SMT Durometer Wedges?

apocalypsem3 · May 10, 2006

How do they stack up?

I am currently looking to buy Bridgestone J33 Wedges, but I came across SMT Durometer Wedges while reading some posts. Does anybody know this company and their wedges? If so, how do SMT wedges compare in feel, spin, ball flight, and looks to other mainstream wedges (preferably Bridgestone J33 Wedges)? Thanks alot.

rge · May 10, 2006

I currently use SMT durometer wedges (black) at the moment. I like them alot. Spin is phenomenal due to the double milled face. Somewhat comparable to a nail file. They do chew up golf balls with soft covers more than other wedges on full wedge shots. This is to be expected given the face configuration. Head shape is traditional. I use both the 52* and the 57*. The back portion of the heel on the 57 will need to be ground down a bit by your club fitter because the stock setup does not lend itself well to opening up the face on a lob shot for example. I was impressed with the feel because I also currently use mizuno wedges and the SMT's are every bit as soft even if they are using stainless steel. In fact, despite the fact that they are cast heads, they can be adjusted for loft and lie as much as forged heads allow. Ball flight is fine for me. I have rifle shafts installed. The one thing I observed is that on pitch shots and even on long chips, you need to target closer to the pin because the balls check and stop much quicker. I actually like being able to agressively go for the pin because there is less chance of the ball just running away after the first bounce. Hope this helps.

lysaght68 · May 10, 2006

Very nice looking wedges with good feel and spin when I had a chance to demo a couple. I'm not completely certain but I believe RGE may be mistaken about the lie adjustability of the Durometers. I wanted to order two last summer and I posted a question about having them bent upright 2 degrees on the SMT website forum, Mike Tait (President/founder of SMT) e-mailed me personally to say that because of the vibration dampening material built into the hosels the Durometers could not be bent. My guess is that if lie adjustments might only occasionally result in problems SMT would advise against it even if it could be done successfully, SMT clubheads come with a lifetime warranty against defects, which is phenominal, and I would imagine that bending the Durometers would void the warranty (not the case with the 303 series irons). I did not inquire about loft adjustment so they may be amenable to loft adjustments.

hayam · May 10, 2006

I tried , spin is excellent. however build is pretty rough.

A little offset in the wedge. The wedge is sharp and to me it digs

J33 is definitely alot better.

rge · May 10, 2006

I cannot refute what lysaght68 posted. If Mike Tait told him so then that may be the case. My basis for saying what I said is because I have seen the SMT dealer here change the loft on the wedges as they do to the irons as well. The heads are made of 303 stainless and these are quite pliant. This is not to say that the dealer here is doing things to the heads that they probably shouldn't be doing at least with regards to the wedges.