Wedge Fitting

Turf First, Numbers Second

Almost every wedge complaint we hear reduces to one of two sentences: it digs, or it skips. Both are contact problems, and neither is solved by a loft change. They are solved by matching the shape of the sole to the way you deliver the club and to the ground you deliver it into.

That second half is where a Savannah wedge fitting departs from a generic one. Coastal Bermuda in August is lush and forgiving — it lets a wider sole glide, and a golfer who takes a shallow divot can get away with a lot. The same fairway in February is short, damp, and packed tight over sandy soil. A sole that was perfect in the summer starts catching, and the golfer concludes they have lost their short game when what they have actually lost is the turf conditions their equipment was chosen for.

So we fit for the harder half of the year and check that the result still behaves in the easy half, rather than the other way around.

What Gets Tested

• Bounce angle against your actual angle of attack, not against a chart that assumes it
• Grind shape — heel relief, trailing edge, and camber, tested from square, open, and out of a bunker
• Loft gapping across the wedges you carry, measured at three-quarter swings as well as full ones
• Shaft weight, which changes feel and trajectory far more in a wedge than most golfers expect
• Length and lie, usually a small correction with an outsized effect on strike location
• Groove condition on your existing wedges, because worn grooves make every other measurement noisy

The Three-Quarter Swing Problem

Most golfers hit their sand wedge full perhaps twice a round. The rest of the time it is a partial swing, and partial swings change everything: spin drops, launch changes, and the effective gap between clubs compresses. A gapping chart built on full swings tells you almost nothing about the shots you actually face inside a hundred yards.

We record a partial-swing block for every wedge in the session and build the gapping map from both sets of numbers. It is the single most common reason a golfer walks out carrying three wedges instead of four.

Regrinding What You Already Own

If your wedge is right in loft, length, and feel, and wrong only in how it enters the ground, the cheapest fix is usually to reshape the sole rather than replace the club. Elton grinds by hand at the bench, working from the divot pattern recorded during your session rather than from a description.

A regrind runs $75 per club and takes three to five days. It is not reversible, so we only recommend it when the session data makes the direction obvious.