There are many ways to fill your golf bag, from having three fairway woods, to no fairway woods, to playing with two drivers or no drivers, to playing. two wedges or four wedges.
During the team’s recent fully stocked trip to Carlsbad, Wadeh Maroun, Kris McCormack and this writer each took a full bag to Titleist Performance Institute. Maroun, in particular, was left with a surprising “Ahah” moment when he got to the bottom of his bag, caused by the addition of a Vokey SM10 46 degree pitching wedge.
“That’s something that (my fitter) Lucas and I were going through as well, because it means from 130 yards out, I can use a club if I want to,” Maroun said on the latest edition of the Fully Equipped podcast. GOLF. “It is such a service club for me. If I want to take it down, I can. If I want to use around the greens, I can. If I want to hit 100 meters, I can. If I want to hit 110, 90, 80, it’s wild.
“It opened my eyes to some things in that regard, which is kind of cool.”
McCormack was a little surprised at the result as, in his years as a fitter, he didn’t tend to recommend specialist wedges for amateur players, even those as skilled as a low-single-digit handicapper like Maroun. He said it helps to take advantage of the same technology in the iron set with the lift wedge to help with launch and consistency since it’s usually a full swing club.
But everyone is different.
“For you, it highlighted the scoring zone for you, it gave you a versatility, it gave you another option that you can use for a bunch of different shots,” McCormack said. “So yeah, good ending.”
But the interesting wrinkle that Maroun discovered is that the new 46-degree wedge isn’t replacing the wedge that’s in his set of irons. Maroun is filling in the spot that was occupied by a 50-degree wedge. He will wedge at 46 degrees and then into a 54 degree sand wedge.
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“The 46-degree will literally act as it will never be in full motion,” Maroun said. “From 125, 130 inches, it’s just, it’s a clean feel, it’s a clean shot, it’s all — everything you could want to do with that club. It’s a useful wedge, it’s wild.”
It can be unconventionalbut it’s something Maroun is testing to see how it goes, because with golf equipment, there aren’t many ideas that aren’t worth trying.
For more from this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, listen to the full episode here or see below.
Want to overhaul your bag for 2025? Find a convenient location near you at True Spec Golf.
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Jack Hirsch
Editor of Golf.com
Jack Hirsh is the Equipment Editor at GOLF. A native of Pennsylvania, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also *tries* to remain competitive in the local amateurs. Prior to joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a television station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a multimedia journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.