Best new wedges – Syndication Server

Callaway Opus, Opus Platinum wedges

The Callaway Opus and Opus Platinum wedges are designed for extra spin and greenside versatility.

Gear: Callaway Opus, Opus Platinum wedges
Price: $179.99 (Opus), $229.99 (Opus Platinum), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid 115 Wedge shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips
Specs: Cast stainless steel with four sole grind options and lofts from 48 to 60 degrees (Opus). Cast stainless steel with internal tungsten weight, two sole grind options and lofts from 54 to 60 degrees (Opus Platinum).
Available: July 19 (Pre-Sale), July 26 (Opus), August 16 (Opus Platinum)

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Who It’s For: Golfers who want to maximize spin and shortgame versatility.

The Skinny: The Opus wedges have a redesigned shape that was driven by feedback from tour pros and feature a new face treatment that enhances friction and surface roughness to complement the grooves and boost spin.

The Deep Dive: Callaway lied to us. Well, lied may be a little strong, but the Carlsbad, California, brand was not especially forthcoming with golf fans when it said the 52-degree gap wedge that Xander Schauffele used to win the 2024 PGA Championship was a JAWS Raw wedge. In fact, it was a prototype Callaway wedge that was internally referred to as an S6. Yuka Saso had a prototype S6 lob wedge in her bag when she won the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open, too. Jon Rahm used a similar prototype Callaway wedge last season at the British Open and Ryder Cup. Rose Zhang had one in the bag when she won the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup, and several other players have quietly had one in the bag for a while.

It turns out that for about a year and a half, Callaway has disguised a prototype wedge by labeling it as a JAWS Raw for tour players, showing different shapes and sole grinds to its staffers and taking their feedback home for refinement. The sixth shape (S6) is now being released as the new Callaway Opus and Opus Platinum wedges, making it one of the rare clubs that has won multiple major championships before hitting pro shop shelves.

Aside from having tour pros drive the look of the Opus wedges, Callaway developed a new technology to increase surface roughness and friction which it refers to as a Spin Gen Face. Astute golfers will notice that there are more grooves on the Opus wedges than there are on previous Callaway wedges, and the space between each groove has decreased. This should allow more groove edges to come in contact with the ball to create more bite with a lower launch angle.

Looking closely between the grooves, you can see angled microgrooves, which, looking at the face, slant from the top right to the lower left. When a golfer opens the face on a greenside shot, the microgrooves add another layer of spin generation.

However, you can’t see the new way Callaway blasts the hitting area. In the Opus wedge, quartz is sprayed at high pressure over the face to make the hitting area rougher.

All three of those elements — the main grooves, the microgrooves and the quartz-created surface roughening — combine to create about 500 rpm more spin on wedge shots from the rough than Callaway’s JAWS Raw wedges and about 1,200 rpm more spin in wet conditions. At the same time, shots launch about 1 degree lower on shots from the rough and 6 degrees lower in wet conditions. The result should be a more predictable, consistent spin rate across a broader range of conditions.

As Callaway refined the shape of the Opus wedge and worked to help it generate more consistent spin, designers also developed sole grinds and configurations to help Opus wedges handle a wider variety of conditions.

S Grind (48-60 degrees): This is a straight, all-purpose sole designed to work well on shots hit from a traditional, square-face position.
W Grind (50-60 degrees): This is the widest-sole option and comes in 12- and 14-degree bounce options, making it more forgiving and excellent in soft turf and fluffy greenside bunkers.
C Grind (58-60 degrees): With extreme heel and toe relief, this lob-wedge-only grind with 8 degrees of bounce should allow golfers the most versatility around the green.
T Grind (58-60 degrees): Designed with only 6 degrees of bounce, this new shape is for skilled golfers who take shallow divots and want to get the leading edge under the ball on tight lies.

In addition to the standard Opus wedges, Callaway is offering more premium Opus Platinum wedges.

The Opus Platinum has the same Spin Gen Face as the standard Opus wedges, but instead of casting the heads, Callaway used metal-injection molding (MIM) to manufacture the clubs. In the process, metal powder is superheated inside forms, so the shapes designers want to produce more accurately. Callaway also claims that the MIM process inherently dampens vibrations created at impact more effectively, so players should find the Opus Platinum wedges have a softer feel.

