Titleist has simply introduced the discharge of the 60-degree Vokey Design SM9 A Grind by its WedgeWorks program, a membership that’s rooted in Australia however has turn into a go-to brief sport instrument for 2023 U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark.
Bob Vokey, Titleist’s wedge guru, has stated for years that bounce is your good friend and that almost all golfers must have extra bounce of their wedges. Bounce, the again flange that extends under the vanguard of the membership, helps a wedge keep away from digging in turf and sand, including a degree of forgiveness. Nonetheless, in some particular cases, having an excessive amount of bounce designed right into a wedge will be detrimental. For instance, if the bottom is difficult, or the sand is compacted, the bounce on the again of a sand wedge or lob wedge could make the membership ricochet off the bottom and lead to skinny contact.
The A Grind wedge, supplied to the general public for the primary time, has 60 levels of loft and simply 4 levels of bounce.
Titleist’s PGA Tour rep for Vokey wedges, Aaron Dill, developed the A Grind after discussing basic Australian programs with Geoff Ogilvy.
Titleist Vokey A Grind wedge. (Titleist)
“I requested him some particular questions which resulted in an concept to design one other lob wedge grind choice that complemented the agency links-style circumstances that gamers face, not simply in Australia and Europe, however globally,” Dill stated. “Geoff has at all times been a low bounce participant in his 60-degree, so I took his 60.04L wedge and eliminated the ribbon, leading to a grind that strikes by the turf rapidly with little or no resistance.”
The ribbon Dill referred to is the seam within the metallic that divides one space of the only real from one other. Taking it out of Ogilvy’s 60-degree L Grind wedge resulted in a wider sole with a clean backside that retained its low bounce. So, on tight lies, in bunkers with little sand or very onerous, compacted sand, expert gamers can nonetheless get the vanguard of the A Grind lob wedge underneath the ball and obtain cleaner contact.
Wyndham Clark is among the many gamers on the PGA Tour who routinely carry an A Grind wedge.
“A very powerful membership for me, most likely in my bag, is that this A grind,” he stated, noting that its versatility allowed him to make use of the membership on tight lies, in moist circumstances and onerous lies to create the trajectory and spin he wanted.
Max Homa used an A Grind ultimately season’s British Open at Royal Liverpool and Tom Kim has used an A Grind in his PGA Tour wins.
The Titleist WedgeWorks A Grind is barely obtainable in a right-hand model in a raw-steel end and will be bought for $225 at vokey.com.
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