Wedge fitting
Seventy-five minutes, $135. The clubs you use inside a hundred yards, where scores are actually made, and the part of the bag that gets fitted least often.
Start with the gap under your pitching wedge
Modern iron sets have been getting stronger for twenty years. A pitching wedge that says "P" on the sole is frequently 43 or 44 degrees, where the same club was 48 degrees in the nineties. Nobody told the golfer, and the sand wedge in the bag is still 56.
That leaves a twelve-degree hole immediately below the club you hit most often into greens. It shows up as the shot everyone hates: the three-quarter swing with a wedge that either flies the green or comes up short, never in between. Filling that gap correctly is the single most common outcome of a wedge session here.
Bounce, and why Charleston is its own case
Bounce is the angle between the leading edge and the lowest point of the sole. It decides whether the club digs or skids, and the right amount depends on two things: how steeply you attack the ball, and what the ground is like.
Around here the ground is two different things depending on the month and the course. Bermuda cut tight in late summer wants less bounce and a relieved heel so the leading edge can get under the ball. Soft overseeded turf in winter, and the sand at the coastal courses, want more. Players who only own high-bounce wedges struggle badly off firm summer lies, and the reverse is true in January.
We fit for the courses you actually play most, and where a golfer's home course changes character seasonally, we say so on the sheet.
Grind is not a marketing word
Material removed from the heel, toe, or trailing edge changes how the club sits when you open the face. If you like to open a wedge for a soft flop, you need a grind that permits it — otherwise opening the face raises the leading edge and you blade one over the green. Two minutes of testing on the mat settles it.
The distance map
Every wedge session ends with a printed sheet of your carry distances at full, three-quarter, and half swings for each wedge you end up with. That page is the actual product. Knowing that your 52 goes 94 yards at three-quarters is worth more on a Saturday than any change of hardware.
People photograph it and keep it on their phone. Some tape it inside the bag pocket. Either is fine.
Shafts in wedges
Frequently overlooked. Wedge shafts are commonly heavier and softer-tipped than the corresponding iron shaft, which is correct for a full-swing player and can be wrong for someone who hits mostly partial shots. For older golfers using lighter iron shafts, dropping a heavy stock wedge shaft into the bag creates a jarring transition at exactly the clubs demanding the most touch.
Seventy-four years old and I had a fifty-two, a fifty-six, and a sixty that all went the same distance because of how I swing now. We rebuilt the bottom of the bag around three actual gaps.
Everett S. — Moncks Corner
Book a wedge session
Seventy-five minutes, $135, distance map included. Pairs naturally with a putter session as a two-category block.