W puts the Satin77 to shame. Only 3 yards different but measurably more accurate and it punches 68. Since the 100W punches 84 you really tighten gaps. This assumes you use the punch shot. You do, right?  :-)

  the 2.0 irons are new to me, so i need to practice a bit more, but it seems like the 108 punch doesn't really stick that well.  the couple times i tried it hit the green & took off.  am i wrong, or was that not normal?