A 17-gram piece of tungsten has also been bonded to the topline of the Opus Platinum wedges, which elevates the center of gravity location and should help golfers create low-launching shots.

The Opus Platinum wedges are available in two sole grinds: the straight S grind with 10 and 12 degrees of bounce and the wide, low-bounce Z Grind (with 8 or 10 degrees of bounce). The Z Grind also has a pre-worn leading wedge along with trailing edge relief. Both the S and the Z grind come in even lofts from 54 to 60 degrees.

Below are several close-up images of the Opus and Opus Platinum wedges:

Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks A+ Grind lob wedges

The tour-only The Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks A+ Grind has been released to the public.

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Gear: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks A+ Grind lob wedges
Price: $225 with True Temper Dynamic Gold S200 shaft and Titleist Universal 360 grip
Specs: Cast 8620 carbon steel with a raw finish. 58 and 60 degrees in right-hand only.

Who It’s For: Golfers who want a moderate-bounce wedge that offers extra versatility and speed through the turf.

The Skinny: Titleist’s PGA Tour reps developed the A+ grind by modifying the sole of the Vokey Design M Grind wedge to make it smoother. This allows golfers who want a mid-bounce wedge with a wide sole to maintain speed through the hitting zone.

The Deep Dive: Titleist’s WedgeWorks program brings clubs designed for PGA Tour, LPGA and DP World Tour players to recreational golfers. Over the last several months, Titleist has released several WedgeWorks offerings, such as the L Grind, Low Bounce K Grind and the 60-degree A Grind to the public after they had previously only been available to elite players.

Now comes the A+ Grind, a wedge that will only be available in 58 and 60-degree lofts and for right-handed golfers. Like the previous WedgeWorks offerings, it has roots in elite golf.

A few years ago, Geoff Ogilvy, the winner of the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, asked Vokey PGA Tour Rep Aaron Dill if he could modify his lob wedge so it could work through the turf more efficiently. At the time, the Australian was playing a 60-degree, low-bounce L Grind wedge. Dill went to work and used his grinding wheel to remove the seam in the sole where the bounce reached its lowest point. Ogilvy liked the club and its sole, put it in the bag and the A Grind was born.

Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks A+ Grind — The A+ Grind was created by starting with an M Grind wedge and then polishing off the ribbon to make a smooth bottom for the club. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Fast forward to the present day, and Dill did the same thing to some M Grind lob wedges, grinding out the seam in the moderate-bounce sole (which Titleist refers to as the ribbon). The resulting sole behaves like the original A Grind but offers more bounce and sole width for players who are facing softer conditions, fluffier sand or who have a steeper angle of attack. Titleist and Dill christened the club the A+ Grind, and you will find it in the bags of Jason Day, Adam Scott and Davis Riley.

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Like the standard SM10 wedges, the WedgeWorks A+ Grind has grooves cut to maximize spin. Titleist tests and inspects each groove individually in every wedge. The A+ Grind also has a high and forward center of gravity location, like other SM10 lob wedges, to help golfers to flight shots down for added distance control and precision.

Custom stamping and paintfill are available through WedgeWorks, and the A+ Grind is being sold at Titleist-certified retailers and vokey.com

Below are several close-up images of the WedgeWorks A+ Grind wedge.

Wilson Staff Model ZM wedges

Wilson Staff Model ZM wedges are designed to create more spin and enhanced feel around the greens.

Gear: Wilson Staff Model ZM wedges
Price: $149.99 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Spinner stock shaft and a Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips
Specs: Forged 8620 carbon steel with face-roughening treatment. Even lofts from 50 degrees to 60 degrees, with 46, 48 and 64-degree versions available through custom order.
Available: April 2 (pre-order March 19)

Who it’s For: Golfers who love the look and feel of a traditional wedge with enhanced spin generation.

The Skinny: Wilson has made the grooves in the Staff Model ZM wedges sharper to complement the soft, forged feel while also adding a high-toe option.

