TaylorMade ATV Wedges Review - Forum Testing

[Darren K.]

Can you describe the "toe down" shot? Is that for a ball plugged in the sand?


Thanks

Nope! I've been playing it for shots from the fringe on the green to green side rough all the way out to a couple yards. Basically you shut the face down a bit and choke down on the club. Stand closer to the ball so that the heel of the club is off the ground and you'll play the shot off the toe. Aim slightly right of your target and hit the shot like a putt.

I've found it really helps with distance control, and I don't do 2 things: 1) Chicken out on the shot and slow down through impact, and 2) Get my wedge caught up in the rough. It's really helped me around the greens.

 

[ehamady.6]

I'm trying the ATV's and xFT's tomorrow. Can't wait!
I couldn't care less about how the sole looks. It's all about performance when it comes to the scoring clubs.

 

[Mr. Satchmo]

I'm trying the ATV's and xFT's tomorrow. Can't wait!
I couldn't care less about how the sole looks. It's all about performance when it comes to the scoring clubs.

I love both and play consistently with both-I use the 52 xFT and the 56 ATV

 

[Mr. Satchmo]

Atv wedges have the ugliest sole i have ever seen

If you ask me, the ATV has a pretty decent sole, sure it's not pretty but it's acceptable, Taylormade worked hard designing this wedge and before you judge it, listen to the THP radio show where JB talks with Mike Fox from Taylormade where he describes the design and the idea behind the ATV.

BTW, please be a little more constructive with your comments, I see that you don't like the how the ATV sole looks, but explain in more detail why you think it's ugly so those who read through this thread will understand your reasoning.

It's easy for me to say this brand or that club sucks but it takes more creativity and thought to explain why I don't like a certain product. Plus it helps people understand better

In my opinion this wedge sole is way uglier

 

[BIGBALL]

O.K... well, after veiwing this thread, having a 75.00 Dicks gift card, and my son needing wedges, I decided to go out and buy a 54 and 60 ATV. I played them against my Vokeys in the same degrees yesterday, and whenever I come up with a winner, the others will go to my son. Here are my thoughts from yesterday compared to my Vokeys. BTW, my Vokeys 54' was 11' degree bounce, 60' was 4' bounce

1. Weight. Very similiar to the Vokeys for me
2. Looks. Not bad. Sole is a little odd, but not looking at the sole when I hit it! Looked fine at address
3. Full shots A little 'clicky"? Distance seemed to be at least 5 yards shorter than my Vokeys. Of course, this was my first time hitting them, so that very well may change. The KBS hi-rev shaft felt great. They hold the greens well, but maybe a tad bit less than the Vokeys.
4. Rough Very good in the rough - maybe a slight advantage to these over the Vokeys. Cut through some pretty thick rough with no issue.
5. Tight lies The ATV 60' was pretty good, but no match for my 60' Vokey. Only had 1 shot with the 54' off a tight lie, and it was fine - just came up a bit short again. Think that is just more to not having a feel yet.
6. Sand The 54' ATV has a definite advantage over the Vokey to me. Seemed effortless to get the ball out of the sand.
7. Partials The ATV and the Vokeys both perform well. The Vokeys check more for me. Thick greenside rough the ATV's performed better for me. Never had a chance to try these off of hardpan.

As of now, I am leaning to keeping the ATV 54' degree, but holding onto my Vokey 60'. I use a 60' alot, one of my favorite clubs - I could maybe even justify keeping both! But I'm going to give this a few more rounds before I make a final decision, as I think I will develop a bit more feel with the ATV's after a while...

 

[Kmac]

O.K... well, after veiwing this thread, having a 75.00 Dicks gift card, and my son needing wedges, I decided to go out and buy a 54 and 60 ATV. I played them against my Vokeys in the same degrees yesterday, and whenever I come up with a winner, the others will go to my son. Here are my thoughts from yesterday compared to my Vokeys. BTW, my Vokeys 54' was 11' degree bounce, 60' was 4' bounce

1. Weight. Very similiar to the Vokeys for me
2. Looks. Not bad. Sole is a little odd, but not looking at the sole when I hit it! Looked fine at address
3. Full shots A little 'clicky"? Distance seemed to be at least 5 yards shorter than my Vokeys. Of course, this was my first time hitting them, so that very well may change. The KBS hi-rev shaft felt great. They hold the greens well, but maybe a tad bit less than the Vokeys.
4. Rough Very good in the rough - maybe a slight advantage to these over the Vokeys. Cut through some pretty thick rough with no issue.
5. Tight lies The ATV 60' was pretty good, but no match for my 60' Vokey. Only had 1 shot with the 54' off a tight lie, and it was fine - just came up a bit short again. Think that is just more to not having a feel yet.
6. Sand The 54' ATV has a definite advantage over the Vokey to me. Seemed effortless to get the ball out of the sand.
7. Partials The ATV and the Vokeys both perform well. The Vokeys check more for me. Thick greenside rough the ATV's performed better for me. Never had a chance to try these off of hardpan.

