Updated May 10, 2022. This article was thoroughly audited by multiple golf experts and coaches for its accuracy. You can read more about our rigorous testing protocol here.
The Rundown:
Best Overall: Cleveland CBX Wedge
“Providing beginners with a wedge that is similar to an iron set, loads of forgiveness, and an excellent turf interaction, the Cleveland CBX Wedge is the perfect sand wedge for beginners.”
Easiest to Hit for Beginners: C3i Wedge
“For beginners having a hard time getting the ball out of the sand, the C3i Wedge is the easiest sand wedge to use with its widest sole that can get the ball into the air quickly and deep face that offers quality contact.”
Most Affordable: Wilson Harmonized Golf Wedge
“On a budget? Golfers can’t go wrong with the Wilson Harmonized Golf Wedge. It’s one of the more dependable short game clubs available at an affordable price.”
One of the biggest mistakes that beginning golfers make when assembling their bags is forgetting to add clubs with loft.
If you do not carry a sand wedge in your bag, you are making it harder to improve at the game of golf.
For our top ten list of the best sand wedges for beginners, we have spent hours combing through sand wedges and we are confident that we’ve found several that are worth your money.




Featured Recommendations
Last updated on 2022-07-02. The links are affiliate links. Product images are served from Amazon Product Advertising API.
Table of Contents
Best Sand Wedge for Beginners
- Best Overall: Cleveland CBX Wedge
- Easiest to Hit: C3i Wedge
- Most Afforable: Wilson Harmonized Golf Wedge
- Best Value: GoSports Tour Golf Wedge
- Best Chipping Sand Wedge: Square Strike
- Best Budget: Pinemeadow PGX Wedge
- Most Balanced: Lazrus Golf Wedge
- Best Contact from a Sand Wedge: Cleveland Smart Sole
- Best Feeling: Cleveland RTX 4 Wedge
- Outstanding Cavity-Backed Design: Cleveland CBX2 Wedge
Cleveland CBX Wedge
Best Sand Wedge for Beginners Overall
Check Price on Amazon
Check Price on Global Golf
PROS
- Wide sole promotes excellent turf interaction for cleaner contact
- Cavity-backed design gives beginners a wedge that is similar to iron set
- Tall face with large sweet spot gives beginning golfers loads of forgiveness
CONS
- A lighter feel makes the response different than a heavier wedge for beginners
The original Cleveland CBX Wedge is a stunner, providing the beginning golfer with a solid foundational club that will allow them to learn the game with a short game tool that they can trust and depend on throughout the first days of their golfing career – truly one of the best wedges for beginners.
click to see more
C3i Wedge
Easiest to Hit Sand Wedge for Beginning Golfers
Check Price on Amazon
Check Best Price on eBay
PROS
- Widest sole you’ll find on a sand wedge, designed to get the ball into the air quickly
- The easiest sand wedge to use for a beginner with terrific response at impact
- Deep face allows for quality contact, even on off-center strikes
CONS
- Must be used with a square stance and doesn’t allow room to grow for golfer
The C3i Wedge is one of the most recognizable clubs for golfers who love watching The Golf Channel. It’s one of the best wedges for beginners. Popularized by tens of commercials each week on the network, the wedge is geared toward beginners who are having a tough time getting the ball out of the sand and other trouble.
click to see more
Wilson Harmonized Golf Wedge
Most Affordable Sand Wedge for Beginners
Check Price on Amazon
Check Price on PGA Tour Superstore
PROS
- Heavier sand wedge keeps the club lower to the ground for more consistency
- Groove system helps with solid spin from a budget-level sand wedge
- Tall face gives beginning golfer more surface area to make quality contact
CONS
- Looks and feels like forged iron that may be harder to hit for beginner
The Wilson Harmonized Wedge is a sleek, affordable club, providing the beginning golfer with a well-designed sand wedge that will undoubtedly help from trouble areas and the fairway.
click to see more
GoSports Tour Golf Wedge
Best Value Sand Wedge for Beginners
PROS
- Wide sole provides exceptional turf interaction
- Milled face produces high spin from anywhere on course
- Tour design offers professional look
CONS
- Designed solely to help contact, so it has to be played with square stance
The GoSports Tour is an affordable sand wedge option for beginning golfers looking to add dazzling clubs to help their short game.
With a wide sole that helps turf interaction, the GoSports Tour cleanly moves through the turf to get the golf ball onto the face for imparting spin and lift. The club’s milled face also works overtime in providing quick rotation onto the golf ball along with touch and distance control.
click to see more
Square Strike Wedge
Best Chipping Sand Wedge for Beginners
Check Price on Amazon
Check Best Price on eBay
PROS
- Specially designed to prevent chunking for more consistency and excellent contact
- Extra-wide sole slides through turf for exceptional contact from off the green
- Can be used like a putter with straight-back and straight-through approach
CONS
- A chipping sand wedge only, not meant to be used from the bunker or too far away from green
The Square Strike Wedge is another club that has been tailored to help the beginning golfer with their contact issues. The club comes in a wide sole, 56-degree version with the same properties as a sand wedge, but its intent is far more narrow than your traditional short game clubs.
click to see more
Pinemeadow PGX Wedge
Best Budget Sand Wedge for Beginners
Check Price on Amazon
Check Best Price on eBay
PROS
- Heavier wedge that stays low to the ground to give the beginner more consistency
- The wedge is easy to use for a beginner, especially with square stance
- Chrome finish goes well with the overall look and design of the club
CONS
- Inexpensive wedge certainly scratches the low price itch, but suffers from inferior construction
The Pinemeadow PGX Wedge is another addition to the company’s long line of clubs made for golfers on a budget.
click to see more
Lazrus Golf Wedge
Most Balanced Sand Wedge for Beginning Golfers
Check Price on Amazon
Check Best Price on eBay
PROS
- Precision milled face provides the club with dynamic spin for advanced control on greens
- Well-constructed design packs a punch at impact for terrific distance from a sand wedge
