Equipment
GolfWRX Spotted: Titleist Vokey SM8
In what is not unusual in today’s media age, Titleist gave the golf world a heads up that tour seeding of the all-new 2020 Vokey SM8 wedges would begin this week at the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour.
Although Vokey isn’t giving us the full rundown of the technology that is being implemented into the new SM8 wedges, there are a few things from the pictures so far that have us speculating on what those changes could be.
Titleist Vokey SM8 wedges: What we know
Refined Vokey Grinds: Titleist Vokey wedges are driven by tour feedback from the best players in the world. There’s no question there have been some tweaks to the grinds that many players know and love. These subtle teaks are all about keeping up to the demands of the modern game and turf conditions. Technology in turf management is just as advanced as modern golf club manufacturing and as we continue to see it change, the short game tools like Vokey wedges will continue to evolve with it.
New Milling Techniques for Grooves: We are keen to hear the details on how the Vokey wedge R&D team approached this new SM8 face and groove design, especially considering how good the SM7s already performed.
Titleist Vokey wedges have utilized variable groove shaping based on loft to maximize short game performance in the past and we’re ready to hear how the Vokey team looks to improve on that.
If we draw potential comparisons to recently released wedges like the new Callaway MD5 JAWS, tool changes and draft angles can now bring each and every face right to the limit of conformity and increase control, as long as companies work with machine shops to constantly check parts. Titleist’s quality control is already one of the best in the business, so to see how they have improved it once more will be interesting.
Mass Shifting & Feel Improvements: Feel comes from sound, and sound comes from vibration. In previous Vokey designs, engineers have moved mass vertically in the head to change the center of gravity and improve ball flight and spin control. With the SM7s, that mass shifting was well pronounced with a large “scoop” or channel in the back of the higher-lofted wedges. With the new Titleist Vokey SM8, it appears that the SM7 style channel is gone and replaced with a traditional flat back—but looking closer it’s easy to see how the top half of the higher lofts are still thicker than lower loft options, and this could be about feel.
As mentioned, feel is sound, and as any piece of metal gets thinner it can start to vibrate at a higher pitch, and in golf clubs that higher pitch and be considered an unpleasant “feel.” It looks like designers may have solved this with the SM8s by continuing to shift mass but also replace some of the lost thickness from the previous SM7 to improve sound and feel without sacrificing control.
Join the discussion to see what golfers are saying about the all-new Titleist Vokey SM8s wedges in the GolfWRX Forums
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- Daniel Berger what’s in the bag accurate as of the Farmers Insurance Open. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X
6-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (3), TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2011 (4-PW)
Shafts: Project X Denali Blue 105 TX (3), Project X 6.5 (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (50-12F), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (56-14F), Callaway Jaws Raw (60-08C)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (56, 60)
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Mini DB
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy PistolLock 1.0
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Wrap
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Check out more in-hand photos of Daniel Berger’s clubs in the forums.
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What are the driver and shaft combinations of the best golfers in the world? For gearheads, it’s an endlessly interesting question — even if we can only ever aspire to play LS heads and 7 TX shafts.
At this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, GolfWRX got in-hand looks at the driver setups of a wealth of players.
Check out some of the most interesting combos below, then head to the GolfWRX forums for the rest, as well as the rest of our galleries from New Orleans.
Rory McIlroy
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @8.25)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Alex Fitzpatrick
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Daniel Berger
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees @9)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Wrap
Rasmus Hojgaard
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Alejandro Tosti
Driver: Srixon ZX5 Mk II LS (9.5 degrees @10.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 75 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride MCC Plus4
James Nicholas
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (8 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Kevin Streelman
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Sang-moon Bae
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (9+ @8)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Russ Cochran
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke (9 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD TP 6 X
Grip: Golf pride MCC Align 
MJ Daffue
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max (10.5 degrees @9.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green RDX 65 TX
Grip: Golf Pride ZGrip Cord Align
Check our more photos from the Zurich Classic here.
