Equipment
The wedges the top short-game players on Tour are using
What wedges are the PGA Tour’s best short-game players using?
To answer that, we have to define “best short game players.” We’ll use scrambling percentage from 2014-2015. The Tour defines scrambling as “The percent of time a player misses the green in regulation but still makes par or better.”
In this story, we’ll take a look at the specific wedges the five best scramblers from last season were using, as well as their scrambling percentages.
5. Jonathan Byrd
Wedges: Callaway Mack Daddy 2 Tour Grind
Lofts: 54-11, 56-11 (bent to 58)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 Tour Issue
Scrambling percentage: 64.92
4. Jordan Spieth
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM6
Lofts: 46-08 F Grind, 52-08 F Grind, 56-10 S Grind, 60-04 L Grind
Shafts: True Temper Project X 6.0
Scrambling percentage: 65.03
3. Steven Bowditch
Wedges: Cleveland 588 Forged Custom
Lofts: 50-08 (two dot), 54-12 (two dot), 60-08 (one dot)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro WV 125 (50), True Temper Project X 7.0 (54, 60)
Scrambling percentage: 65.19
2. Jason Day
Wedges: TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF
Lofts: 47-09 Tour Grind, 52 ATV Grind, 58 ATV Grind
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 Tour Issue
Scrambling percentage: 65.34
1. Chad Collins
Wedges: Fourteen MT28 V5 Forged, Fourteen RM-12
Lofts: 48-06, 50-08, 56-08, 60 (RM-12)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400
Scrambling percentage: 66.18
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- Steve Stricker WITB accurate as of the Zurich Classic. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees, C4 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 7.2 X
3-wood: Titleist 915F (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist 816 H1 (17 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (3, 4), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (46-10F @55), Titleist Vokey SM10 (54-10S @53), Titleist Vokey SM4 (60 @59)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 w/Sensicore
Putter: Odyssey White Hot No. 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Grip Rite
Check out more in-hand photos of Steve Stricker’s clubs here.
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- Alex Fitzpatrick what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X
Hybrid: Ping G430 (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 10 TX
Irons: Ping iCrossover (2), Titleist T100 (4-PW)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 9 TX (2), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50-12F, 56-12D, 60-08M)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X
Putter: Bettinardi SS16 Dass
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Alex Fitzpatrick’s clubs here.
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In our forums, our members have been discussing Mini-Drivers and accompanying shafts. WRXer ‘JamesFisher1990’ is about to purchase a BRNR Mini and is torn on what shaft weight to use, and our members have been sharing their thoughts and set ups in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- PARETO: “New BRNR at 13.5. Took it over to TXG (Club Champ but TXG will always rule) in Calgary for a fit. Took the head down to 12, stuck in a Graphite Design AD at 3 wood length and 60g. Presto- numbers that rivaled my G430Max but with waaaaay tighter dispersion. Win.”
- driveandputtmachine: “Still playing a MIni 300. The head was only 208, so I ordered a heavier weight and play it at 3 wood length. I am playing a Ventus Red 70. I play 70 grams in my fairways. I use it mainly to hit draws off the tee. When I combine me, a driver, and trying to hit a draw it does not work out well most of the time. So the MIni is for that. As an aside, I have not hit the newest BRNR, but the previous model wasn’t great off the deck. The 300 Mini is very good off the deck.”
- JAM01: “Ok, just put the BRNR in the bag along side a QI10 max and a QI10 3 wood. A load of top end redundancy. But, I have several holes at my two home courses where the flight and accuracy of the mini driver helps immensely. Mine is stock Proforce 65 at 13.5, I could see a heavier shaft, but to normal flex, as a nice alternative.”
Entire Thread: “What’s the perfect Mini-Driver/Shaft combo? – GolfWRXers discuss”
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Steve Stricker WITB accurate as of the Zurich Classic. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees, C4...
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Alex Fitzpatrick what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic. Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura...
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Alejandro Tosti what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic. Driver: Srixon ZX5 Mk II LS (9.5 degrees...
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View this post on Instagram A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx) Driver: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (10.5 degrees)...
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Dan F
Dec 30, 2015 at 8:13 pm
This looks like a True Temper endorsement.
All but one of the wedges uses a TT shaft.
