Unofficial Titleist SM8 Wedge and WedgeWorks Review

[ZMendle10]

I am one of the many unfortunate souls who does not have access to a full in depth wedge fitting where I can try different grind, loft, and bounce options in a variety of situations as you would with a wedge. Titleist however offers an online wedge selector tool and being in the market for some new wedges I decided a little bit of help is better than buying off the rack blindly. I also wanted to give the Vokey WedgeWorks process a try as well to get some custom stamping on my wedges to treat myself as well as see what other custom options are available to make them my own. 

The WedgeWorks Selector Tool:

The online fitting tool is just as simple as any other online fitting tool and simply requires of you an honest assessment of your own golf game. The idea is that if you can give it that then you will get a relatively decent recommendation of which wedges will best suit your game. The area where I can see there being some issues down the line is the course and sand conditions that you play in. Here in New Jersey you can play the firmest conditions possible to conditions that are soft and borderline swampy so this part of the selector tool could be a murky but I you have the option to select that you play in both kinds of conditions. After it was all said and done I got recommended for a 56° S-grind with 10° of bounce and a 60° M-grind with 8° of bounce. These are the supposed to be the most versatile of grinds that Vokey has to offer and that is exactly what I need from these two wedges. My gap wedge is the stock AW that comes with the ZX7's as I only use my AW for full shots and not much else so this didn't need to be replaced. 

WedgeWorks Customization

Now that I had my wedges set in terms of loft, bounce, and grind it was time to do the final customization through Vokey WedgeWorks. I wasn't able to simply go right from my recommendations to customizing them which wasn't annoying but is something that I believe could be improved upon. I simply opened up a new tab and was off to the races with my personalized new wedges. The first step was to choose your finish, loft, bounce, grind, and finish so I went with my wedge selector recommendations and chose Slate Blue for the finish which according to some is "The Best Finish". 

The next step was where you can really spend hours upon hours of customizing your perfect set of wedges to make them your own. Here you play with all of the custom stamping options available as well as the different paint fill options you can get. There are 12 different color options, 8 character stamping options, another set of color pattern combinations not being stamped, and symbol stamping. There are plenty of ways to make these wedges your own and that is just with stamping. I didn't spend too much time with customization of my wedges since I new going in that I was going to get my dogs names stamped onto my wedges so it was just about what color worked best for the finish and how I wanted the text to look.

The next steps for creating your wedge is to choose if you want a different ferrule, shaft band,  shaft, and grip. There are plenty of options here and if you don't know the kind of shaft you want or need I recommend a quick message to Titleist customer service and they will help get you into the right shaft as best they can. This is another area where there is room for improvement because there is no message bar for customer service on the Vokey website and something like this would be very helpful. For the time being you have to go back to Titleist and message a customer service rep on that site before going back to the WedgeWorks page. I ended up going with a custom ferrule, shaft band, Vokey Tour velvet 360 flat cap grip, and Dynamic Gold S400 shaft. I did appreciate that I was able to get the grip put on the side of my clubs as I like to play around with the layers of tape and the orientation of the grip itself. 

The final steps were laser etching, swing weight, loft, length, and lie adjustments. I opted out of the laser etching and the only other adjustments I made to my wedges were to have them 1.5° upright to match my lie angle specs of my irons. If this needed to be change a simple visit to my local fitter for the lie angle machine can fix and dial this in but this would be a good place to start for me. After all of these options if there is anything that was missed you can add it in the comment section and from there you review your order and can have it placed. 

Delivery Day:

After about 8 weeks of painstakingly but somewhat patiently waiting for my wedges they arrived and the wait was worth it. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful black box that my wedges were delivered in. I always appreciate when a company has a custom box because it is not necessary to the customer but it is a nice finer touch that when unexpected is the icing on the cake and makes me a proud owner of those clubs.

 

A little thing that I liked was the shaft protector caps at the end of my wedges. Again little details like that keep me coming back again and again. 

As mentioned earlier I got my wedges stamped with my dogs names on them and Hudson is my 7 month old black lab puppy and he is on my 56° for a reason. He is my big bruiser that is does everything and anything. Plus he lovers going to the beach and digging in the sand. so naturally he is perfect for my sand wedge.

Tucker is my girlfriends little 7 year old chihuahua mix that is delicate and just likes to nestle up next to you and my 60° just needs to hit shots that nestle up nicely next to the pin.

 

Both my wedges have the same grip, ferrule, and shaft band. I went with 3 additional wraps of tape under my grip and am the feel I like for my wedges. I blew on my grips with compressed air for the time being so if I want to add so more I can. All that's left is some on course testing so I will be sure to provide updates about on course performance as well as some Arccos data on whether these new wedges improve my short game or not. More updates to come!

