Best Golf Wedges For Beginners 2024

If you're new to the game, there are a few wedges buying tips to consider before you part with your hard-earned money. Given the proliferation of technology and the variety of models offered by different brands, you might not need to spend an arm and a leg to get the best golf wedges for your game. Regardless of golf proficiency, there are things to consider though. When investing in a wedge set, you want to ensure you have even gaps between the lofts of your wedges, so you can cover off as many distances as possible.

Watch: Most Forgiving Wedges of 2024

We also recommend trying to make sure the shafts in your wedges are similar in type to your irons, so they feel the same on full shots. In terms of specific clubhead design, the best golf wedges for beginners often tend to offer a bit more bounce - the angle created between the leading edge and the lowest point of the sole - to help achieve cleaner strikes.

Then you need to consider how many wedges to put in the bag too. If all of that sounds complicated then our piece on what to consider when buying a wedge should explain tings a little better.

Here, we review some of the best golf wedges for beginners to give you a better idea of the models you should be looking to try. Alternatively, we also recommend checking out some of our other beginner golf gear guides too - such as the best golf balls for beginners, best golf drivers for beginners, or even the best golf sets for beginners. Whatever level you are in the game, we are here to help.

The Quick List

Best Golf Wedges For Beginners

Top pick

Callaway has produced many forgiving wedges in golf to help a lot of golfers with their wedge game. For those of you that may need assistance around the greens then the Callaway CB wedge might just be the club for you. With a large cavity back design built to offer up the most forgiveness for a variety of shots and a wide base combined to make this a very forgiving wedge. In the wedges from 54º to 60º you get a full face of grooves this helps increase the forgiveness for off-center hits meaning spin levels can stay higher even with mis-strikes.

On the face it has the same face-blasted grooves that you see in the Jaws Raw wedge, this creates a rougher surface on the face, increasing friction and therefore spin. This helps to create great levels of spin no matter the conditions you are in. Even though the bounce is relatively high on these wedges, we didn't find any issues with sliding under the ball or anything like that making this one of the best high bounce wedges you can get. 

• Read our full Callaway CB Wedge Review

Best wedge set

Kirkland is a brand from Costco that has gathered a lot of talk and backing in the golf world, offering up premium-looking clubs for a fraction of the price. It performs well and comes in at less than $150 for three wedges, you get a gap wedge, sand wedge, and lob wedge in the set making this only $50 a club for a great-looking and top-performing set of wedges. 

when it came to performance these wedges had higher spin rates than we see in some of the more premium wedges on the market, this makes the ball easier to get up in the air. We think these wedges look great with a simple and classic look, and have a good-sized head and shape at address. These wedges offer you great value for money giving you great performance at a fraction of the cost. 

• Read our full Kirkland Signature 3-Piece Wedge Set Review

Best full face

When it comes to wedges Cleveland makes some of the best golf wedges you can get, and with the CBX Full-Face 2, you get a premium wedge with great forgiveness aspects, which is great for beginner golfers. 

This wedge stands out because the grooves run the full width of the face and right up to the toe. this means you can open up the face and not worry about off-center strikes or miss strikes leading to lower spin rates. this wedge also has numerous options for loft, shaft, and sole options so you can find a wedge setup that really suits your game. 

A lot of the forgiveness in the Full-Face 2 comes from the cavity back design, and with this sometimes you find a wedge does not have much feel at impact. However, that is not the case with this wedge with the TPU gel back insert sitting in the cavity to moderate sound you get a lovely sound and feel off the face. 

• Read our full Cleveland CBX Full-Face 2 Wedge Review

Best for spin

This wedge is designed with an oversized head and a hollow cavity back which helps to provide great levels of forgiveness and versatility for a range of lies. This wedge felt really soft in part due to the TPU insert which is in behind the sweet spot. The grooves are the same as those featured on the bladed Snakebite wedge which has incredible levels of spin and performance. 

This wedge only comes in four lofts 48°, 52°, 56° and 60° which all have a fixed bounce with a new teardrop grind, this easily negates tight lies and deep bunkers. when it comes to high bounce wedges this is one of the best high bounce wedges we have tested, we were using the 56° wedge with 10° of bounce, there was loads of forgiveness through the turf especially as the ground was wet. When we tested it in bunkers it was really good at keeping the speed up through the sand, making the ball pop out pretty much every time. Overall this wedge is great for those starting out in the game, although there are not to many loft options, this is outweighed by the extreme forgiveness and great spin levels this wedge has. 

