How often should you change your golf wedges?

Getting new gear is always immensely satisfying, but how often should you change your golf wedges? 

I think we can all agree that getting new wedges is the best. From the moment you take the wrapper off, sit your new wedge down behind the ball, and hit it for the first time, the feeling off the fresh sharp grooves makes you feel like the best wedge player ever. There is so much spin you get off new grooves you can be aggressive and creative but what happens when that performance starts to fade.  

There does come a point where your new wedges will not have as much spin and control as when your first got them. A question I get asked a lot is about the life span of a wedge and how often they should be replaced. So I went to get some answers.

How often should you change your golf wedges?

As I was getting fitted for the new Vokey SM10 wedges, I was curious to see what the longevity is in these razor-sharp grooves. I got chatting to Titleist’s wedge specialist Aaron Luttrell… 

How do sharp grooves compare to worn grooves in terms of performance? 

You need to have a good groove edge and good groove depth to channel away all the debris and moisture so you can control the flight and spin. All the CG and all the grind fitting in the world won’t work effectively if the groove is worn it’s not going to channel the debris efficiently. So, if you’re just off the fairway, for example, it’s just not going to work the same and you won’t have control. 

What is the goal when explaining groove wear? 

Our idea is we want to talk to people about groove wear and understand when to replenish them because it’s a performance attribute to keep the ball from rolling up the face and taking off too high and knuckling and being hard to control.

You heat treat your wedges. What does that do? 

Heat treating the face almost doubles the lifespan relative to a non-heat treated face. We get the feedback, ‘Oh you’re just talking about groove wear and you’re just trying to sell more wedges.’ Well, if we were just trying to sell more wedges we wouldn’t heat treat them! We do it to try and preserve the spin and the integrity of the wedge and the groove because we know how important it is to performance.

What is the goal when explaining groove wear? 

Our idea is we want to talk to people about groove wear and understand when to replenish them because it’s a performance attribute to keep the ball from rolling up the face and taking off too high and knuckling and being hard to control.

And, finally, what is the life expectancy in a wedge? 

We tend to see degradation around 75 rounds. It’s probably between 75 and 100 rounds, but it also depends on how often you’re practising and hitting balls.

But the reason why it’s longer is actually because we heat treat all of our wedges to increase durability of the groove.

• How often should you change your driver?

• How often should you change your balls?

• How often should you change your spikes?

Conclusion

So there you have it. You should change your wedges every 75 to 100 rounds. For the average club golfer, that’s going to be every two years or so. I play maybe 40 rounds a year and would look at getting a new wedge every year or two.

But it just shows you how important groove wear is, especially if you play and practice a lot. You’ll notice the performance starts to dip when you have less control and spin, but remember to clean your grooves as this will affect your shots. You know who you are! 

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James Tait is bunkered’s Gear Editor. Want to know how the latest Callaway driver, Vokey wedge or Scotty Cameron putter performs? He’s the guy to ask. Better yet, just watch his videos on the bunkered YouTube channel. One of the biggest hitters in the UK, James also competes on the World Long Drive circuit and is a descendent of former Amateur champion Freddie Tait.

Gear Editor