Titleist Vokey Design SM4 Wedges are the next generation of Spin Milled wedges from Bob Vokey, which made their PGA Tour debut at The Barclays. Recently, we caught up with Vokey Tour Rep Aaron Dill (Vokey’s right-hand man) at the BMW Championship to learn about out what’s new in the next generation of SM4 wedges, features, and much more. The Vokey SM4 wedges will be available at retailers in mid-November 2011.

www.titleist.com

The 2010 Open Championship seems like a distant memory, because it was won decisively by South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen. One of the reasons for Oosthuizen dominance was his short game and his Ping Tour-S wedges. We wanted to find out if Tour-S Rustique wedges lived up to their promise of control and feel, in the hands of an average golfer.

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Look and Feel
The Tour-S Rustique wedges have a nice vintage looking matte bronze finish, which will wear off over use, as it tarnishes naturally and rust over time, giving it a non-glare appearance. At address the both the 52 and 56 degree wedges setup nicely, but look more lofted than they are, which confused me at at first. The 52 setup more like a 56 degree, and the 56 degree setup more like a 60 degree wedge.

Made of 8620 steel the machined face of the Ping Tour-S wedges feature conforming groves and a single alignment line. The sole of the Tour-S wedges have been re-shaped to allow for more versatility in your shot selection, and making ability. The Custom Tuning Port (CTP) has been redesigned, which angles towards the back to expand the perimeter weighting for added forgiveness, and better feel at impact.

True Temper Dynamic Gold steel shafts and Ping ID8 grips round out the Tour-S Rustique wedges, which also come in a traditional steel finish. Overall, they are a  nice looking set of wedges.

Performance
According to USGA research, the average golfer hits the green in regulation 13 percent of the time from the rough. With such a low success rate from the rough, spin, control, and feel are very important in your wedges.

What I found from playing both the 52 and 56 degree Ping Tour-S Rustique wedges, is how much more you can feel your shots. I really liked how soft the Tour-S wedges felt on those chip shots and pitches around the green, providing immediate feedback. You can easily tell the difference from a well hit versus poorly hit shot.

Distance control and shot making ability are where the Ping Tour-S wedges shine. The 8620 steel machined face and conforming grooves produced a lot of spin on my shots from the rough and fairway. I also liked how well the Tour-S wedges glided through the sand and rough, with its re-shaped sole. The re-shaped sole made it very easy to utilize the bounce built into the wedges for hitting it out of the sand or deep rough.

Even if you don’t hit your shot flush with the Tour-S wedges, the CPT is angled back to expand the perimeter weighting for more forgiveness on those mishits, with less twisting.

Overall, the Ping Tour-S wedges are great set of wedges that provide excellent feel, shot making ability, and distance control. Even, if you don’t have the skills of Louis Oosthuizen, you can at least increase your percentages of hitting the greens in regulation.

Specs: 52 /12 degrees of bounce & 56/12 degrees of bounce

Ping Tour-S Wedge $119

2011 Bridgestone Tour B330

Coming to golf specialty store near you this Fall, is the updated 2011 Bridgestone Golf B330 series of Tour performance golf balls, featuring a proprietary new material used in the dual mantle construction. The 2011 version of the TOUR B330 and TOUR B330-S golf balls will offer high swing speed players more distance off the tee and the same great spin and feel that better golfers have become accustomed to with Bridgestone.

2011 Bridgestone Tour B330-S

Bridgestone TOUR B330 and TOUR B330-S
The 2011 versions of the Bridgestone Golf TOUR B330 and B330-S get a power boost as a result of Bridgestone’s new RD10 resin mantle layers. Bridgestone engineers created RD10 by subdividing the constituent of high repulsion, which increased the material density and resulted in higher initial velocity and an overall softening of the mantle layers.