SeanM
Dec 30, 2015 at 6:00 pm
As with the recent article on drivers, this shows the club brand is insignificant. Five top scramblers using 5 different companies. These 5 guys could use a garden rake and still be among the 5 best.
Magnus
Dec 30, 2015 at 5:54 pm
Ie you can play almost any wedge you want as long as you find a fitter/club builder to make them fit your game.
Lee
Dec 30, 2015 at 5:38 pm
What a total load of Bull Sh*t, the way the Pro’s have their wedges/clubs setup is so personal (forget the advertised so called loft/bounce/grind) that this forum will never have a clue.
Tom
Dec 31, 2015 at 10:32 am
I just p/u an L grind to my specs…I’m no pro.
KK
Jan 3, 2016 at 11:24 pm
A lot of the grind customizations are tweaked until they fit the eye and feel of the pros. Really can’t accurately describe them in a sentence or two so why complain about it?
tiger168
Dec 30, 2015 at 2:24 pm
Most of them has custom grind and wieght and loft, thus, can’t take any face values of the stamps.
Where is Michaelson’s?? Z. Johnson?? Stricker?? S. Garcia?? Oossie?? Are they “the top short-game players…” anymore??? Or they belong to “the Magicians…” category??
I thought really hard about Tiger, and then… I back spaced….
Justin
Dec 29, 2015 at 9:58 pm
interesting, do they use the high loft wedges — J. Bird? for bunker play. i have a similar set up – used 56* with high bounce to get out of deep bunkers.
tom
Dec 28, 2015 at 11:12 pm
As good as these guys are they don’t need high bounce wedges. Neither do most amateur guys who have really good short games. Higher bounce was created for higher handicappers.
DK
Dec 28, 2015 at 1:21 pm
So out of 16 wedges only 4 have a bounce of 10 degrees or higher, yet in the instruction forum all the ‘experts’ preach high bounce. WTF?
Matt
Dec 28, 2015 at 1:49 pm
You gotta remember that the fairways they play on are pretty durn tight! Lower bounce deflects better and won’t dig as much.
Callaway Guy
Dec 28, 2015 at 2:57 pm
That is 100% false information. Lower bounce wedges dig more…
alexdub
Dec 28, 2015 at 3:51 pm
Matt… high bounce = less dig. Low bounce = more dig.
Tom
Dec 29, 2015 at 12:26 am
depends on your am
depends on your angle of attack.
Stephenj2891
Dec 28, 2015 at 4:20 pm
That’s because pros typically play courses with very tight fairways and especially around the greens. Most of them will use 12 degree opf bounce only on the sand wedges, so do I.
Crono
Dec 30, 2015 at 12:04 pm
Maybe, just maybe, because the PGA Tour guys are better golfers and have better short games than non pros?
David Ober
Jan 1, 2016 at 6:01 pm
Makes sense due to the firm fairways they play on week in and week out. In the summer at my club, I play wedges with plenty of bounce due to how wet we have to keep the course to keep the grass alive, and then in the winter, when our fairways and surrounds get firmer and tighter, I switch to lower bounce wedges.
Casey
Dec 28, 2015 at 1:02 pm
So which ones of the top 5 are not endorsed by the company whose wedges they use?
Josh
Dec 28, 2015 at 2:06 pm
pretty sure Steven Bowditch is a TM tour player… the Cleveland wedges threw me off
Benny
Dec 28, 2015 at 12:59 pm
Not only is it cool to see what brand they are playing but what loft and grinds. Do they play 4 or 3 wedge sets and how they break their lofts down. Just crazy to think these guys can get up and down 70% of the time. It’s probably much more often than this if you could remove their bad rounds that shouldn’t count but its their average so it has to be counted. Just shows why this site is better than all others. Thx WRX! 😉
Justin
Dec 28, 2015 at 12:07 pm
Impressive that 5 different companies are represented
Ronald Montesano
Dec 28, 2015 at 12:10 pm
Precisely my thoughts…the secret is…find your own secret!!
West
Dec 28, 2015 at 12:24 pm
Wedges are virtually the same…Most important thing is to find the right loft and bounce/grind.
Jack
Dec 31, 2015 at 1:50 am
loft, bounce, and make sure that they are not all worn out.