There is a lot of cool gear in the golf equipment world that doesn’t always fit neatly into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised.
What We Tried:
PING WebFit and the accompanying s159 wedges.
Who Tried It:
Connor. Director of Content and resident sneakerhead. I don’t have a clue about wedge grinds, bounce and what lofts are right for my game. PING WebFit seems like the perfect solution to my problem. I can get fitted without inducing the major social anxiety of having to speak to a real person. That’s my Gen-Z talking (or texting).
The (online) fitting process
We’ve written at length about PING’s WebFit system, so I’ll spare you the big details. I will, however, share my experience with the tool and, obviously, the results it spit out for my game.
The thing I like about the wedge WebFit is how easy it is to nail down the details. As someone who’s not the best golfer, I found it very intuitive. It asks a simple series of questions based on course conditions, pitch shots (things like ball position, if you like to pitch with a square or open face) and your wedge use.
After answering the questions, it spits out a perfectly gapped set of wedges, including which grinds are best for your game.
And there you have it, folks. In less than five minutes, I now have a clear picture of which wedge lofts and grinds are best for my game. That’s all good and well in theory but in practice things become more clear.
I’ve spent time on a launch monitor and at the golf course with my fitted PING s159 wedges. Here are my thoughts.
Quantitative results
Let’s start with the numbers. The data. The goods. After going through a gapping session on Foresight with the s159 wedges, the results are pretty darn similar to what PING predicted based on my PW distance and the selected lofts.
So what, my new 50-degree wedge is a little long? PING was right on the money with what my expected carry distances would be with my fitted s159 wedges. Even so much that instead of a 56-degree, PING had it bent to 55 degrees to close that already big gap.
Well done, PING. Based on all of the info I inputted into WebFit, PING was deadly accurate about what my gapping needed to be.
Qualitative feedback
The data doesn’t lie but my personal experience and feedback are just as important. The key things I look for in a wedge are turf interaction and feel. Before I get into that, let me break down for you how I use my wedges.
Both my gap and “sand” wedges (50, 55) I pretty much only use on full shots. Rarely, if ever, am I using them to pitch, and definitely never to chip. I’m not sure this is the best way to use those wedges but it’s been working well for me.
That brings me to the 60-degree wedge, my lob wedge. This is the club that I rely on for versatility. I hit the occasional full shot with it but it’s my go-to club around the greens for short chips, for 30- to 40-yard pitches and out of bunkers.
I’ll keep it short. The gap and sand wedges are great. They feel good, look good and, as mentioned, provide the carry numbers that are appropriate for my gapping. But the real pièce de résistance is the lob wedge.
After spending ample time on the course with the 60-degree s159 wedge, I’m convinced that PING perfectly picked the appropriate wedge grind for my short game. That, ladies and gentlemen, is invaluable for a golfer like me who doesn’t know an S-grind from an H-grind.
Chipping with the s159 with the S-grind is an absolute joy. My short game has come a long way in the last few months and I felt supremely confident hitting both low and higher, softer chips with this wedge.
I love the S-grind. I feel like I can “slam” it into the ground and just let the grind and bounce do the work. This stops me from flipping or getting handsy and has produced some picturesque chips. The turf interaction is great on both long and short chips.
Out of the bunker, the s159 60-degree wedge is a modern miracle. OK, it’s still “possible” to miss a bunker shot, but in the soft sand that I generally play in, it’s easy to get the ball up high and landing soft.
And when I do have to hit a full shot on occasion, I feel like the versatility of the S-grind stops me from digging when I do hit it a little fat (Spoiler: that happens quite frequently).
Painting the overall picture
Let me put it this way: I’ve never done an in-person wedge fitting but I’ve done a comprehensive, helpful wedge fitting from the comfort of my couch. And it works. For as simple as it is, PING’s WebFit for the s159 wedges is a fantastic tool for those who, like me, want to get fitted for wedges and don’t know where to start.
Did I mention it’s free?
Is an in-person wedge fitting on real grass where you hit clubs in front of a certified fitter a better route? In theory, sure. But for my money, my online fitting was every bit as useful and helpful as a recent in-person fitting I did for woods. And it was faster.
It’s certainly not a perfect product or process. But it’s much, much, better than praying that a stock wedge can work for your non-stock game. Especially if the only grind you’re familiar with is getting a newborn baby to sleep through the night.
I can’t say for sure that your experience will be the same as mine. But you won’t find a faster, more simple way to get fitted for a set of wedges that works for your game.
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