Carbite Wedges

[bowilbury]

late 90's

I remember those Carbite Wedges being popular during the late 90's, then they just disappeared. Anyone know who played them?

[Mattro]

I know Furyk used to carry at least one. Actually I think it was w/e OEM company he was withs wedge but it had a carbite insert in the face.

[bma725]

[quote name='bowilbury' date='13 March 2010 - 03:44 PM' timestamp='1268513080' post='2313757']
I remember those Carbite Wedges being popular during the late 90's, then they just disappeared. Anyone know who played them?
[/quote]

Most guys didn't play their wedges, they just had Carbite put their face insert in the wedge they already used. Back in 1998, all four major winners used wedges with the Carbite insert. Furyk as mentioned was a proponent of them for awhile. Corey Pavin used Cleveland wedges with Carbite face inserts for probably 15 years, and was still using them last I saw. They also had some success in putters, Fred Couples, Retief Goosen, Juli Inkster and others used various models in the early 2000s.

Whether they are around now is a mystery. They declared bankruptcy back in 2001 but still managed to hang on until at least 2008. Their website is still up, so someone must be running it, but they haven't updated it in years.

[5under]

[quote name='bowilbury' date='13 March 2010 - 04:44 PM' timestamp='1268513080' post='2313757']
I remember those Carbite Wedges being popular during the late 90's, then they just disappeared. Anyone know who played them?
[/quote]
I think you mean early 90's.
I have a Carbite Wedge set: Pw, Sw, Lw I purchased in the early 90's when they were the rage.
I keep them as a back up/loaner set now.
I had the face fly off the Sw and cemented back on and the top half of the Lw crack along a score line and came off.
I had that repaired also.
I could tell the Sw had something wrong with it for a few rounds before the face came off.
I was getting a different click type sound from it and the distance was inconsistent also.
I think they do impart some extra spin, but what you gain in extra spin you loose in feel.
They are still fine for loaning to a friend or family member that needs to borrow a set of clubs or wedges.
The chances are they are better than their own wedges they left at home.
I also have loaned the 56* Sw or the 60* Lw out to friends that have not tried a Sw or a Lw before.
They usually don't hit it very good the first few times because they are not used to the extra loft and extra effort that is needed to hit the shots that they used to hit their Pw on.
Once they hit a ball high enough and hard enough to see it stop next to the hole on a shot they had no chance to get it close with a Pw they are hooked.

In 2009 when I contacted Carbite to see if I could purchase another face insert for my cracked Lw face, Carbite told me that Corey Pavin purchased all the face inserts they had remaining.
I have been gaming Cleveland RTG 588 wedges for about 8 or 9 years now and they feel great.
I bet the Carbite inserts in the Cleveland wedges is a sweet combination.
Kudos to Corey Pavin for that idea.

It's hard to believe there are golfers that have not used a Sw before.
I use my Sw for about 50% of my shots 100 yards and in.
If somebody said I could only play with one of my wedges in my bag, it would be the Sw.
I can finesse my 9 iron and hood or open the face of my Sw to cover the rest of the shots.