Gear: Ping Glide 4.0 wedges
Price: $200 each
Specs: Cast 8620 carbon steel with an elastomer insert. Available in four sole grind options and even lofts from 46 to 60 degrees.
Who they’re for: Golfers who want softer-feel wedges and a variety of sole grinds.
The Skinny: There are 17 combinations of lofts and grinds in the Glide 4.0 wedge lineup to ensure you can find the ideal combination to fill your distance gaps and match up clubs with your swing type and the conditions in which you play most often.
The deep dive: One of the biggest things that separate elite golfers from weekend hackers is the ability to turn three into two. When a pro misses the green, he or she usually can chip, pitch or hit a bunker shot close enough to the hole to save par. Amateurs, on the other hand, struggle to get up and down.
There is no substitute for good technique, but there is also no substitute for sharp grooves and versatile wedges. With the release of the Glide 4.0 family of wedges, Ping is trying to provide golfers with the tools they need for better short-game performance.
The fourth generation of the Glide wedges has new grooves and a hitting area that varies with the loft.
“We have two different groove spacings on Glide 4.0,” said Ryan Stokke, Ping’s director of product design.
Stokke said that on higher-lofted wedges (54 degrees to 60 degrees), the grooves are wider and shallower to remove water and debris from the face. On the pitching and gap wedges (46 degrees to 52 degrees), Ping designed a deeper, narrower groove that mimics the grooves found in most irons.
“There are also tighter-spaced grooves on the higher lofts and wider spacing on the lower lofts, which really helps with maximizing spin and creating different trajectories,” Stokke said.
Ping also added a new emery-blast treatment to the hitting area, increasing friction and boosting spin rates. It is complemented by the HydroPearl 2.0 finish, which repels water and helps ensure consistent performance in dew-covered fairways and wet rough.
“One of the big things that we were trying to accomplish with these wedges is better feel,” Stokke said. “So we focused on the 8620 carbon steel material and added an activated elastomer in the back cavity.”
The elastomer piece, positioned on the back of the hitting area, is so soft you can press it down with your thumb. It soaks up excessive vibrations and, along with the 8620 carbon steel, enhances the sensation a player feels when the ball hits the face.
Based on how steep or shallow your swing is and the turf conditions where you play most often, the amount of bounce and the width of the sole of your wedges can make a big difference in your ability to hit different shots.
The S grind (46 to 60 degrees) is more traditional and has a relatively straight sole width. There is trailing edge relief, so you can open the face when you want to add loft and go upstairs, along with a rounded leading edge to help you get under the ball when you play it from a square stance.
For golfers who have a steep swing or who live in areas where the ground is soft, Ping offers the W grind (54 to 60 degrees). It has the widest sole, some relief in the toe area and a rounded leading edge.
If you tend to sweep the ball off the turf or play in regions where the ground is hard (think the desert Southwest), the T grind (58 and 60 degrees) has the lowest bounce and thinnest sole with significant material removed in both the heel and the toe areas.
Finally, the E grind (54 degrees to 60 degrees) is based on Ping’s iconic Eye2 design, with a signature high toe and angular appearance. This club is designed to be especially effective in bunkers, where the high-toe design adds more hitting area when the face is open. The wide sole has a scallop taken out of the center to help it avoid digging.
Ping Glide 4.0 wedges: From $199.99 at GlobalGolf / PGA Tour Superstore