Artisan Wedges.
Have you thought about it?
I thought I knew something about wedges. I learned that my thoughts were wrong. Read on.
Artisan. Forged Elsewhere. Made in Fort Worth. Visited by Tiger Woods, Ben Crenshaw (beautiful handwriting), Michael Jordan (yes, that Michael Jordan), Rory, Trevino, Schwartzel, Reed, Day, Ancer, Nate (THP Nate), and more. All, I assume, own Artisan wedges.
Learned my Instructor had sent Jason Day to Artisan in January and Day had picked up a set.
But me? I wasn't bad with a wedge ...Okay, I was better 10 yrs ago with a B-Stone West Coast Design 60. That was then, this is now. I was hesitant but my club insecurity complex said "Go for it."
I made the appointment 2 months ago. Questions? I had many. There was so much I do not know and I don't mind admitting I am an idiot. I really don't know that much about the ins and outs of equipment. Oh, yes, I can say this and that and pretend I have club game ... but not when it comes to the men at Artisan. We're talking 30+ years of experience with Hogan and Nike, and if you know about Ben Hogan's rep, you know he was demanding. So after Nike left golf clubs behind, the owners of Artisan helped Nike players with their clubs until they transitioned to other brands. Then the men of Artisan, Mike Taylor (wedges) and John Hatfield (putters) transitioned the Nike "Oven" to Artisan. You have access to a great range and short game area, more than an area, it is a golfer's short game dream. And (longtime) Leonard's Golf Links is next door.
That is history, let's get to the Fitting. This morning. Took off for the 45 minutes drive to West Ft Worth from Lewisville. Arrived at 8:30 am and saw John fitting a putter for a guy who had driven from Tulsa all night and had been there since 7 am. Dedication.
I opened the door to Artisan, was greeted cordially, but the first thing they asked was to give them all of my wedges. Why not? Jamie Pipes, the Master Wedge Fitter, measured all specs while I was given a tour of the plant. Lots of CNC and other machines, very clean shop, saw Mike Taylor working and he gave me a friendly "Hello". I saw new putters draped on carts, and the new irons that are coming soon - blade, part cavity and full cavity, and many wedges. I also saw the whiteboard with names of the pros and celebrities who had purchased Artisan clubs.
But now it was time for me and Jamie to get acquainted. Jamie had worked with UST previously but was now telling me about all of the curiosities of my current Mizuno Wedges related to the data he had collected. Lengths were a little off, lofts were a bit too close, could have been from use or from me beating them into the ground - who knows? Some wedges were heavier than others, some of that was concerning, but the only consistency was that the lies angles were almost all 63. One set was Nippon 115, another set of 2 wedges were Nippon 125. What would fit? Let's find out.
We escaped outside to hot, sunny, and muggy conditions. Warmup started with PW, then SW, LW and a few other wedges with different shafts - just easy full swings. I think Jamie wanted to evaluate the shafts more than anything. So we talked about what he saw - I struggled more with the 130g Nippons and got along better with the Nippon 122g.
We changed gears and walked over to a fairway fronting several greens, and hit a series of 50, 75, and 90 yard shots before going greenside, then hitting bunker shots and finishing with more greenside for over two hours.
Let's stop here and tell you about my game - It has sucked for a month. So much that it makes you not want to pick up a club. That bad. And I take lessons. I've been working on so much that I think my head is exploding. Too much to integrate at once. Either kill me or pass the tequila.
I was hitting it fat and laying turf during a fitting ... ugh. I looked at Jamie and after a few choice words at myself, in essence said, "Okay, I'm frustrated but open. Tell me."
He didn't mind telling me. This will seem like Golf 101. Ball position was too far forward, I need to open up my feet, and I wasn't aggressive about finishing the swing, and I'd come out of the swing. Holy Fruck. Yes, I kind of knew some of it because at the last lesson we'd talked about what Jamie was discussing. Fast forward a few minutes later and we'd made most of the simple corrections. Well, not exactly simple. We added some arm rotation at the end of the swing. Same thing my instructor is beating into me. Then we added a more aggressive move with the front foot and turning the hips. Jamie's work was almost done. So yes, a lesson is included and it was everything my instructor had said. I was happy. Hope was alive. We started hitting again.
