Wedge points are fairly easy to measure. Gene Sarazen takes credit for turning the common grill into what we now call a sand wedge. Bob Vokey deserves credit for educating the masses and making Titleist the powerhouse it is today.
But if you want to get to the heart of the matter, most people in the golf industry will tip their hat to the man they consider the Godfather of the modern wedge: Roger Cleveland.
After the start his name company In 1979, Cleveland continued to redefine the wedge, from how it should be designed to how it should be played. He treated the wedges as special tools, not just an extension of the rest of the kit. Cleveland taught the golf industry that bounce is neither good nor bad, but something that must be matched with swing style, angle of attack and course conditions.
Cleveland returned to Cleveland Golf last year, but if you thought that was some kind of golden hour/sunset, you probably don’t know Roger Cleveland. He’s forgotten more about wedges than most of us will ever know, so when you get the chance to talk a short game with him, you jump in without hesitation.
No, he won’t be wearing a tuxedo, petting a cat, and handing out favors on his daughter’s wedding day (that’s another Godfather), but you’ll learn more than you could ever imagine.
So, without further ado, here’s what this wedge learned from his conversation with the Godfather.
The short game is ageless
“As you get older, you start hearing the ball when you hit the driver,” because you lose distance with age, Cleveland told me during our conversation at the PGA Show in January. “I really encourage the seniors, especially, to get their short games right because you can still score.
“I’m old, but I can get up and down well enough that even though I might not hit as many greens, I can still make it. You just have to know your technique and the conditions you’re playing in.”
The conditions are always the tricky part because, unless you play the same course all the time, you’re never 100 percent sure. With that variable hanging over your head, knowing your technique becomes even more critical.
“If you’re lean, you’re going to need more bounce,” Cleveland says. “It’s not the best technique though. Ideally, you want to be wide and shallow with your angle of attack.”
Wide and shallow, he says, gives you a more effective bounce with each sole while exposing more loft at the same time.
“The sole will act like a skid plate and it’s more forgiving, so you don’t have to be perfect. Nobody’s perfect so you want to use that skid plate to your advantage. When you’re slanted, you take it off.”
Feeling, rhythm and “soft hands”
When it comes to a good short game, Cleveland believes anyone can do it right.
“From 40 yards up, you create width with your arms while the speed comes from your spin because you’re not moving with your hands. You’re releasing the clubhead, but you’re doing it with your body, not your hands.”
This gives you a good feel, rhythm and what is commonly called “soft hands”.
“As gently as you hold the club, you shouldn’t shake your hands as gently,” he says. “Hold the club too tight and the muscles in your arms tighten and you can get really fast. The softer you hold the club, the more momentum you’ll get and enough backswing to create the power you need for the shot.
“You don’t want to speed up or slow down with a short swing of the back.”
The art of sole grinding
The Cleveland 588 Tour Action wedge may be the most impactful wedge this side of Sarazen’s sand wedge. Before 588, most wedges were basically short irons with wide, flat soles. Very little thought was given to how the sole interacted with the terrain. However, tournament players knew, and they often modified the soles themselves by hand.
Roger Cleveland recognized the sole as the most important feature of a wedge’s performance, and that two wedges with the same bounce angle could play completely differently depending on the width of the sole, the camber, and the amount of material that could be removed from the toe, heel, and trailing edge.
“There’s a misconception that the Tour plays low bounce. They don’t play low bounce. Their wedge bounce is about 12 to 14 degrees. Manufacturers may show four degrees of bounce on their wedges, but it’s really 18 degrees of ‘effective’ bounce.
“When you add heel and toe relief, you’re adding bounce. You’re taking the bounce you had and moving it back. That takes away the bounce in the center. However, the sole is wider in the center and tapers toward the heel and toe. That equates to less bounce when you step on it, because you don’t have the width.”
The importance of jumping in and out of the sand
The original 588, with its moderate bounce and rounded leading edge, showed that bounce can actually prevent digging and improve stability on the ground and in bunkers.
“In sand, you want a wider stance and stand farther from the ball. That gives you more room to drop the clubhead down into the sand. You want to hit two or three inches behind the ball, but you want to feel like the back lip is the first point of contact in the sand. If the sand is hard, you’ll need less bounce. If it’s soft, you’ll need more.
“You’ll dig into soft sand more with less bounce. I like to drop the trailing edge into the sand behind the ball, with a wider stance and standing further away from the ball. Your weight should be 70-30 on the front foot, with your front foot at a 45-degree angle.”
I had to ask him about the skull wedges since I had just sent one screaming into the parking lot the day before. Does this problem require a low inflation wedge?
“What usually happens when you bite a wedge is you’re trying to lift it. You probably drive the wedge too far in and change the plane. To get loft, you end up dropping your right shoulder.
“You want to take the club in front of you and swing it around you with your sternum in front of the ball. It’s almost an outside swing. Bring the clubhead out and keep it in front of you, not around you. When you swing like that, you have width, loft and bounce. From there, you can swing the clubhead as you swing.”
Did you know…?
Did you know that your wedges should probably have a flatter angle than the rest of your kit? At least according to Roger Cleveland, they should.
“You want them a little flatter because you want to do different things with your hands. If you want to lift the ball, lower your hands. Your wedges should be at least a degree flatter than the rest of your set, maybe two.
“It allows you to do some different things, like get out of funny lies and things you wouldn’t normally try to do with iron.”
I think most golfers would agree that your performance from 110 yards and up will make or break your score. However, the clubs we use for those critical shots (our wedges and putters) are, statistically, the ones we are least likely to become proficient at. Only between 18 and 22 percent of players studied were fitted with custom wedges. This is among avid gamers. If you add recreational players into the mix, that number drops below 10 percent.
“The most critical wedge to get right is the highest one, whether it’s 58 or 60,” Cleveland says. “You make that decision with your teacher or coach. They’ll know about the different fights out there and they can see your technique.”
As my time with the Godfather of Modern Wedges drew to a close, I was impressed, but not surprised (he is Roger Cleveland, after all) at how well he expressed a fundamental truth: Proper short game tools are essential, but they still need to be used properly. Proper technique will unleash the full potential of the right sole strike for your game.
Ultimately, to paraphrase that other Godfather, you’ll be able to hit your approach shots closer, and your chip shots closer.
