Hang in there and let's compare notes after next Th.
EXPERIENCE The 2020 Titleist Vokey and Golf Ball Experience
I’m excited to hear about how @ddec and your fitting went.
- Staff
- #478
my fitting was interesting in one regard. I’ll be sure to write something up about it.
I'm trying hard to get a fitting. Tough right now.
Good luck!
Yeah good luck finding one.
Yesterday was my day to be fit for my wedges. There were no Titleist fit days in my area so i had to find someone who could help. I really wanted to try these wedges out on the turf and in a bunker. Surprisingly enough the little course about 1.5 miles from my house was able to help me out. They had almost all of the wedges in stock and the pro was more than accommodating to me.
We had a 1pm time set and when i arrived it was a cool 103* out! I went and warmed while he grabbed his flightscope and the wedges. After he was set up we discussed my current wedges and what i liked to use them for. I currently have Titleist T300 irons that stop at a GW which is 48*. First SM8 that i hit was the 52/12 F grind. The club in hand feels great one thing i really like was the weight in the head of the wedge. I hit about 8 shots with this club all right where i was aiming. He was watching the distance i was hitting to make sure the gaps were going to work out.
Next wedge up was a 56/14 F grind also. I hit full shots and 3/4 shots with it. The feeling was the same as the 52 and and the yardage gaps was really good. I had no bad shots with either of these clubs. Turf interaction was a nice clean divot without digging a trench.
I had explained to the pro that i love my 60* wedge and i use it for pretty much anything 80 yards and in. We had targets to aim at at 25-50-75 yards to hit at. He had two clubs and he asked me not to look at them till we were done. First round was chipping at 25 yards with each club. Then a series of three shots at the 50 yard net. We then did 75 yard shots to see the feel on a longer shot. One club stood out between the two and it was not even close for me. The 60/12 D Grind was unbelievable! In all three of those scenarios that club performed very easy for me. The other 60* club was the K Grind. I did not get the same clean chips or pitches with that grind. It was not bad and would work but being able to test them out the D Grind was the clear winner.
We then took the 60 in the D grind to the bunker area they have to try it out. Out of 8 shots each one was on the green with a nice soft landing and a little roll out. I tried it from super soft piled up sand and we dug down to get into the harder sand underneath. Very easy to get the ball out and stay on the green! For our conditions here in AZ i think we picked a good set up and i am looking forward to getting these in hand!
Here are the final specs
SM8 52/12 F-Grind Standard lie and length
SM8 56/14 F-Grind 1* flat Standard length
SM8 60/12 D-Grind 1* flat Standard length
Shafts are the Vokey TT S200 wedge shafts
Grips -GP Tour velvet in white
Finish will be all Tour Chrome- I know boring but i cant do the raw lol!
I am really looking forward to improving my approach shots and short game with these. The perimeter weighting in the SM8 just feels fantastic. No sound issues for me they were what i would expect. My pics are not going to be like @Bryndom and that beautiful place he went to lol. Brent at Rolling Hills GC was outstanding and his service was spot on!
We had a 1pm time set and when i arrived it was a cool 103* out! I went and warmed while he grabbed his flightscope and the wedges. After he was set up we discussed my current wedges and what i liked to use them for. I currently have Titleist T300 irons that stop at a GW which is 48*. First SM8 that i hit was the 52/12 F grind. The club in hand feels great one thing i really like was the weight in the head of the wedge. I hit about 8 shots with this club all right where i was aiming. He was watching the distance i was hitting to make sure the gaps were going to work out.
Next wedge up was a 56/14 F grind also. I hit full shots and 3/4 shots with it. The feeling was the same as the 52 and and the yardage gaps was really good. I had no bad shots with either of these clubs. Turf interaction was a nice clean divot without digging a trench.
I had explained to the pro that i love my 60* wedge and i use it for pretty much anything 80 yards and in. We had targets to aim at at 25-50-75 yards to hit at. He had two clubs and he asked me not to look at them till we were done. First round was chipping at 25 yards with each club. Then a series of three shots at the 50 yard net. We then did 75 yard shots to see the feel on a longer shot. One club stood out between the two and it was not even close for me. The 60/12 D Grind was unbelievable! In all three of those scenarios that club performed very easy for me. The other 60* club was the K Grind. I did not get the same clean chips or pitches with that grind. It was not bad and would work but being able to test them out the D Grind was the clear winner.
