Sub70 TAIII Wedges - 2023 Forum Review

[GolfSpy_APH]

Testers Announced! Sub70 TAIII Wedges!

Sub 70 Golf was created to give golfers access to the highest quality and newest technology golf clubs available in the market, and to do so at a fraction of the cost of larger companies.

They don't have an advertising budget, and there is no third party selling our clubs and marking up prices to ensure their own profit.

Sub 70 Golf is located in Sycamore, Illinois, and the people that started Sub 70 are also the people that build your clubs, answer your calls, and play a lot of golf.

Those same people believe that golfers should not have to feel the need to spend a small fortune on new golf clubs every six months in order to feel like they can keep up.

Sub70 take pride in their clubs, and stand for their values. If for any reason you're not satisfied with your clubs, let them know and they will make it right.

The TAIII wedge is an addition and complement to the award winning TAIII irons. Created with both reliability and versatility in mind, the TAIII golf wedge can play every shot: high, low, high spin or low spin. Meant for those with creativity around the greens, the Tommy Armour III Tour Milled wedges are the precision made tools of a short game artist.

Please welcome and congratulate our testers!

@MaxEntropy
@DonnieGolfs
@ZMendle10
@CB Lobo 4 Life

[MaxEntropy]

Introduction

First of all, a huge thanks to MyGolfSpy and Sub70. I love being a part of these tests and trying to see if the product will benefit us “average Joes”. By my count, this is the 7th test I have been a part of (the Bridgestone full bag test from a while back had 2 different write-ups, so I count it as 2) and every time I have been selected, there is still the same excitement.

I tend to get wordy in these things, so I will try to keep things brief. My name is Blake. I am currently 55 years old (where has all the time gone?!?!?!) and typically play once or twice per week. I have lived in Akron, OH since 1997, so I guess I am now obligated to call it home since I have lived here longer than anywhere else (born and raised in Vancouver, WA, moved to Columbia, MO for grad school in 1991). If you are interested in more details about me or my game, my most recent review of the Callaway Epic Speed can be found here. Here is a pic of me and my wife from New Years’ Eve last year.

I suck at selfies and I’m not terribly photogenic – either that or I really look that bad – hard to say.

We have two daughters (22 and 24) who are both done with college. The oldest has a good job and the youngest just graduated with her masters in May and has just started the job search.

We also have a "differently-abled" cat name Bennett that we adopted during the pandemic. He's a great little guy and can still be quite playful, even without front paws.

We are fortunate to have no shortage of quality golf courses in the area, I just wish many of them would remove a few hundred trees (accuracy off the tee is one of my biggest problems). Short game and putting are my biggest strengths and have saved me quite a bit. When I get close to the green, I usually know I am at least going to give myself a realistic chance at a chip and a one-putt, even though it doesn’t always happen.

According to Arccos, my current handicap is 9.4 (holy crap, I don’t pay much attention to it, I wasn’t aware it had me below a 10!). In our golf league, I am currently a 6 for 9 holes and have the potential to drop to a 5 this week if I’m not careful.

If I filter my Arccos data as far back as it goes (50 rounds), here are my current stats.

My short game has been very good over the last 5 rounds.

These confirm the strength of my short game.

I tend to be very much a “feel” player when it comes to partial wedges – I visualize what I want to do and go with my gut on how hard to hit it, generally with pretty good results. I have played around with trying to “clock” my wedges, but since I don’t have access to a launch monitor to get decent distances, it was taking a long time to fill in my mental spreadsheet on the course, and without a laser, I tend not to trust the distance to objects at the range, so I abandoned it.

My current wedges are black satin Cleveland RTX Zipcores 54* and 58* (both mid bounce). I received these as a Christmas gift in 2020, so I am on my third season with them and really, really like them. They are still in great shape, but I can sense the grooves are starting to wear as the stopping power has begun to fade.

Sub70 will have to have something special to displace the Zipcores, although going to a mixed set is not out of the question. I have chosen the Sub70 black in the same lofts but went with the low bounce 54*. I chose this option to help me out on some of tight lies we get around greens and the courses tend to get very firm in the summer months. The TAIII’s will definitely get a workout on the course and I plan do a lot of experimenting at the short game area at a local muni.

I can’t wait to get this started!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE 8/1/23 

FINAL REVIEW

DISCLAIMER: I very rarely take a full swing with anything more lofted than a gap wedge. Historically, I have been more comfortable (with more consistent results) taking a partial swing with a gap wedge than a full swing with a 54* or 58*. With that in mind, there will not be much focus on full wedges, other than some simulator stats to compare distance and spin (recognizing I am more responsible for the dispersion than the clubs). Most important to me for this review are the shots that are around the green. Let’s face it, I miss too many greens and must lean on my chipping ability to help me score (or salvage a score).