RD10 Technology
The new RD10 material is currently in play on the PGA TOUR in the presence of Ryder Cup rookie Matt Kuchar. Kuchar is the first player on the Bridgestone Tour team to benefit from the new RD10 mantle layer material, currently using a TOUR prototype version of the new B330-S that has helped improve his driving distance while maintaining tremendous spin and feel on the greens. In addition, the new DUAL MANTLE design scientifically engineered to promote quicker restoration at impact, results in faster rebound and reduced spin at tour-level swing speeds. By further reducing the spin off of the longer clubs in the bag (driver, fairway metals, hybrids and long irons), the 2011 B330 series provides better wind piercing performance than ever before. In addition, Bridgestone’s modified Gradational Hardness Layering, from the center of the core to the outer mantle allows for the smoothest and most efficient power transition of any Tour ball, ever. This means booming distance and superior accuracy off of longer clubs.

“With the new B330 family of balls we’re letting better players know that it’s OK to be long,” said Dan Murphy, Vice President of Marketing Bridgestone Golf, Inc. “We’ve heard our high-swing speed customers loud and clear, and the overwhelming majority still want one thing in their golf
balls, more distance. According to a recent consumer survey we conducted, golfers are very pleased with our balls’ spin performance around the greens. The thing every golfer wanted was more length. With all the industry spin on the new grooves out there right now, we think it is important that someone let golfers know what is really going to improve their scores better
length and accuracy. Neither of which comes from creating more spin.”

New Redesigned Dimple Pattern
Like their predecessors, the new B330 and B330-S will feature a SOFT Urethane 330-dimple design seamless cover for the ultimate in piercing consistent flight, and tour-level spin and control on the greens. However, for 2011, the Tour B330-S dimple pattern will be redesigned to compensate for its softer cover and compression, and slightly higher driver spin that comes as a result. Bridgestone engineers have created a new shallower 330-dimple pattern with modified dimple spacing designed to reduce up-shoot spin, creating a flatter trajectory and wind performance consistent with that of the B330. In addition, the new dimple pattern fosters a shallower landing angle on tee-shots for more fairway roll.

Optimized for players with swing speeds greater than 105 mph, the 2011 TOUR B330 and TOUR B330-S golf balls feature a street price of $42.99 per dozen (suggested retail price of $56 per dozen) and will be available November 1st at golf specialty stores and green grass retailers nationwide.

www.bridgestonegolf.com

Rock Ishii Product Development Director, Golf Balls

At the 2010 PGA Merchandise Show Outdoor Demo Day, we got the opportunity to speak Nike Golf’s Rock Ishii. Rock is Nike Golf’s Product Development Director for Golf Balls and in this interview we talked about, the new Nike Crush golf ball, USGA Groove Rules changes and golf ball design,  golf ball fitting for consumers, the Nike One Tour line of golf balls, what golf ball Rock plays, and much more!

Special thanks to Rock Ishii and Nike Golf!

http://www.nikegolf.com

The one golf club that gets refreshed every golf season are my wedges. Whether its the sand wedge, gap wedge, lob wedge, etc. A serious golfer knows how important it is to have fresh grooves and wedges that perform when your in the scoring zone of under 100 yards.

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Vokey Design® Spin Milled™ wedges have always been unique products that provide a truly discernible performance option – increased spin. The one thing that seemed to be missing from their product line was the limited number of options in terms of loft and bounce options.

That has changed with the new Vokey Spin Milled wedges that go a step further by offering more choices – a full range of lofts from 48° to 64°, low, mid, and full bounce sole options in many lofts, and three distinct non-glare finishes – to execute more shots from around the greens. And better suit your swing type with your wedges, more on this later.

Look and Feel
Vokey Spin Milled wedges are based on the design of Bob Vokey who has been working with the best players in the world by watching and listening to them, to find out what they want in wedge performance, look, and feel. Bob’s in depth knowledge of wedges and input from Tour professionals have made the Vokey Design wedges the most played on the PGA Tour since 2004.

When you pick up the Vokey Spin Milled wedges you’ll notice that the wedges have a distinct heavy weight and feel to them that feels substantial in your hands. The profile which are created using CAD offer the perfect blend of size, shape, topline thickness with the non-glare satin finish give you the confidence you expect from the hardest working clubs in your golf bag.

