Bridgestone Tour B XW-1 Wedge Review

Trmpt98

2024 Vokey / 2023 GOAT Cup / 2019 Bridgestone
Albatross 2024 Club
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So first off I'm going to copy what GolferGal has posted when they announced the release of these wedges..

"Bridgestone’s New TOUR B XW-1 Wedges Deliver Buttery-Soft Feel and Enhanced Spin Greenside

New Biting Rail Milled Finish Grooves Optimize Spin and Control Greenside


(COVINGTON, GA) – Bridgestone Golf – the #1 ball-fitter in golf, revealed today its new TOUR B XW-1 collection of wedges, its softest and highest spinning wedges ever designed for better players. The XW-1 Wedges feature Bridgestone’s proprietary, new Biting Rail Milled grooves leading to more spin on approach and greenside recovery shots. Premium forged from 1020 mild carbon steel, the XW-1 Wedges provide the ultimate in soft feel better players prefer.

“Low-Mid handicappers are going to love the control and feel that our new TOUR B XW-1 Wedges deliver,” said Zack Kupperbusch, Golf Club Marketing Manager – Bridgestone Golf. “The combination of the industry’s most premium forging and our new Biting Rail Milled grooves provide unparalleled softness and optimum spin on a variety of short shots.”

The new TOUR B XW-1 Wedge series is designed with three separate sole configurations, each intended to optimize the types of shots played with that particular club. The F (Flat) sole is found in the 50-degree gap wedge, and intended to optimize turf interaction on full or mid-range approach shots providing added stability at impact for a more penetrating ball flight. The M Sole, or the “Multi-Purpose Sole” characteristic of the 52, 54, 58 and 60-degree wedges, focuses on providing versatility for all the varying shots one would hit during a round. From hooded bump-and-runs to open-flange flop shots, the M-Sole delivers maximum controllability. Finally, the A Sole, or the “Forgiving Sole” offers supreme forgiveness in the 56-degree wedge, whether you’re hitting an explosion shot to get out of a steep face bunker, or pin-hunting from the fairway."

So after the #FitLikeaPro Bridgestone Event I received 3 wedges with my set, the 52 deg (which Iwill swap in and out with the AW), the 56 deg and the 60 deg. All wedge specs matched the same as my irons, 1 deg upright and 1/2" long. I had a chance to hit a multitude of shots with these between the first league play and then a good range session. At first during league it took some getting used to. The feel is different than my Callaway MD3 wedges I carried in the same lofts. Previously I had used a C grind of the MD3 which allowed good shot making ability with my sweeping swing. These XW-1 wedges felt a bit heavier and the weight felt more out on the toe for me. On full shots this was great for me, it allowed me to have more control of the head of the wedge and I felt it easier to play shots on full swings. Chipping was more of a challenge for me. In soft conditions the back of the wedge really grabbed for me so I had to learn to open the face up a bit more to get relief. The problem is I don't practice this enough and when I opened the face up the club would just glide under the ball. This would be good, but I don't know how to control it yet :) By the 8th hole I had figured out how to do this more and wasn't chunking/slipping under the ball and was making decent shots. For feel shots these are going to take some work as a mid handicapper to get used to, but the weight of the club I think will help with the feel over time. Like most wedges those feel shots take some practicing. For full shots these wedges perform really well, even better than my MD3's. Great ball flight and great stopping power. I'll get some pictures posted up after work today. Overall I'm really liking the feel and playability. Any questions, post them up and I'll do my best to answer.
 
Pics???
 

Were you skimming the reviews again :) I'll get them posted after work. I have pics of most of the other clubs but for some reason didn't take any of the wedges at the range.
 
Were you skimming the reviews again :) .

Caught me lol

Im excited about these wedges....they look clean AF which is why I was disappointed to see this thread go up....with no pics
 
Bridgestone Tour B XW-1 Wedge Review

Caught me lol

Im excited about these wedges....they look clean AF which is why I was disappointed to see this thread go up....with no pics

Here ya go, I don’t want to work anyway lol. I tried to get shots of the bite rail but may be hard to see. These have an extremely clean look to them, much like the whole line of their irons.

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Good looking wedges.
 
Dang, nice!

I will own a set of those awesome looking clubs soon! Can’t wait to write up a review on those puppies!
 
Man those are clean. I can do without the biting rail milled wording on it.....but they are def clean.
 
Got my set of wedges, can’t wait to get out with them. Today most likely won’t be that day as were under a flood warning and I haven’t checked yet but the range will almost assuredly be closed. May have to take them to the sim, which will be good testing anyways as I can compare spin numbers versus my current set. Have to wait for official word of the team I coach game being officially cancelled.

