Sand Wedge

The sand wedge is a specialty wedge, typically lofted between 54 and 58 degrees. It is built with a wide sole and generous bounce in particular to perform well from bunkers. This applies where the club needs to glide through sand rather than dig into it. It was the original "specialty" wedge, developed decades before gap and lob wedges became common. This is precisely to solve the problem of standard clubs digging too deeply into sand. Beyond bunker play, the sand wedge is also a standard scoring club for short, high-trajectory greenside shots from rough or fairway. This means its loft and bounce combination make it useful anywhere a golfer needs a shot with real height and spin from a relatively short distance. Most golfers carry a sand wedge as a fixture in the bag regardless of skill level. This is because bunker shots occur commonly enough across a season that a dedicated bunker club is worth the bag slot for nearly everyone. A sand wedge's bounce, more than its loft, is what separates good bunker players from struggling ones on a given wedge. This means a sand wedge with too little bounce for a golfer's swing or the course's typical sand conditions will dig and chunk shots regardless of technique. At the same time, a properly bounced sand wedge is comparatively forgiving even for a player still developing bunker technique.