So You Want Artisan Wedges with a Custom Fitting.

[Desmond]

Those look great @Desmond That didn't seem that long of a wait actually, all things considering.

Hope they bring you as much joy and fun to your game as they have to mine. Game changer really. Enjoy and don't be afraid to get those things dirty right off the bat!

Thanks, Nate. I was chipping early this evening and from a small sample, they are promising due to the consistency of contact. Will be hitting pitches and full shots tomorrow afternoon at a lesson.

And the wait was only one month - they were ready last week but I did not see the email. Jamie texted me yesterday to see what I was waiting for ... lol. Paid up last night and picked 'em up this morning.

 

[Desmond]

First time in battle today with the wedges.

Hole out for a birdie from 30 feet off the green.
Four others off the green were tap-ins for pars.
Used the Gap Wedge more for chipping.
These were very precise today.
Checked well.
Had a grrreat time with them.

 

[Nate]

First time in battle today with the wedges.

Hole out for a birdie from 30 feet off the green.
Four others off the green were tap-ins for pars.
Used the Gap Wedge more for chipping.
These were very precise today.
Checked well.
Had a grrreat time with them.

 

[annsguy]

Awesome experience and well written Des. I lived in DFW area when I worked for the swoosh a lifetime ago. It gets a little hot but boy did I love Greenville Avenue back in the day.Played the Cowboys course a few times when i have been back. I have to do this.

 

[Desmond]

Awesome experience and well written Des. I lived in DFW area when I worked for the swoosh a lifetime ago. It gets a little hot but boy did I love Greenville Avenue back in the day.Played the Cowboys course a few times when i have been back. I have to do this.

Greenville Ave still has something although parking is hell. Not as commercial as Uptown. Bishop Art District is hip now although parking is ... hell.

 

[annsguy]

Greenville Ave still has something although parking is hell. Not as commercial as Uptown. Bishop Art District is hip now although parking is ... hell.

These days if it's open past 10:00pm they have to do it without me. I learned to play o some shaggy courses in South Dallas. Probably long gone.

 

[Desmond]

These days if it's open past 10:00pm they have to do it without me. I learned to play o some shaggy courses in South Dallas. Probably long gone.

Cedar Crest, Stevens Park and Keeton are still in play.

 

[Scrap22]

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.

This was an awesome read. Glad you had a great experience. Sounds incredible!

 

[Desmond]

Will be visiting Artisan again in a few months ...

 

[annsguy]

Cedar Crest, Stevens Park and Keeton are still in play.

Glad you called out the names.My first birdie was on 18 at Stevens Park. Blind squirrel found an acorn kind of thing.

 

[Desmond]

Glad you called out the names.My first birdie was on 18 at Stevens Park. Blind squirrel found an acorn kind of thing.

I played Stevens regularly a few years ago - they redid the greens, and keep the course in better condition now. Nice view of the Dallas Skyline on the back nine.

Think I've threadjacked my own thread enough. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Artisan.

 

[Tee/Ski]

Now that was a good read! This is something I want to do. My short game is coming along but it's the #1 issue for me right now and it's the only area I've never had a fitting for. I'm itching to do something golf related so this might be the perfect choice. Headed over to their website...

 

[jhtr20]

If I had read this when I was traveling to DFW twice a month an extra day would have been scheduled to a trip.

 

[Kenomikes]

Will be visiting Artisan again in a few months ...

Putter?

 

[Desmond]

Putter?

Why not.

 

[Desmond]

@Jman

Played the Artisan on Friday in SC and thought you'd appreciate the Rust.

I cleaned up the 50 to see what would happen but think I'll let them rust up.

And when some of you go to Artisan, this will give you feedback on the rust - to choose or not choose.

 

[Desmond]

It's been two years since I last posted about the Artisan wedges. I changed my wedge game recently - mostly setup and technique on knockdowns - but the Artisans - tremendous. I had five shots today out of wet Bermuda rough (from 30-110 yards) and was within 5-10 feet of the flag. I've had a lot of success with every kind of shot around the green as I like to get creative.