The Deep Dive: For several seasons, Wilson offered a wide variety of clubs made to appeal to a broad audience, like the D Series and the Dynapower woods and irons. However, in recent years, the Chicago-based brand has turned out some of the most admired clubs for accomplished golfers and low-handicap players, like the recently released Staff Model Blade and Staff Model CB irons and Staff Model putters. These clubs are not for everyone, but they demonstrate that Wilson knows what elite golfers want to see, hear and feel on the course, and with the release of the new Staff Model ZM wedges, Wilson is continuing that trend of offering aspiring club champions and good ballstrikers short game tools that look and feel like they belong on tour.

Forged from 8620 carbon steel for a soft feel at impact, the Staff Model ZM wedges have a straighter leading edge and gentle heel relief so golfers can open the face and get the leading edge under the ball when chipping and pitching from a tight lie.

Wilson designers kept the center of gravity (CG) location relatively low in the gap wedges (50 and 52 degrees) by leaving the area behind the topline thin, but extra mass was added in that area in the sand wedges (54 and 56 degrees) to lift the CG, and even more, mass has been added in the lob wedges (58 and 60 degrees). This progressive CG location helps golfers flight their approach shots lower for more control.

Wilson Staff Model ZM wedge — With sharper grooves, updated milling and a surface-roughening treatment, the Staff Model ZM wedges help golfers generate more spin. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The addition of a new face milling and surface-roughening treatment helps the grooves grab the cover of your golf ball more effectively and keep it on the face longer, which should result in increased spin, especially in wet conditions.

The standard Staff Model ZM wedges have a very traditional look and are available in lofts from 50 to 60 degrees, with 46 and 48-degree clubs available through custom order. Wilson is also offering a high-toe version in 56 and 60-degree options, with a 64-degree club available through custom order. The high-toe model gives players extra hitting area when they open the face on shots around the green.

Ping s159 wedges

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.

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.

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.

Cleveland RTX Full-Face 2 wedges

Cleveland RTX Full-Face 2 wedges combine versatility and spin to help golfers performance better around the greens.

Gear: Cleveland RTX Full-Face 2 wedges
Price: $179.99 each (Tour Satin) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Spinner shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips; $199.99 (Tour Rack)
Specs: Cast stainless steel heads in even lofts from 50-60 degrees (and 64 degrees) in two sole grinds
Available: NOW

Who It’s For: Golfers who want versatility on open-face shots around the green.

The Skinny: The RTX Full-Face 2 wedges have a high-toe design and unique weighting system that combine with sharp grooves and surface-roughening treatments to give players the ability to generate more spin and hit a wider variety of shots around the green.

The Deep Dive: No company has more pedigree in the wedge category or offers more short-game options than Cleveland Golf. From wedges designed specifically for high-handicap golfers who struggle with chipping and bunker play to instruments designed for elite players like Brooks Koepka, Keegan Bradley and Hideki Matsuyama, Cleveland’s stable of wedges has it all.

For 2024, Cleveland is expanding its wedge lineup further with the release of the RTX Full-Face 2, which will be available in even lofts from 50 to 60 degrees, along with a 64-degree option, and these wedges are designed specifically for the most delicate shots players hit around the green.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Cleveland RTX Full-Face 2 wedges” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/g1k3og”]

When faced with a flop shot over a bunker, an escape from thick rough or a tricky pitch shot from an awkward lie, golfers often open the face of their wedge and swing from out to in, clipping the ball up instead of hitting it solidly from a square stance. With that in mind, Cleveland developed the RTX Full-Face 2 wedges with a higher toe to create extra usable hitting area. Weight was also removed from the hosel area by engineering it with a lighter, low-density material. Cleveland calls it ZipCore, and by reducing the weight of the hosel and making the toe area higher, the ideal hitting area and center of gravity are pulled more into the center of the face for better performance. ZipCore is not new, but the RTX Full-Face 2 has 96 percent more ZipCore material than previously released ZipCore wedges, so the effect is magnified.

To help golfers generate more spin, Cleveland gave the RTX Full-Face 2 grooves over the entire hitting area, along with HydraZip. This new surface roughening treatment combines laser-milled lines between the main grooves and a blasting treatment to increase friction.

