Bounce is a relationship with the ground, not a number on the sole

The three lies we test against

The short bay has a cut turf pit divided into three conditions, and every candidate wedge sees all three before a recommendation is made.

• Tight over a firm base. Late summer fairway. Punishes a wide sole and a steep delivery. The lie where high-bounce wedges bounce into the equator of the ball.
• Lush and grabby. Spring rough and irrigated fairway. The hosel catches, the face closes, and the ball goes left of everything you aimed at.
• Bare and packed. Under trees, cart-path edges, the late-round mud. Almost nobody tests this and almost everybody meets it.

Delivery comes first

Before any wedge changes hands, we film your delivery and read the divot. Two players with identical handicaps can arrive at the ball six degrees apart in attack angle, and that difference alone decides whether a twelve degree bounce is a safety net or a trap.

The reading also covers where on the face you make contact and how much the shaft leans forward. A player who leans the shaft hard forward removes loft and adds effective bounce at the same time, which is why they usually need less stamped bounce than the chart suggests.

Grind, in plain language

Grind is simply material removed from the sole, and it is easier to think about by what it allows rather than by its letter code.

• Heel relief lets you open the face without lifting the leading edge, which is what makes a flop shot possible.
• Trailing edge relief lets a steep player get the club under the ball on firm ground without the back edge landing first.
• Full sole, minimal relief suits a shallow sweeper on soft turf and offers the most forgiveness on a fat strike.
• Camber across the sole changes how quickly the club rolls out of the turf, which matters more in bunkers than most players realise.

Gapping from forty yards in

Half the session is spent on distance control rather than club selection. We chart your carry at three swing lengths with each wedge and look for the holes. Most bags have a twenty yard gap somewhere between the pitching wedge and the next club down, and the player has been covering it with a swing they only trust on Tuesdays.

Sometimes the fix is a lofted club. Frequently it is bending an existing wedge two degrees and rearranging the set. We would rather sell you one wedge that closes the gap than three that rearrange it.

Shafts and weight in the short clubs

Wedge shafts are the last place anyone thinks to look and one of the first places a set goes wrong. A wedge fitted with the same shaft as an eight iron will usually feel light and whippy in the hands at half-swing speeds. We check frequency and swing weight across the scoring clubs so the progression is smooth rather than jumping at the bottom of the bag.