Best Wedge bounce & grind for firm sand or less thick bunker sand - 58/08/10?

Going through my bag on many upgrades and my trusty Mizuno MPR-12 58* / 10 / DG Spinner shaft / D3 (bent to 57*) has been fantastic, now Mizuno change the club design to the newer MP-T5 58/08 or 12.
The sole on the T-5 is wider than the MPR-12, and first shot I hit with it was thin blading it to the other side of the green! I went through this problem going from the old MPR's to Vokey's years back, then back to MPR-12. My style is bent knees and open with a fairly shallow attack at the ball, however I can get steep and slap some cute short shots too. My stance is fairly square to open depending on how far I lay it open.
I am good out of the sand...well 99% are out and my distance control is good, perhaps I pull a few, my 58/10 has wear on the heal of the sole. The 58/10 is a narrower sole with a good amount of heal and toe trailing relief or what kinda grind?...A C?.

Its so easy with this MP-R-12 head to get it out decent and make those one putts (hopefully). I like the head gliding under the ball without too much down force, the MPR-12 has been superb for this. Now after the thin shot with the new MP-T5, I am scared to use it anymore, as I can return it to GS with not too much deduction in price.

Help me choose another wedge and your advise appreciated. I am looking at the SM5 58/08 M grind as it kinda looks similar on the grind/sole to my MPR-12. Also I don't mind rounding the leading edge a touch with a file if it catches the turf green side chipping, as for full shots I take a divot, but still get ball first and good contact. So for my game, my desired wedge is all about performance from sand shots and close green side chipping or getting up n down, ...then pitching and full shots next.

Many courses I play are firm finer sand (not so course) , or used to have thick sand but the Florida winds have reduced their thickness or depth, or they need to re-fill bunkers, so if the wedge does not get down enough into the sand or water ski's into the ball blading it thin then its not for me.

http://www.titleist.com/golf-clubs/wedges/sm5.aspx

http://www.mizunousa.com/golf/products/mp-t5-wedges#.VWHTtuGxuCw

I do like the spinner shaft and will be pulling it from my old wedge if I go SM5. I feel Titleist wedge shafts are too stiff. I will say my playing buddy has been close greenside and chipping them in! with the SM5 60 / 11 K grind / C Taper stiff...and I can see why with the big sole that slides through the grass, but I know the K grind would not work for me out of a bunker on thin /firm sand too well

I went to GS and picked up the Vokey SM5 56 10 with the M grind. I had great performance out of the bunkers today! Full shots were good drop n stop, with a tad less deeper divots or digging, chipping and pitching was great too. This was the closest sole to the MPR-12 and I think its in the bag, I may bend it to 57 but for now it works well.

I will say the wedges had 'slightly' different Swing weights, and lie angles (same models) and also different flexes, I chose the lightest SW and the softer flex torqueing it up against my inside left shoe. I am club builder I notice these things, I pointed it out to GS club builder and he agreed. I get great service and help at GS and with their exchange program why go anywhere else!

I have been struggling with the SM5 56m on half shots with distance control, sometimes they overshoot the green. I have the same shaft in the same orientation (DG Spinner) that was in my MPR-12, and I never had this problem with mitzy.

I suspect its the harder metal of SM5, well if it keeps bothering me, it will be out the SM5 and probably Vega or Miura with C grind or trailing edge grind of some sort

Have any of you had shots jump too far on half swings, and I don't mean flyers or green grass spots on the face

ProZoneGolf said:

I have been struggling with the SM5 56m on half shots with distance control, sometimes they overshoot the green. I have the same shaft in the same orientation (DG Spinner) that was in my MPR-12, and I never had this problem with mitzy.

I suspect its the harder metal of SM5, well if it keeps bothering me, it will be out the SM5 and probably Vega or Miura with C grind or trailing edge grind of some sort

Have any of you had shots jump too far on half swings, and I don't mean flyers or green grass spots on the face

Click to expand...

