BGT Zne Wedge Shaft

[Rtracymog]

On 11/10/2022 at 5:55 PM, Hoyoymac said:

Built up a lob wedge this week with a BGT ZNE 130g shaft and a Corey Paul wedge head.

Took it to the practice chipping area and went through my shag bag filled with 50 Bridgestone Tour BRX balls three times.  

Put it up against another Corey Paul lob wedge built up with a KBS Tour V 125g stiff wedge shaft that also has a ProSoft vibration dampener installed.  Grips were the same SuperStroke Traxion wrap black midsize.

Also compared it to a cobra King Snakebite 58 with a stock KBS Hi Rev 2.0 Stiff shaft.

All three wedges have similar lofts, bounce, length, lie angle and sole grinds.

On the Chipping green the performance was good for all three.  Not a lot of difference except for the contact spot on the face of the wedge with the BGT ZNE shaft was noticeably smaller and more consistent.

The feel of the BGT ZNE shafted wedge was very stable, balanced and contact felt crisp while also being very smooth and was my first choice based on feel. The KBS Tour V shafted wedge with the Pro Soft insert was a close second.  The Cobra wedge had a bit firmer feel overall compared to the other two but performed very well.

Next I went to the adjacent range and started to hit partial swing pitch shots.  This is where the  BGT ZNE shaft started to show itself.  Consistency of start line, front to back and side to side dispersion was better.

Full swing shots were even better.  I definitely felt like my start lines were better and I was just knocking down the pins with the BGT ZNE shafted wedge.

Overall I was encouraged.  I will take it out to the course again next week for another practice round and then give it a trial by fire on the course.

Sounds like encouraging results! How are the Corey Paul wedge heads? I've seen some blanks for sale at a good price to do some stamping on and I haven't known anyone who has played them before. Also, did swing weight need to be adjusted for the BGT shaft when doing the re-shaft?

Edited November 12, 2022 by Rtracymog

[Hoyoymac]

4 hours ago, Rtracymog said:

Sounds like encouraging results! How are the Corey Paul wedge heads? I've seen some blanks for sale at a good price to do some stamping on and I haven't known anyone who has played them before. Also, did swing weight need to be adjusted for the BGT shaft when doing the re-shaft?

The Corey Paul wedge heads are very nice.  Great shaping. Traditional blade style. Soft forgings.  Raw steel. Very versatile sole grind.  Easy to bend.  Great feel.  I highly recommend them!

[Hoyoymac]

Swing weight with the BGT ZNE shaft was good. No adjustments were needed when used with the SuperStroke Traxion Wrap Midsize grip which is light for its size.

The overall balance of the club was excellent as well.  

Will be putting it into play today for 18 holes of golf with our Men’s Golf Association points game.

[Hoyoymac]

Put the new BGT ZNE shaft into play yesterday and was very pleased with the results. 

Got up and down 80% of the time.  Shot 75, good for low gross.  Won two skins and tied for second in the points game.

Chipping and pitching with it was outstanding, but I did not have any chances to use a full swing with it as I kept being either a little too close or a little too far for that yardage. 

My feeling after using the shaft during a full round is how precise it is.

Will play another round with it today. 

[Bogeys ov]

So bare with me as this is my first post, but I hope this will help BGT and was curious if you all have noticed the same issues...

So I also watched the video and had to try these shafts! the dispersion element was most interesting and I couldnt pass up the opportunity. So I had my DG TI S400's pulled and put the BGT ZNE 130 in my new Cleveland RTX Zipcore wedges(58 & 54). 

My initial reaction was that they felt VERY stable(stiff) which is what I was looking for and expected. I went out and practiced/played I ended up loveing them as I found that they truly did help with my dispersion and did not impact my feel and touch around the greens/bunkers. They actually gave me extra confidence out of the rough as I play in SC and our course has very deep/think Bermuda rough and I felt as I did not have to worry about the face shutting down. But here come the unfortunate part.... 

After less than a month totaling 15-20 hours of practice and 4 or 5 rounds I noticed that the my shots were starting to be very inconsistent and I could not figure out what was wrong to save my life. Then one day on the range I noticed that the shafts looked bent in the tip section. Unfortunately, both of the shafts had failed at the connection point had bent backwards. The shop I use had some new ones that they were going to swap but upon further examination we noticed that all of the shafts(including the unused ones) were not straight and when rolled was very noticeable. They reached out to BGT and they replaced all of their inventory with new goods but the replacements also had the same issue.

I really did love the way these shafts felt and played but I will have a hard time trying them again as I have lost confidence in the quality/durability... it was an expensive experiment so I will let others test until they can get the kinks ironed out. 

Has anyone else noticed these issues?

[Rtracymog]

On 2/17/2023 at 7:19 AM, Jreggan29 said:

So bare with me as this is my first post, but I hope this will help BGT and was curious if you all have noticed the same issues...

So I also watched the video and had to try these shafts! the dispersion element was most interesting and I couldnt pass up the opportunity. So I had my DG TI S400's pulled and put the BGT ZNE 130 in my new Cleveland RTX Zipcore wedges(58 & 54). 

My initial reaction was that they felt VERY stable(stiff) which is what I was looking for and expected. I went out and practiced/played I ended up loveing them as I found that they truly did help with my dispersion and did not impact my feel and touch around the greens/bunkers. They actually gave me extra confidence out of the rough as I play in SC and our course has very deep/think Bermuda rough and I felt as I did not have to worry about the face shutting down. But here come the unfortunate part.... 