We then took the 60 in the D grind to the bunker area they have to try it out. Out of 8 shots each one was on the green with a nice soft landing and a little roll out. I tried it from super soft piled up sand and we dug down to get into the harder sand underneath. Very easy to get the ball out and stay on the green! For our conditions here in AZ i think we picked a good set up and i am looking forward to getting these in hand!
Here are the final specs
SM8 52/12 F-Grind Standard lie and length
SM8 56/14 F-Grind 1* flat Standard length
SM8 60/12 D-Grind 1* flat Standard length
Shafts are the Vokey TT S200 wedge shafts
Grips -GP Tour velvet in white
Finish will be all Tour Chrome- I know boring but i cant do the raw lol!
I am really looking forward to improving my approach shots and short game with these. The perimeter weighting in the SM8 just feels fantastic. No sound issues for me they were what i would expect. My pics are not going to be like @Bryndom and that beautiful place he went to lol. Brent at Rolling Hills GC was outstanding and his service was spot on!
Fantastic write up! I think mine are chrome as well so we can blend them in our sets the same!
52/56/60 is a nice spread, how well did they gap with your gap wedge distance?
I've got chrome now but really want the Jet Black!
The gaps were really nice about 10-15 yards. I am looking forward to the other fittings to see how everyone likes them also.
Very cool, thanks for the update! Hoping to fix a big gap I have between my Gap 100 yds and SW 63 yards and this fitting should do that perfectly as well as give me some extra class in my bag.
- Staff
- #487
I don't have any photos because throughout the entire fitting it looked the sky was ready to open up, which it did on my drive home. But I did go for my Vokey fitting yesterday at a local Titleist Thursday. I knew where I thought I would end up, and it was pretty much spot on. But here goes a little story about my fitting.
Years ago when JB and I went out to visit TPI Oceanside, I got a great look at their wedge fitting facility. Here is the video we shot on that day Ever since then, I've really wanted to go through a Vokey fitting, and while this wasn't exactly the same thing(what can you expect for a free 45 minutes) I was pretty happy with what went down.
I started warming up on the side with my clubs. I hit shots with my 60, 56, 50, PW, 9i, and 5 iron, because why not? When I got with the fitter we talked about my normal gaming irons which are Apex Combo set. I didn't have that with me, I had the ICONs, so we worked off of a T100s set. That was to get the baseline of my shortest iron heading in to the wedges. Because of the pandemic, we weren't using Titleist golf balls, just normal range balls, NBD. We started with a 48 with hopes of finding a gap of around 12-15 yards. The 48 was only a gap of around 8 yards, the 50 11, and the 52 was right about the same as the 50. After hitting a bunch of these gap wedges, the fitter hands me a 7 iron that had a super light graphite shaft in it. He told me he had a theory about something and wanted to check it out. So I hit 4-5 balls, which the first 3 I was adjusting to the weight, and the last two hit better. He then takes the club back and hands me the same club with what looks to be the same shaft, only telling me it was heavier. Took 5 swings and 4 of them looked identical with the outlier being still in the general vicinity.
So what changed? The length. On the gap wedges and the PW, I was catching the ball low, which I often do. I don't take big divots, but when I get steep all sorts of bad things happen. The 2nd shaft he gave me was 1/2 longer than standard. When we looked at the compact, it was a night and day difference. Kind of shocked the hell out of me. I've never played my irons or wedges long. So that is where we were going with it.
We talked a little about grinds once we figured out the loft structure, which is going to be 50, 55(56 bent strong), 60. F obviously for the 50, D for the 56, and M for the 60. I played the M in he 60 for the SM6 line and loved it. I hit a bunch of pitches, chips, flops with those higher lofted wedges and has happy. For shafts, we didn't go crazy. Stock wedge flex shaft in the two high lofted ones(which if I was ordering I might change to a KBS wedge shaft since I'm used to it) and a Kuro Kage 105 shaft for the 50.
He did make one mistake on the "order form" which he said bend the 56 1 degree weak instead of strong. But when time comes to order I can fix that.
Years ago when JB and I went out to visit TPI Oceanside, I got a great look at their wedge fitting facility. Here is the video we shot on that day Ever since then, I've really wanted to go through a Vokey fitting, and while this wasn't exactly the same thing(what can you expect for a free 45 minutes) I was pretty happy with what went down.
