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.
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/23/24): TaylorMade Qi10 Driver Ruby Red
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 Qi10 Driver Ruby Red.
From the seller: (@Gehly): “TaylorMade Qi10 Driver 9.0 Designer Series Ruby Red. Custom Mitsubishi Kai’li Red 60s (stiff) shaft, plays 46”. Great condition, head near mint (see pics). w/ Red/Black Golf Pride NDMC Midsize grip. No headcover for it. $545“
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: TaylorMade Qi10 Driver Ruby Red
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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Whats in the Bag
Sam Burns WITB 2024 (April)
- Sam Burns’ what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage.
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond S (9 degrees @10)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 TX
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond T (15 degrees @16)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X
Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X
Irons: Callaway Apex TCB ’24 (4-AW)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (4-PW), True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 Tour Issue (AW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (56-14F @55), WedgeWorks Proto (60-T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 Tour Issue (56, 60)
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One #7S
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align
Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour X
Check out more in-hand photos of Sam Burns’ WITB in the forums.
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Whats in the Bag
Will Zalatoris WITB 2024 (April)
- Will Zalatoris’ what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage.
Driver: Titleist TSR2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X (44.5 inches)
3-wood: Titleist TSi2 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T350 (3), Titleist T150 (4-PW)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Prototype G.O.S.T. 10 ST X (3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50-08F, 54-10S @55, 60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Putter: L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Max
Grips: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord
See more photos of Will Zalatoris’ WITB in the forums.
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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”………