Beginner and high handicap golfers usually don’t want to (or need to) spend a bunch of money on clubs. The good news is that you can get some pretty decent stuff without breaking the bank, and in this post, we’ll talk about some wedges from a newer golf brand, Stix Golf.
We also tested their Compete putter, which you can see HERE.
I’ve been spending a lot of time recently testing out different wedges (27 full rounds with Stix) to see what the best options were. Everything from $60 to $200, some being a lot better than others. Let’s jump into how these wedges performed and if they could be right for you.
In This Review
Product Details | Looks | Feel | Quality | Performance | Bottom Line
Stix Wedges Product Details
Gap Wedge | Sand Wedge | Lob Wedge | |
---|---|---|---|
Loft | 52° | 56° | 60° |
Length | 35.50″ | 35.25″ | 35.00″ |
Lie | 64° | 64° | 64° |
Bounce | 10.5° | 11° | 10° |
Head Weight | 300g | 300g | 308g |
Shaft Weight | 57g | 57g | 57g |
Swing Weight | D3 | D3 | D3 |
Stix Golf Website |
Since these wedges are designed for the average weekend hacker it means that you don’t have a whole lot of customizations. The only thing you can adjust on each club is the length.
Depending on your height, you can add or subtract 0.5″-1″ to the shaft. Normally, 5’8″-6′ golfers will like the standard length. Taller? Add some length. Shorter? Cut some off.
As for wedge bounce, a lot of wedges have a lot of different bounce settings you can pick from. With these, you only have one option. I think that’s actually good for average players (keeps things simple). The same goes for wedge grind, there is only one option.
All three wedges have mid-high bounce on them, which is good for a variety of different conditions. Again, more bounce is usually better for high handicappers.
One thing I’d prefer is that they came with different lofts. For me (and probably you), my pitching wedge is 44 degrees. Having a 8 degree gap between my PW and GW is a bit too much.
I think having a 50 degree GW, a 54 degree SW, and a 58 degree LW would space out the wedges a bit better. Plus, Hank Haney once said that average golfers shouldn’t use anything greater than 58 degrees.
It’s not the case for everyone, but I think it would be for most. If you’re interested in learning more about this and why I think that way then check one of these out:
- 50 vs 52 Degree Wedge: What Gap Wedge To Play?
- 54 vs 56 Degree Wedge: The Right Sand Wedge For You
- 58 vs 60 Degree Wedge: What Lob Wedge Is Best?
Looks
The way these wedges look out of the box is pretty slick. There isn’t a whole lot going on, they have a simple blade-like look to them, which I do prefer myself.
I got the black-painted ones, but you can also get classic silver too. From just the looks point of view, I do like the way the black wedges look compared to the silver ones (plus they don’t glare as much).
I’ve noticed in the past that some clubs that have paint on them will start to scratch up easily. We’ll get into that in a bit, but it was something I was kind of expecting.
They also have a red line in the lowest groove that looked pretty interesting. I guess it might help a bit with alignment. I didn’t notice a huge difference, but you might.
Feel
The way the clubs look isn’t that important to me. Other than performance and quality, you need to make sure that they feel good when you hold them. This really comes down to personal preference.
As soon as I put my hands on them I noticed that the grips were decent, but they were on the thin side. Some people may like that, but I’d prefer a slightly thicker one.
It’s not a huge deal because you can always change the grips to whatever you like. The grips I have on my normal wedges are standard size, but they feel a little bit bigger. I’ve seen a few other people say the same thing.
The next thing I noticed was that it felt a bit lighter. These wedges come with a graphite shaft while my normal wedges were steel. Graphite is going to be lighter.
Some people might prefer that, some people might not, and some people might have never even tried graphite wedges. I think it might be worth trying.
I don’t know if it has a definitive impact on performance but I do have some thoughts on that (we’ll talk about this in the performance section). Also, the shafts are a stiff flex, which I think is what you’d want.
The final thing was the club head weight. I prefer a club that’s not too light (especially with my wedges), and I actually really liked the way the clubhead felt.
Overall, if you were to slap some thicker grips on them (if that’s what you like) then I think these wedges would feel awesome. Even without them, they felt pretty solid to me.
Quality
When it comes to quality, the main things to look at are how well the clubhead holds up and how well put together the entire club is. Both are pretty important, I’d say.
