Equipment
Vokey opens its Tour Department to the public
Call it WedgeWorks on steroids.
Titleist has announced that the custom wedge grinding services it offers to its tour players will be available to the public starting June 19.
Titleist calls the program “WedgeWorks Hand Ground,” and it will allow consumers to order 58- or 60-degree wedges in custom grinds that have previously only been available to tour players.
The wedges will retail for $350, and will be hand ground by the same master craftsman on the same grinding wheels as those made for Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, Adam Scott, Jason Dufner and many other PGA Tour winners.
The Hand Ground wedges will be available in the following tour-only grinds:
- V Grind (left): Its crescent-shaped sole has plenty of bounce in the front to prevent digging. But it has a narrow sole and minimal camber that allows versatility around the greens. According to Vokey.com, the V Grind is great for players with steep angles of attack, or those who play in soft conditions.
- E Grind (middle): Its medium-width sole has a straight relieved trailing edge. It also has a slight heel camber that allows it to be played in the opened position, and additional heel relief can be added by request. Its forgiving sole is great for medium-to-steep angles of attack, and is most effective in soft conditions.
- T Grind (right): The T Grind was inspired by Champions Tour player Tom Pernice. Its crescent-shaped, thin flat sole has ample relief in the heel, toe and trailing edge sections. It also has a narrow forward bounce section and a medium amount of camber that plays well in tight, firm conditions, and is great for players with shallower angles of attack.
Vokey’s M Grind, which is available on Vokey retail models 54-11, 56-11, 58-12 and 60-10, is another option through the Hand Ground program. It’s one of Vokey’s most versatile soles, with a medium amount of camber and bounce and ample relief in the heel, toe and trailing edge areas.
More exclusives
Each hand ground wedge will come in a tour-only raw finish, which allows wedges to be shaped in nearly any way. Golfers can choose to have their wedges made with a square toe, straighter leading edge, beveled top line, pre-worn leading edge, or a pro-groove — a subtle channel in the center of the sole that is used by Webb Simpson on his 58-degree Vokey TVD-M wedge.
According to Vokey, the pro-groove moves the contact point of the wedge slightly forward, which allows golfers to more easily use the bounce on short pitches to prevent digging.
Like Vokey’s WedgeWorks program, golfers can choose to have their wedges customized with different stampings — eight different letter/number combinations in “straight,” “freestyle,” “staircase” or “snow” — and 12 different paintfill colors. All the shafts, grips, ferrules, weight porting and shaft bands offered through Vokey’s WedgeWorks program will also be available.
Golfers will also have the choice of the following WedgeWorks Hand Ground exclusive stamps: “Prototype 2013,” “Hand Ground, “Special Grind” and “BVHG” (Bob Vokey Hand Ground). They can also choose “Spin Milled,” the name for the high-friction grooves that are milled into each Vokey wedge.
Wedges that are ordered through the Hand Ground program will have a hand-stamped hosel code, and the grinder’s initials will be stamped on the wedges as well. For example, wedges ground by Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill will be stamped “AD,” while wedges ground by Vokey himself will be stamped “BV.”
According to David Neville, Vokey marketing manager, the company will call every customer who makes an order through WedgeWorks Hand Ground to make sure they know exactly what wedge grinds they’ve ordered and confirm that it will work for them.
Titleist expects that turnaround time on orders to be between two and three weeks.
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Equipment
Why Rory McIlroy will likely use the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper at the RBC Heritage
Although we spotted Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper last week during practice rounds at the Masters, he ultimately didn’t decide to use the club in competition.
It seems that will change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage, played at the short-and-tight Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.
When asked on Wednesday following his morning Pro-Am if he’d be using the new, nostalgic BRNR Copper this week, McIlroy said, “I think so.”
“I like it,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday regarding the BRNR. “This would be a good week for it.”
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According to Adrian Rietveld, the Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, the BRNR Mini Driver can help McIlroy position himself properly off the tee at the tight layout.
Here’s what Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday:
“For someone like Rory, who’s that long at the top end of the bag, and then you put him on a course like Harbour Town, it’s tough off the tee. It’s tight into the greens, and you have to put yourself in position off the tee to have a shot into the green. It kind of reminds me of Valderrama in Spain, where you can be in the fairway and have no shot into the green.
“I’m caddying for Tommy [Fleetwood] this week, so I was walking the course last night and looking at a few things. There’s just such a small margin for error. You can be standing in the fairway at 300 yards and have a shot, but at 320 you don’t. So if you don’t hit a perfect shot, you could be stuck behind a tree. And then if you’re back at 280, it might be a really tough shot into the small greens.
“So for Rory [with the BRNR], it’s a nice course-specific golf club for him. He’s got both shots with it; he can move it right-to-left or left-to-right. And the main thing about this club has been the accuracy and the dispersion with it. I mean, it’s been amazing for Tommy.