- Hi-toe look allows the club to forgive off-center strikes with better consistency
CONS
- Has feel of forged iron that may be too advanced for first-time golfers
The Lazrus Wedge is a well-designed sand wedge milled and forged for a classic look that certainly earns its stripes by the way it handles itself close to the greens. One of the big reasons golfers love the Lazrus line of wedges is because the clubs are made with the amateur in mind as they play with exceptional feel and response.
click to see more
Cleveland Smart Sole Wedge
Best Contact from a Sand Wedge for Beginning Golfers
Check Price on Amazon
Check Price on Global Golf
PROS
- The wide “smart sole” of the sand wedge prevents chunking shots from off the green
- Milled groove system imparts exceptionally high spin rates from inside 50 yards
- Large sweet spot provides the beginner with solid yardage after impact
CONS
- Rounded shape of the wedge may be harder to hit for inexperienced golfers
The Cleveland Smart Sole Wedge is a premium wedge that assures the beginning golfer that they’ll have a wedge in their bag that will continue to grow with them as they advance in their game.
click to see more
Cleveland RTX 4 Wedge
Best Feeling Sand Wedge for a Beginning Golfer
Check Price on Amazon
Check Price on PGA Tour Superstore
PROS
- Excellent response and feel throughout the golf swing, especially at impact
- High spin rate from the milled groove system that is one of the sharpest on the market
- Adjustable center of gravity depending on the attack angle of the club
CONS
- Not much to hate with this wedge, although it may be a little more expensive than beginning golfers want to spend
The Cleveland RTX 4 Wedge is one excellent sand wedge that provides the golfer with a club that slides through the turf while offering exceptional distance from a short game tool. All the features you’d expect from a Cleveland wedge are here in the RTX 4, from an advanced groove system to a thick sole that gives the golfer an even entry into the golf ball.
click to see more
Cleveland CBX2 Wedge
Outstanding Cavity-Backed Designed Sand Wedge for Beginners
Check Price on Amazon
Check Price on Global Golf
PROS
- Cavity-backed design gives the wedge symmetry with similarly-designed irons
- Produces wonderfully high spin rates on a full range of shots for better control
- Entire face is milled for better grip at impact with enhanced spin
CONS
- Bulkier sand wedge than slimmer, forged wedges that give the golfer room to grow
The Cleveland CBX2 Wedge is another stellar addition to the company’s outstanding line of wedges. However, this model is designed to help the beginning golfer gain control of their short game.
click to see more
How to Choose the Right Sand Wedge
Spin
Spin is significant when evaluating a sand wedge because it gives the beginning golfer the ability to stop the ball on the green. Their early golf game will be frustrating for beginning golfers because it will lack consistency, but a high-spin sand wedge can shave off a bit of that learning curve by giving the beginner a club that provides a repeatable shot.
The spin on a golf ball is made when the face of a sand wedge comes in contact with the cover of a golf ball. Spin is created by the friction generated by the grooves on the club onto the ball. One of the big reasons why PGA Tour golfers love a fresh wedge at each tournament is because they want to keep that high spin rate that clean grooves provide.
Shot Height
Sand wedges are primarily used to enhance the beginning golfer’s short game. The sand wedge provides accuracy to shallow pitch and chip shots and full swing shots from around 80 yards in length. Beginning golfers want to learn to be incredibly accurate with their sand wedges by hitting higher shots that utilize the club’s maximum spin rate.
The golf ball’s lift is provided by a sand wedge’s center of gravity. Typically, you’ll find the center of gravity somewhere in the bottom of the club or around the top of the sole area where the club comes into contact with the ground. The lower the center of gravity in a sand wedge, the more loft the ball will have on the shot.
Response
A good sand wedge, much like an iron, can provide the beginning golfer with an exceptional response at impact. When you hear someone talk about a golf club’s response, they describe the club’s feedback and the general feeling the club gives the golfer throughout the swing, especially at impact.
A sand wedge is different from an 8-iron because it will provide the golfer with a shorter and higher ball flight. Every golfer wants that solid impression at impact, but they also need to get a sense of the lift-off of the clubface.
So, the response of sand wedge will be lighter when compared to that 8-iron because the ball isn’t being pushed for distance but instead has a softness needed to land and spin for maximum control.
Feel
When we ask a beginning golfer about the feel of a sand wedge, we want them to gauge the club from the moment they first hold the club. They should tell pretty quickly if the wedge is well made or poorly constructed, based on how the club feels as they hold and swing the club.
With today’s advanced equipment, the difference between a well-constructed wedge and a disappointing sand wedge, at least to the eye of a beginning golfer, can be hard to tell at first glance.
But if you are looking for elements to examine on a sand wedge, it is wise to start at the bottom and work your way up. From the clubhead to the grip, each component contributes to the feel of a club as it enhances the swing from start to follow-through.
Ease of Use
When we note the ease of use of a sand wedge, we talk about the club’s response when being played by a beginning golfer. Wedge play can be challenging as golfers can hit the wedge with a closed or open stance.
But for beginning golfers, equipment manufacturers have designed wedges that are expected to be played with a square stance to eliminate the noise of different stances and focus the golfer on just hitting the golf ball as best as they can.
Wedges with wider soles can provide the best quality of contact because they don’t allow the club to get stuck into the turf and, instead, will enable the club to glide through the grass to assure that the impact with the ball is clean.
Questions & Answers

