TL;DR - Gone are the days of 3 woods in the average golf bag. One of those woods has been replaced by a lofted club called an approach wedge, a club that became necessary in the 1990s when standard lofts on irons were lowered. Approach wedges fit between the pitching wedge and sand wedge and are generally between 49° and 53° of loft, and, like sand wedges, come equipped with a variety of bounce angles. Today, they are as vital to a full set of clubs as a driver and putter.

Why You Need An Approach Wedge In Golf

The most memorable summer of my life was before my mother returned to work. That summer, my younger sister attended daycare for half days, usually in the mornings, while my mom and I headed to the golf course. We’d pick up my sister in the afternoons and head to the beach. This year, I am celebrating my 40th year of golf, thanks to my mom's memorable introduction to the game.

Thanks to that summer, I have spent countless more summer mornings pursuing a little white ball on a beautiful array of golf courses, playing a game I am now passionate about passing on to my own children.

I am also passionate about the tools we use to play this beautiful game, including approach wedges, an important scoring club that I will break down in detail here. If you are also passionate about the game, then you care about the wrenches you carry in your toolkit, and an approach wedge is a necessary tool for achieving that new low score we seek each time we play.

What Is an Approach Wedge?

For those of us growing up in the ‘80s, a pitching wedge came standard at 52° of loft. As the calendar turned to the 1990s, a focus on distance engulfed the game of golf. This focus on distance started the push toward manufacturers designing clubs with stronger lofts, one degree at a time. Eventually, the standard pitching wedge lofts became the old 9-iron (48°), while the 9-iron replaced the old 8-iron loft, and so on.

This created a distance gap. Golfers were faced with a quandary: either swing hard with a sand wedge (SW), a club not designed for hard swinging, or lay off a pitching wedge (PW) and risk decelerating. Neither of these options is an ideal way to swing a golf club. A choice between swinging like you tend to do in the Wednesday night five-person scramble or trying to slow down your natural circadian rhythms? No, thank you, I say, to either option.

So, a new club was invented. The standard set of 14 clubs used to include 3 woods—a driver, 3-wood, and 5-wood—but this new club, a ninth iron, replaced one of the woods. Phil Rodgers, a California golf professional, first developed the three-wedge system in 1980, and Cobra manufactured the “Trusty Rusty” club. Still, the gap wedge didn’t fully take flight until the 1990s, a time of massive innovation in golf. The 1990s also apparently being a time of creative labeling, this new club, filling the gap between the pitching and sand wedge loft, was dubbed a “gap wedge.” It has since been updated, as most people today call it an “approach wedge” (AW).

I was first introduced to the approach wedge when I worked in a dusty old public course pro shop in central Minnesota. I remember it was a Cleveland Classic (51°), and it sat on a shelf between the hot dog roller and a rain basin full of range balls. It was the kind that rusted, which seemed so cool to me. (Full disclosure: It still seems cool to me.) I asked the club pro about it, and he mumbled something about Cobra and its competitors bending golf clubs, which created a market for a new club. I loved the game of golf, but, at the time, I knew nothing about bending—or delofting—clubs.

I now understand the bending of clubs and can confidently state that golfers who are ready to experience lower scores need an approach wedge. The standard iron sets used to come with 3 through PW, but, of course, the 3-iron was delofted right into extinction, so now a standard set of irons is a 4-iron (and sometimes a 5-iron) through PW, although many come with the option to purchase an AW.

If you want to avoid having to explain to your spouse how you threw out your back swinging too hard with a sand wedge, I suggest you invest in the extra wedge that is no longer considered extra: the approach wedge.

What to Consider When Buying an Approach Wedge

In addition to filling a distance gap in your irons arrangement, an approach wedge can also be advantageous in a few other areas, not just for pitch and long chip shots. Here are a few key questions to ask yourself when considering an approach wedge.

1. What lofts are approach wedges?

Approach wedge lofts are generally 49°, 50°, 51°, and 52° lofts. These new wedges were first viewed as a utility club, much like hybrids were first viewed as a rescue club, not included in a typical set of irons, but they are now considered standard fare.

2. Where do you use an approach wedge?

Obviously, approach wedges can be swung full, but I recommend never swinging any wedge more than 80% full. Generally, they are a 100-yard-and-in club for the average golfer. A key question to ask yourself when considering an approach wedge is where you plan to use it most—full swing or around the green?

Additionally, I have found the AW the easiest club to use for chipping to slightly elevated greens (also called push-up greens). I consider it the best and highest lofted club in your bag that still works for “bump and run” shots. Many of the more advanced players I run with try to get really good at chipping with as select few clubs as possible. Approach wedges are a truly versatile club.

3. How does it compare to a sand wedge on full shots?

Approach wedges can be helpful when playing in windy conditions. Whether that wind is howling off Lake Superior, rolling over you like a barrel in West Texas, sending your hat and the tumbleweed flying, or knocking you flat on the plains of Kansas, the wind is often times harder to score in than rain and cold.