 

[cksurfdude]

Ha love the pics with the dogs!! 

I'm not in the market for new wedges but good info on the selection and ordering process.

[ZMendle10]

That's mostly why I did it was for the info out there. Their customer service was also fantastic and incredibly helpful. I initially ordered X100's in the wedges but after thinking it over after a week I called up and discussed the change to S400 for a bit more kick and they made sure it was so. The lead time was so long because of supply chain issues with shafts so if those issues get resolved they could have shorter lead times. 

[ZMendle10]

Initial on course testing was very surprising to say the least. I haven't had fresh wedges and fresh grooves ever in my golfing career so what I was hoping for the ball to spin an obscene amount. Now this is an unfair expectation for me as a lot of this also comes down to technique and not just sharp grooves. 

The most surprising thing so far has been the amount of pop that these have on well struck shots. The ball jumps off the face when struck in the middle and is very consistent in flight and rollout. This wasn't something I was expecting in the slightest and it did take some time to get used to. After about 2 rounds I made the appropriate adjustments to backswing on short chips and my short game has reaped the benefits. I have been finding myself getting up and down more as well as getting the ball inside the 5ft mark on those greenside chips. 

Out of the sand these wedges are fantastic as well. Confident swings are rewarded with a clubhead that just glides through the sand and soft contact with the ball. My current gamer ball is the Bridgestone Tour BX which is extra firm according to Ball Lab so a soft feel with this ball on a club that is not forged is a huge plus. So far the Vokey wedge recommender has been holding up and I am very happy with the wedges recommended for me. In terms of the finish there are zero signs of wear and tear which is what I want to see on a finish that cost me an additional $50.

More on course testing to come as I am playing Saturday afternoon and that should be my 5th or 6th round so I can start to seeing some stats through Arccos I can post about the difference between old and new wedges. 

[ZMendle10]

I've played a total of 4 rounds so far with the SM8's and so far they have not disappointed me one bit. A few things I have noticed about the SM8's in particular is the finish has been holding up very nicely so far. I have had my fair share of bunker shots and there is zero wear and tear on any part of the club face or finish. This isn't to say that it will never fade however if I can get through this summer without any crazy wear on them I will be content. 

In terms of getting up and down I have been getting up and down with ease from all kinds of lies. I had 7 up and downs and 2 of them were from the sand in one round and on average I have been getting up and down about 5 times a round. I have had my doubts about the wedge selector picking the right grind and bounce for me at first but all of those doubts have been put to bed. 

Another thing that I have noticed for the first time is the importance of fresh sharp grooves. I always knew it was important but actually seeing it is what really drove it home as I was able to stop all my shots quickly without them running away and seeing someone with older wedges have their shots roll for miles. This was most evident on 30-50 yard pitch shots where my shots would simply bounce and come to a quick stop but my playing partners would roll out and away from the hole. This isn't something exclusive to Vokey wedges but more for anyone who wonders if sharp grooves really make that much of a difference they absolutely do.

[ZMendle10]

With a full season under the wedges belt and the pending release of the SM9's I think a little update is in order.

Spin Update: These things still have more than enough grip to them when called upon. I have played a little over 30 rounds with them and hit thousands upon thousands of shots in practice and they still perform. The best shot I hit with my 56°  was about 60 yards out uphill and downwind and i hit a low spinner that was coming in hot hit the green and stopped immediately. It looked like a bladed wedge but grabbed the green and didn't let go. 

WedgeWorks Update: I have had absolutely no issues with either grind or bounce that WedgeWorks has recommended for me. Bunker shots are an absolute breeze and shots around the green are just as dialed in. I have chipped in twice from around the green so far with my 56° and once with my 60°. Could the argument be made that an in person fitting would produce still better results? Of course it can but I did not have that luxury and so the online recomendations have been money so no complaints here and I will definitely be using it again if need be. 

Finish update: Unsurprisingly but still disappointingly the finish is starting to wear on both my 56° and my 60°.  Almost all of the wear is happening on the sole of the club and this is to be expected. Most of the damage done here is out of the bunkers and anyone expecting a perfect finish the whole life of the wedge would have to never be in a bunker their entire career. Below are some images of the wear and tear on them over the course of the season as well as some before and after images to show the change. 

 

Final thoughts: I would absolutely use the WedgeWorks tool again and get an idea of which grinds would work best for me regardless of whether I am getting a new vokey wedge or not. I would also take that knowledge and get fitted to see how the two results would compare. I would still do the customization all over again as I like to have my things personalized to some degree. However, I don't think that I would go with the slate blue again. As beautiful as it is and how nice and different it looks it looks I did it once and that was enough for me. It is an additional $50.00 and it doesn't look as great with the wear although I view the wear as a badge of honor. In the future I would be looking more at the Raw finish because it looks great in it's own way, rust is a good look for it, and I would still have the ability to do a bit of grind work I if I see fit. 