The gap wedges (50 and 52 degrees) are designed with an S-shaped sole that has 8 degrees of bounce, making them play more like an extension of a player’s irons and ideally suited for full-swing shots from the fairway and greenside chips. The sand wedges (54 and 56 degrees) have soles with the same shape, but they come standard with 10 degrees of bounce. Lob wedges (56, 60 and 64 degrees) have extra material removed from the heel and toe areas and feature a C-shaped sole that has 8 degrees of bounce.

In addition to the Tour Satin finish, Cleveland is making the RTX Full-Face 2 wedges available in a raw-steel version the company calls Tour Rack.

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Titleist Vokey Design SM10 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.

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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.

Vokey SM10 Wedge — 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.

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.

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 Titleist Vokey Design SM10 wedges hit PGA Tour

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.

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Tour Edge Exotics Wingman wedges

Tour Edge’s new Exotics Wingman wedges have a high-toe design, offset and polymer inserts to soften the feel.

Gear: Tour Edge Exotics Wingman wedges
Price: $139.99 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold 115 Wedge shaft.
Specs: Forged stainless steel with polymer inserts and an adjustable weight. Even lofts from 50 degrees to 60 degrees in three sole grinds with five different bounce options
Available: Oct. 2

Who It’s For: Golfers who want a softer feel and more forgiveness on shots around the green.

The Skinny: Tour Edge designed a high-toe wedge with weight removed from the back flange, then added thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to soften the feel.

The Deep Dive: Elite golfers rarely want to look down at their irons and see a significant amount of offset because the more offset an iron has, the more challenging it can be to curve the ball intentionally and shape shots. However, back in the day, wedges were designed with offset, and many golfers who were elite in the 1980s and ’90s still love to use wedges with offset because it can help them keep their hands in front of the leading edge and promote solid contact on chips. Bernhard Langer is among them, and he recently asked Tour Edge to make him some wedges that had extra offset. The company’s R&D team got to work and developed wedges that pleased the German Hall-of-Famer, and now those clubs, the Exotics Wingman wedges, are being released.

Tour Edge Exotics Wingman Wedge — The Exotics Wingman wedge’s offset pushes the leading edge back so your hands stay forward at impact. (Tour Edge)

Each Exotics Wingman wedge is forged for an enhanced feel and features a new Triple-Traction face design. After Tour Edge mills the main grooves into the high-toe-shaped hitting area, microgrooves are milled between each main groove to add surface roughness and increase friction. The combination of the high-toe and multi-groove pattern on the face is designed to allow golfers to get more spin on a wide variety of shots and increase their ability to be creative around the greens.

To further enhance the feel, Tour Edge removed some of the stainless steel in the heel and toe areas of the back of the heads and replaced it with a polymer called Vibrcor. The material soaks up excessive vibrations and softens the feel of impact.

Removing the steel on the bottom of the heads, and adding more material high in the toe area, pulls the center of gravity (CG) location up. Combined with the addition of the offset, Tour Edge feels that golfers should benefit from solid contact and a lower, more-controlled flight on approach shots and pitch shots.

Golfers will see an adjustable weight on the back of the Exotics Wingman wedges. It is not meant to be changed by players, but fitters can swap the standard 5-gram weight for other weights to adjust the club’s swing weight based on its length and golfer preferences.

Finally, the Exotics Wingman wedges will be offered in three different sole grinds:

M/N Grind (Medium Turf/Neutral Path): Available in lofts from 50 to 60 degrees, this wedge grind is highly versatile and has 10 degrees of bounce.
F/S Grind (Firm Turf/Sweeping Path): Available as a sand wedge or lob wedge in lofts from 54 to 60 degrees, this low-bounce option (6-8 degrees) is designed to get the leading edge under the ball on tight lies.
S/D Grind (Soft Turf/Digging Path): Ideally suited to golfers who play in soft conditions or who have a steep angle of attack, this high-bounce option (12-14 degrees) should help players keep the club moving through impact in fluffy sand and thick rough.

Mizuno T24 wedges: Discover how they create more spin and versatility

See how Mizuno T24 wedges combine more spin and greenside versatility.