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- Rasmus Højgaard what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Prototype (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Utility: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw White 85 TX
Irons: Callaway Apex Pro (3), Callaway X Forged (4-PW)
Shafts: KBS $-Taper 130
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52-10S, 56-10S, 60-06C)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X
Putter: Odyssey Ai One Milled Eight T DB
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Hojgaard in the forums.
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Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
John Daly stuns fans into silence with brutal opening tee shot on PGA Tour Champions
Things got heated at the Houston Open between Tony Finau and Alejandro Tosti. Here’s why
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
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Daniel Berger WITB 2024 (April)
Daniel Berger what’s in the bag accurate as of the Farmers Insurance Open. More photos from the event here. Driver:...
Rasmus Højgaard WITB 2024 (April)
Rasmus Højgaard what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic. Driver: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)...
Rory McIlroy WITB 2024 (April)
Rory McIlroy what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic. Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus...
Sam Burns WITB 2024 (April)
Sam Burns’ what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond S (9 degrees...
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19th Hole2 weeks agoDave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
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19th Hole3 days agoJustin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
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19th Hole2 weeks agoTiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
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19th Hole3 days ago‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
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19th Hole3 weeks agoReport: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
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19th Hole1 week agoTwo star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
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19th Hole1 week agoReport: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
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19th Hole1 week agoNeal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
Trevino
Dec 3, 2019 at 4:53 pm
The satin finish looks amazing just like my 620MB. Definitely will buy these.
Ryan
Nov 19, 2019 at 9:25 am
I think the look is for stamping. There is all that empty free space on the back to stamp sayings, logos, etc. That seems to be an ever growing trend and it doesn’t surprise me that Vokey designs a wedge to maximize that.
Moses
Nov 19, 2019 at 6:47 am
I love Ping Glide Wedges.
Srksi
Nov 19, 2019 at 6:23 am
The progressive center of gravity technology from the 6 and 7 series is gone? Is there an explanation? Odd.
M
Nov 19, 2019 at 4:25 am
Epic fail in the looks department.. No tech for wet spin… time to buy Ping
CrashTestDummy
Nov 18, 2019 at 9:52 pm
I have had pretty much every version of the SM series. The SM7 they made it more of mid-size wedge. Not fond of it. With the bigger head, it has very different feel and doesn’t swing as freely as the older smaller headed versions. Hopefully, they made these ones with smaller head and get back to more of a player’s wedge size.
Big Donkey
Nov 18, 2019 at 9:46 pm
M Kuchar sucks.
JThunder
Nov 18, 2019 at 7:03 pm
“Feel comes from sound” … “Feel is sound”.
Both statements are FALSE. This is a complete lack of understanding in the golf world, likely related to poor education and the inability to understand words properly.
Feel and sound ARE related – it is difficult to separate them.
SOUND is the vibration of an object that causes compression and rarefaction in the air – sound waves / acoustic energy – which is picked up by our ears and sent to our brains through our sense of hearing.
FEEL is the vibration of an object that is picked up by the nerves in our hands (in the case of a golf club), transmitted to our brains through our sense of touch.
Deaf people can feel vibrations. We can hear pitch without touching an object.
The two things are separate – let’s not dumb down the world any more by saying they are the same thing.
jgpl001
Nov 18, 2019 at 6:47 pm
Don’t agree with any of the comments
They look fresh and modern with a smaller more rounded profile like the ping glide forged.
I’ll be the first in the queue when released
I do hope there is a raw or black option
Tom Long
Nov 18, 2019 at 6:15 pm
I hope they change style. They look like Taylor Made p-790 irons, the ugliest irons out there. Say it ain’t so Bob.
Jerryal Ingram
Nov 18, 2019 at 4:59 pm
Thy look too much like Taylormade wedges
DJ
Nov 18, 2019 at 4:48 pm
vokey needs to bring back the black nickel.
[email protected]
Nov 18, 2019 at 4:36 pm
UGLY