As of now, I am leaning to keeping the ATV 54' degree, but holding onto my Vokey 60'. I use a 60' alot, one of my favorite clubs - I could maybe even justify keeping both! But I'm going to give this a few more rounds before I make a final decision, as I think I will develop a bit more feel with the ATV's after a while...

Thanks for the info Bigball, Im coming from a 54* and 58* Vokey set up and have not missed a beat with the 56* ATV. I agree with much of what you said and also agree that familiarity with it probably has a lot to do with things. As Im become more familiar with the ATV the shots seem to get better and better.

 

[War Eagle]

O.K... well, after veiwing this thread, having a 75.00 Dicks gift card, and my son needing wedges, I decided to go out and buy a 54 and 60 ATV. I played them against my Vokeys in the same degrees yesterday, and whenever I come up with a winner, the others will go to my son. Here are my thoughts from yesterday compared to my Vokeys. BTW, my Vokeys 54' was 11' degree bounce, 60' was 4' bounce

1. Weight. Very similiar to the Vokeys for me
2. Looks. Not bad. Sole is a little odd, but not looking at the sole when I hit it! Looked fine at address
3. Full shots A little 'clicky"? Distance seemed to be at least 5 yards shorter than my Vokeys. Of course, this was my first time hitting them, so that very well may change. The KBS hi-rev shaft felt great. They hold the greens well, but maybe a tad bit less than the Vokeys.
4. Rough Very good in the rough - maybe a slight advantage to these over the Vokeys. Cut through some pretty thick rough with no issue.
5. Tight lies The ATV 60' was pretty good, but no match for my 60' Vokey. Only had 1 shot with the 54' off a tight lie, and it was fine - just came up a bit short again. Think that is just more to not having a feel yet.
6. Sand The 54' ATV has a definite advantage over the Vokey to me. Seemed effortless to get the ball out of the sand.
7. Partials The ATV and the Vokeys both perform well. The Vokeys check more for me. Thick greenside rough the ATV's performed better for me. Never had a chance to try these off of hardpan.

As of now, I am leaning to keeping the ATV 54' degree, but holding onto my Vokey 60'. I use a 60' alot, one of my favorite clubs - I could maybe even justify keeping both! But I'm going to give this a few more rounds before I make a final decision, as I think I will develop a bit more feel with the ATV's after a while...

Good stuff Bigball! I didnt realize that Dick's had them with the Hi-Rev offering for shafts. I would be interested in seeing how the Hi-Revs compare to the stock KBS wedge in the ATVs.

 

[Kmac]

Good stuff Bigball! I didnt realize that Dick's had them with the Hi-Rev offering for shafts. I would be interested in seeing how the Hi-Revs compare to the stock KBS wedge in the ATVs.

hmm I didnt know that either. I might get my 50* with the Hi-Rev in it.

 

[War Eagle]

hmm I didnt know that either. I might get my 50* with the Hi-Rev in it.

I didnt think it was an option when buying them at retail.

 

[BIGBALL]

Good stuff Bigball! I didnt realize that Dick's had them with the Hi-Rev offering for shafts. I would be interested in seeing how the Hi-Revs compare to the stock KBS wedge in the ATVs.

Actually guys - I meant to say the non Hi Rev shafts.. sorry! I was actually hoping to see the Hi Rev shafts, but I guess they are special order? I asked the guy at Dicks, and of course he acted like I had 2 heads...

 

[Kmac]

Actually guys - I meant to say the non Hi Rev shafts.. sorry! I was actually hoping to see the Hi Rev shafts, but I guess they are special order? I asked the guy at Dicks, and of course he acted like I had 2 heads...

haha yeah the Dicks guys are useless. Well Im pretty happy with the standard KBS shaft anyway so I have no issues sticking with it.

 

[War Eagle]

Actually guys - I meant to say the non Hi Rev shafts.. sorry! I was actually hoping to see the Hi Rev shafts, but I guess they are special order? I asked the guy at Dicks, and of course he acted like I had 2 heads...

Ah ok! Got it. Either way, I am intrigued by Hi-Rev shafts in these!

The Hi-Rev shafts come in at 125g while the KBS Wedge are 120g, so change in shaft wouldnt be extremely noticeable in terms of weight.

 

[Kmac]

Ah ok! Got it. Either way, I am intrigued by Hi-Rev shafts in these!

The Hi-Rev shafts come in at 125g while the KBS Wedge are 120g, so change in shaft wouldnt be extremely noticeable in terms of weight.

Yeah see I dont think Id want them any heavier. Im pretty comfortable with the standard KBS weight.

 

[CharlieMoy]

I wouldnt want to change much about this wedge at all. Love the grip, love the shaft, seeing some good spin. Im pleased.

