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The wedges the top short-game players on Tour are using

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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

JByrd jbyrd2

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

spieth56 spieth60

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

Steven_Bowditch_50Steven_Bowditch_54 Steven_Bowditch_60

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

Jason_Day_clubs_2015

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

collins1 collins2

Wedges: Fourteen MT28 V5 ForgedFourteen 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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24 Comments

24 Comments

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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?

  5. 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….

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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

  10. 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! 😉

  11. 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.

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Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/18/24): TaylorMade BRNR mini driver head

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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 TaylorMade BRNR mini driver head

From the seller: (@lasallen): “For sale is a BRNR mini 11.5 deg head only in brand new condition.  $325 shipped.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: TaylorMade BRNR mini driver head 

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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Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/18/24): Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made

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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 Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made.

From the seller: (@DLong72): “Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made. ?: $1150. ?? 100% milled collectors item from the limited releases commemorating when Ping putters won every major in 1988 (88 putters made). This was the model Seve Ballesteros used to win the 1988 Open Championship. Condition is brand new, never gamed, everything is in the original packaging as it came. Putter features the iconic sound slot.

Specs/ Additional Details

-100% Milled, Aluminum/Bronze Alloy (310g)

-Original Anser Design

-PING PP58 Grip

-Putter is built to standard specs.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made

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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Inside Collin Morikawa’s recent golf ball, driver, 3-wood, and “Proto” iron changes

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As you probably know by now, Collin Morikawa switched putters after the first round of The Masters, and he ultimately went on to finish T3.

The putter was far from the only change he made last week, however, and his bag is continuing to change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage.

On the range of The Masters, Morikawa worked closely with Adrian Reitveld, TaylorMade’s Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, to find the perfect driver and 3-wood setups.

Morikawa started off 2024 by switching into TaylorMade’s Qi10 Max driver, but since went back to his faithful TaylorMade SIM – yes, the original SIM from 2020. Somehow, some way, it seems Morikawa always ends up back in that driver, which he used to win the 2020 PGA Championship, and the 2021 Open Championship.

At The Masters, however, Rietveld said the duo found the driver head that allowed “zero compromise” on Morikawa’s preferred fade flight and spin. To match his preferences, they landed on a TaylorMade Qi10 LS 9-degree head, and the lie angle is a touch flatter than his former SIM.

“It’s faster than his gamer, and I think what we found is it fits his desired shot shape, with zero compromise” Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the RBC Heritage.

Then, to replace his former SIM rocket 3-wood, Morikawa decided to switch into the TaylorMade Qi10 core model 13.5-degree rocket head, with an adjustable hosel.

“He likes the spin characteristics of that head,” Rietveld said. “Now he’s interesting because with Collin, you can turn up at a tournament, and you look at his 3-wood, and he’s changed the setting. One day there’s more loft on it, one day there’s less loft on it. He’s that type of guy. He’s not scared to use the adjustability of the club.

“And I think he felt our titanium head didn’t spin as low as his original SIM. So we did some work with the other head, just because he liked the feel of it. It was a little high launching, so we fit him into something with less loft. It’s a naughty little piece of equipment.” 

In addition to the driver and fairway wood changes, Morikawa also debuted his new “MySymbol” jersey No. 5 TP5x golf ball at The Masters. Morikawa’s choice of symbols is likely tied to his love of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.

Not enough changes for you? There’s one more.

On Wednesday at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Morikawa was spotted with a new TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron in the bag. If you recall, it’s the same model that Rory McIlroy debuted at the 2024 Valero Texas Open.

According to Morikawa, the new Proto 4-iron will replace his old P-770 hollow-bodied 4-iron.

“I used to hit my P-770 on a string, but sometimes the distance would be a little unpredictable,” Morikawa told GolfWRX.com. “This one launches a touch higher, and I feel I can predict the distance better. I know Rory replaced his P-760 with it. I’m liking it so far.” 

See Morikawa’s full WITB from the 2024 RBC Heritage here. 

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