I’ve never been a fan of this whole Archer vs Arrow nonsense.
First, the analogy is simply wrong. As the archer equates to the golfer, the arrow equates to the ball. of arch equates to the club. Ask any competitive archer and they will tell you, the bow matters.
The biggest problem I have with the Archer vs. Arrow is the notion that a good golfer should be able to play good golf with anything. The tools of the trade, in this analogy, are irrelevant. However, ask any good tradesman and they will happily tell you: The right tool makes the job much easier and the finished product much better.
If the person claiming to be an Archer and not an Arrow doesn’t even shoot with a department store driver, an old set of Spalding Executive irons, and a Bullseye impersonator, I’m not interested.
Yes, a good golfer can get by with anything. But to play good golf consistently well, it’s important to have the right equipment.
Especially with wedges. We spent this spring trying Cleveland custom wedge grinders and friends, it has been a real learning experience.
My Custom Cleveland Wedge April
It’s been a long and cold lonely winter, little darling. And here in New England, spring hasn’t been all that great. April has been cold, windy and wet, but your intrepid writer bundled up and made it to the course.
For you.
Earlier this month I shared my experience getting fitted with a group Cleveland RTZ Tour Rack wedges with custom sole milling. We wanted to know if custom wedge grinders really make that much of a difference. Well, after four rounds, I can safely say yes. The right tools combined with the right technique absolutely matter.
So the plan here is to share what I experienced during the four rounds. I won’t bother with the rev numbers though. You can check out last year’s MyGolfSpy wedge testing to get an idea. I will say that when it comes to rotation, Cleveland RTZ wedge leave nothing on the table. I’m not a high-speed, hop-‘n-stop player, but the RTZs give me all the predictable spin I could want.
What I want to focus on is what really matters: specific shots in the heat of competition and the all-important and often misunderstood world of Strokes Gained.
In simple terms, Strokes Gained is a statistic that measures how much better or worse a player performs compared to a standard golfer from the same situation. For example, the tournament average to drive from 150 yards on the fairway is 2.8 strokes. If you hit the green and sink a birdie putt, you’re two shots longer, so compared to your tournament average, you’re plus 0.8 in strokes gained.
If you hit your approach in the sand, take two to get out and then two putts, that’s five putts. You would have minus 2.2 shots earned.
And maybe a little weird.
TS Eliot was right, April IS the cruelest month…
Like many of you coming out of winter, you might say my game is up Land of waste. Compound a lot of rust with testing a new driver, irons and machines and you have a stat line that looks like a lost EKG.
How bad was it? According to Shot Scope, when compared to a typical 5 handicap (I’m 5.6), I’m at minus 2.18 strokes gained overall. Pitching has been the biggest bugaboo with a minuscule 2.98 hits earned. Frustrating, because setting is normally something I don’t like that badly.
However, there is hope growing out of this stone trash.
The short game was saving me tuchus. with Cleveland custom wedge grinding in the bag I’m plus 0.77 strokes gained over these four rounds. It’s a small sample size, but what had been, at best, a neutral part of my game is turning into its sole strength.
This is not bad at all.
What I like about Shot Scope is that you can break down the shots you’ve earned at a fairly granular level. For example, this chart shows a positive shot gained from 20 yards and up, but a slight drop between 20 and 40 yards.
By comparison, this chart shows quite solid performance from the rough and quite positive performance from the bunkers. However, those pesky roads are a problem.
I need to make sure I miss more of them.
About those custom fights…
With some guidance from Roger Cleveland and a complete wedge assembly with Steve Thomson of Golftec in Danvers, Mass., I settled on a 50/54/58 loft makeup to pair with my 46-degree wedge. Using Cleveland’s Custom Wedge Grinding Selection Tool online, we chose the mid-jump sole option for the 50 and 54, with trailing edge relief and a sharp leading edge. I tend to have a shallow angle of attack, and those lofts are mostly used for full shots.
For the 58s, we went with Cleveland’s Adapt grind with Full Face grooves. It’s my all-around club around the greens (except for no-run smash shots), with occasional full and three-quarter shots. We opted for some extra heel, toe and trailing relief for agility around the green and a little extra help in the bunkers.
“The sole is wider in the center and still tapers towards the heel and toe,” Roger Cleveland tells MyGolfSpy. “When you add more heel and toe relief, you’re taking the bounce you had and moving it back, which takes away the bounce in the center.
