Equipment

From a Fitter: An in-depth discussion of wedge bounce, grind, loft and lie

Published

6 years ago

Dec 28, 2019

Wedge fitting is an interesting subject due to so many variables of the player and the course we play on. This article is to help break a few components down and help you make better choices when purchasing wedges.

Bounce is generally given a number which is a reference to the angle measured through the center portion of the sole of a club, from leading to trailing edge. The larger the angle, the more bounce you have, and the lower, the less bounce you have. No doubt this is a handy number to know, but for me, it is only the beginning of understanding the wedge.

It has often been said that “better players” use lower bounce, but this is not always true. Many tour players use higher bounce wedges these days, with special grinds (shapes of the club’s sole). Do not get pigeon-holed into a wedge option because of your handicap!

For me, wedge fitting is about versatility, forgiveness, and compatibility for that one player’s style.

I start the wedge fitting with an intensive interview process about the player’s entire bag layout and how many wedges can be fit into the bag. I then discuss their perception of the shots they play a lot of (specific yardages, flights of shot, etc.). Finally, we discuss the conditions of their most played course. Unfortunately, a lot of us do not have the luxury of owning multiple sets of wedges for all conditions, but if I can give a set of wedges some versatility, that will give the player more choice of shot from course to course.

I then measure a player’s angle of attack with their PW through to their highest loft wedge with what I call their “stock shot” or most played shot with that wedge. This process is really just an indicator of the options I will try first.

From here, it is very much player-driven. We move to the grassed area and cycle lofts, bounce and grind options. Not letting a player hit too many shots with each (otherwise they can start to manipulate the wedge too much from their normal action, especially good players). We look at divots and flight, keeping an eye especially on the bad shots and how they feel through the turf and how the shots fly/land. During my intensive sessions, we also go to a bunker area and play sand shots and shots to a green to hone in specialist areas of the short game.

Generics I use for grind

Players who play ‘square to square’ shots, such as bump and runs, or mid-flight shots often deliver leading edge to the ground first. Depending on conditions I combat this with leading-edge relief i.e the shape of the sole looks like a V from heel to toe. Sometimes a softer rounded leading edge can also do the trick.
Players who hit lots of flop shots and try to manipulate the club on the ground. I experiment with variations of heel and trailing edge relief. These players often have success with aggressive grinds, as when the club is splayed open they feel as though the missing heel and trailing edge material allows the leading edge to sit snug to the surface, and it prevents the club bouncing too much through strike.

Ultimately, I facilitate a player with options and information.

The number one key of knowing you have the right wedge is clean strike! This means the club does not want to dig or bounce, but is allowed to slide through the ball and turf delivering the loft you intended.

One of the big areas that gets missed for me is the loft and lie adjustments. If a player’s lie is way out when testing a wedge, it can make it impossible to use. During a session, I try to keep uniformity between iron setup and wedge setup ensuring distance gaps are covered. This means I manipulate lofts and lies during the fitting. I have to be aware of the implications of bounce and turf interaction as I bend loft due to it adjusting the look of offset and most importantly the presentation of leading and trailing edge. The lie is just as important: one little tweak the right way and strikes can go from average to perfect.

Generics of loft and lie adjustment

Adding loft can deliver more trailing edge, de-lofting can present more leading edge.
Having more upright lies can help ‘square to square’ players, whereas flatter lie angles can help the Mickleson flop shot specialists!
It’s not uncommon for me to flatten a player’s lob wedge a little more to allow that shaft to lay down easier.

Key points to get the most out of your wedge fitting

Test options outside on turf.
Do not base your fitting on just your angle of attack!
Play lots of style of shots during testing.
Make sure you have enough wedges to cover important distance and shot types for your game (have versatility in your wedge setup).
Make sure length, loft and lie have been accounted for—as for shaft, that’s another article!

If you attain all of this and like the look and feel of your wedges, you will be set to play your best golf home and away. No matter the lie you encounter, you will feel you have a tool for the job at hand. This gives you the confidence in your swing at the scoring end of the game.

Whats in the Bag

Christiaan Maas WITB 2026 (June)

Published

3 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D LS (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P770 (3), TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 10 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold X100

Wedges: TaylorMade Prototype (50-SB09), TaylorMade MG5 (56-HB12, 60-LV07)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400

Putter: TaylorMade TP Juno

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord

Check out more in-hand photos of Christiaan Maas’ clubs here.

Equipment

TaylorMade MySpider Tour and Tour X: More customizable build options now available

Published

3 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

TaylorMade Golf’s MySpider program underwent a substantial overhaul over the last month. Firstly, the company launched the option to customize the Spider ZT model, and now the program has returned with the MySpider Tour and MySpider Tour X.

The revamped page now gives golfers complete control over every visual and functional detail of their putter on the popular Tour and Tour X head, with every cosmetic idea thought of. In MySpider Tour, golfers can choose from four head finishes, 16 paint fill colors, nine Surlyn face insert colors, three aluminum insert options, six sightline configurations, and four hosel options — L-neck, small slant, double bend, center shaft. Six sightline options are available in MySpider Tour, including the optically engineered True Path alignment system. MySpider Tour X gives builders the option of four head finishes, four hosel configurations, and five sightline options, also including True Path alignment.

