This popped up in my emails this morning. Lee Trevino wasn’t complementary of the 60* wedge when talking to Michael Breed in an interview…
Breed: “You are well known for your wedge play. How valuable, how important is the 60-degree in today’s game for this modern player versus when you were out playing with that big, Wilson, thick sole, R-90 wedge that was easy to get out of a bunker but very difficult to hit high-lofted shots around the greens with?”
Trevino: “One of the best clubs that I ever had, believe it or not, was the ‘Sandy Andy’,” Trevino remembered. “It had about 22 degrees of bounce on it. But you know, I played my hands forward and the ball back, so actually the bounce on the club was only like 13 by the time I hit the ball. And that’s just the way that it was.”
Breed: “What about the current 60 degree as an asset over the 56?”
Trevino: “The 60-degree wedge is the worst thing that ever happened to a high-handicapper, because he can’t use the 56 yet,” exclaimed Trevino. “I mean, he’s got to learn to use the 56 before he goes to a 60. I don’t know why they’re carrying a 60. They can’t use the damn thing. They’re always short with it.
The reason they’re short with it is, if you play with an amateur that has an eight or over, if he pulls a 60 out, he’s generally short; he’s always short,” said the guest forcefully."
“And the reason for it is because they don’t realize how much loft is on this thing and they tend to swing at it the same speed they do the 56,” Trevino explained. “And it’s not going to go anywhere. I mean, it won’t go anyplace. Tight lies, now all of a sudden, now they’re getting these little — built the way that the architecture is with the greens dropping off and everything, that’s the worst club you want to use around there is the 60 because the grain’s against you. And that club is sharper; it doesn’t have as much bounce on it. The secret is to open the 56 wide open to get a little more bounce and then rotate it; close the toe a little bit.”
This has sure been my own experience with a 60* wedge....I've never had one that I could use very well. I just
got a 58* Cleveland Smart Sole with a big wide sole over the winter. It's been pretty good so far out of sand,
but I seldom use it off the grass for the reasons Trevino gave. I also thought his comments on the old
Wilson Sandy Andy were interesting.....