I'm looking into purchasing a couple of these wedges. I hear all good things about them thus far but am curios if any of you have any experience with them. I'm currently playing the Cleveland cg11 wedges, which are good, but I'm looking for more spin into greens. Thanks in advance for the input!

They're probably good, anything from Titlesit is. My instructor though seems to not believe in Titlesit clubs, he says their balls are great, but the Callaways are better clubs, and they are easily sold when you want to get a new set.

Wedges are an animal unto themselves. Lucky...this is not a case of "clubs are clubs" when it comes to wedges. Putters, too.

All of the Vokey stuff is good...and they say that the Spin Milled ones are the best ever. Then again, all of the Cleveland wedges are great! I have the first BeCu cleveland sw that they did, I think it's the 485 grind...nice compact teardrop shape. The 588 grind is nice, too, but much more 'square' shaped, though. I put that away for posterity along with a dozen or so different Wilson, Hogan and Haggin sw's from over the years, and have since played the original "Snake Eyes" wedges (when they were made by hand by Ernie Vadersen for tour play...before they sold out to Golfsmith, and when they ground the sole to have 3 different lies depending on the type of shot you wanted). I may have tossed it that one time, but made amends when somebody fished it out of the lake for me! We've become good friends again. Turns out that the problem was that the shaft had a little tweak at the hosel so the club was just not working right.

I was playing the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui back in 1994, and they had a Scotty Cameron original putter for sale, for $300. I came back to buy it at the pro shop after the round...really didn't know much about Cameron at the time, it just looked great...and someone else bought it. About a year later he hooked up with Titleist. Putter is probably worth a fortune now...custom pre-Titleist Cameron??

So I took the $300 and bought cigars.

I have a Vokey wedge...
Can't recall the exact number but I have a tough time hitting it.
I come in at too sharp of an angle and take too deep of a divot. Never get the right spin off that club...
That is on the fairway though, it is great in the rough.

I have 3 (52, 56, and 60) and they are fantastic. I used to be a loyal Cleveland guy, but once Vokey came out, I was sold. They look great and the feel and control is wonderful. Sometimes, they can impart a little too much spin, but all in all, they are great wedges.

I have the oil can 54 and 58 wedges and really like them. I agree with jlaker they can actually put a little too much spin on the ball at times (at least if you are hitting a "fuller" shot) and it will chew up your ball a little. But around the greens the spin is perfect for me anyway. Overall they are great wedges.

quote:

Originally posted by Ozz1113:
I have a Vokey wedge...
Can't recall the exact number but I have a tough time hitting it.
I come in at too sharp of an angle and take too deep of a divot. Never get the right spin off that club...
That is on the fairway though, it is great in the rough.

Ozz, if you like the club, you may want to try a different bounce angle. They may be hard to find but they could help you when this happens.

quote:

Ozz, if you like the club, you may want to try a different bounce angle. They may be hard to find but they could help you when this happens.

Yeah, I just checked. I have a 258.08.
I'm in the rough most of the time anyway

These wedges are much heavier than the Clevelands you play. I don't know if its the CG11s or not, but there is a Cleveland wedge with a roughed up face like the Spin Milleds, you might find that one to be less of an adjustment.

I think you're referring to the "zip grooves". I ended up deciding to stay with my Clevelands for another season, as I'm hitting them well. In addition, if I decided to go with the Titleist Vokey spin-milled I'd have to have them bent and break them in through the winter at an indoor range so as to not damage my balls throughout the first season with them. It's really too bad they don't make a 52 degree wedge. I've heard these wedges will rip apart balls when you first get them. This would be especially bad for me considering I play Pro v1 balls, which have very soft covers.

I have been thinking about this but don't know if I am right or wrong.
When using a sand wedge for chip shots, is it much easier if the wedge has a thin edge rather than a thick edge??

I don't know id you will get what I mean. My sand wedge has an edge that is curved and thick, I am talking about the sole edge, the part of the club head that is supposed to get under the ball and lift it up.

Would it be easier to lift up the ball in chip shots if that edge is sharp and thin??

ESPECIALLY with the wedge...YOU DO NOT LIFT THE BALL UP!!!!!!!! You hit DOWN on the ball just behind it, and the loft of the club throws it into the air...and the grooves and the face of the club impart SPIN. If you think of it as lifting the ball up, you can use a 5-iron or a wedge with the same result.

The wedge is one of the most important clubs in the bag. You need to be able to hit a ball tight to the pin from 100 - 120 yards out...you need to throw the ball onto the green and stop it from the fringe...you need to be able to bump and run when faced with a long green...you need to be able to use it to get out of bunkers...

The "bounce" is the curvature on the bottom...the more "bounce" you have the better it is in the sand...the club won't sink. For tight fairways and fringe, I prefer a club with LESS bounce so I can cut across the ball and impart even more spin...or hood the club and hit it crisply to let the ball run. The Vokey wedges have numbers...the first number is the loft of the club (50, 56, 60...degrees, commonly pitch, sand and lob respectively) and the next number is the bounce (11, 12, 14...).

Some players grind the sole to get the desired result...they grind off some of the bounce to get a crisper leading edge. Some clubs come pre-ground, so you have a different bounce depending on the position of the club and how you lay it down at address.

