Wedge Tests

[emc]

Has IronByron done any tests on wedges to see which spins the most or is there any way of telling?

[teak]

Todays Golfer Magazine did some 56 degree wedge tests using radar tracking in May, but with a PGA Pro. Not sure what ball was used. Some of the results:

 

MD Golf Players Nickel --- 7,872 rpm (carry 88, height 24)

Nike SV -------------------- 7,220 rpm (carry 87, height 23)

Wilson Staff Fw6 Forged - 7,105 rpm (carry 88, height 23)

Ping Tour Black Nickel --- 6,944 rpm (carry 89, height 23)

Callaway X Tour ---------- 6,414 rpm (carry 96, height 26)

TaylorMade RAC TP ------ 6,331 rpm (carry 94, height 24)

Mizuno MP-T series ------- 6,238 rpm (carry 98, height 25)

Cleveland CG11 ---------- 5,866 rpm (carry 103, height 27)

Cleveland 588 DSG ------ 5,415 rpm (carry 99, height 26)

[Viking Golfer]

Todays Golfer Magazine did some 56 degree wedge tests using radar tracking in May, but with a PGA Pro. Not sure what ball was used. Some of the results:

 

MD Golf Players Nickel --- 7,872 rpm (carry 88, height 24)

Nike SV -------------------- 7,220 rpm (carry 87, height 23)

Wilson Staff Fw6 Forged - 7,105 rpm (carry 88, height 23)

Ping Tour Black Nickel --- 6,944 rpm (carry 89, height 23)

Callaway X Tour ---------- 6,414 rpm (carry 96, height 26)

TaylorMade RAC TP ------ 6,331 rpm (carry 94, height 24)

Mizuno MP-T series ------- 6,238 rpm (carry 98, height 25)

Cleveland CG11 ---------- 5,866 rpm (carry 103, height 27)

Cleveland 588 DSG ------ 5,415 rpm (carry 99, height 26)

 

Holy mackerel :diablo: :yess:

 

How can the new 588 DSG wedge be last in the spin test - they are supposed to both spin the ball more and have a better grind - wow.......any DSG users out there with a comment on this ;)

[teak]

The 588 DSG actually came 3rd overall in their review, even though it wasn't the highest spin. X Tour was 1st, MP T-Series 2nd.

[teak]

Today's Golfer have their 2007 wedge roundup this month. 56 deg wedges with FlightScope results from a Pro (Dan Frost?) doing ~100yd shots. Also amateur testers giving their input on shots around the green. Again no mention of what ball was used and backspin numbers seem low. They wouldn't of used range balls would they? Ironically they state the backspin reading is the most important in their test to look at, so here are the top wedges in backspin order:

Callaway X-Forged ----------: 4942rpm, 100yds, 77ft, (Gold Award)
Yonex Cyberstar T-1 --------: 4940rpm, 99yds, 77ft
Cleveland CG12 -------------: 4827rpm, 103yds, 76ft, (Bronze Award)
Ben Sayers M2 --------------: 4449rpm, 104yds, 75ft
Benross Innovator ----------: 4325rpm, 104yds, 78ft
Nike SV Tour ----------------: 4208rpm, 103yds, 71ft
Titleist Vokey SM -----------: 3985rpm, 101yds, 74ft (Silver Award)
Taylormade TP Satin -------: 3978rpm, 104yds, 74ft
MD Golf Norman Drew -----: 3824rpm, 99yds, 72ft
Srixon WG-706 -------------: 3824rpm, 103yds, 72ft
Wilson Staff TW7 -----------: 3639rpm, 103yds, 74ft
Mizuno R-Series ------------: 3554rpm, 102yds, 78ft
MacGreggor Tour Forged --: 3544rpm, 101yds, 71ft
Ping Tour-W ----------------: 3371rpm, 102yds, 77ft
Snake Eyes 655TM --------: 3251rpm, 104yds, 79ft

Nice to see the likes of the X-Forged, SM, CG12 this time. Shame no Scratch, SMT, Tom Wishon, Eidolon, Solus, Fourteen or Gauge Design wedges. Although admittedly, non of those wedges are widely known over here yet. Would also of been nice to know the golf ball used and see some robotic testing for bit of consistency and confirmation, alongside the human testing. Can't you rent Iron Byrons?

Anyone got the spin numbers from the recent Golf Magazine wedge test?

[golfernut78]

from the sonartec yo-yo groove thread:
[quote name='golfernut78' post='767386' date='Oct 25 2007, 06:00 PM']here are numbers from golf magazine:

november 2006 - tests done from 75 yards out on a fairway lie, with 56* wedge and titliest nxt tour ball

- cleveland 588 dsg - 7840 rpm 35.6 LA

- mizuno mp-r - 8359 rpm 35.5 LA

- ben hogan apex - 8428 rpm 32.9 LA

- ping iwedge - 7454 rpm 35.3 LA

september 2007 - tests done from 75 yards out on a fairway lie, with 56* wedge and callaway hx red ball

- bridgestone wc design - 7687 rpm 30.81 LA

- cleveland cg 12 - 8155 rpm 30.83 LA

- nickent arc - 7908 rpm 30.21 LA

- sonartec t46 - 8339 rpm 30.68 LA

also, in the november 2006 they compared the cleveland dsg 56* from the fairway and rough:

- fairway: 7840 rpm 35.6 LA
- rough: 4923 rpm 40.1 LA

sorry, all the other issues with the other wedges didn't have spin numbers so can't compare to the vokey's or callaway's. i can't imagine that the yo yo grooves are different between the t46 and t35 so the sonartec wedges have some good spin.[/quote]

[golfernut78]

december 2007 issue of golf magazine comparing 60* wedges with a robot at golf labs using a pro-v1 ball (in order of least to most spin):
wedge: total distance, launch angle, max height, descent angle, spin

ping tour: 76.3y 41.7* 72.3' 54.3* 8,801 rpm
mizuno mp-r: 77.7y 37.4* 67.0' 52.3* 11,076 rpm
cleveland cg12: 74.3y 37.6* 66.2' 55.2* 11,204 rpm
nike sv tour: 77.8y 37.8* 63.2' 49.9* 11,305 rpm
taylormade rac satin tp: 7 9.5y 36.9* 69.7' 53.8* 11,321 rpm
titleist vokey spin milled: 77.5y 37.6* 64.7' 51.9* 11,491 rpm

[RedGripGuy]

I would buy into the last article the most. No, not because the SM won my a whopping 170 rpms but because the numbers are much closer. With the exception of the Ping (no clue why), all the wedges are within 415 rpms of each other. That's barely 4%. The other tests have much larger spreads, 30-50%. And what ball did they use for the other tests? I mean, 3200 rpms? You can almost get that much out of a driver! Using a proper ball could've changed the rankings as well as increasing the numbers.