One thing I neglected to mention in my intro is the improvement I have seen over the last 3-ish years. At the beginning of the 2020 season, my league 9-hole handicap (not USGA compliant) was a 9. As of two weeks ago, I dropped to a 5.

In my opinion, there are a few reasons for this improvement (in no particular order):

1)    I started playing a lot more golf with @DiscipleofPenick – I call him my “on-course coach” and gave him permission early on to question my decisions and speak up when he sees something wonky. I have gotten much better with my decision-making when I am out of position. I am now more likely to take my medicine than attempt a miraculous shot (even though it is really fun on the odd occasion it actually works).
2)    The Callaway Epic test from 2021 (LINK). Getting properly fitted for a shaft and the amount of work that went into that review forced me to more or less figure out how to hit a driver and helped mostly eliminate one side of the course. Lately, the two-way miss started rearing its ugly head on occasion, but I’m now aware it is at least partially a swing plane issue (too steep = right, too flat = left, just right = baby fade that starts on target line and comes back towards the center).
3)    SuperSpeed test from 2020 (LINK). Even though my speed has regressed somewhat the past couple years, I am still hitting shorter clubs into many greens than I would have been hitting in 2019. That has to help your scores, as long as all that new-found speed doesn’t mean you just hit the ball even further into the woods.

Through all of it, my short game has been very steady, with some pretty good touch around the greens. The Cleveland wedges were new as of the start of the 2021 season and took a little getting used to as I changed lofts (56* -> 54*, and 60* -> 58*) and the new grooves kind of freaked me out (my newest wedge they replaced was probably 8 years old and I used to play cheaper Surlyn balls).

At any rate, let’s get to the meat of the matter….

First Impressions (500 Words) (20 out of 20)

I’ll start by admitting I am a big fan of Sub70. Even though I have yet to buy anything from them, I will certainly give them a hard look as the time comes to upgrade (almost everything in my bag is 5 years old or newer thanks to MyGolfSpy). It seems they have spectacular customer service and I have seen/heard zero complaints about the performance of the products, especially given the price point. Everything from the packaging to the hand-written note that accompanied the wedges does nothing to change my thoughts.

I find the wedges themselves to be very attractive and I love the black satin finish, although I will be admittedly curious to see how the finish holds up. I really don’t mind when the finish starts to wear as I like the “patina” of worn clubs. The finish on my Cleveland wedges reached a sort of equilibrium rather quickly but has not changed much since that time.

So far, the Sub70 finish seems to have changed less quickly. Granted, I have not had too many bunker shots with the Sub70’s and I know from experience the sand will accelerate the wear.

In general, other than some wear on the leading edges and soles, there has not been wear on these TAIII's.

I also appreciate the efforts that were made to have the weights of the heads matched, presumably so the swing weights match better. One difference I noticed is the Clevelands feel heavier, which I kind of like. It allows me to have the feeling that I am just letting the club fall on the back of the ball instead of having to pull it down on delicate shots near the green. I don’t know the swing weights of the clubs, nor do I have access to a swing weight scale, but I am curious about the swing weight difference. The shaft in the Clevelands is a DG Spinner whereas the Sub70’s have DG S300’s in them. Could that be a contributing factor? Whatever the reason, it would easily be solved with some lead tape.

In terms of the sound and feel, the Sub70’s are very satisfying with good contact – a solid, but muted, “click” and you can barely feel the ball, which I love. Off-center contact results in a bit more obnoxious “clang” that feels about as bad as it sounds. I think the Cleveland wedges feel a bit more solid with off-center contact. Feel and sound issues aside, less-than-perfect contact did not seem to have too much effect on where the ball ended up (except in cases where I was relying on spin to slow/stop the ball, but that happened with both brands).

Aesthetics (7 out of 10)

Overall, I think the Sub70 design is gorgeous – the machine marks look great and I do not find any of the features distracting. As I mentioned above, good contact sounds and feels glorious, but since I am not a pro and more often than not miss the center of the face (even with relatively small swing ), I spend a lot of time dealing with off-center strikes. The 3-point reduction in this category is purely a result of the jarring sound and feel once you get away from the center. Although a tad obnoxious, performance does not seem to suffer.

I wasn’t really sure where to put this, but since it does not affect the playability, I guess it will go under aesthetics. I have midsize grip on all my clubs but the Cleveland wedges. My wife bought them for me for Christmas in 2020 and even though she knew I preferred midsize, they only had standard in stock. I did not find it that big a deal until the Sub70’s came with midsize grips, which I can feel the immediately with all the switching between clubs I have been doing. Do I think it effects performance? Not at all, but the larger grips definitely feel more comfortable to me. Obviously, I can rectify that very quickly if I feel the need.

