What Degree Loft Is a Gap Wedge?
Reliable play with your wedges can help you lower your score on the golf course.
Skilled golfers often keep up to four different golf wedges in their golf bag for short game inside of 100 yards and chip shots around the green. Each wedge has a different loft to make it useful for hitting shots in specific situations, based on yardage and terrain in which the golf ball sits, such as bunker shots.
Similar to an iron set in the fact that there are several different types of golf clubs, a full golf wedge set consists of four different types of wedges: the sand wedge, pitching wedge, lob wedge, and gap wedge. Today, we will focus on the gap wedge.
What is the Gap Wedge’s Degree Loft?
The gap wedge's loft depends on the club manufacturer and model of the club. Most gap wedges have a loft of between 50 and 52 degrees. Among wedges, this club has a low to moderate degree of loft and is sometimes called an approach wedge, used for approach shots more than any other type of wedge shots.
Place
Pitching wedge loft is the lowest among wedges, meaning that it will send the ball farther than the other wedges. Next in loft and decreasing in distance are the gap wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge.
A pitching wedge has a loft of between 45 and 48 degrees, sand wedge loft ranges from 54 to 56 degrees, and lob wedges are the most lofted club and the only 60-degree wedge, sitting between 60 and 64 degrees in most cases.
Using a Wedge
Golfers use their gap wedge when they need slightly more height on their ball than they would get with a pitching wedge and slightly more distance than they would get with a sand wedge. Gap wedges are extremely versatile, meaning they are suitable to use when your ball is in longer grass, or rough, and when it is on shorter grass, or fairway.
Considerations
Gap wedges are often included in beginner golfer, intermediate golfer and women's sets of clubs. The wedge literally fills the distance gap between the pitching wedge and sand wedge.
Without it in the set, golfers find that the pitching wedge is too long for a particular shot, but the sand wedge will not send the ball far enough. Some golfers choose not to carry a gap wedge because PGA golf rules allow only 14 clubs in a player's bag, but these golfers are quickly becoming the minority in the golf game. Some golfers may choose to carry two drivers or two putters instead of one of the wedges, but it all comes down to personal preference and what you think you need on the golf course.