Should You Use Heavier Shafts in Wedges? Best Shaft For Wedges

You might have felt the difference in weight going from one of your irons to a wedge. Is your wedge supposed to be heavier? Can you change the shaft weight? Should you use heavier shafts in wedges? Let’s find out!

Golfers who like to make half swings and pitch shots with their wedges generally use a heavier wedge shaft to add clubface and swing path consistency.

Golfers who make full swings with their wedges and want faster clubhead speed generally play with club shafts similar in weight to their iron set.

Golfers, of course, can argue and disagree with one another about if the shaft weight really makes a crucial impact on a wedge swing.

A lot is based on preference and dependent on the type of swing a golfer has and their swing habits.

Heavy Wedge Shaft vs. Light Wedge Shaft

It is, however, important to find out which wedge shaft works best for your game so that you can feel confident making your approach shots to the green.

Using a Heavy Wedge Shaft

Wedges are, by design, the heaviest clubs in a golfers bag.

I asked this question, “Why are wedge shafts the heaviest clubs in your bag?” to one of my friends.

The other day and he said the reason they are heavier is for the club to survive being thrown all around the course! (I found that rather funny…)

Why are Wedges the heaviest clubs? 

One of the main reasons a wedge is heavier is that the head has a thick cover of metal for golfers to be able to dig down at the golf ball and achieve a higher ball flight.

This metal is usually chiseled and balanced so that the golfer will be able to hit the center of the club face more easily.

In addition, because many golfers use wedges for half shots and chips, the golfer can use gravity with a heavier wedge to accelerate through the ball and correctly utilize the club loft and create spin.

Simply put, there is more mass in a wedge so that golfers can maintain the angle of the wedge easier through the swing and hit the center more often when making contact. 

Many mid- to low handicappers including tour players, and myself, prefer the feel of a heavier wedge shaft.

My personal reason for liking heavier wedge shafts is because I tend to use my wedges a lot around the green for chip and pitch shots.

I like the feel of the heavier weight keeping my club on the right swing plane. I use a Dynamic Golf S400 shaft in my 60 degree and 56 degree wedge.

Golfers also like heavier wedge shafts because they feel that they can keep their club face at its original angle much easier than a lighter wedge shaft.

Again, this is all preference. Some golfers find that they like using a lighter wedge shaft.

Using a Light Wedge Shaft

Golfers keep their wedge shafts lighter or the same as the rest of their irons so they can keep the feeling of each club relatively the same going from club to club in their bag.

Over the last five years or so, there has been a significant increase in the number of wedge shafts on the market.

Because of this increase, golfers have been experimenting with different weighted shafts for their wedges.

And many, including some of my friends, have decided to make their wedge shafts lighter or keep the shaft weight the same as the rest of their irons.

Some golfers do prefer to use lighter shafts their wedges if they make a lot of full shots with their wedges and feel that the heavier wedge shaft feels too clunky and inhibits them from generating a solid swing.

It is very common for golfers to put a lighter wedge shaft in their pitching wedge or gap wedge so that it feels similar to their iron set when making full shots.

Also, a lighter club shaft usually means that a golfer can create a faster swing speed.

Should Wedge Shafts Match Irons?

If you have good hand-eye coordination and a fast swing tempo, perhaps keeping your wedge shafts similar to your iron shafts might be the way to go so that you stay in a good rhythm going from club to club.

Similarly, if your current iron set has graphite shafts, using a heavier wedge shaft might also cause a lot of timing inconsistencies.

I would recommend if you do have lighter irons, try and look for lighter wedge shaft options to help your swing tempo.

Getting Fit For Wedges (Golf Fittings Near Me)

I know you don’t want to have to do any work after reading this post. You probably just came to this site for a quick answer (which I hope I gave you).

However, I “highly” recommend that you check out a golf store that does club fittings and get fitted for your wedges.

It’s this simple – just type in google “golf fittings near me” and you will get a nice list of places you can check out.

The analytics provided by a launch monitor during a club fitting will give you everything you need to make the right choice.

This way, you will be 100% certain that you are playing the wedge shafts that work best for you.

A professional fitter will look at these metrics (and more) below to be able to definitely tell you which wedge shafts are best for your game:

• Launch Angle
• Angle of Attack
• Spin
• Clubhead speed
• Ball Speed
• Loft
• Lie Angle
• Swing Path

Common Wedge Shafts and their Weight

Here is a quick list of the most common wedge shafts and their weight (in pounds):

• True Temper Dynamic Gold S 200 – Weight 127
• True Temper Dynamic Gold S 300 – Weight 130
• True Temper Dynamic Gold S 400 – Weight 134
• NS Pro Modus3 – Weight 105
• NS Pro Modus3 – Weight 115
• NS Pro Modus3 – Weight 120
• KBS Wedge Regular- Weight 110
• KBS Wedge Stiff- Weight 120
• KBS Wedge X Stiff – Weight 130

How To Get a Custom Wedge Shaft?

The easiest way to get the shaft you want in your wedge is to have a club fitter order it for you after a fitting.

Going through a professional with access to many club vendors will allow you to quickly get the shaft that you want, in the wedge that you want.

Often times, if you do a club fitting, they will wave the fitting fee if you purchase a product after.

Here is a quick list of places that do club fittings that you can google and see if you have in your areas:

• Dicks Sporting Goods (Most have a fitting area in the golf section)
• Golf Galaxy
• PGA Tour Superstore
• GolfTec
• Carls Golfland (Michigan)
• Golf Simulator Businesses
• Your local golf course (talk to the pro and see what they can do for you)

Another way is if you are handy and have the tools to make re-shaft you can always order your desired shaft using some of the links that I have above.

Tip: Check out this video if you want to know how to re-shaft on your own. It’s really not that bad!

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