The simple habit tour pros never skip.
Q: Does it really matter if I clean my wedge grooves between shots?
Walk down a PGA Tour range and watch what happens after every wedge shot. Before the ball even lands, there’s a towel out, a brush dragged through the grooves and a tee digging out whatever’s left. It’s one of the simplest, most effective things you can do to keep your wedges in working order.
Grooves exist to channel moisture and debris away from the contact point between the clubface and the ball. That contact generates friction, and friction creates spin. Spin is what gives your wedge shots their shape, trajectory and, most importantly, their ability to stop on the green. If you pack those grooves with grass or dirt, you’re suddenly guessing how the shot will behave.
A few years ago, we ran a test to find out exactly how much damage a dirty clubface does. We took a 60-degree wedge and a Foresight Sports GCQuad launch monitor and hit five 100-yard shots with a clean face, followed by five shots after taking a divot and skipping the brush – a common scenario for many.
With a clean face, we saw an average spin rate of just more than 10,500rpm, right where PGA Tour players live on a full lob wedge. With a dirty face, the spin rate plummeted to 5,759rpm.
Think about what that might mean on a pitch shot from 40 paces or a chip where you’re short-sided with no green to work with. Those are the moments when spin is the difference between a tap-in and a 15-footer.
When your grooves are caked with debris, you don’t get to rely on spin, so you have to be perfect with your landing spot. That’s a tough ask for anyone, let alone a 90s-shooter trying to hit a shot that’s already a serious challenge.
The solution is embarrassingly simple. A groove brush costs about $5 or $10 and clips to your bag for easy access. Two seconds for a little scrub between shots – that’s all you need to do.
Q:Are any wedges designed specifically for golfers who can’t get out of the sand?
The wedges on this year’s Golf Digest Hot List provide enough loft and bounce options that you can definitely find one that will ease your troubles in the sand.
While not designed as “sand-only” wedges, Cleveland’s CBZ and TaylorMade’s Hi-Toe 4 offer wide soles that make bunker play easier. If you’re seeking more of an assist, Callaway’s CB12, Cleveland’s Smart Sole, Performance Golf’s One.1 and Ping’s BunkR are as close to foolproof as it gets.
Hank Haney was involved in an earlier Callaway wedge, the Sure Out, and some of his comments still apply. “The big problem people have with the normal sand wedge is you have to open the face, and that terrifies a lot of average golfers.
“The other thing is when you swing into the sand, it offers resistance. So part of the goal is to design a club where there’s very little resistance with the sand, so even somebody with very little clubhead speed can still get the ball out.”
The “foolproof” wedges mentioned above are meant to be used with a square face, reducing the fear Haney described.
We don’t love the idea of having a wedge for a single purpose, but we get it. Just know that some specialty wedges have fewer loft options, so they might be of limited use around the greens.
Answers by Golf Digest equipment editors Mike Stachura, E. Michael Johnson and Jonathan Wall
getty images/warren goldswain, Octavio Passos
