>ook in het Nederlands…>>..The bounce percentage gives the angle between the leading-edge of the club head and the lower part of the club head. The bottom of the club is also called trailing-edge. The bounce was developed in the thirties of the last century, initially for the sand-wedge. The bounce causes to slide more easily through the sand and does not dig in. The lower edge of the club was made more round which resulted in better control of the speed and movement of the club. Where in those days the bounce was only to be found on sand wedges, nowadays it’s also used on the gap wedge (52 degrees) and the lob wedge (52 degrees).
The bounce percentage of these clubs are somewhat more reduced. So has the gap wedge on average a bounce of 8 degrees and the lob wedge one of 6 degrees. In general the bounces vary between 4 and 16 degrees. Many practice and try outs session will make you learn what feels right. Or a session with a pro, to learn which bounce percentage fits the best to your swing style. You’ll also notice during practice, that if you open the club face, that the bounce becomes bigger.
When do you want to have which bounce percentage?
The differences in swing style and also the differences in surface of the golf course have influence on the bounce percentage. Therefore it is recommendable to use a club with less bounce if you have a shallow swing path. Your divots are not very deep after contact with the ball and you swing goes more from the inside to the outside. You also can better choose for a lower bounce percentage when you play on a harder kind of soil. Having more wedges or clubs, to finally make the right selection on the course, is of course the best. But not everyone wants to buy or can afford to have more than 14 clubs.
A low degree of bounce and a wide size of the sole makes it possible to open the club face and for example make a high – soft landing flop shot. Clubs with few bounce typically have less loft – pitching wedges and gap wedges for example, which are used for the longer approach shots.
It’s obvious that if you have a more steeper swing style and you hit more from the outside to the inside, that you have to take a higher bounce. As a player you make more regularly deep divots. Also on golf courses with a soft underground, for examples in Ireland and Scotland, you can better choose for a higher bounce.
high bounce ≠ high loft
Often its thought that the clubs with a high bounce also have a lot of loft. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. In general the lob wedges with 62 degrees of loft are made with a low degree of bounce. Due to this the ball can be played very high with a soft landing as a result. A specialist in these shots is Phil Mickelson.
All in all an important aspect of the golf club. An aspect which is often overlooked when purchasing an improved golf set. Of course are the shaft length and the flexibility important. But don’t forget to look at the bounce and the width of the sol during the club fitting session.