How much bounce is too much or not enough???

Conversely, clubs with less bounce are easier to open up, but will dig in softer conditions, lending themselves to a greater chance of going fat.


I apprecite your post on bounce.
I know you are right, but I am somewhat confused. I am looking at pictures of two clubs with differing degrees of bounce and the caption states if you dig use a club with more bounce – I thought that the opposite would be true – if there is more bounce isn’t there a steeper angle to the club and more club to dig in? Whereas, if you have less bounce you have less club to dig into the ground…. Of course, I know I am wrong, but just how wrong, and where I went wrong I am not sure.

Thanks.

P.S I googled this first, and I wasn't able to find an answer....

http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline...143201,00.html

The club on the right (in the diagram) has MORE bounce. It's called "bounce" simply because of the "anti-digging" effect of the angled bottom. Think of skimming your hand over water. In order to make sure your hand doesn't slide under the surface you need to angle your hand slightly to keep it skimming over the surface. The more you angle your hand the more you hand stays above the water. Same sort of concept with a sand wedge.

The more bounce the more the club head will tend to resist digging. That's the innovation and the reason they're so popular. However since the more bounce you have the higher the leading edge will be off the ground, the more likely you are to skull the ball on a tight lie.

As everyone has said, if you play in hard bunkers, you may not even need a "sand" wedge, simply another wedge with a loft between Gap and Lob without any bounce at all might be more useful. Since the sand wedge is usually right in that range and you're only allowed 14 clubs most people compromise by doubling the function of that club.

Personally, I find my sand wedge is the least useful club I have, since my objective is to AVOID the hazards in the first place!

My SW has a lot of bounce, but I have no idea how much. I've got a Cleveland Tour Action 57*. It says REG.588 on it. Anyone know what that means?

I used to own a Cleveland Tour Action also and that bugger had 16° of bounce on it. Sadly, there was no mention of how much bounce it had. I couldn't hit the thing off the fairway... just didn't know why until I realized the bounce angle it had. Never played it since. As for the "588", I heard it meant 8° of bounce. Needs to be confirmed though. Then again, if you say it had alot of bounce, it probably wasn't 8°. Probably more lik 14° or 16° like mine. Keep in mind, Cleveland's low bounce on a sand wedge is 12° (still a little high in my opinion).

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Cleveland Launcher 400 10.5°
Cleveland Launcher 17° FW
Cleveland CG2 3-PW
Hogan 52°
Mizuno 56°
Hogan 60°

The bounce on a sand wedge is designed for "Splashing" a ball out of a green side bunker. The bounce is created by the angle between the leading and trailing edge of the club (See attached article below).

When splashing a ball the club face can be laid open to produce additional loft and create more initial height. The lump on the sole bounces a wedge of sand into the air that carries the ball with it, the larger the bounce angle the more sand gets thrown up. If the sand is wet or compacted then the bounce will not work so a club with a lesser bounce angle should be used that slices the sand and ball up.

Hope this explains.




The bounce angle is determined by the position of the trailing edge relative to the leading edge when the club is squarely positioned (see the left picture). The sole width and geometry (sole camber) play important roles, together with the bounce angle, to affect the playability for different types of shot.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

588 is either the product line, or it stands for 58° loft and 8° bounce.

You'll often hear of guys saying they've got a 606 or a 5812 or a 5210 wedge.