The objective of golf is to finish holes with the lowest total score. In order to achieve a low score, golfers have to master the use of a wide range of clubs. Perhaps the most important clubs are those used from distances of 100 yards or less to the hole, since they are used for precision shots. While both the pitching wedge and the lob wedge fall into this category, there are important distinctions between them.
Loft
The primary difference between a pitching wedge and a lob wedge is in their loft. Loft is the angle that a club face makes with the ground and is identified in degrees. The more degrees of loft, the higher and shorter the ball tends to fly. Most pitching wedges have about 50 degrees of loft, while lob wedges are typically the most angled clubs in the bag, with lofts of about 60 degrees.
Club Distance
The distance a golf ball travels is based primarily on the loft of the club, but this distance can be altered based on how hard you swing the club. For standard swing speeds, most pitching wedges hit balls about 100 yards, while lob wedge shots tend to go about 60 yards.
Shot Type and Distance
A lob wedge typically launches a ball high into the air over a short distance. Its primary use is for short shots in which you have to hit the ball over an obstacle or hazard and land it accurately without much roll. For example, if you find yourself 50 yards from a small green with a large sand bunker in front of you, the lob wedge would be ideal to pop the ball up and land it softly on the green. The pitching wedge, on the other hand, has a multitude of uses, but is primarily used for shots from 30 to 100 yards out.
Chipping
At the full distance that each club can hit, usually 100 yards for a pitching wedge or 60 yards for a lob wedge, both clubs can be said to "pitch" the ball up to the green, in that the ball is launched at a high angle and comes to a gentle landing. From 30 to 60 yards out, the pitching wedge is often used to "chip" the ball, something for which a lob wedge is not built. Rather than throwing the ball high into the air as in a pitch, a chip pops the ball in the air and lets it run across the grass or green. This is a shot not appropriate for most lob wedge situations, in which you want to hit the ball over an obstacle.
Bounce
Bounce is the angle between a club's leading edge and the ground when held in a typical pre-shot position. Clubs with higher bounce work more effectively when not on a flat, hard surface, as the raised leading edge might not strike the ball squarely. Lob wedges typically have more bounce than pitching wedges because pitching wedges are generally used from the fairway, while lob wedges are often used from thicker grass.
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