I Got Fitted For New Wedges And The Results Shocked Me

I’ve been playing this game for quite some time. I’ve represented England squads at multiple age groups and have even competed on the European Tour, but in all that time, I am ashamed to say, I have never once had a wedge specific custom fitting session.

Sure I have tried different lofts and experimented with some different bounces from time to time but that has been the extent of my analysis into this critical area of the bag.

So when I was offered the chance to get a fitting for the Taylormade MG4 wedges with Taylormade fitting technician George Hindmarsh, I was only too happy to accept! We scheduled in a couple of hours at the beautiful Saunton Golf Club and this is how it went…

I met George on the pitching area with quite frankly more wedges than I have ever seen in one place! In his big bag of tricks was every conceivable loft, bounce and grind option you can imagine, so surely something would work for me?!

George started by guiding me through the new MG4 range and all the advancements that have been made from the previous model. Additional grinds such as the V, C and W compliment the established high, low and standard bounce options, offering more versatility and choice than ever before. The new laser etched spin tread technology that guides moisture away from strike to improve spin sounded like it would be particularly useful on this wet October day. 

After this initial run down, I then went through a short warm up with my own wedges, with George taking a keen interest in my technique and divot pattern while asking a lot of questions on how I liked to play particular shots. After a short while, George put a wedge in my hands (which turned out to be the LB 60 degree) and asked me to play the same shot I had been playing, and I have to say the difference was stark. 

The ball felt like it stayed on the face significantly longer than before and set off on a much lower launch angle but loaded with spin. The ball then obediently dug its teeth into the green and pulled up a good 8-10 feet shorter than with my own wedge. Much of this could be attributed to the MG4 being much newer than my own, and as such having sharper grooves, but I certainly got the feeling that the added friction of the spin tread technology was doing its job.

I was then asked to play several more shots before George switched me into the new LBV Grind 60 degree wedge. This is the lowest bounce of the MG4 range and has an aggressive, narrow V shaped sole that sits the leading edge significantly closer to the ground than I am used to. This allowed me to open the face even more without the aforementioned leading edge rising too high up the equator of the ball and all of a sudden I was hitting some seriously floaty, soft landing pitches that would have had a good chance of stopping on concrete! I quickly fell in love with this grind and was all but sold until George pointed out that I was hitting off particularly tight links turf and that such an aggressively low bounce may prove trickier to manage in softer, lusher conditions. 

As such George then passed me what turned out to be the SBC (or Standard Bounce Camber) grind in the same loft. Although the head shape was exactly the same, the leading edge was noticeably higher off the ground and the sole seemed to glide off the turf more than with the LBV. Both turf interactions were nice, but markedly different. After numerous more short pitches, George wanted to test these grinds on some fuller shots so we moved back to the 65 yard mark and began to play some more. Moving further away from the green highlighted the massively improved feel of the MG4 versus its predecessors. 

George pointed out the thicker channel behind impact which does an amazing job of creating a really deep, dense sensation at impact. This is a huge improvement, as feedback on previous iterations had noted a clicky sensation on mishits which has absolutely been eradicated in the MG4. This is one of the best feeling wedges I have tested. 

Once again, from longer range the turf interaction was notably different but I was still leaning towards the LBV Grind. George wisely interjected again and suggested the idea of ordering both grinds up and alternating usage depending on course and ground conditions. This is not something I have done before, but it made absolute and perfect sense! Particularly as a UK based player, course conditions vary so massively from baked out summer fairways to the squishy quagmires of the winter, how could I expect my lob wedge to perform optimally at both ends of the weather spectrum?!

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Once we had agreed on this sole design strategy, we started to look at the lie angle in more detail. We had observed that many of my longer wedge shots were falling pretty consistently just right of their intended target. With my irons being set up at 2 degrees upright, George produced a new wedge head that was interchangeable with multiple shafts and set this at the same lie angle as my irons. Immediately the launch direction became more neutral and my shots were finishing much more in line. After a couple more adjustments and experiments, we settled on the same 2 degree upright lie angle as my main set. 

The final part of the fitting session was based around the less lofted wedges, so we headed back further and hit some fuller shots with wedges ranging from 46 to 54 degrees. After a long discussion including my thoughts and preferences, and factoring in yardage increments, a matrix of 46, 50, 54 and 60 degrees was decided upon. The 54 degree wedge will have a little more bounce than both of the 60 degree options which will provide more versatility and another bunker option in particularly fluffy sand.

The wedges will be fitted with a Dynamic Gold S400 shaft which is significantly softer than the Project X LS 6.5 shafts in my Callaway Apex CB irons. This made perfect sense to me as I simply won't be putting as much force into these wedges as my longer clubs so I don’t need something quite so rigid and can opt for something softer with enhanced feel.

The whole experience was fantastic from start to finish and I was shocked by the difference the various grinds and bounces made to not only the turf interaction but also the ball flight too.

The idea to have two lob wedges in my arsenal with differing bounce and grinds to best match course conditions was a stroke of genius and one I have subsequently noticed is employed by many professionals across the major tours.

Lie angle made a huge difference to my shot dispersion too, which surprised me a little. I knew it was important but I was arguably up to 15 feet more online as an average when my lie angle matched my impact conditions.

I can't wait to get my hands on my new wedges, and based on my wonderful morning at Saunton Golf Club, I cannot implore you enough to book in a wedge fitting at your earliest opportunity.