After less than a month totaling 15-20 hours of practice and 4 or 5 rounds I noticed that the my shots were starting to be very inconsistent and I could not figure out what was wrong to save my life. Then one day on the range I noticed that the shafts looked bent in the tip section. Unfortunately, both of the shafts had failed at the connection point had bent backwards. The shop I use had some new ones that they were going to swap but upon further examination we noticed that all of the shafts(including the unused ones) were not straight and when rolled was very noticeable. They reached out to BGT and they replaced all of their inventory with new goods but the replacements also had the same issue.

I really did love the way these shafts felt and played but I will have a hard time trying them again as I have lost confidence in the quality/durability... it was an expensive experiment so I will let others test until they can get the kinks ironed out. 

Has anyone else noticed these issues?

Thanks for the feedback. Were you hitting a lot of full shots with them? I hit a ton of full shots with my wedges and this is concerning.

[Bogeys ov]

11 hours ago, Rtracymog said:

Thanks for the feedback. Were you hitting a lot of full shots with them? I hit a ton of full shots with my wedges and this is concerning.

No problem, I'm sure its not the feedback you were hoping for but I hope it helps. And yes like you I hit a lot of full shots with my wedges. The 54 was bent A LOT more than the 58, but I also hit a lot more full shots with the 54. 

We reached out to BGT and the rep actually mentioned they knew about the issue but thought they had fixed it and that the bad inventory had been replaced. He asked us to send back all the shafts(even the replacements) so they could get them to their research team. We are waiting a phone call from BGT on what to do moving forward as we do not want to keep replacing shafts every 4-6 weeks.

I most likely will give them one more run and see how they hold up but if they fail again I'll probably give up on that idea. If/when I them again I'll let you know how they hold up!

[ellomdian]

On 2/17/2023 at 5:19 AM, Bogeys ov said:

So bare with me as this is my first post, but I hope this will help BGT and was curious if you all have noticed the same issues...

Well now you've got me in a bit of a worry - I just got my Zipcore 60 yesterday and I'm expecting a BGT 130 in the mail tomorrow. So check for straightness before install and after the first few range days?

I came here to ask if anyone who had done an install already had any tips, I'd prefer not to mess up a nearly-$200 shaft if I can avoid it.

[Bogeys ov]

7 minutes ago, ellomdian said:

Well now you've got me in a bit of a worry - I just got my Zipcore 60 yesterday and I'm expecting a BGT 130 in the mail tomorrow. So check for straightness before install and after the first few range days?

I came here to ask if anyone who had done an install already had any tips, I'd prefer not to mess up a nearly-$200 shaft if I can avoid it.

Yeah I would double check everything before you install and after a few range sessions. If you roll the shaft on a table(must be level) you'll notice quickly if it has an issues in the tip section. 

Good luck! I'm hoping they got it all fixed as I really did like them.

[ellomdian]

*Really* pleased with how the 130 looks on the new RTX6. Can't wait to throw some balls downrange in the morning when the epoxy full cures.

Edited February 23 by ellomdian

[ellomdian]

They feel amazing... until your 110mph instructor gets hold of one and throws the head 100 yds downrange on the 3rd or 4th swing!!! Just completely ripped the shaft clean out of the joint.

I thought the tips were supposed to be installed 'clean' but I'd really like to ensure that I don't have any more unexpected slippage. I cleaned the coating off and cut some small fillet notches a few thou deep around it in hopes and prayers for the epoxy to bite harder.

[cnosil]

51 minutes ago, ellomdian said:

I thought the tips were supposed to be installed 'clean' but I'd really like to ensure that I don't have any more unexpected slippage. I cleaned the coating off and cut some small fillet notches a few thou deep around it in hopes and prayers for the epoxy to bite harder.

 

The tip looks like it wasn't prepped for installation and surprised there is no epoxy on the shaft.   You don't need to cut any notches in the shaft to make it work.   Prepping a shaft just requires roughing up both the tip of the shaft and the inside of the hosel.   There are plenty of videos on youtube that will show you how. 

[Rtracymog]

4 hours ago, cnosil said:

The tip looks like it wasn't prepped for installation and surprised there is no epoxy on the shaft.   You don't need to cut any notches in the shaft to make it work.   Prepping a shaft just requires roughing up both the tip of the shaft and the inside of the hosel.   There are plenty of videos on youtube that will show you how. 

Agreed. You can see the tip looks black in the photo where the head came off and silver when he cut the extra notches. I know that the guy I use always made a little mark with the claw of a hammer to help ensure a strong bond.

[ellomdian]

5 hours ago, cnosil said:

The tip looks like it wasn't prepped for installation and surprised there is no epoxy on the shaft.   You don't need to cut any notches in the shaft to make it work.   Prepping a shaft just requires roughing up both the tip of the shaft and the inside of the hosel.   There are plenty of videos on youtube that will show you how. 

Well, yeah, I didn't prep the tip - I was just under the distinct impression that the coating was supposed to be left on for these. Notching is likely unnecessary, but ensuring that I don't punt another head downrange for the foreseeable future is cheap insurance for my clubfitting rep 

[ashmore72]

Have these in my SMS wedges, and I could no be more happy with them.  Full shots (even tho they advertise not to do this) feel amazing.  Stable is the best way to describe this.  You can feel the head and shaft at all times.  That is something you cannot pay enough for.  On chip shots, they are just like the putter shaft.  They let you know when you hit it off center.  But when  you make perfect contact its like butter.  The best thing I noticed was my dispersion was less than 10 yards in circumference.  That makes a huge difference when you are 110 out with a 54*.  Confidence is the word that comes to mind. 

I would say to anyone that is thinking about these, just do it.  I know they are not for everyone but they will def give you more confidence if you lack that in your short game.