Approach wedges can be a great windcheater club. If hitting it into the wind, its lower loft naturally makes up for the lost distance compared to the SW. If hitting downwind, its less loft helps keep the ball out of the jetstream, thus controlling the distance.

And distance control, of course, is much more important than raw distance. If only club makers in the 1990s could’ve realized this.

Knowing the conditions in which you most often play should be part of the thinking process when deciding which approach wedge loft best suits your bag.

Features To Look Out For When Buying An Approach Wedge

Features to look for when buying an approach wedge can be broken into two categories: 1) distance and 2) how your AW fits the gap between pitching wedge and sand wedge/lob wedge.

Distance

How far are you hoping to hit your AW? I break it into three categories. If you’re hoping to hit your approach wedge 70 to 84 yards on a near full swing, then look at the 52° versions. If you want to hit it 85 to 100 yards, you may want a 51°. If you need it to fly 100-plus yards, I’d recommend the 49° or 50° options.

Benefit:

• Wedges with less loft equate to more distance
• Buying the AW that goes with your set makes full-swing shots a priority

Be Aware:

• As your game improves, the approach wedge is, like the driver, one of the clubs you’ll become more picky about
• Standalone wedges (not purchased as part of a set) put the priority on feel (less-than-full swing shots) and creativity

How Your AW Fits the Gap Between PW and SW/LW

Having the proper gapping will give you an easier time selecting which club to hit. For example, if you’re carrying a sand wedge that’s 54° and your pitching wedge is a standard 48°, then a 51° approach club will be better for you. Just like if your lob wedge (LW) is 64°, it doesn’t make much sense to carry a 54° sand wedge. That gap is too big. It’s rare to see PWs lofted at anything besides 48° these days, while sand wedge lofts are all over the board, from 54° to 59°. So be sure to base your AW loft more on the SW loft than the PW loft.

Benefit:

• Consistent gapping between clubs
• Predictability on full-distance shots

Be Aware:

• Four degrees is the standard gap between clubs (48° PW, 52° AW, and 56° SW)
• SW loft will be a key component in deciding which AW loft to purchase

How To Choose The Right Approach Wedge

Bounce may be one of the least understood concepts in golf, yet so important. It’s complicated enough that explaining it here mid-article is not the best use of your time. I suggest connecting with a Curated Golf Expert to get the full scoop on bounce. Wedges usually come equipped with two different numbers of the club sole: loft (usually the larger number) and bounce (usually the smaller number). Below I’ve described three golf personas and the bounce and shaft that best fits those personas.

Joy

Joy is a single-digit handicap with a fairly steep swing arc, and she plays most of her golf on a plush, highly maintained course, regularly watered, and receives plenty of rain.

Features Joy should look for:

• A club that focuses on feel and creativity
• A club that can be hit from 110 yards but whose main focus is greenside up-and-downs
• A club that assists in avoiding the leading edge digging in too much and taking overly heavy divots
• A mid-bounce club (10° to 14° of bounce)

Examples for Joy: Titleist Vokey, Callaway Jaws Raw, and MacGregor Tour Grind (cost-effective option)

Kevin

Kevin is a 13-handicap with a flatter swing, resulting in shallower divots. When the weather is ideal, he plays a lot of golf and is passionate about it, but does not consider himself a competitive golfer. He plays most of his golf on a poorly maintained municipal golf course with a limited water budget, and hits a lot of bare, tight lies off hardpan ground.

Features Kevin should look for:

• A club with enough weight to be swung full that will go about 90 to 105 yards
• A club with 3° to 4° less loft than his sand wedge
• A club with a lower bounce club (4° to 9°) to offset the hard ground lies

Examples for Kevin: TaylorMade Milled Grind 3 and Mizuno T24 Denim Copper

Nicki

A few months ago, Nicki broke 110 for the first time on 18 holes, and it has spurred her on to an improved run where she has now broken 110 in the last six rounds. She’s recently decided it’s her goal to break 100 before the season is through. She decided to replace the AW that came with her set with a standalone AW. She doesn’t love the sharp, knife-like leading edge on some of the high-end wedges.

Features Nicki should look for:

• A cavity back
• A beveled or rounded leading edge
• Something that can give her the confidence to swing full and go 60 to 80 yards
• A club with a mid-bounce (10° to 14°)

Examples for Nicki: TourEdge Hot Launch 523 VIBRCOR, Callaway CB, Cleveland CBX Zipcore

Find the Best Approach Wedge for You

Many of the nuggets of information mentioned so far should help you pick the best approach wedge for you, but to boil it down, you want your AW to fit within the rest of your irons set properly, and then you want to know your most common course conditions and swing plane (flat or upright). Lastly, and most importantly, you want to know what you plan to use the AW for most, be it full shots or greenside touch shots.

For anything beyond these nuggets, though, I suggest you get with a Curated Golf Expert to help you find the club that best fits your approach wedge goals. Armed with this ninth iron in your bag, you’ll see your approach shots—and hopefully your scores—improve.