Kirkland Wedges

DMDoran · July 30, 2021

On something of a whim (and because I lost two of my Vokeys!) I decided to buy the Kirkland Signature Wedges to give them a tryout. Happy I did.

The big beef against them was their stock quality versus fitted to your swing and distances (loft, bounce, grind). The set includes 52, 56, and 60 degrees. That’s it, so you bend to their specs. Those lofts actually work for me, so no problem. The gap and sand wedges are 10 bounce, and the lob wedge is an 8 (see pic). These were slightly different than my fitted Vokey wedges, but I figured for that price it was worth a test drive.

The short answer is that I really like them a lot. Absolutely loved the 60 degree from the start—great feel to it, great spin, easy to use around the greens. The sand wedge was solid too. Lots of rain around here lately, so bunkers are not in the best shape, but it is a good sand wedge (and most of the problems have been mine, not the club’s!). The gap wedge has taken a little bit of adjustment. The bounce was different and I struggled with digging the leading edge in too deeply at first. Now that I’ve used it a bit, it’s proving to be a solid club too.

The clubs are a little heavier than my Vokey wedges. I still have my 48 degree so the difference is noticeable, but not enough to mess me up. All of them produce more spin and check up than my Titleists did. That has pushed me to adjust how far I fly the ball, but it has also improved my short game. I feel like I don’t have to manufacture spin so my swings are more consistent. Pretty consistent roll out on short chips around the green. Overall they have helped me tighten up around the greens. Was very pleasantly surprised by that.

Three concerns: (1) the plastic cap above the hosel on the 52 came loose pretty quickly, but went back in place easily; (2) they seem to show signs of wear in the groove lines already (although I have been giving them a pretty good workout); and (3) I have noticed occasional damage to the cover of my golf balls that seems to have come from the sharp grooves on the wedges. They are legal grooves, so maybe it is just the trade off for more spin (or an anomaly).

FWIW, Rick Shiels did a review and gave them a 9 out of 10, based on solid performance at a very good price. I agree. In fact, I really think I like them more than my Vokey wedges. I’d you don’t mind questions about using an off brand, they may be worth checking out.

cnosil · July 30, 2021

The wedges seem to be getting great reviews. TXG also did a review of the wedges and were really impressed with the quality and performance. I think this shows that you can get good quality equipment at affordable prices.

SonOfJeepers · July 30, 2021

Does anyone know if these can be bent, or is the steel too brittle?

I'm currently playing 50, 56, 60 in super cheap Wilson Harmonized wedges. I have the Kirkland's coming in the mail, but I'm worried about the gap from PW (cavity back) to the 52.

Either I get this bent to 50, or I have to learn to hit a knock-down PW to fill the gap.

RollingGreens · July 30, 2021

50 minutes ago, cnosil said:

The wedges seem to be getting great reviews. TXG also did a review of the wedges and were really impressed with the quality and performance. I think this shows that you can get good quality equipment at affordable prices.

The was a great video that TXG did also. Some of those spin numbers were . I’d like to try them just to see what they are truly like. It may be nice to have as a backup set espescially with practice. I’d have to really look at the specs compared to my vokeys

RollingGreens · July 30, 2021

1 minute ago, Riverboat said:

Oh my God, don't let the gear snobs see this comment. They'll line you up for a firing squad consisting of prov1's (that's the only ball there is, right?) fired at you with irons costing at least $1200 or drivers costing at least $499 (because any club costing less is embarrassing and also very likely to disintegrate after approximately 4 shots, most likely taking your hands and arms with it.)

Quality gear can be any price. It doesn’t have to be expensive to be good. The only place price and quality apply is the Japanese market where if it’s not expensive they don’t think it’s good golf equipment. I do think like all equipment their will be positives and negatives. I never thought I would get to the point of being a golf ball snob but I’ve seen the positives for the higher quality balls vs the lower. I’d rather donate the lower quality balls I find. No one how these wedges will hold up in the long run. It is important though for the game of golf to be affordable, it needs to be inclusive and not exclusive. Having a lower price point can also keep other suppliers in check if Kirkland is able to make a big enough dent selling the wedge box.

cnosil · July 30, 2021

12 minutes ago, Riverboat said:

Oh my God, don't let the gear snobs see this comment. They'll line you up for a firing squad consisting of prov1's (that's the only ball there is, right?) fired at you with irons costing at least $1200 or drivers costing at least $499 (because any club costing less is embarrassing and also very likely to disintegrate after approximately 4 shots, most likely taking your hands and arms with it.)

This isn't WRX ; at MGS we typically lean toward performance over price and brand.

DMDoran · July 30, 2021

On 7/30/2021 at 11:47 AM, SonOfJeepers said:

Does anyone know if these can be bent, or is the steel too brittle?