Gear: Mizuno T24 wedges
Price: $180 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts and Golf Pride MCC grips
Specs: Forged 1025 carbon steel infused with Boron. Available in even lofts from 46 degrees to 60 degrees in three finishes (Raw, Soft White Satin, Denim Copper) and in five sole configurations.
Available: September 14

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Who It’s For: Golfers who love a traditional-looking wedge designed to enhance feel, consistency and spin.

The Skinny: The combination of a thinner topline, shorter blade length, loft-specific grooves and five different sole grinds makes the T24 wedge family the most versatile in the brand’s history.

The Deep Dive: Over the past several seasons, Mizuno has tried several innovative ways to help golfers get better performance around the greens, going so far as to offer the larger, hollow-bodied ES21 wedges. The release of the new T24 wedges blends several different features and design elements in a classic-looking wedge that has been made to appeal to a wide range of players.

The T24 wedges are made using grain flow forged 1025 carbon steel that is infused with Boron. Mizuno has added Boron in some irons since 2014 because it makes the carbon steel harder without sacrificing the soft feel. In wedges, that means the edges of the grooves should be more durable, so spin deterioration will not happen as quickly.

Compared to the T22 wedges they replace, the T24 wedges have a thinner topline and a more compact shape. The pitching wedges and gap wedges (46-52 degrees) have iron-style looks and are slightly-more angular than the sand wedges and lob wedges (54-60 degrees), which have a more-rounded shape. All the T24 wedges and have extra mass designed behind the top of the hitting area to elevate the center of gravity location, which should make it easier to flight approach shots down for more control.

The Mizuno T24 has extra mass located high in the back of the head, but golfers cant’ see it when they address the ball. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Mizuno was the first manufacturer to design different grooves for different wedges based on their lofts, and that benefit is found in the T24. Pitching wedges and gap wedges (46-52 degrees) have thinner, deeper, iron-style grooves because golfers tend to use those clubs from the fairway as extensions of their iron set. Sand wedges and lob wedges (54-60 degrees), however, get wider, shallower grooves to help channel water and debris off the hitting surface and protect spin. In the T24 wedges, the grooves themselves have been modified to be sharper, to create more spin, while staying in the USGA groove rule restrictions.

Mizuno has also changed how many grooves each T24 wedge has, with pitching wedges and gap wedges now having 17 grooves packed tightly on the face while, like an iron. At the same time, the sand wedges and lob wedges have 15 grooves. According to Mizuno, having numerically fewer grooves on the higher-lofted wedges allows them to grab the golf ball’s cover more effectively and generate extra spin.

Between each groove, Mizuno has added a microgroove pattern to increase friction. The microgrooves are under the chrome plating, so you can’t see them, but they are visible on the Raw finished wedges. Keeping the microgrooves under the chrome plating increases their durability.

The T24 wedges are available in five different sole grinds, with each designed to excel in different conditions and ideally suited for different styles and shot types.

S Grind (46-54 degrees): Think of this as a standard, straight sole with some heel relief the S Grind will perform like an extension of a player’s iron set, but the heel relief should allow it to be used on chip shots more effectively.
D Grind (54-58 degrees): A versatile grind with heel and toe relief and moderate bounce in the center of the sole for players who want traditional versatility around the greens.
C Grind (56-60 degrees): Thin offering combines the heel and toe relief of the D Grind but with less bounce for players who sweep the ball or who are faced with firm conditions and wet, packed sand.
X Grind (58-60 degrees): For skilled players, this is the lowest-bounce option among Mizuno’s lob wedges. It has extreme heel and toe relief to help golf clip the ball off tight lies. The X Grind is the widest sole, making it a good option for players who struggle in bunkers.
V Grind (58-60 degrees): A new grind for Mizuno, the V is a high-bounce option with trailing edge relief. A seam running from heel to toe creates a V-shape on the bottom of the club to help this wedge pop out of sand and turf more easily.

Below are several close-up images of the new Mizuno T24 wedges.

Discover how TaylorMade MG4 wedges create more spin

TaylorMade MG4 wedges excel in wet conditions and generate loads of spin.

