What is bounce? Understanding what the bounce is on a golf club and how it works can be the key to improving your short game. In the diagram at right, you can see two different angles. One of those being the loft of the club (front edge to the top of the face of the club) and the other being the bounce (lowest point of the club to the front edge). In this case the bounce is 12 degree. The best way to describe bounce is the angle from the back edge of your club up to the leading edge. Bounce’s can vary from 4 degree up to 16 degree.

So what does the bounce do?
Bounce on the club is used to help stop the club hitting the ground/sand and digging straight in. The bounce will hit the ground and send to club back up into your follow through, this will help to send the ball in the air. If your club had no bounce then the leading edge work dig straight into the ground, leading to fat shots with no control over distance. It would also lead to you being unable to follow through correctly and jarring as the club gets stuck in the ground.

So what amount of bounce do I need on my wedges?
There are a few factors that will effect you choice of bounce. The main being the type of sand at the golf course you regularly play at. The firmer the sand the less bounce you need on the club, this will help the club dig into the firmer sand and allow you to still blast the ball onto the green. If you used a club with a lot of bounce in firm bunkers then the club would bounce off the firm surface, leading to thin/bladed shots.

Vice versa if you play a course with deep soft sand, then you need a lot more bounce on your wedges. This will stop your club digging into the sand to much and getting stuck, this will lead to those shots where the ball stay’s in the bunker not going very far at all.
 
What if I play at numerous course’s?
If this is the case then you need to set your wedges up to cater for all conditions. You may carry a SW that has a lot of bounce for all the soft conditions and a LW which has less bounce for the hard bunkers.

What else can effect the bounce of a golf club?
Opening and closing the face of your wedge can have a big effect on the bounce of the club. If you look back at the earlier diagram and imagine leaning the shaft back/opening the face (shaft towards the left of the page). This would dramatically increase the degree of bounce. On the other hand if you leant the shaft forward/closing the face (shaft towards the right of the page) this would decrease the amount of bounce.

How does this effect how I play bunker shots?
Well if you get a hard sand bunker and you open the club face up to try and get the ball out high, then all you have done is increase the bounce, leading to a bladed/thin shot. In a hard sand bunker you actually have to decrease the bounce allowing the club to dig and that is when the ball will come out high.

On the other hand if you happen to end up in a soft sand bunker, this is when you might start to open the face up as it increases the bounce and will help stop the club getting stuck in the thick sand.

What to do now?
Come into the pro shop and get us to check out your wedges to make sure the are correct of the current conditions. We can recommend which clubs will suit different bunkers and make sure you have the best possible setup. Bounce is something that is not talked about a whole lot but is an extremely important factor in having a good short game. If you are still struggling or would like to learn more, then book in for a short game session and we guarantee you will get results.