I'd be happy just coming home to a WedgeWorks box sitting on my doorstep. Killer looking set of wedges!
Titleist Vokey SM8 Wedges
I got a full weekend of rounds in and today just got back from a range session of just getting use to the new wedges. I needed to dial in the distances and also work on some half swings. One thing that i love is the weight of these wedges. They feel the same as my T300's and it is a seamless transition from my 48* set GW right to the 52 SM8. The 52 and 56 SM8's are both F grinds. The 52 gaps perfect for me after my GW out to about 115 yards. The F grind in the turf is fantastic i really love the feel i am getting from these wedges.
The TT S200 shafts are smooth and provide excellent feel. Coming from a Nippon Modus wedge shaft i feel the S200 is a bit more solid and gives me a better feel. When i hit a good shot into thee green i just laugh watching the ball check up on the green. It is nice knowing that when i get 120 and in i have an arsenal of wedges to handle anything i need. I will post more on the 60* D grind after this week! The last pic is a shot with the 60* from 79 yards out!
The TT S200 shafts are smooth and provide excellent feel. Coming from a Nippon Modus wedge shaft i feel the S200 is a bit more solid and gives me a better feel. When i hit a good shot into thee green i just laugh watching the ball check up on the green. It is nice knowing that when i get 120 and in i have an arsenal of wedges to handle anything i need. I will post more on the 60* D grind after this week! The last pic is a shot with the 60* from 79 yards out!
Cross copied from Vokey Experience thread...
What an amazing Friday!!! My Vokey SM8 wedges came in late last night - I have been gleefully waiting for these for weeks now. Huge thank you to Titleist, THP, @JB , and @GolferGal. These aren’t usual times, but as always, THP and Titleist are first class acts. Not only did they completely refund all of the deposits we made for the experience, but we also got to be kids in the WedgeWorks candy store and order whatever we wanted!
Earlier, I showed the mockups of the wedges from the WedgeWorks website and I was hoping the real deal would be comparable to what was on the site. I was blown away by how fantastic these turned out.
Gratuitous Box Shots
Now the opening - top quality packing materials; there was no way these beauties were getting damaged
Each wedge has a KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 shaft and custom Bob Vokey Golf Pride grips
All of these came out simply gorgeous. Almost too beautiful to play with - they look like pieces of art, not clubs!
Out if the wrappers, even better with super clean lines and the color really pops out!
And a final touch to always remember how thankful I am for this community and grateful for this opportunity - custom engraving on the shafts
Super photo heavy but the follow up posts will be after I get these on the range and on the course! Range today and my first round tomorrow........
What an amazing Friday!!! My Vokey SM8 wedges came in late last night - I have been gleefully waiting for these for weeks now. Huge thank you to Titleist, THP, @JB , and @GolferGal. These aren’t usual times, but as always, THP and Titleist are first class acts. Not only did they completely refund all of the deposits we made for the experience, but we also got to be kids in the WedgeWorks candy store and order whatever we wanted!
Earlier, I showed the mockups of the wedges from the WedgeWorks website and I was hoping the real deal would be comparable to what was on the site. I was blown away by how fantastic these turned out.
Gratuitous Box Shots
Now the opening - top quality packing materials; there was no way these beauties were getting damaged
Each wedge has a KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 shaft and custom Bob Vokey Golf Pride grips
All of these came out simply gorgeous. Almost too beautiful to play with - they look like pieces of art, not clubs!
Out if the wrappers, even better with super clean lines and the color really pops out!
And a final touch to always remember how thankful I am for this community and grateful for this opportunity - custom engraving on the shafts
Super photo heavy but the follow up posts will be after I get these on the range and on the course! Range today and my first round tomorrow........
Beautiful and way more creative than me
Awesome designs sir.
I'm loving my 60 degree, getting used to the fact I can hit it closer to the hole and still stop it, even downhill
Which grind is it?
I have the 52 F and 56 S and 60 S, got the last 2 in my bag and need to get up the courage to change out my current gap for the 52, but it has been all tournament golf lately and I'm going with what I know right now.
Blimey, mine’s all just a round with friends. I could do a Bob Vokey and carry 7 wedges, knowing that no one will ask me if I’ve got more than 14 clubs in my bag.
But that’d be silly.
