Having a good short game is how good players become great players.
One of the most difficult portions of golf is hitting less than full wedge shots onto the green. Often when watching PGA golf tournaments, you hear of players laying up so that they can have a full wedge shot left into the green, rather than having to hit something like a 40 yard shot. If you don’t have the proper complement of wedges, the distance over which you have to have good feel just gets bigger and bigger.
Also, having a lob wedge (usually 60°) will help with many tough chip shots around the green, and a sand wedge is specially designed to help get the club to not dig into the sand and aid in getting the ball out of the bunker.
There are four types of wedges.
The pitching wedge, which usually comes with the iron set, and has 48° of loft. A gap wedge has 52° of loft, and like the pitching wedge is mainly for getting the ball on the green with a full swing from whatever distance you may hit it. A sand wedge has 56° of loft, and has what is called bounce. Bounce is the angle from the sole of the club to the ground, and high bounce helps get the ball out of fluffier sand and grass. Finally, a lob wedge may also have bounce, and has 60° loft. Of course you can use all of these with a full swing, but the lob wedge and sand wedge have other purposes.
There are several types of finish that they put on wedges.
They all perform similarly except for what is called the raw tour grind, which has more of a raw finish. This type of finish puts more spin on the ball. If you want more spin, that’s what you should go with, otherwise, it’s just a matter of what looks best to you when you’re setting up to the ball.
One example of this raw tour grind finish is the Cleveland RTG 588 Wedges. They come with high reviews, and are “industry benchmark for classic wedges.” The drawback with the raw finish is that they will rust. This is easily solved by keeping them dry.
The important thing with wedges is to have clubs that work for your short game, and enough wedges to be able to take a full swing at the ball from as many distances as possible.