Initial impressions though, just a nice clean wedge. Very impressed with the aesthetics. I’m going to take a guess at them outperforming my current gear, and it not being close, but I’ll wait to see some performance on course or numbers on the sim. I’m battling Photobucket and Tapatalk right now so having some pic posting issues, but Gman79 threw up a couple pics of mine in the Bridgestone Championship thread, including a close up of the face.

I’ll be in with a review as soon as I can hit those bad boys!
 
Hit mine for the first time tonight. Believe it or not, these are the very first ever brand new wedges that aren’t a part of an iron set that I’ve ever owned.

I’ll start by saying that they were hit inside only, on a Sim. I’ve found that most iron/wedge shots are pretty accurate on this particular sim, both in distance and spin rate, but not with woods. There’s a lot to be learned from that but not as much as can be learned by hitting them from varying distances on a real course into real greens. I’ll also state that I add loft onto wedges. Sure, I can hood one and get distance with it if I want to, but that’s pointless. So you’ll see some very pedestrian distances here. My 14 year old was hitting the 58* the same distance as I was the 56* and I have him by +/- 10 mph on driver CHS.

For review purposes I’ll only speak of the 52* and the 56* as these will be the ones that will stay in my bag. I can hit a flop shot with a 52* so anything more than that is gravy and I’ve generally only carried a 52* and 56* since my set GW is 49*.

I’d have loved to take the clubs out and hit some shots into an actual green but since I’m about to build an Ark with the current conditions, that’s not possible. The one thing I learned from both the 52* and the 56* is that they’re very consistent. I hit about 12 full shots with each. I had a couple of mishits each that I won’t even consider but if I hit the ball clean there was one constant: they are extremely consistent. I was literally calling out the distance and the spin rate to an alarming degree of consistency at the end of our session.

For example the 56* was going about 88 yards for me and spinning just shy of 7k. So I’d hit one with it towards the end and call out 89/6850. Usually I was within 2 yards and within 100 on the spin. Way more consistent than my swing would normally allow but again, it was the clubs and not me.

The 52* was going about 102 yards and spinning right around 6500. It was as consistent as the 56*. Me calling out “103/6700” was generally right on the mark, give or take a yard or two and the same deviation in spin.

I did not get the chance to test them much further than that. My middle son and I played a game where we could put the target (in this case it’s a virtual bullseye that’s probably 12’x12’) anywhere from 50 to 100 yards (winners choice). He’s better than I am at this game but I held my own tonight. I landed in the target about 30% of the time. And won about 60% of the time. It took very little time to feel like I was used to the clubs. A swing or two with each and I was comfortable with them and their performance.

I will note that the spin numbers are lower than they would normally be. The Sim normally allows you to hit from a “tight” lie by hitting from the part of the carpet that is supposed to represent the fairway. Today it would only allow us to hit from the thicker part that represents the rough. No issues on distance, but it is impossible to really “clip” it from that and if you hit it either a fraction thick or a fraction thin it will 100% mess up your shot. I’ve also noticed in times past that there is about 1k RPM’s less imparted on the ball when hit from this area with wedges than from the lower mat. So based on that I would expect the 56* to put about 7800-8000 RPM’s backspin on a clipped shot, and the 52* to go about 7500 RPM’s.

Comparisons to my current 52* and 56* wedges. I saw about 200 RPM’s more spin on each on average and the same distances. I think clipping them hard from a tight lie will bring on more tangible differences. I will state that the only new looking tour level ball (in white) I had in my bag was a ProV1x and by the end it had some road rash on it from the wedges. This wouldn’t have happened with my older ones so it definitely speaks to them biting into it a lot more. This in 25-30 total hard swings with them. I had a TourB RX that I was planning to use but it was yellow and the sim I was using doesn’t pick those up very well. I didn’t know that prior but I was getting some really wonky results warming up.

Conclusion: insufficient data for me to call it. Early results, I’m impressed. I’d have felt better had I at least been able to hit from the short mat, in my experience that more closely resembles results you’d see clipping one on the course. Even so, 30 yard chips liked to stop PDQ. Hop, hop, bite all occurring within 2-3 yards. I need more info though. Once I have it I’ll report back.
 
So got these out last night at league and we got along much better last night. I'm not one to create alot of backspin on wedge shots so I hope for more of a hop and stop approach. Well these delivered last night! I had a chip in with the 56*, two shots with the 60* (full shots) that stopped within 2' of the pitch mark and ended up having 2 birdies last night at league. Currently I have a 52/56/60 set but am only gaming the 56/60 since my AW is 50*. I was bit hesitant with these at first but now that I've got some work in with them I feel much more confident. Paired these with the Tour B RX and I had a good round!
 
