Equipment

GolfWRX Spotted: Titleist Vokey SM8

Published

4 years ago

Nov 18, 2019

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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Ryan Barath

Ryan Barath is a club-fitter & master club builder with more than 17 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. He is the former Build Shop Manager & Social Media Coordinator for Modern Golf. He now works independently from his home shop and is a member of advisory panels to a select number of golf equipment manufacturers. You can find Ryan on Twitter and Instagram where he's always willing to chat golf, and share his passion for club building, course architecture and wedge grinding.

13 Comments

Trevino

Dec 3, 2019 at 4:53 pm

The satin finish looks amazing just like my 620MB. Definitely will buy these.

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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.

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Moses

Nov 19, 2019 at 6:47 am

I love Ping Glide Wedges.

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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.

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M

Nov 19, 2019 at 4:25 am

Epic fail in the looks department.. No tech for wet spin… time to buy Ping

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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.

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Big Donkey

Nov 18, 2019 at 9:46 pm

M Kuchar sucks.

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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.

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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

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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.

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Jerryal Ingram

Nov 18, 2019 at 4:59 pm

Thy look too much like Taylormade wedges

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DJ

Nov 18, 2019 at 4:48 pm

vokey needs to bring back the black nickel.

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[email protected]

Nov 18, 2019 at 4:36 pm

UGLY

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Whats in the Bag

Michael Block WITB 2024 (May)

Published

17 hours ago

May 13, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Michael Block what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship.

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 “Dot” (9 degrees @7.5)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15 degrees @14.25)
Shaft: 2024 Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 X

5-wood: TaylorMade M5 (19 degrees @17)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Orange 70 TX

Irons: TaylorMade Stealth UDI (4), TaylorMade Proto (5-9)
Shafts: Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid 85 X (4), Project X 6.5 (5-9)

Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind 4 (46-09SB, 60 [unconfirmed]), TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 (52-09S, 56)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

See the rest of Michael Block’s WITB in the forums.

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Whats in the Bag

Brooks Koepka WITB 2024 (May)

Published

18 hours ago

May 13, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Brooks Koepka what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship.

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 “Dot” (10.5 degrees @9.75)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D Limited 60 TX (44.5 inches, tipped 1 inch)

3-wood: TaylorMade M2 Tour HL (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

Check out more in-hand photos of Brooks Koepka’s clubs here.

Irons: Nike Vapor Pro (3), Srixon ZX7 Mk II (4-9)
Shaft: Fujikura Pro Tour Spec 95 X (3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore Tour Rack Raw (46-10 Mid), RTX6 ZipCore Tour Rack (52-10 Mid, 56-10 Mid, 60-6 Low)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (52-60)

Check out more in-hand photos of Brooks Koepka’s clubs here.

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5.5

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord (Midsize)

Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond

Check out more in-hand photos of Brooks Koepka’s clubs here.

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (5/13/24): Full set of ‘Tiger Slam’ clubs

Published

23 hours ago

May 13, 2024

Gianni Magliocco

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a full set of ‘Tiger Slam’ clubs.

From the seller: (@CaymanS): “During the year of recovery from leg surgery that never quite healed, I was bored. One thing led to another, and I ended up gradually building/acquiring the individual pieces to complete a set of “Tiger Slam” clubs. They are what Tiger played to win 4 consecutive majors, which nobody has ever done. This is not an exact replica of course, but something close that fit me to play a few times per year and experience what Tiger did. But my bad leg, 4 shoulder tears, and age prevents me from the ball-striking needed to enjoy these to their fullest. They may not be everyone’s cup of tea, especially since the driver and fairway shafts are regular flex and most players good enough to play these will need to change them, but it’s not a perfect world. I am not a historian on this stuff, but my research indicates these are the same models Tiger used, with slightly different specs to fit me.

Full set $1,600, or…

…a donation for a Pro Kids fundraiser, or…

Driver: $70

Fairway: $250

Irons: $1,100

Wedges: $100

Putter: $350″

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Full set of ‘Tiger Slam’ clubs

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules

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