Check out Golfweek’s list of the best golf wedges available to purchase in 2024.
Wedges are the most confusing and intimidating golf club category because there are so many options to choose from and many players don’t really understand how to properly use wedges to hit chip shots, bunker shots, flop shops and pitch shots. They hear terms like bounce, sole grind, heel and toe relief and camber and nod, but in the back of their minds they are thinking, “What the hell does that mean?”
To make matters worse, iron lofts have become stronger over the last decade, with many game-improvement sets coming with a 9-iron that has a loft of around 38 degrees and a pitching wedge at 42 degrees. If a recreational golfer has a 56-degree sand wedge, which is typical, that’s a 14-degree gap between wedges, which can put you in between clubs on lots of short game shots.
To reduce the intimidation factor and help golfers find the right wedges more easily, many manufacturers have developed online fitting tools. With just a few clicks to tell these systems about your game and the conditions you encounter on the course, they can provide you with club, loft and sole grind recommendations.
Of course, the best way to discover your ideal wedges is to work in-person with a custom fitter who can evaluate your performance with several different wedges.
The list below is intended to act as an educational starting point and help you get familiar with the most popular wedges and the clubs you will likely see in pro shops and golf specialty stores right now.
Ping s159 wedges offer more spin, sole grind options and versatility.
Gear: Ping s159 wedges Price: $197 each with Z-Z115 steel shafts and Dylawedge grips. $212 each with Alta CB Black graphite shaft. Specs: Cast 8620 carbon stainless steel with water-repellant coating and vibration-absorbing polymer. Available in even lofts from 46 to 62 degrees in Chrome and Midnight finishes. Available: February 22
Who It’s For: Golfers who want variety around the green and spin retention in wet conditions.
The Skinny: Taking feedback from PGA Tour players, Ping adjusted the look of its wedges while updating their spin-producing qualities, especially in wet conditions, to help golfers maintain control and feel around the greens.
The Deep Dive: From 100 yards and in, the name of the game is control and consistency. Practicing the proper technique is critical, but so is having wedges in your bag that can help you from various locations, whether that means a tight lie in the fairway or an awkward shot in a bunker.
With the release of the new s159 wedge family, Ping is attacking shortgame challenges on two fronts: spin retention and sole grinds.
Looking down at the s159 wedges in the address position, golfers will see they have a more square leading edge and an updated hosel transition area, so they look straighter than Ping’s recent Glide 4.0 wedges.
The s159 wedges have a soft feel at impact thanks to the use of 8620 carbon steel and an elastomer piece on the back of each head that rests against the face. It soaks up excess vibrations.
The Ping s159 wedges has a vibration-absorbing elastomer piece behind the hitting area. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The 46 to 52-degree wedges have iron-style grooves because golfers use those clubs approximately 70 percent of the time from the fairway as an extension of their iron set. However, to enhance spin in the sand and lob wedges (54 to 62 degrees), Ping designed the clubs with its Micromax grooves. They are wider and shallower to help remove water, sand and debris from the hitting surface more efficiently. Ping designers also bunched the grooves more tightly together, allowing for the addition of three more grooves to each face to help increase grabbing power and spin.
In addition to machining the faces to make them absolutely flat before the main grooves are cut into the hitting area, Ping adds a face-blast treatment that increases the roughness of the face.
The hydrophobic finish encourages water to bead up on the metal and fall away to increase spin retention on wet turf and in the rain. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Finally, a Hydropearl 2.0 finish has been applied to the Chrome version of the s159 wedges. It is hydrophobic, which means that water tends to bead up on the metal and fall away easily, leading to increased spin retention on wet turf and in the rain.
So, while most wedges tend to lose a few hundred rpm of spin and launch the ball on a higher angle in wet conditions, the s159 wedges do something interesting. The combination of the grooves, surface-roughening treatment and the Hydropearl 2.0 finish in the Chrome wedges works so well that Ping’s internal studies showed that on 50-yard pitch shots, the Chrome s159 wedge created about 200 rpm more spin and launched on a slightly-lower lower angle in wet conditions than dry conditions.