I wouldn’t say I’ve had enough time to fully tell how well things will hold up, but in the time I’ve had them, they seem to be holding up nicely overall.
I’m not too worried about the grips because I think I’ll end up replacing them with something slightly bigger. Even if you’re fine with the grips, they do have a pretty good amount of grip.
I’ve had a few “cheaper” clubs in the past that had some issues with where the shaft meets the club head. The black weight (you can see in the picture above) would separate and end up sliding up the shaft. It still worked fine, but not something you’d want.
With the Stix wedges, I haven’t noticed anything like that happening. I’ll keep my eye on it and update this post if anything changes. So far so good.
The main issue I’ve come across is that the black paint marks up and scratches easily. It also looks like the red line on the groove has started to fade a bit.
One thing to keep in mind is that this won’t impact the performance in any way. It just doesn’t look all that great when your club has a bunch of scratches.
You can see in the picture above that there’s some scratching on the hosel of the club from rubbing in the bag. Because of this, I’d probably recommend that you go with the silver wedges instead.
Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the build quality, which is the main thing that matters. As for the cosmetic quality, black isn’t the best and that’s why silver will probably be better.
Performance
So far, we’ve looked at looks, feel, and pricing. All of those have been pretty solid, but they mean nothing if the wedges don’t perform well enough.
I think the best way to put these wedges to the test is by comparing them to my normal wedges. I have a Cleveland RTX-3 sand wedge, so we’ll compare that to the Stix sand wedge.
Here are some different aspects we can look at:
- Distance (not that important)
- Spin (important for better players)
- Low chip into the green
- High chip into the green
Even though distance isn’t that important when it comes to wedges (they’re scoring clubs, not distance clubs), it could be something beginners and high handicaps are looking for.
Here are two things I noticed while testing the two wedges:
- The Stix wedge launched the ball higher
- The Stix wedge didn’t hit the ball as far
I don’t know the exact reason why the Stix wedge went higher, but usually, more height means less distance. I think getting the ball in the air could be good for a lot of high handicappers though.
Personally, I preferred the lower ball flight with my normal wedges, but that’s most likely because it’s what I’m used to. Not a huge deal though.
The more important thing is how much spin you can put on the ball. Being able to stop the ball quickly on the green is one of the ways you take your game to the next level. That being said, beginners and high handicaps won’t be able to spin the ball much with any wedge.
What I noticed was that my Cleveland wedge spun the ball a bit more than the Stix wedge. I expected that, but it wasn’t a huge difference for me (it could be for low handicaps).
That being said, there were a few times when I got the ball to spin backward on the green with the Stix wedge. I’m not the best at it, but with full wedge shots, I can sometimes do it.
The bigger difference was when I was hitting a low chip into the green. I wasn’t able to get the ball to slow down as much with the Stix compared to my Cleveland.
Again, it could be because I’m just used to hitting the Cleveland, but who knows. So, to compare how close each wedge hit the ball to the pin after 10 shots:
- Both wedges were quite similar for full shots from the fairway
- The Cleveland got the ball closer to the hole on average when chipping close to the green
Just because that’s the case doesn’t mean the Stix wedges aren’t worth getting. The Cleveland wedge is quite a bit more expensive and isn’t aimed at high handicappers.
My dad for example (high handicapper) couldn’t tell the difference between them when it came to performance. It just comes down to what your skill level is and what you’re looking for.
Should You Buy The Stix Wedges?
After everything we just talked about, you might still be wondering if these wedges are right for you. I think a lot of golfers might want to consider trying these wedges.
If you’re a low to mid handicapper who wants the best performance, there are better options out there. You can see some of our favorite wedges for mid handicappers here.
However, if you’re a beginner, high handicapper, or mid handicap golfer who’s tight on a budget then I think these could be a solid choice. You can see some other options HERE.
What I like about them:
- Great price
- Very comfortable
- Solid all-around performance
What you might not like:
- Limited loft options
- High ball flight
As for me, I only have the 60 degree in my bag. I have a higher-end gap and sand wedge because I prefer the ball flight. Chipping around the green, the Stix feels awesome in my hands.
If you have any questions or want to share your experience with the Stix wedges, make sure to leave a comment below.
Where To Buy
Save 10% on all Stix Golf products HERE
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