But DON'T think of LIFTING the ball...ever...except for maybe with a driver where the swing is a bit on the upper part. Irons and especially wedges...hit DOWN on the ball and take the divot. The "divot" is the part that comes AFTER the ball is struck (ideally). So, you basically hit down right at the back part of the ball, the ball rides up the loft of the clubface and goes on its merry way, and then the momentum of the club slices off a bit of grass directly in front of where the ball was...a patch about 3 inches wide (width of club face) and about 6 inches long. That way, the ball also has a lot of backspin, and with your irons, you want to be able to hit the ball to a green and stop. There are ways to hit the ball flat to make it run, but that's a different story and a fairly advanced part of the game that you can learn only once you've learned to hit down on the ball and feel what it's like to get that backspin and to take that divot. Being able to hit the ball different ways (that would be called "working" the ball...) is something to start working on once you've mastered just hitting it straight, hitting the ball with backspin, and hitting it consistently to the distance you want with a full swing. So...first thing's first...hit it straight, hit it consistently to a particular distance, and hit it to the direction you want. Repeatedly. THEN you can work on the other parts.

The process is NEVER ENDING, and even the pros go back to the basics to hit the ball pure.

When I played a lot, I would go to the range and once warm would take out a 4-iron. I'd hit it with a full swing about 190 - 200 yards, slight draw, consistent launch and shape. Then I would try to swing slower and slower with a full swing so that I would be able to hit it as short as possible...100 yards. I'd hit a few shots to 180, then a few to 170, then to 150, and it gets harder and harder, but it helps control your swing. Interesting drill...one that is advocated by Davis Love, III. When you can hit a 4-iron 100 yards with a full swing with a good shape and flight pattern, then go back to hitting it 200 yards again. It cures lots of little problems in the swing. But that's a drill that will be tough. At this stage, just figure out how to hit down...hit the ball with spin...and hit it straight...

PS: A lot of what makes a club "work" for a player is feel and appearance...regardless of loft or bounce. If you feel confident that, with 'x' club, you can make it spin, stop, run, bump, jump, and dig out a ball, then that's the club for you. Try a lot of them...try standing almost square to the target and open the club face way way open, and slice across the ball...the bounce of the club will come into play and you can really feel what you can and can't do with a wedge.

When it comes to wedges, it's all appearance and feel...and that depends on the player, no matter what others say.

Lucky,
A wide sole is easier to hit and designed into many of the game improvement clubs such as your Callaway Big Berthas. The sole has nothing to do with "lifting" the ball. That is the loft in face of the club.

Don't fall victim to the thought that you are "lifting" the ball. This leads to a very bad chipping motion. It works in reverse, to lift the ball you must hit down on the ball and let the loft of the wedge do the work.

Clubs with thin soles are for the very good golfers - and there are very few of them.

With short chip shots around the green, set up with your hands forward (toward the hole) of the ball. During and after the swing, the face of the club should never be closer to the hole than your hands. If the club face passes your hands, then you are attempting to "lift" the ball as you describe. This leads to exposing the bottom edge of the wedge to the ball and leads to a "skulled shot" - a fast, low to the ground shot that ends up way past the hole.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TSF,

Thanks for the advice Tom. I'll try doing this next time I play.
BTW: I didn't buy these Big Bertha irons. I figured that for the same price ($350-$400) I could do better buying a new set of Taylormade r7 Draw irons, Ben Hogan BH5 Irons or Nike Ignite Irons. I am favoring between those 3 offers but I lean towards the Taylormade.

http://www.amazon.com/Nike-Golf-Ignite-Hybrid-Iron/dp/B...=1212229767&sr=1-307

http://www.amazon.com/TaylorMade-Golf-Draw-Iron-4-PW/dp...ef=pd_sbs_sg_title_2

http://www.golfsmith.com/products/BH1920

What do you think??

I like my Cleveland wedges. Ther're solid, heavy and 'sharp'. I can't even look at another wedge, it'll jinx me.

Lucky,
Its darn hard to pick out a set of irons for someone else. The best bet is to find a set that you can take to the range and try for yourself. It I HAD to pick a set based upon clubs and reputation alone, I would suggest you find a used set of Callaway X-18s. A very popular and well designed set of irons. I'm a purist and do not like "swing correcting" clubs designed to "draw" especially if your swing is in the forming stages. I would prefer that you develop your swing on clubs that are not designed to correct swing flaws. Just my opinion. Now, if you had been playing for 5 years and you had a bad slice or fade, then "draw" irons may be a good solution.

Callaway X-18?? I'll check these.
Thanks for the advice Tom, and for the driver.

Tom, I tried the Callaway X-12 Irons today at the course, steel shaft. Very comfortable clubs. I liked them a lot. Their weight is good in the hand and the club head looks comfortable at the setup.

I can get a preowned set of these for around 400 dollars, I think I might just get them, I liked them a lot.

But I am still trying to test as many irons as I can and see what suits me most.

Callaway Golf - Pre_Owned

Use this site for reference. The X-12s are averaging about $230 in the states. X-16s can be had for about $340. X-18s are still over $400.