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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- Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX
Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
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Equipment
Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird
With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.
On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.
Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.
See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here
GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?
Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’
So that’s why I went back.
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OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?
It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.
Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.
It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.
Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.
Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.
So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?
Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.
Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play?
Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.
There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.
It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.
Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.
And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?
Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’
If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’
My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’
I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”
And you’re going with it this week?
Hundred percent.
Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week.
Thanks, man.
See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here
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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.