Thinking Bounce Instead of Degrees

I found this short article at golfdigest.com that outlines a different way to think about pitching -- somehow I missed it when it first came out last month -- and thought it might help many of you.

The article is by Chris O'Connell, Matt Kuchar's instructor, and it advises that you think in terms of the bounce on your wedges rather than the degrees of loft. He says:

Simply put, bounce is how much the sole raises the leading edge off the turf. A wedge with high bounce (10 to 14 degrees) helps keep the club from digging in soft conditions. A low-bounce wedge (4 to 8 degrees) is best in firm conditions, where you want the club to dig a bit. But this is an oversimplification. Good players understand bounce deeply, and usually hit the right shot. I'll show you what they know.

The article is short but very informative. I'll give you a very quick summary but you'll want to read it to get all the details.



He's using a two-wedge system -- a 54-degree high bounce and a 60-degree low bounce -- for his examples. And his basic plan of attack is to use the high bounce bounce wedge off upslopes -- where he says the lower loft also works better -- and the low bounce wedge off downslopes. He gives some very useful directions about how to do this to best effect, which is why you'll want to read the article.

Don't let the short length of the article fool you. There is an amazing amount of info in it, and it's presented very clearly. By all means, take time to look it over -- it could save you several strokes per round!