Do You Need New Shafts In Your Wedges?

By Sam Adams | Dec 30, 2015

Changing the shafts in your wedges can make a difference!

I was reading an article recently about wedge shafts and it got my curiosity up so I did a little research. The article was in Golf Monthly and stated:

“Typically, a wedge shaft has a softer, more active tip section (the area closest to the club head). This increased flexibility in the lower end of the shaft increases the loft presented to the ball at impact but also makes the attack angle steeper – two key ingredients for increasing backspin.

Wedge shafts can also vary between the lofts in your bag. It is commonly thought that in your pitching wedge, with which you tend to play full shots, the shaft needs to have a thicker wall to make it heavier, firmer and easier to control. But on partial and finesse chips and pitch shots with your higher-lofted wedges, using a shaft with a thinner wall makes it more responsive through impact to help generate a higher flight and more spin.”

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In theory I can understand this, but I have always thought of golf clubs in terms of offense and defense. The driver is the no 1 offensive weapon, being responsible for length combined with some accuracy. You are really only trying to hit the fairway. The putter is at the top of the defensive list, with accuracy being the primary importance. You are trying to get the ball in the cup.

The wedges fall just behind the putter. Personally I don’t want a lot of flex in a putter shaft or a wedge shaft just because I don’t feel they would be as accurate. As it turns out there are two schools of thought on the subject.

In an article by Tom Wishon who is a 40-year veteran of the golf equipment industry specializing in club head design, shaft performance analysis and club fitting research and development he states the following:

“That testing is what prompted me to take the direction I did when I designed two different wedge specific shafts for my company. The TWGT High Flight steel wedge shaft is designed to be 2 FULL FLEXES softer than a conventional shaft in a wedge. And our TWGT Knock-Down wedge shaft is designed to be similar to a XXX flex.”

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So basically it comes down to this – do you want more feel or do you want more control? It’s a personal choice and the only way to know for sure is to experience the difference yourself. I prefer the stiff for control, but you may be more comfortable with a lighter, more flexible shaft for feel.