[ZMendle10]

Interesting note on the 56° S grind. I find it fantastic out of the bunkers but very tough to hit on short sided chips. However, those shots are where the M grind on my 60° seems to shine through. Just a few observations here after nearly 65+ rounds with them.

[ZMendle10]

Went to a Taylormade Demo Day and tried out some new wedges for my 56° since the grooves are getting a bit dull. I should be able to get this season out of them but next year they are gonna need to be replaced for sure. I ended up trying a few different grinds on the MG3 from the standard to the Tiger grind and everything in between. I ended up in Taylormade's version of what i already have so this definitely adds some validity to the wedge selector tool that Titleist offers. So for anyone who can't get to an actual wedge fitting the wedge selector tool is for sure gonna get you about 90% of the way there if you are honest about your ability and conditions playing in.

[jglynch]

I went to a local golf shop and got fitted just for a 52° wedge. I wound up in a Vokey SM8 at Christmas last year instead of going into the SM9. The small difference in the two wedges made a big difference in my shot performance.  It was nice to see the difference between, the Vokey, Taylormade, Cleveland, Callaway wedges. I went in expecting to get a Cleveland wedge but the Vokey was the most consistent and best ball flight for my eye. 

[ZMendle10]

1 hour ago, jglynch said:

I went to a local golf shop and got fitted just for a 52° wedge. I wound up in a Vokey SM8 at Christmas last year instead of going into the SM9. The small difference in the two wedges made a big difference in my shot performance.  It was nice to see the difference between, the Vokey, Taylormade, Cleveland, Callaway wedges. I went in expecting to get a Cleveland wedge but the Vokey was the most consistent and best ball flight for my eye. 

That's awesome to hear, plus you should have saved a bit of money with the SM8 over the SM9! What were the bounce and grind specs for the 52 you got fitted into?

[Ryan Marshall]

On 1/30/2023 at 1:18 PM, ZMendle10 said:

Interesting note on the 56° S grind. I find it fantastic out of the bunkers but very tough to hit on short sided chips. However, those shots are where the M grind on my 60° seems to shine through. Just a few observations here after nearly 65+ rounds with them.

Interesting. I got fit into the same bounce and loft online. I bought the 60m but waited on the 54-56s. I imagined that the S would be good for bump and run. 

[ZMendle10]

2 hours ago, Ryan Marshall said:

Interesting. I got fit into the same bounce and loft online. I bought the 60m but waited on the 54-56s. I imagined that the S would be good for bump and run. 

this is typically what I use my S grind for. I find it tough to use the bounce with this grind but I do enjoy it with straight forward greenside chips that need to run out a bit more than the 60°

[Ryan Marshall]

13 minutes ago, ZMendle10 said:

this is typically what I use my S grind for. I find it tough to use the bounce with this grind but I do enjoy it with straight forward greenside chips that need to run out a bit more than the 60°

Great to know. What about full shots in your experience?

[ZMendle10]

2 hours ago, Ryan Marshall said:

Great to know. What about full shots in your experience?

I really like it on full shots and feel that's where it shines the brightest for me. I also don't have a hard time hitting any yardages outside of 40yds either. I just find it tough to maneuver the face around grass so i just use my 60° M grind for those shots. I will say the S grind does very well out of greenside bunkers though and its easy to use the sole in those situations. 

[ZMendle10]

On Monday I played at the course I used to caddy at and the rough was on the thicker side there. This really brought the deficiencies of the wedges to light as I was really having a tough time getting some spin on the ball around the greens. Nothing that I couldn't play with but compared to a county course the ball was for sure rolling out a bit more than what I was expecting it to.  I would say that Titleist is accurate on saying they should be replaced about every 75 rounds depending on practice because that's where I'm at roughly and I put a ton of practice in with them on partial shots. I'm torn if I should just order new ones of the same specs or take the trip out to MA for a fitting as I have never been truly fit for wedges before and think it would be an amazing experience. 

[ZMendle10]

*Quick update*

The SM8's have been out of the bag for a few months now and have served their purpose for my golf game. I have moved on to the Sub70 TAIII's which I was fortunate enough to test and liked them so much that they have a permanent spot in my bag. The main reason for this decision is that the SM8's were nearing the end of their life cycle and the fresh grooves from the TAIII's was a welcomed change.  These wedges still have some life left in them and I am saving them for a travel bag that I am slowly building. 

As a final thought I still think fondly of the M grind on my 60° and I truly think that for me it was the best wedge for my style of play.  Feel free to check out my review of the TAIII's through my signature.