The Numbers (6 out of 10)

The primary way I went about testing these wedges against my Clevelands was to spend a lot of time at the practice area of a local course. The green is very large with a small area where the fringe is extended to have a fairway lie and 6-8 hole locations to choose from (although they really discourage people from taking long enough shots to leave ball marks). Each of the three different times I went there, the grass was damp and the ground soft after having rained the night before. I cleaned and dried the face of the clubs after every shot, but the balls were left with whatever moisture was on them. The first time I went, it was all about just hitting some balls around the green to get used to the feel of the Sub70’s.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, all 12 balls in my shag bag are urethane covered but are variety of brands and hardness. I think the cover material is likely the most important aspect for the types of shots I was attempting. Recall the most important part of this test for me was simulating the “just off the green” chips that I encounter way too often due to the number of greens I miss. According to Arccos, more than 2/3rds of my “short game” shots are within 25 yards of the pin. If the TAIII wedges are going to displace the RTX Zipcores, they have to be of some benefit in this distance range. With the focus on <25 yards, I decided I wanted to test each club to a 10-yard pin and a 20-yard pin from both a fairway lie and a lie in the rough.

My procedure was as follows:

1)    Hit a half-dozen, or so, shots to get the feel for whatever club was currently in my hands.
2)    Hit a full dozen shots, step off, and record the distance to the hole (for the record, my feet in shoes are almost exactly a foot long).
3)    Thins, chilly-dips, fats not included! When these things would inevitably happen, I considered it a “me” problem which warranted a do-over.
4)    Switch clubs and repeat.

This process was done for all 4 clubs and all 4 distance/lie combinations and I repeated the full process a second time – the first time with the Sub70’s being hit first, the second with the Cleveland’s being hit first (I wanted to try to eliminate any potential bias since I was likely getting more dialed in the longer I hit) – and tabulated the 24 shots with each club.

I mentioned earlier in the thread one of the shocking conclusions I came to – no matter which brand I was using, my average distance to the hole and “dispersion” were better when I was hitting from the rough! While somewhat shocking, more than a couple minutes of thought allowed me to come to the following conclusion: a fairway lie (with complete access to the back of the ball) may result in more or less spin if the contact is not perfect whereas the rough is the rough – you’re not going to get as much spin since there is almost always at least a few blades of grass between the club and the ball. Keep in mind that at this practice area (and most of the courses I play on a regular basis) the rough is not terribly penal. It’s pretty rare to end up with a thick, juicy lie where the results can be more unpredictable resulting in having no clue how the ball will come out.

At any rate, here are some of the charts:

Fairway Lies

Rough Lies

I put both of them on the same vertical scale to really illustrate how much better I was from the rough. The errors bars represent the 95% confidence interval, so if the error bars overlap at all, the differences are NOT statistically significant (at 95% level) so there is, realistically, no difference in the data. The only significant differences between any of the relevant comparisons in these charts are for the 54* wedges from 20 yards in the fairway (Sub70 significantly worse) and 58* wedges from 10 yards in the rough (Sub70 significantly better). If I were to guess, given the soft conditions during testing, the low bounce could have been hurting me a bit from the fairway lie.

The image above was for the TAIII 58* from the rough to a 10-yard pin. Those all look like gimme’s to me. I'd take that shot pattern all day long.

Simulator Data

All the simulator data I have was obtained at @MattF's house on his new Skytrak using the wedge matrix protocol - 5 shots each of a pitch, ½ swing, ¾ swing, and full swing. Since we were setting up the Skytrak to test 4 clubs, we had to give them unique identifiers. The naming we used is as follows:

54 = Sub70 54*
58 = Sub70 58*
GW = Cleveland 54*
SW = Cleveland 58*

The order used to test was Sub70 54*, Sub70 58*, Cleveland 54*, Cleveland 58*. The balls used were all ProV1’s. (I have been playing either TP5x’s or AVX’s most of this season but have managed to lose them all and have been playing my backups for the last week or so.)

Although I made the comment earlier that my perception of a ¾ swing sucks, it looks like my ½ swing is probably closer to ¾ so it was not so great either. At any rate, it at least appears I was somewhat consistent. Here is the summary table of distances:

One concern I have is that the Sub70’s are the same at a full swing. These should not be the same. There is more discussion on this point later. The gapping of the Clevelands appears to be more normal. Looking at each of them in more detail:

(The Skytrak registered a shank for the Sub70 54* Pitch shot, so its data can be taken with a grain of salt). I see the following tendencies in this information: with the Sub70’s, shots tend to go more right as distance increases, whereas the Cleveland 54* tends left until I get to full swings and the Cleveland 58* is overall pretty straight until I get to full swings. I should mention that I don’t give too much credence to anything involving the target. Matt’s setup is not hitting into a screen, so picking a “target” is not trivial. Below is the summary table from the Skytrak. Here I am only showing the averages for each club so it is a bit more digestible than the full tables.