What is a sand wedge?
A sand wedge is a club that routinely has 56 degrees of loft on the face and is used in situations around the green where the golfer needs height and softness to land the ball closer to the hole.
Routinely overlooked by beginners, the sand wedge is among clubs deemed unnecessary, but that is typical because the inexperienced golfer doesn’t understand how the high-lofted club can help their game immediately.
Beginning golfers are wise to use high lofted clubs exclusively in the early stages of learning the game. Short irons ranging from the 7-to the 9-iron plus a full array of wedges are a smart collection to use when trying to learn the game and receive some positive feedback as they gain confidence in their swing.

What are the benefits of a sand wedge to a beginning golfer?
It is common for an inexperienced or beginning golfer to not fully understand the benefits of having higher lofted clubs in their bag at the start of their golfing journey. Clubs like a sand wedge can provide a tremendous advantage early because it is a higher lofted club that will allow the amateur to get the ball into the air with more consistency.
Since most beginning golfers struggle early in their careers with understanding how swing speed equals distance, they are hesitant to swing the club harder until they gain confidence. But since a sand wedge, again, has more loft, the golfer gains that trust earlier, making it a club they can depend upon quickly.
By adding a sand wedge to the bag, the beginning golfer has a club around the green that they can lean on and use most of their strokes from anywhere inside 50 yards.

How is a sand wedge different from a pitching wedge?
A sand wedge has a loft that is routinely measured around 56 degrees. A pitching wedge, in contrast, typically measures anywhere from 44-48 degrees. As you can see by the loft alone, the sand wedge has a higher loft when compared to the pitching wedge, allowing it to hit higher and softer shots.
However, a pitching wedge can hit the ball further than a sand wedge, as most professional golfers can dial their pitching wedge up to roughly 150 yards in length for the longest hitters. Most amateurs typically hit their pitching wedge around 100-120 yards and their sand wedge anywhere from 80-100 yards in length.

How important are sharp grooves for sand wedges?
Sharp grooves for sand wedges are among the essential elements of the club, especially for the beginning golfer looking for consistency and control from their short game clubs.
The grooves’ sharpness controls the spin created at the point of impact with the golf ball. For golfers like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, they want the grooves to be as sharp as possible every week, and for that reason, they routinely play each tournament with new wedges.
Since a beginning golfer won’t have that luxury, it is wise to either routinely have the face of the wedge resharpened by a professional or buy a tool that will allow them to sharpen the grooves on their own.

How can I sharpen the grooves of my sand wedge to refresh their condition?
The grooves of a sand wedge are particularly crucial to a beginning golfer because they impart spin onto the golf ball. Early in a golfing career, one of the biggest challenges of the beginner is controlling their shots from a variety of distances, most notably around the green.
Sharp grooves are vital to the health of a sand wedge because it maximizes their purpose for the beginning golfer. There are two ways that a golfer can keep their grooves sharp for the course. The first is having them professionally done by a club professional or golf superstore.
The second method is the homemade version, and that is finding a groove-sharpening tool, like this one here, to clean out and resharpen the grooves of your sand wedge. Tools like the one we linked to are relatively inexpensive, and if you don’t play once or twice a month, they provide a way to keep your wedges fresh without worrying about getting new ones or always having them resharpened.
Conclusion
The best sand wedges offer versatility and strength. Since golfers can use a sand wedge anywhere inside 100 yards, finding one that instills confidence and delivers results is an excellent way for beginners to improve their overall short game.
Our choice for the best sand wedge for beginners, the Cleveland CBX Wedge, offers a wonderful experience from anywhere on the course. Whether you find yourself in the sand or the fairway, the CBX works to provide clean and crisp contact with exceptional spin and greenside control.
Like the CBX and all of the clubs on our list, the best sand wedges give beginners another weapon to lower their scores.