The glare-reducing Midnight finish does not have the water-repelling Hydropeal 2.0 finish, so golfers will see it does not maintain spin in wet conditions as the Chrome-finished s159 wedges. However, Ping is confident that among the dark-finished wedges on the market, the Midnight version of the s159 retains spin in wet conditions as well or better than other offerings.
Looking down at the s159 wedges in the address position, golfers will see they have a more square leading edge and an updated hosel transition area. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
With spin retention address, Ping set its sights on offering more sole grinds to allow golfers and fitters more options based on a golfer’s game and the conditions they face.
S Grind – With a straight sole and available in lofts from 46-60 degrees, the S grind is designed to work in a wide variety of situations in the fairway and around the green.
B Grind – A new offering at retail, the B grind is designed for golfers to tend to sweep the ball off the turf and keep the face square at impact. It has a wide sole, low bounce and is offered in 58 and 60-degree versions.
H Grind – The “Half Moon” grind is another new offering and comes in lofts from 54-60 degrees. It is ideally suited to players with a steep angle of attack or who play in soft conditions.
T Grind – Touted as Ping’s most versatile option, the T grind is available as a 58, 60 and 62-degree lob wedge and has significant heel and toe relief.
W Grind – Available in lofts from 54-60 degrees, the W grind has a wide sole, 14 degrees of bounce and is meant for golfers who play in soft conditions and have a steep attack angle. Most players will find it more forgiving than the low-bounce B grind.
E Grind – An homage to the classic Eye2 wedge, the E grind has a signature hight-toe design and a scallop in the wide sole that makes it appealing to golfers who struggle in greenside bunkers. It comes in lofts from 54-60 degrees.
Below are several close-up images of the new Ping s159 wedges.
Titleist Vokey Design SM10 wedges come in six unique sole grinds.
Gear: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 wedges Price: $189 each Specs: Cast 8620 carbon steel stainless steel. Even lofts from 46 to 62 degrees, six sole grinds and three finishes. Available: Pre-order, February 14; in stores, March 8
Who It’s For: Golfers who want to maximize spin and versatility around the green while enhancing feel.
The Skinny: By changing the way its Spin Milled grooves are added to the face, varying the center of gravity location based on loft and offering six unique sole grinds, Titleist’s SM10 wedges aim to provide the ultimate in shortgame versatility and control.
The Deep Dive: Titleist’s Vokey Design SM9 wedges are the most-played wedges in professional golf, with seven of the top 10 male players on the Official World Golf Ranking using them. Last season, Vokey wedges were used to win the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Open, British Open and could be found in the bags of 15 Ryder Cup players.
That level of success at the elite level, combined with being the most-popular wedge at retail, means Titleist wedge guru Bob Vokey and his team needed to keep the things golfers liked about the SM9 as they worked to update it and develop its successor. With the release of the new Vokey SM10 wedges, the man they call “Voke” now feels he has a new wedge that can deliver even more spin, feel and control.
In the address position, the SM10 shows a thin topline and just a hint of offset. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
In the address position, sharp-eyed golfers will see the SM10 wedges have less offset and a straighter leading edge, which is the result of feedback from tour players. The pitching and gap wedges (46-52 degrees) have a more-compact shape than the sand and lob wedges, which also feature a higher, more-rounded toe area. At the same time, all the SM10 wedges have the same blade length, which remains unchanged from the SM9.
In the pitching and gap wedges, Titleist shortened the hosel length, which shifted more of the head’s overall weight toward the toe. The result is the faces should not rotate closed as easily in the SM10, so they don’t have a draw bias.
As in previous Vokey wedges, Titleist makes the grooves in pitching and gap wedges deep and narrow, like an iron’s groove, because those clubs are often played with a full swing from the fairway or fairway rough. However, the grooves in the sand and lob wedges are wider and shallower to get water, sand and debris off the face more efficiently on shots hit around the green.
