Actually with pitching and chipping you shouldn't be changing how hard or soft you hit it (Dave Pelz 101). What I see a few people do is take a half swing alongside the green and decelerate to the point where the club stops at impact. You should hit THROUGH the ball (Tony Jacklin 101). What controls the distance is the length of backswing and the amount you choke down. Theoretically, the difference in distance on a full swing between a 56 and 58 is ~7 yards. I usually hit a 1/2 swing pitch 35 yards with a 55 deg wedge and 30 with a 58 given the same swing. So what you would do to shave the 5 yards with the 55 is choke down 1/2 inch. A 1/4 swing shot (feet close together) is 20 yards for me with a 58 with a full grip and about 12 yards with a full choke. If I'm 15 ft from the pin, I'll use a 64 degree wedge.

I made the switch from a 58 to a 56, and I haven't noticed a whole lot of difference in green side chipping. It took me a little bit of practice to get the hang of the new club, but my chips have not really changed at all. I'm back to a lot of tap ins, and I will not give it up.

Note, I had 2 58s prior to switching. One was 10 years old and had no grooves. The other was a new spin milled. That new one was ruined on an unseen rock, and now I have the C-C 56.

My setup:

17° 910H, 3-PW (47° PW), 56°, 60°

I gave up one wedge for the 910H. I have no problem choking up on my wedges to fill the gaps. Mostly, my scores have come down since switching to this setup.

I have a 54-11 (bent to 55) and I can do quite a bit with it. The 58-12 is, more or less, a "nice to have" club (as is the 64-07). I use the 60-07 primarily for tight lies from 50 yards in.

58 will stop the ball a little sooner. This is actually "old school" loft for a sand wedge. I have a 54-11 (bent to 55-12), 58-12, 60-07 and 64-07. I use the 54,58 and 64 for various sand shots and from grassy lies for pitching and chipping. I use the 60 for tight lies within 50 yards and hard packed bunkers. If you have a 56-12 vs a 58-12 as a sand wedge..... the 56 would require less effort to extract out of a bunker. The 58-12 is nice for wet bunkers or where you have little real estate to the pin. A 58-12 works reasonably well on tight lies if you de-loft a little and use a digging swing. If I want to do a flop shot with a tighter lie, I'll use a 60-07. Is your intent to use it as a replacment for the 56 and 60 as a general purpose sand wedge? Between 2007-2009, my wedge setup was PW, 51, 258-12 and 64. I used the 58 for about 99 percent of my pitching and chipping. The main shortcoming was longer bunker shots and hitting from hard packed lies in bunkers.

Lou, sorry but I can give you another 24 different lie options around the green that might require a 54 degree a 57 degree or a 48 degree wedge. most tour players use 2 wedges plus a PW, the PW is either 47 or 48. I also had the 47, 52, 56 and 60 combination. I could not drop my scores as an old pro onday told me, son gold starts at the T box and end in the hole. your game looks like you hitting to miss the green and then start playing, you will never learn to play low scoring gold if you dont learn to miss the green on the safe sife, from there you have a simpler shot, get it on the green asap. with respect, with your handicap the aim should be to hit more greens or miss them in the "right" place. get it on the green and two put. But if you enjoy hitting high flops and play a coures where you have a combiantion of wet and some hard and some soft bunkers and some thick and some fluffy rough around the greens, you then need 4 wedges??

Obviously I had an update since the last post. I traded in my 64-07 and 60-07 for a 62-07. It turns out the 62-07 has a much wider sole than either and it hits equally well in wet sand or dry, doesn't get caught up in turf and hits off tight lies. I've been pretty proficient with the 54-11 because I have been using it for about 90 percent of my shots within 60 yards. I can actually get by with the PW, 54-11 and 62. The 58-12 is "nice to have" and the GW is really, more or less, "baggage."

I have the t-100s, the first gen, came with PW (44) and GW (48)

I am thinking about scraping the GW and going 44-50-56-60.

I currently have 44-48-54(bent to 52)-58-62.

I 44 goes 125, 48 goes 105, etc. When I play a tournament I end up having to take out 2,3, and 62.

With 44-50-56-60 I could just mess with what longer clubs are best for a course not be having to give up short game choices. Thoughts.