Funny how we talked about Scottie Sheffler last week. He almost pulled off a win with his new putter. Hopefully you had a chance to fit/ sell a few putters last week. Let’s switch gears and chat about wedges. Most shops have their fair share of these at this time of the year. The time to move them is also now.

Here’s a quick trivia question for you. How often should you replace your wedges? We typically recommend about every 100 rounds or so. For most players, that’s every other season. Grooves on wedges wear faster, plain and simple. The steel is softer, they get used more often than a regular iron, and they get used in compromising ground conditions. Sand is a killer for grooves and the longevity of golf clubs. If you have members who winter in Florida and play golf on sand based fairways/ driving ranges, you can expect their scoring clubs to wear faster than their non-migrating playing partners up here. Simply put, grooves on a golf club are like tread on the tires of a car. They wear over time, and do less and less the older they get. Grooves remove debris from between the clubface and the ball. The shallower they are, the less they can remove. They also have sharper corners when they are new. As they age, those corners will round out and they will not stop the ball as well.

I mentioned grooves have corners. These “corners” are actually rounded, not square and sharp like they used to be. The USGA regulates this now. Gone are the good old days when wedges would scrape the cover off a ball (grooves have rounded edges now, and golf ball covers are better). This new groove “corner” is called a shoulder radius. Guess what? That edge will wear even faster than the sharp edge of yesteryear. 

Think of it this way… If you have no tread on the tires of your car, but you still have rubber, would you send the car out with your wife/ husband/ significant other, your kids, your parents, etc.? Of course not. Just because you can drive on those, doesn’t mean you should. Wedges are the same. You can play golf with worn wedges, but it doesn’t mean you should.

Trivia question #2. How many sets of wedges did Jon Rahm go through this year? 10. Ten sets of wedges… If that’s possible. Part of that is deceptive because he will change up the grinds he plays depending on the golf course. Many of your members probably haven’t had 10 new sets of wedges in their golf career. Most players don’t even know they should be replacing their wedges. This is where you come in – the equipment expert. Educate them on WHY they need to replace them. 

Here’s where you use your demo wedges. Step one – go look in your bag room. See who has old wedges AND shop credit. Step two – put a demo wedge in their hand and ask them to go play with it and see if they notice any difference. Step three – give them a quick short game tune up lesson. Once they buy one, work on them for the rest of the set. 

Wedges should be put in play in sets. It is critical that all wedges spin and react the same. Replacing a 56* this year, a 52 next year and a 60* 2 years from now will only lead to frustration. A player needs to know how the ball will react off the face with ALL of the lofts in his bag. Wedges are no longer cheap, but a case could be made that these are the most important clubs in a players bag. Having good ones is important to shooting lower scores.

Consider that a 14 handicap will typically hit 4-5 greens per round. This means that the player is chipping, pitching, or escaping 13 or 14 times per round. Doing so with dated equipment doesn’t make that process any easier. For most mid to high handicappers, wedge play is not a strength. This means they are relying on a part of their game to score that is not a strength. Why not help them have the best chance for success? Get them equipment that can actually help them.

Next week, we’ll talk about grinds. Why are their so many? Who needs what type? What works best. Armed with this knowledge, you can start to put sets of wedges together for anyone. 

I hope this helps!! Happy fitting, happy retaining, and happy selling.