“It’s a good wedge if you’re steep enough and it’s good in form conditions.”
I found the extra relief to be most helpful on short fairways and chips close to the green. The sharper leading blade also helped, as I was able to get solid contact and smooth ground interaction with the ball further into my position. The sharper front blade and heel relief also made it easier to hit higher or lower just by raising or lowering my hands.
Four rounds, positive trend
One of my favorite Hogan quotes comes not from Ben, but from his wife, Valerie. One day Ben, who notoriously hated the whole concept of putting up (I feel you, my man), complained to her that he wasn’t taking enough shots.
“Well, dear,” she replied. “Maybe you should try hitting it closer to the hole next time.”
I collected data from four rounds on four consecutive weekends in April. The first was April 10th at the Nicklaus Course at Pinehills in Plymouth, MA. It was the first round of the year and also my best, a 79 with 1.75 strokes gained overall. The short game was very regular, with 1.31 earned runs. There was an even better result to be had, if not for the difficulties of placement.
I didn’t get much chance to practice in 58 degree sand, but my first bunker shot with it was a beauty. She showed up nicely on the elevated green and placed within five feet. I made the putt to save par, and it was the only putt of consequence I sank all spring.
The next round was a local favorite, The Oaks in Somersworth, New Hampshire. Again, the shortstop was the star of the show with 1.58 earned runs. Highlights included a 27-yard drive from the green to a foot on the par-5 11ththand a full 54 degrees from 94 yards to 18 inches at 12th per bird. The short game maintained an 80, but a questionable bowler didn’t help.
Same thing just different
The last two rounds of April were carbon copies: a solid front nine followed by a dumb back nine. In both cases, though, the short game kept it from getting worse.
I’ll let a number tell you the tail end of my round at Breakfast Hill in Greenland, New Hampshire: minus 6.19 strokes gained. This was the only round where the short game didn’t help much (minus 1.78 strokes gained). Valerie’s words kept ringing in my head as no matter what, I couldn’t get the ball closer than five feet on fairways, chips and partial shots.
of The Clevelands I got back into shape for my last round of the month, at a great course in Southwick, Mass. called The Ranch. Unfortunately, after a solid front nine, the driver, close shots and putting everyone on took the last train to Crapsville. The short game was plus 1.63 earned runs (I don’t even want to look at the others). Highlights included a 20-yarder from the left rough to a foot on the par-3 5th. Then there was a pitch up a 27-yard hill to a narrow pin at 12, again within a foot.
On the par-5 13ththit was roughed a few inches from the edge in two and a great 20 yard uphill/sideway chip was thrown to maybe three feet. Perfect opportunity for birds, right? The damn shot was dropped and I had to settle for par.
As useful as the 58 turns out to be, the sharp leading edge is making the 50 and 54 guns quite effective with full shots. All day, both wedges were putting me within easy putt range. However, doing on this day was not equal to doing. Despite a plus 1.63 strokes gained for the short game, the pitching was still atrocious, at minus 5.59 strokes gained.
Cleveland Custom Wedge Powders: Final Thoughts
Roger Cleveland says your highest wedge it is most important to get it right. Who am I to argue? After all, this is his name in the club. The RTZ with the Adapt sole, extra heel, toe and trailing edge relief combined with that sharpened leading edge has worked great for me so far.
low-HI The jump nail has been effective in early-season New England conditions, acting as a skid plate to slide across the field. I was able to play low spin, mid spin and even hit some hop-‘n-stop shots close to the hole, which is not a shot I would have typically attempted in the past.
It’s about having the right tool, again.
The modified 50 and 54 have proven to be more versatile than I expected. It’s easier to fly 50 a little lower with a half or three-quarter swing, but I’ve learned not to get too cute with them. Crash and run shots work best with a 7 or 8 iron.
If I can offer you one recommendation, it’s to at least fit for your highest wedge. A good fitter should be able to see your tendencies, observe how you swing the club and make appropriate recommendations. An outdoor rig is ideal, but indoors outside a mattress can work if the fitter is perceptive, as mine was.
Cleveland does list the appropriate events on its website and its online Wedge Selector tool can lead you to the balcony. It walks you through the basics, but beware: you can only customize the sole mills on the Tour Rack models. They are raw, so Cleveland can adjust the grind without damaging the finish.
For more information on Cleveland’s personal wedge grinding program, visit company website.
