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Callaway Opus wedges launched on PGA Tour

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of an article our Andrew Tursky filed for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Read the full piece here.

While this is the world’s first official look at the final versions of the Opus line of wedges, Callaway staffers have actually been involved In the prototyping and design process for around two years, according to Callaway Tour Manager Joe Toulon.

“The Tour launch is basically when we’re introducing it to the Tour players officially for the first time,” Toulon said on Tuesday at the 2024 Travelers Championship. “We’ve done a lot of work with this wedge in the prototyping stages. It’s a project that we’ve really kicked off 2 years ago, when we really started digging into this category and understanding what the best players in the world look for in a wedge.”

Of course, Callaway’s research and design team has been studying the wedge category for decades, but this time around – during the design of the new Opus wedges – Callaway put more power than ever into the hands of PGA TOUR players. Toulon and team paid close attention to everything Tour players wanted from a wedge, including the look at address, the shape of the leading edge, how the club sits on the ground with the face open, the shaping of the sole, the sound, the feel, and how the wedge interacts with the turf at impact under various conditions.

Although all factors were considered, the most significant barrier to entry for Tour players is their first impression of the shape of the wedge at address.

“The shape is really something we spent a lot of time with, and getting it to look good to the majority of players – it’s something that you may not hit everybody’s eye exactly right, but this is something where we got countless hours of feedback and testing from Tour players, and this is kind of the final product,” Toulon said. “…I think one of the things that players really focus on when they set a wedge down for the first time is what it looks like at address, and what it looks like when you open the face, and we did a lot around that; the shaping and the roundness of this wedge.”

Toulon calls it the “final” product, because there were various iterations of the Opus wedges before this. Actually, these final versions of the Opus wedges are based on the sixth prototype, specifically.

“[The Opus wedge] was code named ‘S6’ during the process,” Toulon said. “We stamped every wedge out here (on the PGA TOUR) in this shape with S6, and that basically just stands for some of the shaping designs we went through. That was the sixth shape design that we settled on based on what the player feedback was. That’s really the whole story behind this wedge; tour-inspired, tour-driven. These guys out here designed this wedge. This is just the final cosmetic and final design that we went with.”

Read the full piece here.

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4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Moe Greene

    Jun 23, 2024 at 3:16 am

    That name wasn’t field tested.

  2. Travis

    Jun 20, 2024 at 2:39 pm

    Looks like a rebadged Kirkland.

  3. Trevino

    Jun 20, 2024 at 7:24 am

    Ah yes, six shape iterations to get to a shape that… looks like how 99% of wedges have always been shaped.

  4. Karsten's Ghost

    Jun 19, 2024 at 8:41 pm

    So it’s the Glide Forged Pro…

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Product Reviews

Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks L Grind review – Club Junkie Reviews

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Titleist Vokey wedges might offer golfers the widest range of sole options to suit any swing type, condition, or shot type out there. Countless professionals use Vokey wedges each week and if you look in the bags at local courses you will see a lot of them in play there as well. While sole options are plentiful, Vokey just released another option, the L grind, for their 58 and 60-degree lob wedges. Listen to the full review, in-depth, on the Club Junkie podcast below or on any podcast platform.

Vokey’s L Grind is a low bounce, 4-degree grind that allows the leading edge to get close to the ground while still offering trailing edge, heel, and toe relief. This sole allows you to get the leading edge of the wedge down on the turf for shots of tight and firm lies. Relief on the wedge is going to allow the player to open the face without that leading edge coming up off the turf so you can hit higher lofted shots easily. This L Grind is only available in Vokey’s Raw finish, so the wedge will rust over time and use.

When you open the box on a Raw Vokey, it is always hard to tell if it is a Tour Chrome as the polish to the raw metal looks that good. Just holding the club in my hand, the L Grind looks a lot like an M Grind with the way they shaped the sole. I won’t lie, I was a bit nervous taking out a wedge with 4 degrees of bounce as I play in Metro Detroit and we rarely find tight and firm lies here. Around our greens is soft and lush with deep rough and bunkers with firmer sand. I tend to get a little steep with my wedges and have always used higher-bounce wedges. This year I was fit into SM10 50.12F, 56.14F, and 60.10S wedges. I thought this L grind was light years from my 60.10S, so I proceeded with caution and took it straight to the course. I had a 58.04L sent to me so I switched up my wedge setup to accommodate that.