Why the success? The shaft is the correct shaft for you, the grind is the one that fits you. Then lie, length, loft, swing weight, etc.

If you are not familiar with Artisan, the guys are refugees from the Nike Oven - they took over the Oven when Nike left. And they had worked for Ben Hogan, Nike, and worked with Tiger and dozens of pros on grinding his wedges. They have a stable of PGA Touring Pros and just began selling their irons.

The wedges are fit in a 2-3 hr fitting for every aspect of the wedge near Ft Worth. The price is dear but I've sold all my other wedges and just keep Artisans.

Mine are rusting more (looking good) and they told me to come in or ship them for a sand blast and check the condition. Jamie Pipes does the fitting and Mike Taylor makes your wedges.

 

[checkered]

It's been two years since I last posted about the Artisan wedges. I changed my wedge game recently - mostly setup and technique on knockdowns - but the Artisans - tremendous. I had five shots today out of wet Bermuda rough (from 30-110 yards) and was within 5-10 feet of the flag. I've had a lot of success with every kind of shot around the green as I like to get creative.

Why the success? The shaft is the correct shaft for you, the grind is the one that fits you. Then lie, length, loft, swing weight, etc.

If you are not familiar with Artisan, the guys are refugees from the Nike Oven - they took over the Oven when Nike left. And they had worked for Ben Hogan, Nike, and worked with Tiger and dozens of pros on grinding his wedges. They have a stable of PGA Touring Pros and just began selling their irons.

The wedges are fit in a 2-3 hr fitting for every aspect of the wedge near Ft Worth. The price is dear but I've sold all my other wedges and just keep Artisans.

Mine are rusting more (looking good) and they told me to come in or ship them for a sand blast and check the condition. Jamie Pipes does the fitting and Mike Taylor makes your wedges.

Nice to hear youre still enjoying these. Really cool sounding experience to get fit and very cool they stand behind what they build as it sounds like they do.

 

[Desmond]

Nice to hear youre still enjoying these. Really cool sounding experience to get fit and very cool they stand behind what they build as it sounds like they do.

They take the guesswork out of wedges.

I've bought other wedges that I thought were similar as to grind - but it's not the same. So I gave up and just stick with Artisan.

 

[Deebo76]

It's been two years since I last posted about the Artisan wedges. I changed my wedge game recently - mostly setup and technique on knockdowns - but the Artisans - tremendous. I had five shots today out of wet Bermuda rough (from 30-110 yards) and was within 5-10 feet of the flag. I've had a lot of success with every kind of shot around the green as I like to get creative.

Why the success? The shaft is the correct shaft for you, the grind is the one that fits you. Then lie, length, loft, swing weight, etc.

If you are not familiar with Artisan, the guys are refugees from the Nike Oven - they took over the Oven when Nike left. And they had worked for Ben Hogan, Nike, and worked with Tiger and dozens of pros on grinding his wedges. They have a stable of PGA Touring Pros and just began selling their irons.

The wedges are fit in a 2-3 hr fitting for every aspect of the wedge near Ft Worth. The price is dear but I've sold all my other wedges and just keep Artisans.

Mine are rusting more (looking good) and they told me to come in or ship them for a sand blast and check the condition. Jamie Pipes does the fitting and Mike Taylor makes your wedges.

Man, I need to get back out there to get my putter cleaned up and get some wedges...Mike, John and Jamie are great people!

 

[jbb2388]

Great interview with Mike Taylor of Artisan on Golf.com fully equipped podcast last week.

 

[Nate]

Still have mine. Actually referred a buddy to them in June and he should have his new wedges any day now. Wedge game improved noticeably after putting them in the bag.

 

[amarkabove]

My brother-in-law recently started an entry type job at Artisan. I think I need to make a trip to visit the in-laws soon...