The main observations I take away from this table are: 1) the Sub70’s generally have higher spin (perhaps not as much more as I was expecting) and 2) I tended to hit the Clevelands a little more solidly (higher smash factor). 1) is a no-brainer. 2.5-year-old versus brand new grooves. The only thing I can think of to explain the slightly higher smash factor for the Cleveland wedges is related to the shaft and/or swing weight. As I mentioned above, I prefer the head-heavy feel of the Cleveland wedges and it appears this data at least supports the preference. As far as why the Sub70 wedges ended up with the same distance with full swings, there are a couple things I see that might address this: the launch angle is 34 degrees for the 54* wedge versus 31 degrees for the 58* degree wedge and the face to path (face to target - path) is wide open with the 54* at 7.6*. Clearly I was doing something weird with these swings and delofting the 54*. The Sub70 54* was the first club hit, so even though I warmed up, was I not completely warmed up? The progression of launch angle for the Cleveland wedges seems perfectly appropriate and the face to path measures are closer. Skytrak does not report face to path, but if you subtract path from FTT (face to target), you can calculate it.

On-Course (20 out of 20)

All the data in the world is great, but if it doesn’t translate on the course, what good is it? Recall from my intro, my short game has been in very good shape over the last couple months, and I have had the best round of my life in that time span (77) thanks in large part to my short game, so expecting a new club to come in and be even better was not realistic. In my view, if a new wedge could come in and the results I see on the course stay near the same, that says something about the new wedges. After all, I am on my third season with the RTX Zipcores and am very comfortable with them. In that regard, I have not missed a step since switching to the Sub70’s. In fact, I had the second-best round of my life (79) with the Sub70’s in the bag. Again, they played a large part in my ability to scramble for that score. I have filtered my Arccos data for each set of wedges to just the dates those clubs were in use: 3/21/23 – 6/13/23 for the RTX Zipcore’s (198 holes) and 6/22/23 – present for the Sub70’s (126 holes). Unfortunately, the data in these images is all shots taken with each club, not just the “less than 50 short game” facet that I am more interested in. (ASIDE: I could have sworn Arccos used to have the ability to filter more than just individual clubs by date range instead of number of rounds). At any rate, let’s get to some comparisons….

Cleveland 54*                                                     Sub70 54*

OK, so I hit more thin shots with the RTX Zipcore and more fat shots with the TAIII. Is that a bounce issue? Regardless, I would call them nearly even. The difference in the chip/pitch down percentage has to be a result of me making more putts while I have been playing the Sub70’s since the average distance to the pin is pretty much the same.

I do not discount the GIR numbers for these club as they are mostly real – the 1st, 10th, 16th, and 18th holes at our league course can be about a ¾ 54* second shot with a good drive and I frequently use the 54* for the third shot on par 5’s when I am less than about 80 yards to the green.

Cleveland 58*                                                     Sub70 58*

I tend not to pay attention to the GIR number with 58*’s as the only time I use them where a GIR is in play is the third shot on short-ish par 5’s when I am near the green. GIR should be 100% if I didn’t periodically run a pitch through the green or try to get cute and leave it short.

Otherwise, there is no huge difference in the on-course performance since switching to the Sub70’s. As I alluded to, my game has not really changed with the introduction of the new wedges and I consider that a very positive thing. It means Sub70 has designed something that can be a plug-in replacement in my bag.

The Good, the bad, the inbetween (18 out of 20)

I find it very impressive how a new club from a smaller DTC manufacturer can slot right into my bag with no obvious change in my performance. I did not expect my performance to improve with new wedges, I was just hoping things would stay the same since I have been on a hot streak around the greens. Considering I am very much of a “feel” type player, this is no small task – it took me a long time to get used to the Clevelands just because of needing to “recalibrate” my brain to the slightly lower lofts and the increased spin from the new grooves.

Do I have any concerns? The only thing I can think if is related to the full swings ending up the same. What if I were to check the lofts and find out they pretty close to the same? I don't actually think that is the case, but you never know.

Play it or Trade it? (10 out of 20)

In all the other tests I have been fortunate enough to take part in, the decision has been super easy – the clubs being tested were either much newer or properly fitted so my performance on the course improved with the item being tested, with the exception being the StrokeLab putter from a few years ago. The honeymoon phase ended about a year and a half ago and my old Ping has been back in the bag since I hit a slump and has remained since. In this case, there was nothing cut and dry and making the ultimate decision has been tough and I still have not 100% decided on how I will proceed. As of right now, I am leaning towards a mixed set with the Cleveland 54* and the Sub70 58*. Recall from my intro that I ordered the low bounce 54* from Sub70. Our mid-summer has been very damp so I have yet to have the firm conditions and tight lies that would call for the lower bounce, so that may be partially why I saw such a huge difference from the longer fairway shots? The good news is, at least I have the wedge as a backup for when the ground does get really firm later in August. Ultimately, I feel like I could flip a coin, grab a set of wedges, and not worry about how things will go on the course. That’s a very good position to be in!