Out on the course, I was shocked by the first shot with the 58.04L as it sped through the deep rough, popped the ball in the air, and plopped it into the green. I was short-sided and the ball released past the whole as I expected it to, resting about 8ft away for par. Shots out of the rough, whether partial or closer to full, were easy and drama-free. The L Grind glided through the deeper grass with little extra effort and faster than my S Grind. I rarely got to deep and slid under the ball, but when that did happen the ball came out with some spin and control, holding the green.

Off the fairway is where the L Grind really shined for me as I used it for more shots than I normally would have. I am usually a sand wedge player around the green unless I have to go to the lob for a short sided shot or to carry a bunker. Off the fairway you could just thump the sole of the wedge into the turf and it would quickly slide through, producing a shallower divot than I expected. The divot was honestly not much deeper or bigger than what I see with my 56.14F sand wedge. After the first shot I thought I just hit a good one and I would see additional digging soon, but that wasn’t the case. Partial shots from right off the green to about 40 yards offered great turf interaction. Opening the face was easy and the leading edge staying down gave a poor wedge player confidence to swing a little faster and hit a more solid shot.

Spin, as you would expect from a Vokey wedge, was high and predictable with shots checking up hard upon landing. I really liked playing the ball back in my stance a touch and pressing the wedge forward to hit a low, high spin, shot that checked up hard and then released towards the hole. Out of the trap the L Grind plays well as you can see a good amount of dynamic bounce when you open the face. The float wasn’t as good as my S Grind and if you hit the L Grind fat you could definitely come up short, but the L was very capable out of the firmer traps here.

Overall, the L Grind is a really solid option that is more versatile than its 4-degree bounce description. Players who play in softer conditions or have steeper swings don’t have to shy away from this wedge as I think it plays like a higher bounce sole. I don’t think there is a shot in the book that you can’t hit with this wedge, it is built to do it all.

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Equipment

Matt Fitzpatrick makes switch to Titleist T100 ‘Fitz grind’ irons

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of an article our Andrew Tursky filed for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Read the full piece here.

After testing Ping’s Blueprint S irons following the 2023 Ryder Cup, however, Fitzpatrick finally made an iron switch in 2024.

Then, at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, Fitzpatrick switched from a Titleist Pro V1x 2019 golf ball into a newer 2021 Pro V1x, and at the U.S. Open last week, Fitzpatrick made a drastic iron change into a set of Titleist T100 irons.

The reason for the major switch-ups?

“To me, I just needed a little bit more flight and a little bit more spin, and the combination of the ball and the irons did that for me,” Fitzpatrick said on Monday of the Travelers Championship.

The Titleist T100 irons have a Tour-inspired, compact head shape at address, but with a cavity-back construction and added Tungsten in the heads for improved forgiveness and launch. Fitzpatrick’s irons are especially unique, though, because they come with a special grind on the leading edge that helps Fitzpatrick achieve the turf interaction, spin and height that he wants.

Patrick Cantlay has a similar leading edge grind on his Titleist AP2 718 irons, but Fitzpatrick assured GolfWRX.com on Tuesday that his is different. He dubbed it, the “Fitz grind.”

Read the full piece here.

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Product Reviews

Three Swing Challenge: Testing the Fujikura Ventus Blue powered by VeloCore+

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The first shaft has entered the Three Swing Challenge’s Arena! This week we have the 2024 Fujikura Ventus Blue powered by VeloCore+. Be sure to let us know what you think, and what you want to see tested next!

Why three swings? 

Many years ago, the legendary Barney Adams, founder of Adams Golf told us this:

“My formula as a fitter was three shots only. I discounted No. 1 just because it was the first one, counted 100 percent of No. 2 and discounted No. 3 because the player was starting to adjust.”

More on the new Fujikura Ventus Blue here.

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