Choice of Metals

I've just been looking at wedges with view to switching to a four wedge set. I have a PW and SW with cavity back and graphite shaft the same as my irons.

The wedges I've seen so far seem to mostly come with a steel shaft and either copper or steel head.

What are the relative differences of copper and steel? I assume weight but can't see the advantage of a heavier club.

Is it necessary to replace the PW and SW to ensure that all wedges are the same?

As I understand it, the advantages of a carbon shaft is that the flexability makes the shot lighter on the wrists and the swing weight somewhat lighter. Is this the case? Are there advantages for steel shafts for wedges? I assume that the increased concentration of mass in the swing plane should keep the shaft on track.

Many thanks


Richard

Rich, your friendly neighborhood chemist replies:

Differences of copper and steel:

Copper is lighter than steel, it is also a better conductor (not that that has anything to do with golf). It is a softer metal than steel as well with a lower melting point. Beryllium Copper (as first popularised by Karsten Solheim in his now much sought after Eye 2 BeCu) has similar properties to most standard types of steel but with greater thermal conductivity properties (again no use in golf). BeCu is easier to machine than steel. In so far as the advantages over steel in golf clubs go, there really isnt any its all down to personal preference. Most of the mild steel and raw steel wedges these days give exactly the same if not more spin than the BeCu wedges. The newer wedges (Cleveland BRZ for example) are a different compound (containing Cobalt and Nickel among other more exotic metals) which has much the same properties as BeCu, but are used since BeCu is (environmentally at least due to its requirement for rather toxic mixtures in its machining processes) rather unfriendly and now restricted in use worldwide (golf clubs being quite far down the list of necessary uses).

Graphit vs Steel shafts in wedges:

As far as shafts go, steel is best for any club in which distance is not the primary concern. A steel shaft has zero torque (twisting on impact) compared to the best graphite value of around 2 - 2.5. Graphite is used because of its light weight compared to steel (steel driver shaft 100-140 grams, graphite driver shaft 60-110 grams) The lighter the shaft the lighter the club and the more clubhead speed can be achieved and hence the more distance gained. Graphite also allows more weight to be placed in the clubhead (in the sole for example to generate more height in the shot). In crude terms Graphite is a distance shaft and steel is an accuracy shaft. The ultimate in accuracy is an X-300 flex shaft which is both heavy and stiff giving the club less opportunity to flex off target ideally your wedge shafts shhould be X-300's but very few players can generate the clubhead speed required to get any distance and height out of such a shaft. Most tour pros play X-100, S-400 or S-300 depending on their personal preference (I use True Temper nomenclature here because of the widespread popularity of their shafts, you could say Rifle 6.0 6.5 or 7.0 for example)

Hope this helps your decision.

D.

Mizunoman's spot on with the technical differences. As far as choice of material for the clubhead is concerned there's now such a wide variety (carbon steels, stainless steels, copper, beryllium copper, titanium and all sort of other combinations) each with varying characteristics. The behaviour of a gold ball of each material is governed by the mechanical properties of the material (elastic modulus, hardness etc.) but leave all that to the club manufacturer's R&D and marketing departments (I was trained as a metallurgist and there's two parts science one part mumbo-jumbo in this). The best advice is simply to try them all and see which one gives you the best control and feel regardless of head and shaft combo.