The size and shape of the grooves in the SM10 wedges vary by loft. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Titleist also adjusted how the grooves are milled and spaced in the hitting area. The key was developing a way to cut the grooves to a tighter tolerance. Now, after the hitting area is fly cut and made perfectly flat, Titleist cuts the grooves and a tiny portion of the flat area next to the grooves in a single pass. Then, a series of microgrooves are added between the main grooves. Finally, to keep the grooves sharp, Titleist heat treats each head to increase the hardness of the metal and the durability of the groove edges. The result is a more-consistently manufactured hitting area and sharper grooves closer to the USGA’s legal limits. According to Titleist’s data, the new TX9 grooves generate approximately 300 rpm more spin and help shots launch on a lower trajectory for enhanced control.
Since the release of the SM6 wedges in 2016, the center of gravity (CG) location in Vokey wedges gets progressively higher as lofts increase. While extra mass low in the stronger lofts helps them produce a ball flight that extends a player’s iron set, adding mass to a higher position behind the topline, in the higher-lofted clubs, pulls the CG location up and encourages a lower flight.
The SM10 wedges are available in several different sole grinds. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
While tricky lies, rough and sand can make it difficult to make solid contact, Titleist’s wedge team feels that the ideal hitting area is in the center of the face, between the second and fifth groove up from the leading edge. This region creates the most-piercing trajectory and the most spin, which should help golfers get the most control. To help golfers find that spot more often, Titleist offers the Vokey Design SM10 wedges in six sole grind options so players can work through the turf effectively.
F Grind – Available in lofts from 46 to 56 degrees, the F grind is a straight-sole option best suited for full-swing shots.
M Grind – Available in lofts from 54 to 62 degrees, the M grind has material removed in both the heel and toe areas, making it an ideal choice for players who rotate the club open and closed through their swing and who tend to hit shallow, sweeping shots. The 54-degree M had been available as a limited-edition offering only.
S Grind – Available in lofts from 54 to 60 degrees, the S grind has a full sole with some material removed in the heel area. It has trailing-edge relief and is best suited for golfers who play in firm conditions and who like to hit the ball with a square face.
D Grind – Available in lofts from 54 to 60 degrees, the D grind has heel, toe and trailing-edge relief. It has a thinner sole with high bounce, making it a good option for players who like to manipulate the club and open the face to hit a variety of shots in soft conditions.
K Grind – Available in 58- and 60-degree versions, the K grind is the highest-bounce option in the SM9 lineup. It features the widest sole and significant camber, making it especially good in bunkers and thick rough.
T Grind – Popular on the PGA Tour, this wedge will only be available in a 58- and 60-degree version and takes the place of the L grind as a low-bounce option in the SM10 family. It is designed to provide versatility for skilled players in tight, firm conditions.
The Vokey SM190 wedges are available in Tour Chrome, Jet Black and a new finish, Nickel, which replaces Brushed Steel.
Below are several close-up images of the SM10 wedges.
New wedges will be put in play on the PGA Tour this week in Hawaii.
Less than six hours after the crystal ball dropped in Times Square and 2024 began on the East Coast of the United States, Titleist announced on social media that it is bringing new gear, the Vokey Design SM10 wedges, to the PGA Tour this week in Hawaii at The Sentry.
The Vokey Design SM9 wedges were released in January 2022. Titleist has historically released equipment in two-year cycles, so the release of the successor to those wedges – the most-played wedges on the PGA Tour – should come as no surprise.
So far, Titleist has released one photo tagged with the location “Kapalua Golf,” which shows an SM10 52-degree F Grind, a 56-degree S Grind, and a 60-degree T Grind wedge.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C1jh_CUuCdL/
Based on the photo, it is unclear what makes the SM10 wedges different from the SM9 wedges. All three of those sole grinds have been available in the past. If history can be used as a guide, the SM10 wedges should be released during the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando beginning on January 23.