 

[JeffReedMO]

I wouldnt want to change much about this wedge at all. Love the grip, love the shaft, seeing some good spin. Im pleased.

I agree with the spin aspect, and that's coming from a guy that has never spun the ball a lot to begin with. I much prefer the land, hop, hop, and stop of the ATV, than shredding balls and spinning them back 10 feet. But, for anyone interested in the Hi-Rev Option, Global Golf offers the Hi-Rev at a no cost upgrade. Just an FYI, because the HI-Rev gets mentioned a lot.

http://www.globalgolf.com/product/customclub.aspx?pid=1023609&gd=1

 

[War Eagle]

Yeah see I dont think Id want them any heavier. Im pretty comfortable with the standard KBS weight.

I definitely wouldnt want to go heavier, no thanks. But the Hi-Rev is something that really has me curious, not that I want them in mine, but just interested in the performance differences.

 

[thedue]

This weekend was a combination of highs and low's for my entire game, but pointedly the 56* ATV. Starting out we played an extremely long, tough course in Cairo, Ne from the tips. Needless to say I missed a ton of greens so had to rely of the ATV to get me close, but these green have some crazy contours and were much faster than I'm used to playing. I started out over stroking everything, then started decelerating and chunking everything. The only shots I pulled off all day were full wedge shots from 90 yards or so.

Overnight I just couldn't get it off my mind and dissected my technique from every angle. The next day I started out much more upright and moved the ball a little further forward in my stance with much better speed and overall results. The toe down shot came in handy several times and found myself able to be aggressive again in my stroke. But, possibly the biggest thing to happen in my short game in some time was getting back to the low punch short range shot. I sort of lost confidence in that shot since going to the ATV, but tried again yesterday and it seems the more upright stance helped a bunch. With the ball way forward, I can once again hit a somewhat low punch that hops twice and checks quickly. That made a lot of difference in my entire game, its amazing what some confidence will do for the score card. It's too early to say I've gotten my short game touch back, but that round gave me a little hope.

Shot of the day: Hole #16, Nice drive left me 150 to the center and into a 3 club wind. My ball ballooned leaving me a frustrating 40 yards short left to the flag. With the ball way forward, hinge and hold punch, the ball came in nice and low landing 2/3 the way to the flag checked and trickled out to the pin and went in. My buddy was yelling at the ball as it took the curl and dropped.

 

[gingerista]

Basically you shut the face down a bit and choke down on the club. Stand closer to the ball so that the heel of the club is off the ground and you'll play the shot off the toe. Aim slightly right of your target and hit the shot like a putt.

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

 

[CharlieMoy]

Im heading to the practice facility to shoot some videos. Anyone have anything in mind that they want to see?

 

[Mr. Satchmo]

I didnt think it was an option when buying them at retail.

I absolutely love the KBS hi rev in my xFT wedges so I can't imagine what a deadly combination the ATV with the hi Rev would be! definitely worth to check it out.

the worst that can happen is you sell it to a THP member and get your money back if you don't like it

 

[JeffReedMO]

Im heading to the practice facility to shoot some videos. Anyone have anything in mind that they want to see?

Greenside bunkers, if you have an opportunity. With my 54* CG15, I always laid the face open. With the ATV, I found that its a lot better if I don't lay the face open. I don't get in them often, as we don't have many around here, but I would love to know how to play in one when I do end up there.

 

[Kmac]

Im heading to the practice facility to shoot some videos. Anyone have anything in mind that they want to see?

lets see some sand shots

 

[War Eagle]

Greenside bunkers, if you have an opportunity. With my 54* CG15, I always laid the face open. With the ATV, I found that its a lot better if I don't lay the face open. I don't get in them often, as we don't have many around here, but I would love to know how to play in one when I do end up there.

Jeff, that was one of my biggest worries about the ATVs. I have had no problem opening the face up as much as I can and pulling off a good sand shot.

 

[Mr. Satchmo]

Jeff, that was one of my biggest worries about the ATVs. I have had no problem opening the face up as much as I can and pulling off a good sand shot.

just wondering, when you were at the morgan cup were you able to play with the guys a little? I'm just wondering of you got to play the with the ATVs and see what the guys thought of them

 

[JeffReedMO]

Jeff, that was one of my biggest worries about the ATVs. I have had no problem opening the face up as much as I can and pulling off a good sand shot.

The few times I have opened the face, I have left it in the sand. When I didn't open it up as much, I got it out both times (one short, one long). So, I chalk it up to operator error more than anything. As I have said, I am a WEAK sand player, because we don't have enough of it here to even practice, and I have ended up in bunkers maybe 4, 5 times this year, tops. With these THP outings coming up, and with more sandy holes on the horizon, I would just like to nail down how I should appropriately play these shots going forward, to at least give myself a chance.