On the earth of golf tools, wedges are essentially the most homogeneous membership from producer to producer. Whereas they’ve advanced, they nonetheless share a good quantity of DNA with Gene Sarazen’s OG sand wedge. A straighter forefront right here, a sole grind there, possibly a bit extra weight on the high of the blade to decrease the flight. Most wedges share a really comparable template.
Tour Edge Exotics Wingman Wedges
The brand new Tour Edge Exotics Wingman wedges are attempting to do one thing new. And after I say “new”, I imply they wish to the previous for inspiration, making a wedge with a definite design trait favored by among the finest golfers of all time.
Trendy golfers are indoctrinated to dislike offset. From a younger age, we’re informed offset causes a hook. In actuality, offset is, in line with Tom Wishon, a way to assist trajectory. “The extra offset, the farther the pinnacle’s middle of gravity is again from the shaft. And the farther the CG is again from the shaft, the upper the trajectory shall be for any given loft on the face. On this case, extra offset will help improve the peak of the shot for golfers who’ve a tough time getting the ball effectively up within the air to fly.”
However there may be one other faculty of thought: having offset within the quick irons is the best way to maintain your fingers forward of the clubface at impression, serving to to compress the ball and generate extra spin.
For a very long time, Japanese irons would include reverse offset, with extra within the quick irons than the lengthy irons. To the trendy golfer, this seems to be ungainly and awkward however it was a manner of preserving the fingers in entrance of the clubface for a cleaner strike.
Working with Berhnard Langer
Tour Edge has developed the Exotics Wingman Wedge with the assistance of Bernhard Langer, identified for his pickiness relating to golf golf equipment. His golf bag is a hodgepodge of random golf equipment however in the very best manner. Every membership is there as a result of it’s the finest for that specific job. Along with his wedges, he needed that offset look he’d at all times liked.
“I’m at all times on the lookout for a solid wedge with the correct quantity of offset and finally began to ask the R&D crew at Tour Edge what they thought they may provide you with,” stated Langer. “What got here again has astounded me with its efficiency. I put one prototype proper into play the week I examined it as a result of I might simply inform that the design was simply plain simpler to hit and way more constant than my different wedges.”
Wingman Wedge Offset
The Wingman wedge has a three-millimeter fixed offset. To place that into perspective, t a PING Glide 4.0 52 wedge has an 0.8 mm offset, a 60-degree lob wedge is down to simply 0.7 mm. To actually ram the message residence simply how a lot offset these golf equipment have, it’s greater than a TaylorMade P790 6-iron, which has 2.9 mm offset!
However sufficient concerning the distinctive look. The Wingman wedge is extra than simply an offset quantity. The solid head options deep undercut pockets containing VIBRCOR TPU which helps dampen the sound and will increase the MOI of the wedge for higher forgiveness.
It additionally allowed the designers to make the strike space 10-percent bigger than a standard wedge to assist assist versatility and creativity. A five-gram weight within the middle of the wedge may be adjusted for customized builds and fine-tuning swing weight.
A ‘Winged’ weight pad on the toe creates a better middle of gravity for decrease launch and better spin. It will get thicker because the loft will get greater to keep up supreme spin charges. Based on Tour Edge, it slows the speed of rotation and retains the clubface barely open at impression which they are saying is preferable for pitch and lob photographs.
Triple-Traction Face expertise makes use of three milled areas on the face: milled grooves, milled micro-grooves in between the scoring traces and milled toe traces. They’ve thrown all of the milling they will at making these wedges spin.
Lastly, the wedges can be found in three milled grind choices. The F/S stands for agency/sweeping and, at 6°/8° bounce, is the bottom bounce choice. M/N or Mid Impartial is the mid-bounce choice at 10° in the midst of the bell curve. The S/D grind stands for Comfortable/Digger and is ideal for delicate floor or a steeper assault angle, with its 12°/14°.
Inventory shafts for the Tour Edge Exotics Wingman Wedges are the True Mood Dynamic Gold 115 wedge shaft.
This Tour Edge Wingman Wedge makes the right “wingman” to their Wingman putters. They may by no means be the most well-liked wedge available on the market. However kudos to David Glod and his crew at Tour Edge. Whilst you can argue there may be little or no that’s new in membership design, somewhat than “revisited” and “refined”, Tour Edge are zagging with this wedge when everybody else is zigging. That is the way you get individuals, who could not have earlier than, to attempt your product and possibly construct a distinct segment different producers aren’t catering to.
The Tour Edge Wingman shall be accessible on October 2nd, with a retail worth of $140.