I'm currently playing 50, 56, 60 in super cheap Wilson Harmonized wedges. I have the Kirkland's coming in the mail, but I'm worried about the gap from PW (cavity back) to the 52.

Either I get this bent to 50, or I have to learn to hit a knock-down PW to fill the gap.

I read in a couple of places that they can be bent and someone referenced a friend who had them bent at a PGA store, so sounds like it. FWIW, I have found that my Kirklands actually fly farther than my Titleists did (almost 10 yards), so I’d hit some shots before getting it bent.

Added anecdote: Played with a friend on Saturday and he tested the 60 degree a couple of times. He definitely got more distance than his usual 60 degree.

Edited August 2, 2021 by DMDoran
Update

SonOfJeepers · August 3, 2021

On 7/30/2021 at 5:50 PM, DMDoran said:

I read in a couple of places that they can be bent and someone referenced a friend who had them bent at a PGA store, so sounds like it. FWIW, I have found that my Kirklands actually fly farther than my Titleists did (almost 10 yards), so I’d hit some shots before getting it bent.

Added anecdote: Played with a friend on Saturday and he tested the 60 degree a couple of times. He definitely got more distance than his usual 60 degree.

Thanks.

I'll give them a few range sessions and rounds to see how they fit in my gapping. Currently I have a decent gap between my cavity back 46deg PW and my bladed 50deg wedge. I'm trying to figure out the correct knock-down shots with both to make hitting the green (or at least distance to) a bit more automatic.

ST3LTR0 · September 2, 2021

On 7/30/2021 at 8:59 AM, cnosil said:

The wedges seem to be getting great reviews. TXG also did a review of the wedges and were really impressed with the quality and performance. I think this shows that you can get good quality equipment at affordable prices.

I think the real question with all of these affordable but quality products coming out is how much pressure are the larger OEM's feeling with their prices as the word of mouth keeps getting bigger pushing more folk to buy the affordable options. I mean PXG pretty much flipped their market around (to an extent) recently and I'm curious if that was because they realized the push to be a direct to consumer option was actually fairly profitable. Are they the best option? No probably not but they are far from the worst in most cases. If Kirkland put out more options or at least better shaft options than I'd be more willing to consider.

cnosil · September 2, 2021

5 minutes ago, ST3LTR0 said:

I think the real question with all of these affordable but quality products coming out is how much pressure are the larger OEM's feeling with their prices as the word of mouth keeps getting bigger pushing more folk to buy the affordable options. I mean PXG pretty much flipped their market around (to an extent) recently and I'm curious if that was because they realized the push to be a direct to consumer option was actually fairly profitable. Are they the best option? No probably not but they are far from the worst in most cases. If Kirkland put out more options or at least better shaft options than I'd be more willing to consider.

It comes down to market…. There will be players that pick clubs that their favorite pro hits, there will be the one brand player, the off the rack with no fitting, the I just want cheap equipment, those that want multiple options from the OEM, and those willing to change a shaft and maybe take a grinder to it. The Kirkland brand fits a niche market and on the positive side, they are a decent club. Are the going to win the MGS most wanted wedge? No, they they may come away with best value; probably a tossup between Kirkland and Sub70. Just finished most wanted testing and I have o agree with the reviews. Their putter is a solid club and for the price the ball isnt to bad especially if you are looking for high spin.

ST3LTR0 · September 2, 2021

2 minutes ago, cnosil said:

It comes down to market…. There will be players that pick clubs that their favorite pro hits, there will be the one brand player, the off the rack with no fitting, the I just want cheap equipment, those that want multiple options from the OEM, and those willing to change a shaft and maybe take a grinder to it. The Kirkland brand fits a niche market and on the positive side, they are a decent club. Are the going to win the MGS most wanted wedge? No, they they may come away with best value; probably a tossup between Kirkland and Sub70. Just finished most wanted testing and I have o agree with the reviews. Their putter is a solid club and for the price the ball isnt to bad especially if you are looking for high spin.

Funny you mention a grinder because as soon as they announced these clubs that's the first thing I though of buying a grinder for. For that price it seems like a great unintentional market for amateur club tweakers who want to play around with clubs. I've definitely been tempted to pick up a set do a little bending, grinding, and install some shafts just to play around a bit. I know the market for large OEM's will always be out their. Just more so curious if they too will start to release more affordable products rather than try to fill that market with their previous years clubs "on sale". The market would be in good place if everyone could keep product on the shelf and the pandemic wasn't hurting everyone.

berkeleybob · September 4, 2021

I’ve been curious about Kirkland clubs—are they an OEM’s club under a different name? You know, like the Safeway generic soda is really Royal Crown, etc., could they be Wilson’s or Tommy Armour’s?