All Vokey Spin Milled wedges feature a CNC machine cut face and grooves that have 30% more groove volume than a conventional wedge. This is achieved by using a special circular saw style cutting tool that creates precise grooves with a steeper draft angle and a tight edge radius for increased friction. The more grooves on the face and rough surface created from the Spin Milled process is what gives you that high spin and control from the rough and in wet conditions.

USGA Groove Rules and Regulations
So you might be wondering, how do the Vokey Spin Milled Grooves comply with the new USGA Groove Rules and Regulations?
The new groove rules that take effect next year will change the way groove profile on the Spin Milled wedges. And Vokey just released a smaller grooved version of the Spin Milled Series called C-C (Condition and Competition) that conforms to the new regulations. The new Spin Milled C-C wedges produce a higher trajectory shot, with medium spin, and medium roll, compared to the medium trajectory, high spin, low roll of the Spin Milled wedges.

Vokey will continue to manufacturer the original Spin Milled wedges thru 2010, but beginning in 2011 all clubs will be manufactured to the new groove specifications. The vast majority of golfers, though, will be able to continue playing the “big groove” wedges until at least 2024.

The following is the currently proposed timeline for adopting the new groove regulations for various types of play:
2010 – Adopted as a Condition of Competition for elite professional events (professional tours, US Open (sectional qualifying and championship), Open Championship, etc.)
2014 – Adopted as a Condition of Competition for elite amateur championships (USGA and R&A amateur championships, state amateur championships, NCAA events, etc.)
2024 – Adopted as a Rule of Golf for all play (everyday golfers)

As you can see, everyday golfers like us have a lot of time before changing to the new grooves, unless we start competing.

Performance
I tested both the 52 08 and 56 11 Vokey Spin Milled wedges, and my wife tested the 54 10. Vokey Spin Milled wedges come in a variety of bounces and lofts, and you can select which wedge that works best with your swing type. If your a slider/sweeper of the ball with a shallow angle of attack with the leading edge of the club under the ball, Vokey recommends clubs with a narrower sole, less bounce and more camber. If you are more of driver/digger and use less hand action and steeper angle of attack, its recommended you use a wedge with a wider sole, more bounce, and less camber.

52 08
The setup of the 52 degree gap wedge was very pleasing to the eye with its non-glare satin finish. It doesn’t take a lot of force to get the ball up in the air thanks to its head weight.The performance of the gap/attack wedge was really good, providing ample feedback on shots hit in the sweetspot of the wedge. You know instantly if you hit the ball poorly by the feedback, which is firm. The ball will still go straight, but not as high and without the spin you desire. My approach shots within 100 yards would fly high in the air and stop on a dime. What I really liked is the amount of spin that you could impart on the ball. In tight lies situations around the green and light rough the 52 wedge performed well for chipping. A really good setup for an attack wedge.

56 11
The 56 degree sand wedge, has 11 degrees of bounce that made it very easy to hit the ball out of the sand and deep rough with out any effort. The grooves of the Spin Milled wedge really shined when using the 56, with providing a really high ball trajectory and lots of spin on the ball. Again the weight of the clubhead made it very easy to get the ball in the air and provided the right amount of feedback on my shots. Your short game will appreciate having this club in your bag.

54 10
My wife who never had a quality 54 degree wedge before, had to get used to the type of shots she could produce using the Vokey wedge. For her the backspin and control were the bright spots for her short game. The ability to get the ball up in the air and stop quickly were the types of shots she could not produce before. Vokey does not make a women’s specific wedges, so don’t expect ultralight shafts or women’s flex, which isn’t a big deal. My wife liked the weight and setup of her Vokey 54 and how it didn’t require a lot of effort to get the ball up in the air or through the rough.

Overall, we really liked the new lineup of Vokey Spin Milled wedges and the amount of options available. The amount of backspin and control, wedge setup based on your swing type make the Vokey Spin Willed wedges a good choice for those looking for wedges that suits their game.

Vokey Spin Milled Wedges $109.99