I started warming up on the side with my clubs. I hit shots with my 60, 56, 50, PW, 9i, and 5 iron, because why not? When I got with the fitter we talked about my normal gaming irons which are Apex Combo set. I didn't have that with me, I had the ICONs, so we worked off of a T100s set. That was to get the baseline of my shortest iron heading in to the wedges. Because of the pandemic, we weren't using Titleist golf balls, just normal range balls, NBD. We started with a 48 with hopes of finding a gap of around 12-15 yards. The 48 was only a gap of around 8 yards, the 50 11, and the 52 was right about the same as the 50. After hitting a bunch of these gap wedges, the fitter hands me a 7 iron that had a super light graphite shaft in it. He told me he had a theory about something and wanted to check it out. So I hit 4-5 balls, which the first 3 I was adjusting to the weight, and the last two hit better. He then takes the club back and hands me the same club with what looks to be the same shaft, only telling me it was heavier. Took 5 swings and 4 of them looked identical with the outlier being still in the general vicinity.
So what changed? The length. On the gap wedges and the PW, I was catching the ball low, which I often do. I don't take big divots, but when I get steep all sorts of bad things happen. The 2nd shaft he gave me was 1/2 longer than standard. When we looked at the compact, it was a night and day difference. Kind of shocked the hell out of me. I've never played my irons or wedges long. So that is where we were going with it.
We talked a little about grinds once we figured out the loft structure, which is going to be 50, 55(56 bent strong), 60. F obviously for the 50, D for the 56, and M for the 60. I played the M in he 60 for the SM6 line and loved it. I hit a bunch of pitches, chips, flops with those higher lofted wedges and has happy. For shafts, we didn't go crazy. Stock wedge flex shaft in the two high lofted ones(which if I was ordering I might change to a KBS wedge shaft since I'm used to it) and a Kuro Kage 105 shaft for the 50.
He did make one mistake on the "order form" which he said bend the 56 1 degree weak instead of strong. But when time comes to order I can fix that.
- Thread starter
- Admin
- #488
Tough decision was made today to cancel this event. Working with the incredible team at Titleist, it was not something that would have been what was planned. Between the dining being limited and the ball plant not being possible, it drastically altered a THP Experience. Combine that with Bob Vokey not able to attend due to being in a higher risk group and it made sense.
The participants will still be ordering wedges however and we are opening up the gamut for what they can order.
Their reviews in the Vokey SM8 thread will be invaluable during the next couple of months.
The participants will still be ordering wedges however and we are opening up the gamut for what they can order.
Their reviews in the Vokey SM8 thread will be invaluable during the next couple of months.
For all the participants - really sorry to hear the even is cancelled, but it sounds unavoidable. Look forward to hearing about the wedges you guy receive though!
- Staff
- #491
It's unfortunate, but it's the right call. Going to miss jumping back in a THP event, mostly because I was looking forward to mixing it up with a group of people that I haven't had the pleasure of meeting. These guys were super excited for this weekend, so I feel bummed out for them.
Unfortunately 2020 is just being plain nasty. I am super bummed but fully understand and respect the decision that was made. Safety first is a must for all involved. What saddens me most is i am not getting to meet 5 new THPers which is always the best part!
I truly am appreciative that we will still be able to review the wedges. As well as i was hitting them i am excited to put them in the bag! I will be posting reviews as soon as they arrive!
Thank you @JB and @GolferGal for the opportunity.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Was really looking forward to meeting and playing with all you guys.
We are all a little sad about this but very thankful to THP and Titleist for still standing up and offering the wedges. Hopefully, the reviews will be good enough to tide us over!
I hope to one day be able to play with some THPers and just hang out together. All of us are thankful for a great community and place to talk about all things golf!
I hope to one day be able to play with some THPers and just hang out together. All of us are thankful for a great community and place to talk about all things golf!
The Titleist rep reached out to confirm the fitting for tomorrow at 12:30 and asked a little information about my current irons. Still a little sad that the event is cancelled but am really looking forward to the fitting tomorrow.
- Thread starter
- Admin
- #496
We are too. Nothing is better to me personally than a THP Experience.
I believe everybody has received their money back and custom wedges still should still be fun.
We definitely look forward to the feedback on those and know that this was not something we took lightly.
Thanks for all the THP crew. Y’all are awesome. We know y’all did everything you could to make it happen. I’m still super excited for the fitting and wedges and very thankful!
Also thanks to Titleist for still doing the wedges. I was very pleased that the rep called and left a message to confirm the appointment and texted about my game a little!
Sad to hear but makes complete sense. I cannot wait to see what the guys choose and read the reviews!
Got done with my fitting about 45 minutes ago and getting ready to meet @H8tobogie at Balcones Country Club for a round. I will try to get to my posting this evening go for sometime tomorrow. It was a great experience though!