Equipment
In-hand photos of Titleist’s new Vokey SM9 wedges (with insight from Bob Vokey himself)
Titleist began tour seeding of its unreleased Vokey SM9 wedges at the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui two weeks ago, and players have already been switching in droves to the new models.
Although Titleist still isn’t yet commenting on the new designs (which will likely replace the company’s former SM8 models), GolfWRX got its first in-hand look at the new SM9 versions this week at the 2022 American Express at PGA West’s Stadium Course.
In addition to the photos, I was also able to catch up with legendary wedge maker and SM9-designer Bob Vokey himself. While tech details are still under wraps for the time being, he provided some awesome insight into his two-year design process.
“It takes us two years to put a product together…what happens every time is you make an improvement based on feedback from all the players,” Vokey told GolfWRX. “This is my 10th iteration of launching over the years, and each one I’ve learned something, from my series 200s, to SM1s, 2s, 3s, etc., you learn a little bit each time.
“What happens is you don’t know really how to improve it until we get it in the players’ hands, like we’re doing now, and that’ll take a few months when the players first take it live. Because there’s things that may happen on a certain shot under the heat of the gun on the backside Sunday afternoon. They hit a shot and go, ‘Whoa, what happened?’ There’s certain little things that nobody could ever see at all, and we’ve done so much testing, but you can’t replicate the human element under the heat of the gun. Then someone will tell me something, or they’ll tell Aaron [Dill] something, and we’ll bring it back to the wedge team. We can change that, work on that, modify it, get it right, without mucking up all that we have. That’s how we improve. “
For Vokey, player feedback is extremely important, and it starts with keeping a similar profile from address. As Vokey says, you don’t want to “muck up” something that works.
“We sit there and scratch our heads and get together and say, something’s been working so good, it’s tour-proven for so many years, you know, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… retain the same profile, it’s so very important…a pro will come up and say, ‘What do you got Voke?’ Boom, they put it down right away. Then they hold it up and say, ‘What’s the bounce?'”
Speaking of bounce, and how the profile looks from address, GolfWRX got a look at a number of different lofts, grinds and bounce options at the 2022 American Express this week.
Below is a taste of what the Vokey SM9s look like in-hand, but make sure to click here for all of our photos.
Titleist Vokey SM9 52-degree F-grind
Titleist Vokey SM9 56-degree S-grind 
Titleist Vokey SM9 60-degree M-grind
Titleist Vokey SM9 60-degree D-grind
Check out our forum thread for all of the Titleist Vokey SM9 in-hand photos here.
- LIKE99
- LEGIT12
- WOW7
- LOL2
- IDHT2
- FLOP2
- OB0
- SHANK7
- Pavon’s WITB accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
3-wood: Ping G430 LST (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X
Hybrid: Ping G430 (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 10 X
Irons: Ping i230 (3-PW)
Shafts: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 X
Wedges: Ping Si59 (52-12S, 58-8B)
Shafts: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 X
Putter: Ping Cadence TR Tomcat C
Grip: SuperStroke Claw 1.0P
Grips: Golf Pride MCC Align
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Check out more in-hand photos of Pavon’s gear here.
- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.
This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.
Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.
The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.
Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- LIKE5
- LEGIT2
- WOW2
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
We enter week 4 of Thursday night men’s league feeling a little more confident in the game. BK is hoping to go a little lower and reduce the mistakes out there with these clubs in the bag. Watch the video for the full breakdown of why these clubs are getting the starting nod this week!
Driver: Titleist TSR2 (10 degrees, neutral setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 63 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: UST Mamiya Lin-Q M40X TSPX Blue 7F5
7-wood: Ping G430 Max (-1 degree, flat Ssetting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 S
Iron: Mizuno Pro Fli-Hi 4
Shaft: Aerotech Steelfiber hls880 S
Irons: PXG 0317 Tour (5-PW)
Shaft: LA Golf A-Series 105 Low (4)
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM10 (50-08F)
Shaft: UST Mamiya Dart V 105 F4 Wedge
Wedge: Ping S159 (56-10H)
Shaft: Ping Z-Z115
Wedge: Ping S159 (60-08B)
Shaft: Ping Z-Z115
Putter: PXG Battle Ready II Brandon
Shaft: BGT Stability Tour Spec One
Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour X
- LIKE2
- LEGIT2
- WOW2
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
Things got heated at the Houston Open between Tony Finau and Alejandro Tosti. Here’s why
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
Tiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
Report: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
Two star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
Report: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
Neal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
What we know about Bryson DeChambeau’s 3D-printed Avoda irons
Matthieu Pavon WITB 2024 (May)
Pavon’s WITB accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Ping G430 Max (9...
WITB Time Machine: Rory McIlroy’s winning WITB, 2015 Wells Fargo Championship
Then-No. 1 player in the world Rory McIlroy began the week at the Wells Fargo Championship at 3-1 odds, if...
Akshay Bhatia WITB 2024 (May)
Akshay Bhatia what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. Bhatia is deciding between drivers. More photos...
Emiliano Grillo WITB 2024 (May)
Emiliano Grillo what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Callaway...
-
19th Hole2 weeks agoJustin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole2 weeks agoLET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
19th Hole2 days agoReport: LIV star turns down PGA Championship invite due to ‘personal commitments’
-
19th Hole1 week agoGary Player claims this is what ‘completely ruined’ Tiger Woods’ career
-
Whats in the Bag2 weeks agoTeam McIlowry (Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry) winning WITBs: 2024 Zurich Classic
-
19th Hole3 weeks agoTaylorMade signs 15-year-old AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year to an NIL contract
-
Equipment1 week agoGolf fans left surprised by LIV’s choice of course for its 2024 individual championship event
Chip
Jan 20, 2022 at 5:15 pm
Really sexy. Bob Vokey brings so much hotness into the world.
Holden Tudiks
Jan 21, 2022 at 11:45 am
Hide your kids, Chips juices are flowing……….again
Ryan
Jan 20, 2022 at 1:16 pm
I love when the new vokey’s drop. Now I can get the SM8 for 40% off!
Chuck E. Cheese
Jan 20, 2022 at 12:11 pm
Looks like they moved some stampings around, similar to SM, SM2, SM3, SM4, SM5, SM6, SM7, and SM8. But I’m sure there’s $160 of Bob Vokey innovation and technology somewhere in there.
Raj
Jan 20, 2022 at 3:56 pm
Sm7, the moved weight up behind the face to supposedly bring cog inside of the face. Then sm8, they moved it back down based on feedback from players that the ball was coming out with less spin and a little dead.
Haj
Jan 20, 2022 at 5:49 pm
Key word “supposedly”………