• Read our full Cobra Snakebite X Wedge Review

Best wide appeal

A new addition for 2024 comes from Cleveland and is the CBX 4 Zipcore, these wedges are made on the bigger side which helps to give them that confidence-inspiring look. with a rounded leading edge, this allows for more versatile approach shots in and around the greens, giving us more creativity with ball flights and spin if we were accessing difficult pins in testing. The CBX 4 comes with the HydraZip face, which is a laser-milled line that increases friction on the club face, which then creates more spin in wetter conditions. 

With this wedge it includes the Zipcore technology which is found in some of the best Cleveland wedges on the market. Zipcore means that the heavier steel located in the hosel is replaced by a lightweight but strong vibrating dampening material. Thanks to this weight saving Cleveland can redistribute this weight across the toe and higher on the face, this leads to an increased MOI of 7.8% and more optimum CG placement. 

• Read our full Cleveland CBX 4 Zipcore Wedge Review

Best for chipping

This wedge from MacGregor is pushed towards the beginner golfer who may be struggling with their chipping. The big wide sole is made to help reduce the miss hits, by eradicating thinned or chunked shots. The wider sole helps to make the club glide off the turf rather than digging in. 

This wedge has a loft of 66 degrees which is way higher than a lot of sand wedges you find which range more from 56-60 degrees. With this extra loft, you can get the ball in the air more easily, making it easier to get over the lips of bunkers which some beginners can struggle with. This wedge is definitely unique and we found it to be fun to play with and a great club but if you want something more versatile and creative around the greens this isn't the best wedge for you, but beginners will love it. 

• Read our full MacGregor V Foil Wide Sole Sand Wedge Review

How we test

When it comes to wedges, we take the testing process very seriously. Whether we are sent a product or buy it ourselves, we put everything through its paces to ensure we can provide thorough and reliable advice. Every member of the Golf Monthly team is an avid golfer and as such, knows what does and doesn't make for a good wedge for each category of player.

As far as our methodology goes, we review all wedges properly, which means we have used each one across multiple rounds and in practice to assess every aspect of performance in all conditions. For example, if a wedge claims to be the ultimate bunker club, we will test that theory from any and all lies possible.

Specific to the best wedges for beginners, we tested every one thoroughly to assess how easy they were to hit and the level of forgiveness on offer. While not as important at this early stage, we were also keen to find out how much spin each was able to generate and if there were any difference in flight.

This comprehensive testing style is not just exclusive to wedges as we test with the same level of thoroughness across all gear categories.

How to choose a wedge

When choosing a wedge there are a variety of factors to consider. Let's go into those now. 

Forgiveness - For a beginner, the main factor we think you need to consider is how forgiving a wedge is, because consistency of strike is the main thing newer players struggle with when starting out. As such picking a wedge that is going to help you as much as possible makes sense and there are lots of models out there to help, many of them are in this guide in fact. 

Lofts: Even beginners should have some kind of understanding on what loft their wedges should be. As such we recommend measuring your current wedge yardages and how often you are in between clubs to help decide if you need to carry extra options. This is an important part of your bag setup to get right across the entire bag too, because knowing your gaps can allow you to fill out your bag correctly whether that be carrying two, three, or four wedges, which can then impact how many clubs you can carry at the top of the bag. The opposite is true as well. We have also created a guide on the best gap wedges as well so check that out for more information.

Finish: Options like black PVD and copper are becoming increasingly common. The difference is mainly cosmetic, but dark finishes can help reduce glare. Alternatively there are classic chrome and silver designs as you can see above so it is a case of picking a design you like the look of not just at address, but in the bag as well.

Grooves: While grooves are now tightly regulated, it is still well worth keeping up to date with the latest designs, which use new milling processes and groove shapes to help move water and dirt away from the ball at impact to create extra spin and improve control. Additionally there are several brands that have brought out wedges with grooves that stretch across the entire face. Admittedly this does take a little bit of time to get used to, but for those players who may struggle with strike, a full faced wedge might do you some favors when creating spin towards the toe.

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