Conclusion

This has been a fascinating test. I know Cleveland does not really set the “gold standard” for wedges or at least get the hype that some of the others do, but they are a well-respected company and have been making good wedges for a long time. The fact that a relative newcomer like Sub70 can design and build wedges that appear to perform just as well as one of the “big boys” speaks volumes about the company and confirms that I need to give Sub70 a serious look when the time comes to upgrade other parts of my bag.

I am very happy with the TAIII wedges and really like the product. They may not have earned an exclusive place in my bag just yet, but I will be keeping them and will continue to do some periodic side-by-side comparisons.

To anybody considering new wedges, I don’t think you can really go wrong with the Sub70’s as long as you know exactly what you want/need in terms of specs since there are no places outside of Chicago I am aware of that will allow you swing some. Are these wedges for everybody? Not necessarily. I consider myself very proficient with a wedge in my hand, but there are times that the off-center strikes come back to haunt me. For example, needing some spin to help slow/stop the ball on a down-hill pitch that does not come due to not being a perfect strike. Could a game improvement wedge help me with that? Probably, but I really like the choices in have in the RTX Zipcores and the TAIII’s.

Final Score (89 out of 100)

[DonnieGolfs]

Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Ian Lydon, I want to thank the forum staff for selecting me for the test and Sub 70 for giving us another testing opportunity. I’ll start on the personal side before I get into my golfing information. I am 33 years old and returning to golf after playing only a handful of times in the past few years. I am a father of three, I have two little boys Ian (6) and Liam (5) and a little girl Olivia (2 months old).

I have been married to my wife Laura for just over 9 years. We are both from the Philadelphia area and big sports fans. After 17 years of being on the waiting list for Eagles season tickets I finally got them(Thanks to mom and dad for keeping their landline). I got the tickets but found out about 2 weeks later Id be moving to San Diego for about 5 years.

While I was stationed  in San Diego, CA I served on the USS ANNAPOLIS as fast attack submarine where I was a mechanic. I was in the service for just over 8 years, I currently work at a nuclear power plant in southeastern PA as a maintenance planner. I am also in school studying Physics through Arizona State University, outside of school and work my kids take up most of my time. Both my boys have an affinity for sports much like I did growing up and have recently fallen in love with golf. This has made getting back into golf a much smoother process than I originally had thought it would be and I am thankful to get to spend quality time playing the game with them.

Years ago, when I was stationed in San Diego and the boys were younger getting out and playing proved much easier than it was my last few years while stationed there. I was previously a 10-15 handicap player; wedges have always been a major strength in my game and my PING stealth 2.0 glides have been my favorite clubs in the bag since I got them.

What I look forward to most testing the wedges is getting to see a comparison between older wedges and a set with fresh grooves. Many of the courses I play with my boys are wedge dominant for me so I will plan to get a lot of my testing done on the course with the ability to hit full shots into the greens and see how they hold up around the greens. I play an older set of irons with a PW at 47 degrees, and I have had concern about how to bridge the gap between my wedges if I were to get new irons. This is why I went with a 58-degree 11 bounce wedge and a 52-degree 9 bounce wedge. I previously played 52, 56, 60-degree wedges and I like to play full shots with all three. I am also curious about how the wedges workability will with shot shaping and their versatility in different lies. Outside of the on course testing I will be using my Garmin R10 at the local grass range and the indoor simulators for getting some raw data together.

Reach out if you have anything you want to see tested out and Id be happy to try and work that into my test. I appreciate it everyone. Also one  last picture of Murphy making sure we don't forget he was the baby first.

First Impressions (20 out of 20)

Unboxing and Initial Impressions:

I received my 52- and 58-degree Sub 70 wedges, and they are as good or better looking than any top brand wedges on the market. Packaged just how you would expect quality clubs to arrive. The build and shipping were also very quick.

Wedge Specs 

Only changes I made to the stock specs is I used a slightly longer shaft and a midsized grip.

Aesthetics (9 out of 10)

First thing I noticed on the clubs was the face milling, this is a new addition to the wedges this year. On the Sub 70 site they term the process optimized laser grooving. Not sure yet how this will affect performance but makes the wedges great to look at and for some reason a confidence builder for myself while standing over the clubs. The wedges as a whole have a very classic and clean look to them. Based on looks alone I would game these wedges, they look good and are built well, feature everything I look for when purchasing new clubs.

The Numbers (8 out 10)

Full Swing Testing:

Testing was completed at Parformance Golf in Phoenixville, PA using Foresight GC Quad simulators and brand-new Titleist Pro V1 golf balls. I warmed up for about 15 minutes with wedge shots ranging from 25 yards to full swing range.

(First is a 58 full swing, second is 52 full swing and third is about waist high stock 40-45 yard wedge shot mentioned later on.)