So I’m going to limit it to 6.
G410 PW
SM8 50/54/58
Jaws 60
MD4 64
tbh my regular playing partner doesn’t even score, I do about 95% of the time, but this week, as I did last Friday, I’m just going to throw a few balls down and test wedges on course as applicable. I’ll probably always carry 5 as it’s the most interesting part of the game, and on the two courses at my club there are plenty of holes that are Driver then some sort of wedge, and only a handful of holes that need a 200+ second shot. More so at this time of year, fewer wedges in winter obviously.
I am absolutely loving these wedges.The feel and results are amazing for me. I asked the pro that fit me for them if he would give me a lesson last Friday just working on wedge shots for 100 yards and in. We went out on the course and set up at about 75 yards. He had a tube of green balls and a tube of white. He dropped out 5 of each and told me to hit what wedge i would normally use for that shot. I was always using my 60* if i was 80 yards and closer. It didn't matter what the shot was that was my club. My Arccos stats showed me being short over 50% of the time with them also going right.
Out of the 5 shots my way i had one to about 2 feet and three off the green short and right and one on the fringe. He then had me grab my 56F grind and hit the 5 white balls up. He gave me some instruction on how he wanted me to swing. I proceeded to hit all 5 balls onto the green! We then worked with the 52F grind at a 100 yards and used the same technique. The results didn't lie more balls on the green so i am putting! He changed my way of thinking about how i approach a green. My 60D is now a bunker and short bump and runs or pitches over bunkers etc.
I spent Sat at the pitching area hitting my wedges like he showed me to get the feel dialed in. I love the results and could not wait to try it out playing. Today i went out and shot a 79 on a course that is tough. I had 9 GIR with 3 being just a bit short by the fringe and i went long on 3 others. 1 bunker shot I was up and out with no issues at all. I still need to dial in my distances and i always work on my alignment but i have never had a higher GIR is my Arccos tracking. I am 50% GIR with the 56 with 25% being short and 25% being right. I fully expect these numbers to tighten up!
The pics are from my practice session on Sat. The learning continues!
Out of the 5 shots my way i had one to about 2 feet and three off the green short and right and one on the fringe. He then had me grab my 56F grind and hit the 5 white balls up. He gave me some instruction on how he wanted me to swing. I proceeded to hit all 5 balls onto the green! We then worked with the 52F grind at a 100 yards and used the same technique. The results didn't lie more balls on the green so i am putting! He changed my way of thinking about how i approach a green. My 60D is now a bunker and short bump and runs or pitches over bunkers etc.
I spent Sat at the pitching area hitting my wedges like he showed me to get the feel dialed in. I love the results and could not wait to try it out playing. Today i went out and shot a 79 on a course that is tough. I had 9 GIR with 3 being just a bit short by the fringe and i went long on 3 others. 1 bunker shot I was up and out with no issues at all. I still need to dial in my distances and i always work on my alignment but i have never had a higher GIR is my Arccos tracking. I am 50% GIR with the 56 with 25% being short and 25% being right. I fully expect these numbers to tighten up!
The pics are from my practice session on Sat. The learning continues!
Yep, hitting full high-lofted wedges is a crazy way of doing things IMO, far too inconsistent. Take a lower loft and hit it with a 3/4 and you’ll end up closer. I don‘t hit full shots with anything over a 50 degree, and even then I’d rather use my 120y club (PW) for all shots of 100-120y, even though I can get 110y from my 50.
It is nice to have such a variety of shots to use when getting to the green!
First round yesterday with these clubs. We are still in the getting to know you phase, but so far, I am very impressed with them. It was about 108 degrees in Houston and you could almost smell the grass burning with the heat and humidity. I did manage to get a full 18 holes in plus a bit of range work ahead of time to get used to the clubs.
Overall
Very well designed and built clubs. The SM8s were performing exceptionally well on the range. It took some time to get used to them actually, because I am very used with my previous wedges to play the land it short and let it roll onto the green. I typically average between 5-7 yards of rollout for my previous clubs. With the SM8s, I was looking more at 3-5 yards rollout based on the range green I was chipping to. This made me able to attack the pins rather than play it safe in the middle of the green and hope for some good rollouts.
