Vokey Design SM9 – Syndication Server

Titleist Vokey Design SM9 T Grind wedges

With a narrow sole and low bounce, the SM9 T Grind can help skilled players get the leading edge under the ball on tight lies.

Gear: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 T Grind wedges
Price: $179 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold S200 shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 White grips.
Specs: Cast stainless steel in tour chrome, brushed steel or jet black finishes. 58 and 60 degrees
Available: March 10

Who It’s For: Golfers who play in firm, hard conditions and need a low-bounce option around the greens.

The Skinny: With a narrow sole and low bounce, the SM9 T Grind can help skilled players get the leading edge under the ball on tight lies and play a wider variety of shortgame shots.

The Deep Dive: Playing the Old Course at St. Andrews last season during the 150th British Open, the eventual winner, Cameron Smith, carried a secret weapon for dealing with the ultra-firm ground. At Royal Melbourne in 2019, Jordan Spieth brought the same secret weapon and shared it with Justin Thomas, and now the two-time PGA Championship winner brings it to every event he plays.

The secret isn’t a secret at all. It’s a Vokey Design SM9 T Grind wedge, and until now the club has only been available to tour players and through custom order at Titleist’s WedgeWorks program. However, the T Grind is now being added as a seventh stock grind to the Vokey Design SM9 lineup.

Titleist Vokey Design SM9 T Grind — The T Grind has a low forward bounce and wide back flange. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The T Grind is unique because it has an extremely low bounce angle of just 4 degrees, a narrow crescent-shaped front section and a wider back flange. Compared to the other low-bounce option in the SM9 lineup, the L Grind, the T has a narrower forward sole and more aggressive heel, toe and trailing edge relief, which can make it easier to open the face and play a wider variety of shots and still get under the ball on tight lies.

For that reason, Smith, Spieth and Thomas have played it on links-style courses. Cameron Young and Will Zalatoris are among the pros who use an SM9 T Grind regularly.

The T grind is only available as a 58- or 60-degree lob wedge and comes in three finishes: tour chrome, brushed steel and jet black. A raw steel finish option is also available through custom only.

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Bob Vokey found the perfect wedge grind for me. Here’s what I learned

What the wedge fitting process is like at the Titleist Performance Institute.

Bob Vokey is the Master Craftsman at Titleist and is known for his signature Vokey wedges. I have been a competitive golfer for years, but I have never paid any attention to the grind of my wedges and only have looked at the loft when picking them out.

I had the pleasure of getting to work with Vokey himself and we went through the wedge-fitting process at the Titleist Performance Institute in Oceanside, California.

I’ll admit that I was embarrassed by my lack of knowledge when it came to how certain wedge soles are ground and what they do. He assured me that I wasn’t alone and this was common among high-level players.

Vokey gave me one of three different 60-degree wedges, but wouldn’t tell me which one I was hitting. He was noting my feedback, facial expressions and divot patterns. Some grinds made the club dig more in the grass and some less, but the most important thing was what felt good to me.

We ended up settling with an S grind SM9 Vokey wedge and I holed out two balls in front of the master himself.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cj9P3Q0OQYP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The S grind has a fairly straight sole, but a portion of the heel has been grinded out to make it easier to open up. The S grind is the most forgiving out of the three.

Vokey showed me the importance of getting properly fit for wedges. I never would have thought that the grind of a club could make such a difference, but it is important to find a wedge that fits your game.

Titleist Vokey Design SM9 wedges

Play the same wedges as some of the world’s best including Justin Thomas, Danielle Kang, and Nelly Korda.

Gear: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 wedges
Price: $179 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold S200 shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 White grips
Specs: Cast stainless steel with six sole grinds available. Even lofts from 46 to 62 degrees.
Available: March 11

Bob Vokey, Titleist’s master craftsman for wedges, has helped some of the best players in the world hone their short games and improve their wedge play for decades. Today, the wedges that bear his name can be found in the bags of players such as Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Nelly Korda, Adam Scott, Danielle Kang, and Will Zalatoris.

With the release of the new SM9 family of wedges, Vokey has tried to build tools that will help golfers at every level improve on the three things that he believes are key to a good short game: distance and trajectory control, the ability to generate and control spin, and shot versatility.

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