Was hoping to get out today to try these bad boys out but....we’ve received 8.25” of rain since Sunday. It’s bonkers in the Midwest


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I feel your pain and that’s why I hit the sim, not something I usually do during during the summer.
 
Was finally able to put these wedges in play yesterday. I received the 50, 54, and 58 from Bridgestone. The 50 took some getting used to for me, my current aw is 50 and is one of my favorite clubs. With the new 50 I was digging some before coming in contact with the ball, and was also leaking shots to the right. After using it on the range and a couple holes I was able to start hitting it well. The 54 was used a lot chipping and in the sand and felt great an performed great. The 58 was the most used and I am loving this club. I currently game a 60 and don't use it that often and this club just works better for me. I was chipping great with it, was able to do a few high flop shots with it and put some close to the hole. All the wedges were longer in length than my current MD3s I play and that took some getting used to but I did like that they were a bit longer as I am a taller guy. All clubs felt great when striking the ball and I was able open the club face with all clubs and still hit the ball great, all had some great stopping spin on full and shorter shot. So after a little range time and 1 round with them I am impressed and will hopefully become a little more confident with them.

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... I really don't understand the decision to put TOUR B on the sole were it will get clogged with dirt and mud on virtually every shot.
 
Got a chance (read-it didn't rain) to get these wedges into play today. I like the look of them at address, and I was able to hit some good shots with them once I started to get used to the feel. My buddy and I were debating if they were lighter or heavier than the vokeys I was using, I'll weigh them when I get a chance, not that it matters much to me but it could to others. I'll end up re-gripping them pretty soon, I like a different, midsize grip. That's not a big deal though. I think all of us in the Bridgestone Championship got ours with stiff shafts and while that is not what I would have chosen it hasn't made much of a difference.

I have a 50,54, and 58 degree as that fits my set gapping pretty well. I didn't use the 50 much since I didn't hit that distance out very often yesterday but when I did hit the others (mainly green side bunkers and 30-65 yards out) I noticed they checked up more than what I normally get out of wedges. I just got my Vokey's last year so it's not like they are old and beat up but I even got one to check and stop out of a bunker, that's just not something that happens for me very often. It ended up short because I thought it would roll out like normal and both of us had a "whoa!" moment and chuckled. So far I'm impressed with these and while I didn't hit any full swings they seem to fit with what I want them to do. Not bad for the first time in the bag.
 
... I really don't understand the decision to put TOUR B on the sole were it will get clogged with dirt and mud on virtually every shot.

Although these are some damn good looking wedges, and I look forward to seeing how they perform.....I agree with this. Im also not a fan of the "biting rail milled" wording either. I think if you take both of these off it will clean this wedge up very very nice.
 
I made my first visit to the range and practice green with three new XW-1 wedges and here are some initial comments.

My XW-1 set is 50* (bent to 51*), 56* and 60*. Previous clubs are Apex CF16 AW, Cleveland CBX 54* and 58* wedges.

I started on the range with half and full swings with each club. The range has flight restricted balls so it's difficult to get an accurate feel for yardage. However, one the pins was a full shot away for the 50* wedges so that was a good opportunity to compare. Apex AW has always been a 10 iron whereas the XW-1 50* performed more like a wedge. Higher ball flight and more spin. My spin comment is based how the ball landed.

56* wedges have always been a favorite for bunker shots and this is why I made the change. I'm playing 18 tomorrow afternoon and will try to practice some bunker shots before the round.

The 60* wedge is a new experiment. The rationale is short chip shots around the green from thick bentgrass lies. I took about 20-30 shots by the practice green and was very impressed with the results. I'm not sure if it's the grooves but the stopping power, from thick and tight lies, was very noticeable.

The real test starts tomorrow on the course.
 
Dial those in partner, regardless of the format those will be important shots for both of us. So far I like them and hopefully the love fest continues.

They do seem to check more on chips than I’m used to, and I dig that.
 
Damn, ya'll are making me jelly. I havnt got mine yet.....
 
Did some more practice with these the yesterday. I am still struggling a little with full swing shots with these as they seem to dig in more than my current wedges but i am getting used to them. I then practiced quite a shorter shots and chips around the practice green and had good results. They have good stopping power and a good feel. Only a few weeks left to try and get them dialed in.
 
My maiden voyage with the new wedges, on the course, was successful. Not sure if the previous wedges had rounded and dull grooves but the XW-1 stoping power is very impressive. Several 20-30 yard pitch shots with the 56* stopped within a couple feet of the landing spot. I had a couple of bunker attempts that didn’t go as planned. Oh well, it’s always good to know what shots need practice.
 