I was able to generate a high level of spin with the 58-degree wedge without sacrificing distance or consistency with my launch angle or carry distances. The club took some getting used to since the weighting was slightly different than my old wedges which were fit all the way down to the shaft. Carry distance was slightly longer than my 60-degree PING Glide 2.0 wedge which I expected due to the 2 degrees of loft. The 52-degree wedge did not disappoint either, the club face much like the 58-degree wedge felt like it was grabbing the ball and generating spin without feeling like I was launching the ball straight up into the air. I had similar shot launch conditions to my old PING Glide 2.0 52-degree wedge, the ball flight was the same as my gamers.

After I completed my spin testing, I did a test on grouping and dispersion of my shots, since wedges are for scoring, this was an important point to test. I am currently a 13.7 handicap player and wedges tend to be a stronger part of my game.

A carry of 90 yards for my 58-degree wedge was a touch longer than I had expected, with a tight grouping the distance was a pleasant surprise. The 52-degree wedge carried on average 114 which my previous 52-degree PINGs carry was 115 so there was a negligible difference, very tight grouping as well for a club from 114 yards out.

Now with spin, distance and dispersion covered I moved on to wedge shots at about 40 yards. I did this testing at two locations:

Part 1: Parformance Golf in Phoenixville, PA as listed above.

Part 2: The Club at Shannondell, Audubon, PA, this testing was completed on my local practice green, using Titleist Pro V1.

Part 1:

I was happy to see that spin numbers didn’t completely fall off the map(numbers captured above), I was able to get the ball to check consistently and stop, launch angle did climb a bit here which helps with the stopping of the ball but spin numbers would compete with most major wedges on the market.

Part 2:

No data for this portion as I did not feel my R10 did not provide consistent enough number to trust(ranging from no spin registered to 8000+). The eye test however provided a strong backing to the GC Quad number from part 1. I walked out 40 yards an double checked my set up  using Google Earth and saw very similar results, My aim was to hit shots that would carry to a back flag and quickly stop before running off the back of a green.

Rain Testing:

This testing was completed with help from my Arccos App, Garmin R10 at The Club at Shannondell, Audubon, PA using Titleist Pro V1 RCT golf balls.

The last data testing I did was wet conditions vs. dry conditions. I used my Sub 70 52-degree wedge up against my PING Glide 2.0 52-degree. The Sub 70 wedge did what my wedges do when conditions get wet, I saw a slight drop in spin(-200-300 RPM) and an increase in launch conditions(+4-6 degrees). My Glide 2.0 cruised along giving me very similar numbers as the dry conditions. I will say I did not see a major difference in performance outside of the expected large dispersion area(more of a long oval than a flat one). Even with the larger dispersion area it wasn’t large enough that I would avoid the wedges. I didn’t have any issue with a random flyer other than user error where it was obvious a toe or hosel shank. Only reason I did not give these a 10 out of 10 for numbers was the rain performance, I am comparing the to PING Glides which historically has set the bar for the market when looking for wedges in the rain.

On the Course ( 17 out of 20)

Outside of my testing I played a few rounds with the wedges and came away confident that I could hit any shot I had in the bag. Top performing aspect of the wedges was the 58- out of bunkers,I will never go bag to my old SW(56-degree) and absolutely loved the 58- out of the sand. The bounce on the 58- made for an ideal club out of the sand, I didn’t have any trouble with the club digging, this was in soft dry sand as well as in compact wet sand. I was able to still generate quite a bit of spin out of the sand and after working on bunker shots pre-round I was able to knock a lot of shots close. The sand wear was evident on the face of the wedge but it did not change the performance.

I enjoyed playing all different types of shots from high to low, with the fresh grooves and milled face I was able to hit shots 10 yards and have the bounce and stop. I felt comfortable opening the face on both wedges all the up and letting the bounce do the work for me. 

The Good, the bad, the inbetween (17 out of 20)

The Good:

-Milled face looks great and certainly helped generate spin.

-Repeatability, I played over a 1000 shots bewteen practice and a few rounds and saw no drop off on performance.

-The numbers, I saw more spin and a smaller dispersion from my gamers with almost identical distance numers

The Bad:

-With the satin finish on the wedges I did notice some glare off the face later in the day. I did choose this finish to test this specific issue.

-Rainy conditions the wedges both did not match performance in dry conditions and dispersion increased more in my Sub 70 wedges than my PINGs.

The Inbetween:

-Lack of fitting opportunity. DTC does not allow for hitting the wedges prior to purchasing. There are some options though for those who live in the Sycamore, IL area. They also offer an online fitting tool.

 

Play it or Trade it? (18 out of 20)

I can go into how much I enjoyed playing them in round but the Sub 70 crew says it better in few words “the fully milled sole excels in all turf conditions and shot types, from full shots to the most delicate flop shot. Additionally, the newly optimized laser grooving process allows the addition of micro grooves between the main grooves of the face, improving spin and providing precise distance control.”

