We’re not talking about Tiger Woods and the commercial where he bounces the ball on his wedge and then hits it out of mid air. Have you ever tried that? It’s fricken hard. Anyway, bounce on a golf club is usually associated with wedges like a 60 degree lob wedge or a sand wedge. It refers to the angle on the sole of the club.
Bounce is important for several reasons that greatly impact your short game. First of all, bounce is very important on sand shots. This is what keeps the club moving through the sand instead of digging deeper. This helps you move sand and the ball on top of it. If you listen to bunker shots that the pros take, you can hear a ‘thud’ before the ball comes out. That’s bounce at work. It happens when you hit the sand with the sole of the club (bounce) instead of the leading edge of the club. Next time you practice a bunker shot, hit the sand a few times without a ball. Try to make that sound and you’ll notice how easily the club moves through the sand. Remember don’t hit the sand with the leading edge of the club.
Bounce is also important when chipping. Phil Mickelson is known to grind down all the bounce until it’s gone. This is so he can get the maximum loft on the wedge. It makes it tougher to hit because the club will dig into the ground if you don’t hit it perfect, just like in the sand. On the other hand, if you have too much bounce, you may tend to hit it thin or skull it. For example, I had a 60 degree lob wedge with 7 degrees of bounce. I hit it great, but when I got a new wedge with 11 degrees of bounce I skulled every chip because I had to hit it differently. I went back to a club with less bounce and my chipping so I could use the stroke I had learned over the past several years instead of trying to relearn a new chipping stroke.
So that’s bounce. Hopefully, you can use it to your advantage when you buy your next wedge and your up-and-down’s will put some…bounce… in your step!