Now that my XW-1's have a bit of dirt on them, I can offer some feedback.
My setup is 52/56/60. Previous wedges are Cleveland RTX 3's. Coming from those wedges which have the "V-sole" I found myself sliding under the ball a bit on chip shots until I got used to the XW-1's. These wedges also seem much lighter than my previous ones so it took a while to get a good feel for them. I think I prefer a heavier wedge, but there are options to fix that if it is needed down the road.

The 52 is mainly a full shot club for me that will play in the 120 range. I was able to get it very high and it stopped almost immediately on each shot. I like what I've seen so far and hope to continue dialing this club in.

The 56 has been a bit hot and cold. I've slid under the ball a lot popped it up about half way to where I wanted it to go and I've hit what I thought was good contact and the ball has seemed to rocket off the face and go twice as far as I was wanting. On full or 3/4 swings it doesn't seem to be an issue, it's more so just around the green. Hoping this is some sort of user error and it will correct itself going forward. I'm yet to use it in a bunker as most of ours are just dirt and rocks, but will be playing some nicer courses in the next couple weeks and will likely find some sand to give it a go.

The 60 has been my favorite wedge so far. I've started using it a lot to chip after struggling with the 56 and it's been wonderful. I'm able to fly the ball close to where I'd like it to end up and the ball seems to hop a time or 2 and check pretty quick. It's easier than the Cleveland to hit flop shots with and could be a real weapon once it's dialed in.

Still a work in progress, but for the most part I like what I've seen and look forward to getting more comfortable with them in the coming weeks.
 
Now that my XW-1's have a bit of dirt on them, I can offer some feedback.
My setup is 52/56/60. Previous wedges are Cleveland RTX 3's. Coming from those wedges which have the "V-sole" I found myself sliding under the ball a bit on chip shots until I got used to the XW-1's. These wedges also seem much lighter than my previous ones so it took a while to get a good feel for them. I think I prefer a heavier wedge, but there are options to fix that if it is needed down the road.

The 52 is mainly a full shot club for me that will play in the 120 range. I was able to get it very high and it stopped almost immediately on each shot. I like what I've seen so far and hope to continue dialing this club in.

The 56 has been a bit hot and cold. I've slid under the ball a lot popped it up about half way to where I wanted it to go and I've hit what I thought was good contact and the ball has seemed to rocket off the face and go twice as far as I was wanting. On full or 3/4 swings it doesn't seem to be an issue, it's more so just around the green. Hoping this is some sort of user error and it will correct itself going forward. I'm yet to use it in a bunker as most of ours are just dirt and rocks, but will be playing some nicer courses in the next couple weeks and will likely find some sand to give it a go.

The 60 has been my favorite wedge so far. I've started using it a lot to chip after struggling with the 56 and it's been wonderful. I'm able to fly the ball close to where I'd like it to end up and the ball seems to hop a time or 2 and check pretty quick. It's easier than the Cleveland to hit flop shots with and could be a real weapon once it's dialed in.

Still a work in progress, but for the most part I like what I've seen and look forward to getting more comfortable with them in the coming weeks.

I love seeing different points of view when people write reviews. What shafts do you have in the wedges you received? I have the Modus 120's and I found the weighting to be a bit heavier than the Callaway MD3's I was gaming. I also ran into these clubs sliding under the ball but only when I opened the face a bit. It took me a couple sessions but I feel I can control them much better now. That 56 also has a different grind than all the others so I wonder if that is some of it. "A “Forgiving” Sole- Optimizes forgiveness with a heaver sole grind that allows the face to be opened up."

Great write up! I look forward to hearing how they play for you. I'll get some good work in with them over the next 3 days (League, Outing and the THP gathering) so I'll have more to report back on next week.
 
I love seeing different points of view when people write reviews. What shafts do you have in the wedges you received? I have the Modus 120's and I found the weighting to be a bit heavier than the Callaway MD3's I was gaming. I also ran into these clubs sliding under the ball but only when I opened the face a bit. It took me a couple sessions but I feel I can control them much better now. That 56 also has a different grind than all the others so I wonder if that is some of it. "A “Forgiving” Sole- Optimizes forgiveness with a heaver sole grind that allows the face to be opened up."

Great write up! I look forward to hearing how they play for you. I'll get some good work in with them over the next 3 days (League, Outing and the THP gathering) so I'll have more to report back on next week.

I have the Modus 105's in mine. I think a slightly heavier shaft might be better for me with the wedges, but again it's pretty early in the process right now.
 
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