BIGGEST WEDGE INNOVATION?

Biggest Wedge Innovation?

First of all, thanks to all of you for the suggestions for a new name for "The Wedge Guy" column. I'm getting some great ones, and plenty to make me smile. Let's keep this going for a while.

In Friday's column, I took to task the complete lack of innovation in the wedge category, and a few of you called me on that. So, to help you understand why I claim that this is the most stagnant category in the equipment industry, let me share this little story:

An avid golfer is in a coma for 25 years. His family has been told he will never come out of it, so over time they sell all his belongings, including all his golf clubs and periphery gear. But miraculously, one day he snaps out of his coma and acts like nothing happened. He tells his family the first thing he'd like to do is go play golf, so they explain that they sold all his stuff, but would treat him to a shopping spree at Edwin Watts Golf. So off he goes.

As you can imagine, nothing in the store looks like what he had 25 years ago. He's continually overwhelmed as he gets outfitted with new lightweight athletic shoes, a stand bag, big Fred Flintstone driver, high-tech irons, a putter with a synthetic insert ... amazing things the likes of which he couldn't imagine. He's at the cash register checking out and remembers he hasn't picked out wedges yet, so they point him toward the display.

When he gets there, he is amazed again:

"These are just like the ones I used to have!"

The End.

As I said, in my personal club collection, I have wedges from the 1950s, 60s and 70s that you'd be hard pressed to distinguish from modern offerings if they were re-chromed and treated with contemporary graphics. To learn more about why I think it's time for an overhaul of the short end of our sets, please listen to a podcast I just did with Tom Brassell, host of Edwin Watts Golf Better program — find and listen here.

But if you don't agree, I'd like for you all to share with me your thoughts about what you consider to be the biggest advancements in wedge design and manufacture, or any other aspect of the wedge category you'd like to address. Give us all your opinion about the feature(s) in modern wedges that have done for your scoring range performance what titanium did for your tee shots, what the modern ball has done for distance or what hybrids have done for your long club success.

I'm eager to read what you have to say.

The Wedge Guy is sponsored by SCOR Golf, where Terry Koehler is President/CEO. He encourages you to submit your questions or topics to be considered for his columns on Tuesdays and Fridays. Each submission automatically enters you to win a SCOR4161 wedge to be given away monthly. Click the button below to submit your question or topic today.

[ comments ]

brad.carolyn159 says:
What about flag hunter? I was thinking about an invitation tournament I played at my then home course, Seaforth, On. I was playing safe, going for the middle of the green on the first 6 holes, and I was 4 over. On 7, I decided with nothing to lose I would start flag hunting. I was 1 over on the last 12 holes and won low gross in the 2nd division. I won a wedge from men's night in 1989. I had someone bend it into a 60*, as I already had a sand wedge, and I could not afford to buy a new wedge, seeing as I just won one. It was a knock off on the classic Wilson wedge R90, or S90. Anyway, 23 years later, I still have that wedge in my bag. It is the only club I use 20 yards around the green. I hit the ball less than 210 yards off the tee, and I have a 5 handicap, mainly because of my chipping and putting. It is the most important part of the game.

10/10/12