Vokey’s new SM11 wedges it might not look much different from the previous generation, but it’s what’s under the hood that really gives these wedges a cool story.
On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-host Johnny Wunder explained how the Vokey team discovered that The PGA Tour’s most popular wedge it actually had an advantage over all other scratches.
“There was a certain characteristic of a very popular wedge on tour, the T-Grind, which is the killer,” Wunder said. “You want to talk about a wedge that was hidden in every bag was Vokey T. It had a very efficient center of gravity as it related to grinding the wedge.”
Because the T-Grind has the narrowest sole, it also has the highest center of gravity. Having a high center of gravity on a wedge is great if you hit the ball in the No. 1 fairways. 2-5, because that CG will help lower the launch and roll up. This is what everyone wants.
Title Vokey SM11 Tour Chrome Wedge Custom
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With the new SM11 line, Vokey adjusted the hose length, topline thickness, and sole geometry on each grind at a given loft to ensure each has an identical CG, the same position as the previous T-Grind.
“It doesn’t sound like a sexy set to people who don’t follow it closely, but for the game and the performance on the wedge, it’s actually pretty great,” Wunder said. “Callaway with their Opus SP did the same thing, didn’t they? Now, it’s a different story, but again, it’s raising the center of gravity as it relates to the grind in a certain way to make sure that optimal spin and contact is achieved or is consistent throughout the set.”
The Vokey recipe is one that is already wildly successful, so why mess with what didn’t break? It is clear that the best of the game in the world were in agreement as SM11 was The most played wedge model on the PGA and DP World Tours last weekfirst week of availability.
So while it may not be as obvious when you walk past a rack of SM11s at your local golf shop, there’s a great story to how Vokey improved what was already the most popular wedge in professional golf.
“I really like the story because my time being on a tour truck, watching the reps work with the players, I know that what Vokey is trying to do is very important to a good wedge game,” Wunder said. “They’re addressing that, making it part of their ethos. And for us, you and I, the people who listen to this podcast, the people who go to Roger Dunn to buy wedges, it’s very, very important.”
For more from Wunder, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped hereor see below.