From the range I typically try 4 different wedge shots (1 wasn't available due to our current course layout)
Chip Shots
For the chip shots, I noticed much less rollout, I could land the ball very close to the pin and it would settle shortly. I was seeing about 4 yds of rollout max with the 50, and under 3 with the 60. The chip shots worked well across the board for all 3 (50, 56, 60). The 50 I struggled with maintaining good distance, but it's not a club I would typically use for chips anyway...
Pitch Shots
The pitch shots became a little more interesting. The 56 and 60 I was seeing way more consistency but a little less distance than my typical wedges. I think part of that was my unfamiliarity of the SM8s. In any event, I'd happily trade 5 yards for 80+% improvement in accuracy any day of the week!
My big miss with the 50 was toe centered hits. Especially on 3/4 or full swings, I really had to concentrate to square the face at impact and get a good strike on the ball. I was seeing 1 out of every 7-8 hits be toe centered as my concentration dipped in the crazy heat.
Flop Shots
These were just beautiful. I felt really comfortable landing on tight lies over bunkers. The 56 and 60 really shined through here. This was a shot I immediately felt at ease with (and one I typically struggle with on the course!~)
On The Course
Only 1 round in, so take this with a grain of salt, but they worked very well. My local course's hole 6 is a short par 4 with a sharp dogleg left and a multi-tiered landing zone. A very well struck drive could leave a short 50 yard pitch in. I've never been that lucky, and today was no different!
I landed my drive short of the green and sandwiched between me and the green was a bunker. The green is only about 15 yards deep (it's quite long, but narrow) so I had a very tight landing spot to go over the bunker, hit the green, and stop!
The challenging aspect is it was a bit long for a flop, so a pitch was going to have to be opened up, launched high, and land softly. I grabbed my 56 MoneyMaker immediately as I was a bit nervous about toe-ing one off to the right and felt more comfortable with the 56. Went with a 3/4 swing and....
Off by a few feet. Not a bad start!!!!
More to come as I get a few additional rounds under my belt!
Overall
Very well designed and built clubs. The SM8s were performing exceptionally well on the range. It took some time to get used to them actually, because I am very used with my previous wedges to play the land it short and let it roll onto the green. I typically average between 5-7 yards of rollout for my previous clubs. With the SM8s, I was looking more at 3-5 yards rollout based on the range green I was chipping to. This made me able to attack the pins rather than play it safe in the middle of the green and hope for some good rollouts.
From the range I typically try 4 different wedge shots (1 wasn't available due to our current course layout)
- Chip
- Pitch
- Flop
- Bunker - I couldn't try these due to bunkers being GUR
Chip Shots
For the chip shots, I noticed much less rollout, I could land the ball very close to the pin and it would settle shortly. I was seeing about 4 yds of rollout max with the 50, and under 3 with the 60. The chip shots worked well across the board for all 3 (50, 56, 60). The 50 I struggled with maintaining good distance, but it's not a club I would typically use for chips anyway...
Pitch Shots
The pitch shots became a little more interesting. The 56 and 60 I was seeing way more consistency but a little less distance than my typical wedges. I think part of that was my unfamiliarity of the SM8s. In any event, I'd happily trade 5 yards for 80+% improvement in accuracy any day of the week!
My big miss with the 50 was toe centered hits. Especially on 3/4 or full swings, I really had to concentrate to square the face at impact and get a good strike on the ball. I was seeing 1 out of every 7-8 hits be toe centered as my concentration dipped in the crazy heat.
Flop Shots
These were just beautiful. I felt really comfortable landing on tight lies over bunkers. The 56 and 60 really shined through here. This was a shot I immediately felt at ease with (and one I typically struggle with on the course!~)
On The Course
Only 1 round in, so take this with a grain of salt, but they worked very well. My local course's hole 6 is a short par 4 with a sharp dogleg left and a multi-tiered landing zone. A very well struck drive could leave a short 50 yard pitch in. I've never been that lucky, and today was no different!
I landed my drive short of the green and sandwiched between me and the green was a bunker. The green is only about 15 yards deep (it's quite long, but narrow) so I had a very tight landing spot to go over the bunker, hit the green, and stop!
