WHAT MAKES OUR V-SOLE DIFFERENT?

I don’t often use the blog as a forum to talk about our products, but I’m getting tons of questions about bounce in general and our V-SOLE in particular, so I’m going to dive into the intricacies of wedge soles this morning. Let’s start by making sure we all are talking the same language when we talk about “bounce”.

Very simply, bounce refers to the sole of a wedge. If you hold the wedge up in front of your face so that you can look right down the sole . . . a worm’s eye view, so to speak . . . you will see that the sole takes a downward angle from the leading edge where it meets the face, to the trailing or back edge of the sole. This angle is called “bounce”. This angle, measured in degrees, combines with the width of the sole to give any wedge its playing characteristics. Wedges with a relatively steep angle are called “high bounce” wedges – they work best from softer sand and fluffy lies because the higher bounce rejects the club from the turf more aggressively. Those with a lower bounce angle are more suited to tight lies and firm turf, wet sand, etc. because the sole doesn’t reject as much.

“So Called Pro Grinds”

Some wedges are making their way onto the market with what the makers call “tour grind” or “pro grind”. These typically have material ground away at the back of the heel and toe areas, with the promise that this allows the leading edge to stay lower when you lay the face open. Well, if you have the short game touch, finesse and skill of Phil Mickelson, that might be fine. But doing that compromises the wedge significantly as you’ve also removed some of the heel/toe weighting in the club, and you’ve made much less of the sole in play when you are just hitting a “normal” wedge shot. Any good wedge should have plenty of sole engagement with the turf – that’s the whole idea of bounce in the first place.

Besides their remarkable touch and feel, skills and imagination, tour pros also have several tour vans following them each week. If the turf conditions change, or it rains . . . they simply go in and get new wedges for that week’s event. You cannot do this. You need wedges in your bag that can handle anything you encounter, from hole to hole, shot to shot, and course to course. It puts great demands on your wedges, and that conundrum led me to invent the patented V-SOLE almost 20 years ago.

“One Sole That Does It All”

Yes, it’s a bold claim, but thousands of golfers over the past 20 years will testify that it’s true. The patented V-SOLE does what it does, because it combines the best of both worlds – low and high bounce. The main part of each SCOR wedge sole has a low bounce, so it can handle the tightest of lies. But each wedge also has a very high bounce angle in the first ¼” of the sole, behind the leading edge. This make sure that the wedge can never dig into the turf on shorter shots, or when you have the club forward pressed a bit.

The best thing is that you don’t have to think about it. These two angles are always working together to give you the performance and forgiveness you need in your short game. Yes, I said “forgiveness”. The V-SOLE’s characteristics let you get away with things you won’t get away with using other conventional wedges. It won’t dig into the turf as much . . . it won’t skip into the ball as much on tight lies . . . . and it allows us to put the right amount of sole into play on every shot as is possible.

So, I hope that answers your questions. You can learn more about the patented V-SOLE and bounce in general on the scorgolf.com website.