Why not just practice your distance control instead of ditching the wedge? The sm5s are great

Yes I will try, however I have never had to swing 'so gently' to hit 60-70yards. I mean a slow back swing to a halfway point, (not going all the way to a full swing), and its over shot, I just cant figure this out.. its very touchy. I will have to choke down tad more and make sure my hands are softer... or get a 59

It seems like you and I have similar techniques around the green with our wedges. I play an SM5 60 with 4 degrees of bounce and an L grind. I also have a 54M but I very rarely use it around the greens.

Just put in the bag a Nike Vr Rusty/oil can Wedge stamped Vr on the muscle, & TW (red) & 56 (black) on the flange, no marking on the sole, perhaps it was Tigers! .
I got it with SW D6/7, full chord, and a bent/kink shaft in the lower grip. Looked like it was thrown at a rail fence, and was in the dirt half buried . My guess its a woods wedge from the oven. If u want a pic I can get one up here. So its a raw Nike wedge 'hand ground', with no plating...pure metal. I have read that the oven wedges are Endo forged...sure feels like it!...just like my 99 Hogans

After re-shafting it, bending it the same lie angle, and giving it a tad of c grind which I like (similar to the SM5-m). The bounce looks very similar on hard ground and eyeing the leading edge at level on a bench they are identical in terms of how far the leading edge is off the bench with the same shaft lean.

I go to the green side to to get the feel compared to my SM5-M, Both have the same shafts (DG Spinner, not the +), actually the nike has my DG spinner shaft that was in the SM5, installed same orientation, and the SM5 has another DG spinner the same spine setting, length, SW, grips. This is a exact apples to apples comparison.

I started chipping 10ft off the green slightly uphill, with the pin 20 ft into the green, so it was a chip....(not a pitch) land and roll to straight line to the pin...fairly easy shot

Wow! nice! and soft the Nike is forged!...BIG difference. I chipped 4 in the hole, distance control was noticeably 'far' better than SM5-M. The sm5 is too hard the ball jumps of the face and is harder to keep on line. The Nike feels like the ball stays on the face longer, there is just MORE control...a lot more control. After a shag bag each (20-25 balls) it was clear the the Nike was closer to the hole with all the balls more consistently, and 4 dropped in. The dispersion of the nike was straighter and there were many close hole outs, I was thinking the cup would get to be full of balls!, some SM5 chips were longer, so I had to back of a tad or be carefull

Next I start pitching up hill of a tight lie, 40ft to carry onto the green, then two little bounces and small roll. This is were the Nike feels even better, the impact is sooo soft, the ball flight is 'soft' consistent, the trajectory/arc is consistent, and yes the grouping of the balls is tighter.
The SM5 preformed well here, however I really had to be more exact with my swing, swing speed, take away, transition and through the ball. If I was off, the ball was tad shorter, and if I was long it was jacked longer more than the 'forged' Nike...

I was really going to buy a Vega VW-08 or a Fourteen RM-12, however The Nike is preforming beyond excellent. I was a long time Mizuno MPR wedge player, and liked their C-Grind.

The SM5-M has a bit wider sole than the MPR-12 and its turf contact is a bit more forgiving, or slightly less diggy, but have been struggling with distance control with SM5, with every thing but full shots.
My full shots have been dropping tight to the yardage mark, some are kick in birdies. With SM5-M it feels like my ball is a kids bouncy ball and its going to fly off the face, or over the green on half shots. (I will test 1/2, 3/4, Full shots soon)
I consider myself to be a good wedge player, and don't mind chipping out of the woods, as I know I can get up n down no sweat...I have wedge confidence, can open the wedge, cut it open, flop it, low run draw it, and bite n stop, etc etc.

I will continue to compare these wedges for a while ( I'm Hcp 3.4), and report on forged vs Titleist clicky metal. I will say I brought a set of 690MB's and my Hogan Apex 99 endo forged blew them away in many ways, again titleist harder metal...I will say I am only buying RAW wedges and feel the plating is not your friend for softness...