I think I read a while back about the MG wedge replacements being worked on or in development. How’s that going? Any specs or pics? These going DRM or standard finish?
I think I read a while back about the MG wedge replacements being worked on or in development. How’s that going? Any specs or pics? These going DRM or standard finish?
Jim,
While I appreciate your input, a few things to clarify. The Max wedges are form forged, meaning first investment cast from 8620 carbon steel, then true (drop hammer) forged with one die. Although this is not our traditional 5+ step billet forging process, the 8620 carbon steel has the same basic tensile strength, yield strength, elongation, etc. as as a 1025C billet material we may use on an iron design or other wedge designs. The reason we did the form forged on the Max is because of the cavity. Form forging gives us the ability to do deeper or more detailed designs in the back of a model. 8620 carbon steel is used because it is a better material for form forging. Although I know some believe that a billet forged iron “feels” softer, the facts are the materials are almost identical in their properties which translates into no differences in feel due to the material. Understand we can make stainless steel investment cast parts softer than forged carbon steel parts through heat treating. True forging, form forging and investment casting are just processes. Feel comes form the material properties, the treating of those materials and the mass and dimensional characteristics of the design.
As far as the cavity, I’ve played the same M-Series wedges for multiple years now and have not had a problem keeping them clean. Can material get into the cavity, sure (depending on how it’s used I suppose), but having to dig out turf or sand is just not something I have had to do. Don’t see it any more of an issue than cleaning the grooves to be honest. That being said, the new wedges don’t have a cavity. Has nothing to do with the issue you mentioned, just that a cavity was not in our vision for this series of wedges.
I would say the sole of some of the new wedges will be somewhat similar to the TSW’s, but more playable with more effective bounce. Others will be similar to the .090″ M-Series. As far as the grooves, only the widest sole versions will have the expanded to the toe grooves. I don’t necessarily like the look either, but a lot of people do and there is some performance enhancement with that feature.
Lofts and the way we designate them, along with the bounce, will be the way we have done it in the past. I like your idea, but we are too far along to consider changing. I don’t think we would, but something to think about in the future.
Sincere thanks for the detailed feedback and suggestions. I always like to hear what others think or see or want. It can influence what we do.
Britt Lindsey
We do have a new wedge series in the works. The plan is for 15 different wedges. Lofts from 48 to 62, with a couple of different sole design options, one a more all purpose sole width and grind and the other with more of a relief or “tour” type grind. There will also be a couple of wider sole loft options that will replace the Glider wedges we have now. We are waiting on final 3D cad’s (hopefully final) and from there we will get testing ad production samples done. I think it will probably be late this year at best before they are available. Most likely, based on the way development times have been going, they will be a 2024 release.
Britt Lindsey
It might be too late to influence your design plans, but there are a couple of issues that I would hope that you are addressing:
(1) The Max Milled, including its like predecessors, have that cavity on the back of the head. It collects sand/dirt and is hard to keep clean. These are also not forged, so they don’t have that wonderfully soft feel of a truly forged head. Just a personal thing with me, but I would not have run the grooves to the toe. Changes the look relative to other irons.
(2) The TSW wedges are forged and without the cavity but have a very limited selection of grinds. With heel/toe relief you might want to increase the bounce relative to your more traditional sole offerings.
To keep costs down and enable more bounce options I would limit the number of loft options. Use the letter symbols P, G, S, L and perhaps base lofts of 46, 51, 56, 61. Clubmakers then pick the preferred sole width/bounce and bend as needed. You could use the letters N, W to denote narrow and wide soles. For example the wedge SN could be equivalent to your 56 degree 0.9″ width offering.