As stated I have the 52- and 58-degree wedges, I will continue to game these wedges. I recently purchased new irons and plan to fill in my wedges to appropriate gapping in my bag(I’m looking at going with a 50- and 54- degree and they will be Sub 70). With most big brand wedges coming off the shelves between $160 to $200 I recommend anyone looking for wedges to consider these based on their performance alone(the $135 price tag as a bonus).

 

Edited August 8 by DonnieGolfs
Final Testing Review

[ZMendle10]

Introduction

First things first is I want to thank both Sub 70 and My Golf Spy for another amazing testing opportunity. This is my fourth equipment testing for the forums and my first wedge test so I am really excited for this one. A little background info on me is that I’m 29 years old, Mechanical Engineer by trade, and I live in Raritan, NJ. I live with my fiancé and our two dogs Hudson (Lab and Dane mix) and Tucker (chihuahua mix). My fiancé supports my dedication to the game and has even started taking up the game little by little. 

When it comes to my game by the numbers I am an 11 handicap and my best round ever has been an 81 which I achieved this year. I’ve been close on multiple occasions but my putting has held me back in these rounds, think of an 82 with 3 3-putts. Off the tee I’m okay but when it comes to my strength it’s without a doubt iron play. I’m very comfortable with an iron in my hands and there is no big miss I fear. This confidence bleeds into pitching from 40yds and out. I’m not sticking it close every time but I am hitting the green more often than not but it’s not as close as I would like. Putting is by far the worst part of my game and for perspective 2 of my friends will never give me a gimme no matter how insultingly short the putt is. Some people can make from anywhere well I can miss from anywhere.

   

 

 

From putting comes my chipping and this is where I am hoping to see the biggest improvement with the TAIII wedges. My current gamers are both SM8’s from 2 years ago in slate blue (the best finish) and the specs are 56* S grind with 10* of bounce stamped with Hudson's name and a 60* M grind with 8* of bounce stamped with Tucker's name.

 I used the Vokey wedge selector (Unofficial SM8 Review) to make those decisions and I’ve really enjoyed them. The M grind for me is just amazing and I would reorder that wedge in a heartbeat while the S grind is okay around the green but shines in the sand so it’s good but not great. 

 

Specs

The wedges I went with were the 56* with 12* of bounce and the 60* LB with 7* of bounce with both in the Raw finish. I wanted the raw finish because I feel that it lends itself to more things to test. The things I plan to test are as follows:

• How quickly do they rust
• Can the rust be removed easily 
• Does rust add spin
• How soft do they feel 
• How bendable are they
• How do they handle in wet conditions
• How is the sole design
• Is it versatile around the greens
• Is the lack of bounce and grind options an issue. 
• Can I hit high and low shots

I don’t really have an interest in doing a deep dive  comparing spin between the TAIII’s and my SM8’s since my SM8’s have about 55 rounds to them and more than their fair share of practice time. 

Aside from standard on-course testing I will have plenty of testing opportunities on my lunch break at the tamarack golf course chipping green in East Brunswick,

Rutgers golf course chipping green, Green knoll pitch and putt, and a little bit of trackman for some raw numbers as well. I won’t be using range balls around the green but a shag bag of premium balls I have used on the course but got a bit of road rash or just are not usable on the course but perfect for chipping. 

So that’s a bit about me, my game, my fiancé, and our dogs. I’m looking forward to getting the testing underway and taking all my fellow spies on this great journey of the TAIII Forged Wedges

Unboxing 06/17/23:

My wedges were scheduled for delivery on Sat 06/17 between 2:45 and 6:45 according to UPS and they arrived promptly at 3:00 after I had just finished all my work for the day. The box was placed neatly up against the side of my house and was promptly brought in for inspection.

As with any house that has dogs when a new package is delivered it needs to pass the sniff test and this one passed with flying colors. 

It was then time to open the box and see what waits inside and boy was I excited. Upon opening I discovered a spec sheet, shaft stickers, a sub 70 sticker, Jason Hiland’s business card, a $200 offer for a short game academy, and a handwritten note. I’m not sure who the note was written buy but I would imagine it was either Jason Hiland or the builder themselves. It was a very nice touch and wasn’t unappreciated.

 

With the wedges they were held in place with foam and the wedge heads were wrapped in bubble wrap which was secured by a rubber band. I will say when I brought the box in there was a bit of a rattle but at first glance there was no damage to anything.

One of the important things for me was for the grips to be uninstalled as I am ride or die by the Pure DTX grip and had two ready for installation. I am happy to report that the grips were not installed and even the shaft labels were put on which was a surprise that I enjoyed.

 From under the bubble wrap the heads are beautiful. I have never had raw wedges and love the darker color and am looking forward to them rusting out. 

 

A couple things I am excited about the head design is the steps on the toe that remind me of the Ben Hogan Icon blades to help pull the Center Of Gravity away from the sole for a lower launching a wedge and the milled pockets that are typically reserved for the same purpose. I think these designs are really smart and give you a more forgiving iron in players shape. 