One of the more interesting features of the new MySpider program is the availability of three distinct face insert options. Along with the usual Surlyn Pure Roll insert trusted by Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, which can be customized from nine colors, golfers can now also select firmer options. Two are offered with the black aluminum Pure Roll insert, slightly firmer than the traditional insert, or for the firmest feel, golfers can choose from two colors of milled aluminum inserts.

Another fun addition to the MySpider Tour is the ability to use the “Tommy Sightline.” The custom alignment aid design, which was first drawn onto Tommy Fleetwood’s putter by PGA Tour Rep James Holley, is based on the milled sightline on his Spider ZT head. There are five shorter lines on the left and right of a longer central line serving as the traditional short line alignment aid.

See below for the full specifications sheet for MySpider Tour and Tour X:

MySpider Tour

MySpider Tour X

Equipment

Then and now: Comparing Rory McIlroy’s current setup to his record-breaking 2019 Canadian Open victory

Published

6 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

In Rory McIlroy’s first appearance at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open, he crushed the record books to earn his 16th PGA Tour title in dominating fashion, winning by seven shots over Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson.

McIlroy’s score of 22-under-par 258 is the lowest 72-hole score to date at the Canadian Open, and his closing 61 is also the best final-round score in the history of one of golf’s oldest tournaments. Finally, with his win in 2019, McIlroy became only the sixth player to win the career Triple Crown, adding to his victories at the U.S. Open in 2011 and The Open Championship in 2014, joining Tommy Armour, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods in a coveted list.

So, with that, why not compare his current setup to the clubs he used to break all the records?

Driver

2019: TaylorMade M5 (9 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees @8), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7X (45 5/8 inches)

McIroy led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in 2019; he’s doing the same in 2026. Between now and then, McIlroy has switched from the Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX (a shaft with slightly more feeling in the tip) to the original Fujikura Ventus Black 7X, having just made the change to the heavier version from playing the 60X.

What’s interesting about McIlroy’s 2019 setup is that the weighting on his driver is actually set in the high-draw setting, using the T-Track weighting system, whereas in the Qi4D, he’s currently using a heavily rear-weighted setup. (Two 13-gram weights in the rear and only two 4-gram front weights.)

The TaylorMade M5 driver he played in during his Canadian Open win was the company’s first head that they claimed to design to initially exceed the USGA’s COR limit, and then injected with tuning resin to bring it back in bounds.

Fairway woods

2019: TaylorMade M6 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX; TaylorMade M5 5-wood (19 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 90 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8X; TaylorMade Qi4D 5-wood (18 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9X

The TaylorMade M6 fairway wood that McIlroy was using during the 2019 season is still in the bag of some of the best golfers on Tour in 2026. Just check out Justin Rose’s winning setup from the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. This year, though, McIlroy has still been searching for his top-end-of-the-bag setup, having played both the new Qi4D and the Qi10, which he won the Masters with.

The same shaft swap can be seen in the fairway woods as the driver, along with slightly less loft on the 5-wood.

Irons

2019: TaylorMade P750 (4) Buy here, TaylorMade P730 (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0
2026: TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0

The biggest difference between McIlroy’s custom set and the stock P730s is the groove design. While the P730s were constructed with 14 MX-9 grooves on their milled faces, McIlroy’s proto heads instead use the higher-spinning, 16-groove layout of the TW2 grooves. Other big differences between the sets are that McIlroy’s 7- and 8-irons have thinner toplines, are 1 degree stronger in loft, and are 1/4 inch longer than the original P730 builds.

With McIlroy’s 4-iron, the switch from P750 to P760 sees a transition to a two-piece construction with Speed Foam in it, which allows McIlroy to launch the ball slightly higher, with more workability.

Wedges

2019: TaylorMade Milled Grind (48-09SB), TaylorMade MG Hi-Toe (52-09SB, 56-09SB, 60-LB09), Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5
2026: TaylorMade MG5 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB, 60-08LB @61), Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)

Between 2019 and 2026, McIlroy’s focus on his short game has been much more apparent. It was the reason why he switched back to the TP5 golf ball, to help with launch, spin and control with his wedges leading up to his career Grand Slam victory in 2025. The most apparent changes to McIlroy’s wedge setup are his lofts and bounce. He’s slowly delofted his pitching to a sand wedge, but has increased the loft on the lob wedge, bending his current 60-degree to 61. With that, adding more loft to his lob wedge also slightly increases the bounce and leading-edge sit point, so, as a result, he plays a lower-bounce lob wedge compared to 2019. The MG5 wedges are also softer than the first Milled Grind option from 2019. McIlroy also no longer plays the full-face grooves found on the Hi-Toe.

Putter

2019: TaylorMade Spider X
2026: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

Notice anything similar. Yes, the copper finish on Rory McIlroy’s Spider X putter in 2019 is a slightly more reflective finish than the recently released torched PVD finish. McIlroy was using the True Path alignment system, but now uses only a single white sightline.

Ball

2019: 2019 TaylorMade TP5 (#22)
2026: 2025 TaylorMade TP5 (RORS)

As mentioned above, McIlroy had transitioned from the TP5 to TP5x golf ball since his victory in Canada in 2019, but now is black with the same style of golf ball as his victory at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

Grips

2019: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
2026: Golf Pride MCC

Interesting, McIlroy actually used Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet Cord grips during his victory in 2019 (it was during a 2+ year switch to the corded TV) as opposed to his usual MCC grips, which he has played for most of his career.