We kept on switching out shafts and Artisan heads and comparing the results to see what was working best and what Jamie was observing. We worked with the GW and SW from 75 and 90 yards. Hit 4 balls and switch out. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat, Repeat.
Jamie's preliminary results - I didn't take much of a divot and the Mizuno sat too high (bouncy). The 115 and 125 Nippons were not my best fit. I had better results with the Artisan head with a C type grind that was beveled, and another that was not beveled. Shaft? He thought I did best with the Nippon 105.
We moved greenside - green was above me and he handed me a variety of wedges consisting of the Mizunos and Artisns with different shafts. But he had narrowed it down to the Nippon 105 and an Artisan 55 and 59 for greenside use. I hit balls below the green from a level lie to 3 pins, and then from uphill lies, and ball above my feet lies to all 3 pins. One of the Mizunos was a little sticky but the Artisan were not - just clean contact and good spin. Huge difference. We hit a few bunker shots to test the wedge selection and then back to greenside to finish off the fitting. I was pleased with the differences between the Mizuno and Artisan Wedges - the Artisans were a much better fit. Club hit ball, Not Club hit ground, then ball, or getting sticky. Well worth it.
I learned that I was lousy at fitting myself and that it pays to pay a professional to fit you. The fitting (and mini-lesson) were more than worth the $200. Resolved many issues, plus I'm getting some great custom wedges made to demanding specs (for an additional charge)!
That was done over 2.5 hours. The next half hour was guzzling down 2 pints of water and reviewing wedge finishes, ferrules, and initials.
Results are in and we went 50, 55, 59 in Artisan Raw Blasted Finish in Nippon 105 and Tour Velvet +4, Standard length, 35.5, 35.25, 35, 63 lie angle. Delivery in about 6 weeks.
Then we scarfed down the remaining pizza that the crew had for lunch.
Worth it. Do it if you can.
Have you thought about it?
I thought I knew something about wedges. I learned that my thoughts were wrong. Read on.
Artisan. Forged Elsewhere. Made in Fort Worth. Visited by Tiger Woods, Ben Crenshaw (beautiful handwriting), Michael Jordan (yes, that Michael Jordan), Rory, Trevino, Schwartzel, Reed, Day, Ancer, Nate (THP Nate), and more. All, I assume, own Artisan wedges.
Learned my Instructor had sent Jason Day to Artisan in January and Day had picked up a set.
But me? I wasn't bad with a wedge ...Okay, I was better 10 yrs ago with a B-Stone West Coast Design 60. That was then, this is now. I was hesitant but my club insecurity complex said "Go for it."
I made the appointment 2 months ago. Questions? I had many. There was so much I do not know and I don't mind admitting I am an idiot. I really don't know that much about the ins and outs of equipment. Oh, yes, I can say this and that and pretend I have club game ... but not when it comes to the men at Artisan. We're talking 30+ years of experience with Hogan and Nike, and if you know about Ben Hogan's rep, you know he was demanding. So after Nike left golf clubs behind, the owners of Artisan helped Nike players with their clubs until they transitioned to other brands. Then the men of Artisan, Mike Taylor (wedges) and John Hatfield (putters) transitioned the Nike "Oven" to Artisan. You have access to a great range and short game area, more than an area, it is a golfer's short game dream. And (longtime) Leonard's Golf Links is next door.
That is history, let's get to the Fitting. This morning. Took off for the 45 minutes drive to West Ft Worth from Lewisville. Arrived at 8:30 am and saw John fitting a putter for a guy who had driven from Tulsa all night and had been there since 7 am. Dedication.
I opened the door to Artisan, was greeted cordially, but the first thing they asked was to give them all of my wedges. Why not? Jamie Pipes, the Master Wedge Fitter, measured all specs while I was given a tour of the plant. Lots of CNC and other machines, very clean shop, saw Mike Taylor working and he gave me a friendly "Hello". I saw new putters draped on carts, and the new irons that are coming soon - blade, part cavity and full cavity, and many wedges. I also saw the whiteboard with names of the pros and celebrities who had purchased Artisan clubs.
