I had a customer come in today asking for wedges with very specific parameters which he apparently found in Peltz's book.
Two of his requirements were;
bounce amount measured in inches, and
bounce depth measured in inches.
Now I am certainly familiar with bounce on a wedge and have always known it to be expressed in degrees, i.e., how far the leading edge is off the ground at address and how many degrees you would press forward until it was flush.
David, the second part of your definition is the definition you are looking for; the first is not. It is the angle you would press it forward until the leading edge met the ground.
That is ONE definition of bounce, probably the most common. But not by much. There is another one I see frequently enough. For instance, look at http://golf.about.com/cs/golfterms/g/bldef_bounce.htm, where it says, "Measurement in degrees of the angle from the front edge of a club's sole to the point that actually rests on the ground at address." Let's call this the 'alternate definition' of bounce angle.
The difference? Both definitions measure the angle between a line and the ground. But:
- Your definition uses the line tangent to the sole at the leading edge.
- The alternate definition uses a line from the leading edge to where the sole touches the ground.
Note that, if the sole is very curved, the two definitions can give substantially different numbers. That's not a good thing, because the catalogs never tell you which definition they are using -- but that's life.
Anyway, the second definition is harder to measure, but may well be a better indication of how the club plays in sand. However, as we all know, bounce angle has to be combined with with the front-to-back size of the sole to really indicate sand performance.
For instance, the Alien wedge was a very effective sand performer. (No, I'm not endorsing it; it was terrible from anything but sand and not great from the hard-packed sand you see in many munis, which may be why you don't see many of them any more.) Its angle of bounce was not much at all, but it had a big, wide sole that got the job done anyway.
OK, on to the Pelz stuff... But this was a necessary digression to explain it.
How does "bounce amount" differ from "bounce depth" and how does one go about measuring it in inches or more accurately in fractions of inches?
For Pelz' definition, you can go to http://www.pelzgolf.com/ProShop/Wedges/Default.aspx?s=3&p=2
Once there, click on the link for bounce specifications, and you'll get a page of explanation complete with pictures. Basically, it works like this. Set the club on the ground in address position.
- The bounce amount is the height from leading edge to ground.
- The bounce depth is the horizontal distance from just below the leading edge to where the sole contacts the ground.
Now if you use the alternate definition of bounce angle, then
bounce angle = arctan( bounce amount / bounce depth )
"But they said trig wouldn't be on the test." Sorry! It is.
So Pelz manages to encapsulate BOTH factors that affect sand performance. I think he's wrong not to use an angle, but he did. My druthers would also be two numbers, but they would be:
* Bounce angle, alternate definition.
* Bounce depth, Pelz' definition.
Hope this helps more than it confuses.
DaveT
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