Gear: TaylorMade MG4 wedges
Price: $179.99 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue 115 Wedge shaft and Lamkin Crossline 360 grip.
Specs: Cast 8620 carbon steel with a raw-steel hitting area and seven different milled sole grinds. Even lofts from 46 degrees to 60 degrees.
Available: NOW

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Who It’s For: Golfers who want more shortgame spin, especially in wet conditions, along with several sole grind options.

The Skinny: TaylorMade designed a new surface-roughening pattern to the raw steel face of the MG4 wedges to help golfers create more spin, especially in wet conditions. That spin, combined with more sole grind options, should create more shortgame versatility for golfers.

The Deep Dive: While TaylorMade’s driver designers work hard to create low-spinning options to help golfers hit straighter, longer tee shots, wedge makers constantly seek ways to increase spin. Around the greens, the more spin players can generate on chips, pitch shots and approach shots, the more control they have over the golf ball. With the release of the new MG4 wedges (Milled Grind 4), TaylorMade feels that it has the highest-spinning, most versatile family of wedges yet, which should lead to more short-game options for golfers.

Each MG4 wedge ships with a sticker that covers the hitting area. It is designed to be peeled off after you buy the club because, while the chromed back and hosel are exposed, the raw steel hitting area will start to rust with exposure to air and moisture.

The MG3 wedges that TaylorMade released two years ago featured Raised Micro-Ribs between each of the main grooves. Those are gone, replaced in the MG4 with a new surface-roughening pattern that TaylorMade calls Spin Tread. TaylorMade uses a laser to etch the design at a 45-degree angle to the central grooves, and if you rub your thumb back and forth over the hitting area, you can feel how scratchy the hitting area is compared to the smooth chrome areas of the head.

TaylorMade MG4 wedges — The Spin Tread is designed to get water off the face more effectively, to protect spin in wet conditions. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

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However, the Spin Trend design’s most significant advantage is revealed in wet conditions. The laser-etched pattern allows water to get off the face more effectively, so on shots you play from fairways that are damp with morning dew and from wet rough, the MG4 is designed to help you generate more spin. Compared to the MG3 wedge it replaces, TaylorMade’s research showed the MG4 creates a nearly-identical spin rate on 56-degree pitch shots but almost 1,000 rpm more spin in wet conditions with a slightly lower launch angle. That means the ball slides up the face less in wet conditions and retains more spin, which should translate to more control and consistency.

TaylorMade’s research also showed engineers that the Spin Trend helped increase spin durability compared to the Raised Micro-Ribs in the MG3.

To enhance feel, TaylorMade thickened the back flange, the lower portion of the head directly behind the hitting area and removed mass from high in the toe. The tweaks are subtle, but staff players like Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy said the impact feels softer, deeper and more solid when compared with MG3.

Finally, TaylorMade is still milling the sole of each MG4 wedge to increase the manufacturing consistency from club to club, but now the brand is offering several more sole-grind options.

TaylorMade is still offering its standard four sole grind options, along with three new sole grinds:

Low Bounce: 56-60 degrees of loft with 8 degrees of bounce
Standard Bounce: 46-60 degrees of loft and 9-11 degrees of bounce
High Bounce: 54-60 degrees of loft with 12-14 degrees of bounce
Tiger Woods Grind: 56 and 60 degrees of loft with 11-12 degrees of bounce
(NEW) Standard Bounce C-Grind: The new SBC comes as a 58- and 60-degree lob wedge with 9 degrees of bounce. It is designed with extra bounce and curvature (camber) in the middle, with heel, toe and trailing-edge relief.
(NEW) Low-Bounce V Grind: Available as a 58- and 60-degree lob wedge, the LBV has 7 degrees of bounce and is ideally suited to players with a shallow attack angle and who play in firm conditions. Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood have tested this model, and it requires precision.
(NEW) High-Bounce W Grind: The HBW comes as a 58- and 60-degree lob wedge with 13 degrees of bounce. It has the widest sole of any MG4 wedge, making it the most forgiving choice in soft conditions, greenside bunkers and deep rough.

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Here are several close-up looks at the new TaylorMade MG4 wedges.