But now it was time for me and Jamie to get acquainted. Jamie had worked with UST previously but was now telling me about all of the curiosities of my current Mizuno Wedges related to the data he had collected. Lengths were a little off, lofts were a bit too close, could have been from use or from me beating them into the ground - who knows? Some wedges were heavier than others, some of that was concerning, but the only consistency was that the lies angles were almost all 63. One set was Nippon 115, another set of 2 wedges were Nippon 125. What would fit? Let's find out.
We escaped outside to hot, sunny, and muggy conditions. Warmup started with PW, then SW, LW and a few other wedges with different shafts - just easy full swings. I think Jamie wanted to evaluate the shafts more than anything. So we talked about what he saw - I struggled more with the 130g Nippons and got along better with the Nippon 122g.
We changed gears and walked over to a fairway fronting several greens, and hit a series of 50, 75, and 90 yard shots before going greenside, then hitting bunker shots and finishing with more greenside for over two hours.
Let's stop here and tell you about my game - It has sucked for a month. So much that it makes you not want to pick up a club. That bad. And I take lessons. I've been working on so much that I think my head is exploding. Too much to integrate at once. Either kill me or pass the tequila.
I was hitting it fat and laying turf during a fitting ... ugh. I looked at Jamie and after a few choice words at myself, in essence said, "Okay, I'm frustrated but open. Tell me."
He didn't mind telling me. This will seem like Golf 101. Ball position was too far forward, I need to open up my feet, and I wasn't aggressive about finishing the swing, and I'd come out of the swing. Holy Fruck. Yes, I kind of knew some of it because at the last lesson we'd talked about what Jamie was discussing. Fast forward a few minutes later and we'd made most of the simple corrections. Well, not exactly simple. We added some arm rotation at the end of the swing. Same thing my instructor is beating into me. Then we added a more aggressive move with the front foot and turning the hips. Jamie's work was almost done. So yes, a lesson is included and it was everything my instructor had said. I was happy. Hope was alive. We started hitting again.
We kept on switching out shafts and Artisan heads and comparing the results to see what was working best and what Jamie was observing. We worked with the GW and SW from 75 and 90 yards. Hit 4 balls and switch out. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat, Repeat.
Jamie's preliminary results - I didn't take much of a divot and the Mizuno sat too high (bouncy). The 115 and 125 Nippons were not my best fit. I had better results with the Artisan head with a C type grind that was beveled, and another that was not beveled. Shaft? He thought I did best with the Nippon 105.
We moved greenside - green was above me and he handed me a variety of wedges consisting of the Mizunos and Artisns with different shafts. But he had narrowed it down to the Nippon 105 and an Artisan 55 and 59 for greenside use. I hit balls below the green from a level lie to 3 pins, and then from uphill lies, and ball above my feet lies to all 3 pins. One of the Mizunos was a little sticky but the Artisan were not - just clean contact and good spin. Huge difference. We hit a few bunker shots to test the wedge selection and then back to greenside to finish off the fitting. I was pleased with the differences between the Mizuno and Artisan Wedges - the Artisans were a much better fit. Club hit ball, Not Club hit ground, then ball, or getting sticky. Well worth it.
I learned that I was lousy at fitting myself and that it pays to pay a professional to fit you. The fitting (and mini-lesson) were more than worth the $200. Resolved many issues, plus I'm getting some great custom wedges made to demanding specs (for an additional charge)!
That was done over 2.5 hours. The next half hour was guzzling down 2 pints of water and reviewing wedge finishes, ferrules, and initials.
Results are in and we went 50, 55, 59 in Artisan Raw Blasted Finish in Nippon 105 and Tour Velvet +4, Standard length, 35.5, 35.25, 35, 63 lie angle. Delivery in about 6 weeks.
Then we scarfed down the remaining pizza that the crew had for lunch.
Worth it. Do it if you can.
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