The challenging aspect is it was a bit long for a flop, so a pitch was going to have to be opened up, launched high, and land softly. I grabbed my 56 MoneyMaker immediately as I was a bit nervous about toe-ing one off to the right and felt more comfortable with the 56. Went with a 3/4 swing and....
Off by a few feet. Not a bad start!!!!
More to come as I get a few additional rounds under my belt!
I'm trying to use my 54 in the same manner as you. I used to partial swing my 60D....not anymore. I'll full swing it when appropriate but it's the goto sand weapon. and not for pitching/chipping.
The 60 is so much fun to hit. It is still my favorite club and i am sure there are tons of shots i could learn with it.
These wedges are like cheating, they’re so consistent. I shot a 73 today and none of them let me down. The 54* is going about 5y further than the CBX2 that preceded it, and is far more accurate. I only hit my 50* three times today, two excellent, one from thick rough came up slightly short, but it worked very well. Funnily enough I didn’t need the 58* at all today, did a bit of practice on the pitching/chipping green and liked it a lot, a lovely flight. For what I use it for I think the M grind was a better call than the D, it appears to be exactly what I was looking for.
Hugely impressed, easy to hit well, consistent, accurate, solid, great ball flights.
Hugely impressed, easy to hit well, consistent, accurate, solid, great ball flights.
Me waiting for mine to come in hopefully soon.
Only was able to get out for nine today. I had some ups and downs (guess the honeymoon period is over)...
Positive - I had fewer issues with solid contact but had some challenges with distance control.
Too often I would not trust what I saw on the range - that fuller shots worked best and the wedges impart enough spin to stop. That I didn’t have to play bump and runs as the norm. When I tried the bump and runs
When I did start trusting on hole 8, I was rewarded with this beauty from 75 yds out with a 1/2 swing on the 50 degree
Still have to put in the work ! Keep grinding...
Positive - I had fewer issues with solid contact but had some challenges with distance control.
Too often I would not trust what I saw on the range - that fuller shots worked best and the wedges impart enough spin to stop. That I didn’t have to play bump and runs as the norm. When I tried the bump and runs
When I did start trusting on hole 8, I was rewarded with this beauty from 75 yds out with a 1/2 swing on the 50 degree
Still have to put in the work ! Keep grinding...
Yeah It will take a little time to get in the distance control. I don't really use the range for my distance for wedges as the spin of those balls are probably much lower. I will hit a few full one towards a target and then try to pick a landing zone just a little short and try to dial it back a little and try to get the feel of hitting a little knockdown.
Then I just try to trust what I have played in normal rounds when I'm playing.
Got out for a late afternoon practice round. Played 14 holes and my chipping and approach shots were fantastic. I hit my drive a bit long through the FW and had a big pine tree about 40 yards in front of me. Plenty of green to the right and 95 yards from the flag that was behind the tree. Grabbed my 56 and hit a beautiful draw right around the tree and to the back of green behind the pin. I just laughed as that was never a shot i could make. I love the feel of these SM8's!
X.Man
Well-known member
Put some short game work in today with the Vokey’s. Mostly with the 60deg M grind as it’s my go-to club around the green. That M grind is more versatile than I anticipated. In This video the first 2 were straight up with the ball in the middle of the stance. 2nd 2 were with the face wide open. Last 2 were back in my stance flighting the ball down. The am grind handled them with ease. The still picture shows the grind imprint from some bunker work.
An update on my 52, 56, and 60 degree Vokey SM8's. I finally got brave enough to put all three in the bag for a straight up match against a golfer with a Hcp 3 better than me and after practicing frequently esp. with the 60 degree, the Vokey wedges helped me come out on top 4 and 3. I miss a fair amount of greens and with practice have gotten used to the difference between my old Cleveland 56 and the new 60 and I put enough close by the pin so I could easily one putt which was the difference in the match. I also finally switched out my W-S gap wedge for the 52 degree Vokey and got my 100 yard club and the 56, strengthened to 55 got my a pretty reliable 80 yard club. These clubs took some getting used to as they are less forgiving than my Wilson Staff gap and my Cleveland 56 SW, but once you get practiced and concentrate enough, I feel I have better stopping power and accuracy. So far, very pleased!
That is awesome @ddstanford!
You hit some good shots with these and they suit your game well. Some more practice time and i think you'll work out the issues and be pretty consistent with these.