Over time the grooves on the wedges seem to become flat. The chips you play with no longer seem to be effective. There is confusion if there is a problem with your technique or do you need a new wedge. You are not really looking to spend more money on getting a new wedge. So the question comes to mind can you sharpen wedge grooves and make them effective again?
Wedges have grooves on them for the necessary purpose i.e. to add a backspin on the ball and make it stop on the greens. However, if you grooves have become flat you would be not imparting spin on the ball effectively. As a result you will observe the ball is not coming under your control in the air and after landing on the ground.
Typically when you hit the ball with grooves that are in good shape the number of revolutions per minute on the ball is around 10,000. If you make the grooves deeper on the wedge after sharpening them then what are the new revolutions per minute? The sad answer is you can only get around 100 or 200 more revolutions per minute on the ball.
That is an insignificant increase to the already significant rpm on the ball.
Why I dont Recommend Sharpening of Wedge Grooves
Insignificant Difference
The amount of increase you will get will be a mere 2%. The is quite less if you are not playing at a professional level. If you are a pro then you would already know that and would have got a new wedge already.
However, if you are still looking to experiment then you can go ahead with the sharpening wedge grooves. The idea is that the friction offered by the grooves helps to grip the ball. As a result, more angular momentum is imparted on the ball in the reverse direction.
This backspin helps to grip the ball immediately as it lands on the greens. But you need to add significant revolutions on the ball to help improve your control on the ball. Practicing with a good new wedge may actually help you save time and get where you want the ball.
You May Hurt Yourself
Sharpening the grooves of wedge through any groove sharpener can actually make the face of the club very sharp. The risk to injure yourself will become quite high and you will by mistake touch the face of the face. As a result, you can get cuts that will take you away from the game for weeks.
Damage the Ball’s Aerodynamics
The whole point of sharpening the wedge grooves is to increase the spin and hence the control over the ball. But a razor-sharp wedge can actually chip the golf ball. It will take away its aerodynamics.
So instead of getting control over the ball, you will begin losing it. It is not a negative trade-off as the increased 2% spin you add to the ball will be balanced or even made negative by the loss of aerodynamics on the ball.
A chipped ball when it lands on the green can quickly deviate from it projected line of movement. Mainly because the irregularity on the surface of the ball will make it ineffective.
If you are still adamant but want a fix of this problem then you can consider balls with outer hard shells. But do keep in mind that imparting spin on the hard balls is harder than those on the soft. So it is another tradeoff that is actually on the negative side of the spectrum.
Conclusion:
Yes, it is possible to sharpen wedge grooves but it is really not worth the try. If you have a spare wedge and a spare set of balls then you can do this experiment. Make sure that you have a launch monitor so you can review how much change or improvement you were able to bring onto your game.