“This was the first event Tommy used a BRNR last year, and I remember talking to him about it, and he said he couldn’t wait to play it at Augusta next year. And he just never took it out of the bag because he’s so comfortable with it, and hitting it off the deck.
“So you look at Rory, and you want to have the tools working to your advantage out here, and the driver could hand-cuff him a bit with all of the shots you’d have to manufacture.”
So, although McIlroy might not be making a permanent switch into the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper, he’s likely to switch into it this week.
His version is lofted at 13.5 degrees, and equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft.
See more photos of Rory testing the BRNR Mini here
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It seems like the RBC Heritage is full of new gear to be spotted, and you can add TaylorMade’s P-UDI utility irons to that list.
We spotted a 17-degree P-UDI 2-iron in Nick Dunlap’s bag yesterday, and now have some photos of both the 3- and 4-irons. Nick has his P-UDI 2-iron setup with a Project X HZRDUS Black 4th Gen 105g TX shaft.
From what we can tell, this new P-UDI utility iron looks to have some of the usual TaylorMade technology as we can see the Speed Slot on the sole of the club for additional face flexibility. A toe screw is usually used to close off the hollow body design that will probably be filled with a version of TaylorMade’s Speed Foam that is present in the current iron lineup. This hollow body, foam-filled design should offer additional ball speed, soft feel, and sound, as well as an optimized CG for ball flight.
“Forged” is etched into the hosel, so we can assume that either the face, body, or both are forged for a soft and responsive feel. The club looks good from behind and at address, where we can see just a little offset and a topline that I would consider medium thickness. We don’t have the full details on what is under the hood or how many loft options will be available yet.
TaylorMade P-UDI 3-iron – 20°
TaylorMade P-UDI 4-iron – 22°
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
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- Collin Morikawa what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. More photos from the event here.
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX (45 inches)
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (4), P7MC (5-6), P730 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Mid 115 X100 (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (7-PW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (50-SB09, 56-LB08), TaylorMade MG4 TW (60-TW11)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: TaylorMade TP Soto
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0
Grips: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
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Dino
May 30, 2013 at 2:22 pm
They’ll just be grinding up tour reject heads…Titleist left out the most important factor. Quality of metal tour players get versus what these heads will be made of. I have a couple tour wedges that have amazing feel and the outside looks like everyday chrome…well the chrome flaked away and underneath is pure copper. Hmmm
Ben
May 31, 2013 at 11:15 am
pics?
jb
May 29, 2013 at 8:15 pm
Well what is so different about these wedges then the Scotty Camreon putters? Aren’t those the same people Titleist is targeting now? I think they’ll sell more than enough!
Curt
May 29, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Putters can last a lifetime, wedges last one or two seasons depending on play, so not a good comparison.
J
May 29, 2013 at 5:07 pm
JP Wedges cost that much and you definately get a unique wedge for that much
Todd
May 29, 2013 at 3:57 pm
The best part is that for $350 Vokey may or may not grind it himself. Hell, for this price you may as well just charge $800 for him to do it and $350 for the other guy nobody knows. Anyone crazy enough to pay $350 is willing to pay $800.
Ben
May 29, 2013 at 11:29 am
Miura Golf is holding on line 1…
Bob
May 29, 2013 at 11:26 am
I bought 3 Vokey’s custom 1 inch longer and 3 up. Swing weight as received, E-5. They would not adjust swing weight. I sent them to Hot Stix to be adjusted. For what these cost, custom work should be better, easier and less expensive.
danny
May 29, 2013 at 3:55 pm
But Bob Vokey might walk by while your club is getting worked on here, that’s a great experience that your club will have for a lifetime. He might event touch it which will give you 3 extra hole outs over an off the rack Vokey.
Mick J
May 29, 2013 at 4:36 pm
You must be 8′ tall
danny
May 29, 2013 at 10:54 am
For the record, I have 3 Vokey wedges in my bag, but I see no value in having to pay $350 for Bob Vokey (or maybe his dude) to possibly grind my wedge.
Mike D.
May 29, 2013 at 9:56 am
Or serving a niche market segment, who feel the $350 is justified….
Kevin
May 29, 2013 at 10:48 am
Great move. There is definitely a market for this.
Danny
May 29, 2013 at 12:14 am
Lol $350. They have to be joking or arrogant
Curt
May 29, 2013 at 9:15 am
+1 – that is rediculous, unless they give an “up and down” guarantee along with it! Sorry, no need to overpay, just to over feed my ego!!
Dave
May 29, 2013 at 1:40 pm
Definitely just paying for the experience so you can say “these were hand ground”. I’m sure people will jump all over it though. I’d rather have them done at a custom shop though.