The hosel has some nice detail as well saying both Tour Milled, Forged, and LB Forged for Low Bounce.

Lastly the club face itself has the measured weight of the clubhead stickered on the plastic. Something that I have never seen before and the with the weights being within .5g the quality control of weight is there. I suspect due to high machining tolerances the milled aspect really allows them to get a consistent head weight.
 

 

So far I am very impressed with the packaging of these wedges and the details of them as the milling is intricate and fun to look at but clearly serves a purpose for quality control. I’m really looking forward to testing these wedges and can’t wait to post my first impressions of playing them. 

 

First Impressions 18 out of 20:

So far I have had these wedges for about a week and they have seen the likes of everything from trackman sessions with RCT balls, chipping greens, and 36 holes across 3 golf courses. 18 of those holes were in a tournament as well with full commitment. It’s safe to say that these wedges have been through the wringer in only a short amount of time and so far they perform. 
 

One thing I want to stress is these wedges take some time to get a bit used to. Whatever combination of head weight, bounce, and sole design is going on with them is a bit different than my Vokeys. That being said my initial impressions were that they seemed like a forgiving wedge from a head design and I’m pleased to not be disappointed in that front.  While you are adjusting to them they offer plenty of assistance when needed and are very comforting. 

Feel wise they feel great. Middled shots feel amazing and miss hits while not punished on flight definitely let you know where you struck the ball much more than a cast wedge. 

They have plenty of spin to them and while practicing at Rutgers the person to my right was watching me hit some shots and was impressed with the spin I was getting on basic 30yd chip shots. 

 

I also took the time to mess around on Trackman and tried to see how much spin I can get on full shots. I used an RCT Pro V1 Left Dash for data and all shots had non italicized spin so all spin numbers were accurate. Always fun to see average spin at 11,000 with the 60* on average and the total less than the carry. These things can spin even with a draw/hook. 
 

Aesthetics 7 out of 10:

Looks:

In the bag, out the bag, at address, or at the back badging it doesn’t matter. These wedges look fantastic from every angle. The milling on the back screams craftsmanship and the mill patterns alone are fun to look at and admire. Sure a little more dirt gets in there but it’s well worth it. The darker saying of the raw wedges is fantastic for glare and the speckled rust on the back is a perfect accent as well. The face is for sure rusting slower than back but I’m more than happy with that. 

Sound:

The sound of these wedges is beautifully muted. It’s dull yet crisp and just a pleasure to hear. I have no complaints in the sound department on either good or bad shots. 

Feel:

The feel of these wedges out the middle can absolutely hang with the big boys. They have no problem going to toe to toe with Vokey, Taylormade, or Cleveland. I’m not sure if it’s the milling, forging , or the combo of both but they are amazing out the middle. However, when not out of the middle these wedges let you know to start shaping up. It’s not bad like a thinned iron early in the morning but it’s jarring for sure. You know where you missed it and you know to do better moving forward. But, that doesn’t mean the performance has been effected. The ball still flys beautifully at the target and you almost fell like you got away with one. 

 

The Numbers 8 out of 10:

Testing Procedure Comparison:

For comparison I put the TAIII’s up against my SM8’s and tried to hit the 3 different yardages as close as I could. I was not concerned with only the perfect shots but rather keeping dispersion the same and gathering 10 decent shots with each club at each yardage. I used a Pro V1X Left Dash RCT as the ball to pick up accurate numbers and it’s to closest ball in the Titleist lineup to my Bridgestone Tour BX. 

The Results 56*


The Results 60*

These wedges beat out my Vokeys in every category especially in the standard deviation. This is to be expected as my SM8’s are about 2 years old but they still held their ground against some brand new wedges. 

 

Testing Procedure Wet VS Dry:

For wet wedge testing I wiped the face of the wedge with a damp paper towel after each shot and made sure the face was wet to the touch before hitting the shot at the specified yardage. The Pro V1X Left Dash RCTwas also used for this test as well. 

 

The Results 56*

The Results 60*

When it came to wet vs dry testing I was very surprised to see the numbers as close as they were. I felt like keeping the dispersion for wet was tough and that it was neat to see launch increase and spin decrease. That being said they didn’t drop too much in spin when wet. I think what helped this was for some reason I delivered more loft with the wet wedges and that altered my delivery. 

 

On Course Testing 15 out of 20:

Around the Green:

On the course these wedges have been nothing but good to me. I have not had anywhere near as much confidence in my short game since putting these in the bag. Around the green I feel I can control these wedges to roll out and land exactly where I need them to. I’m not sure if this is because of the fresh grooves or if it’s the sole design but they are working for me so far. Around the green has been my biggest weakness and I have been consistently getting up and down more often to where it’s noticeable for me. 

From the Bunkers:

From the sand I’m not completely sold on them just yet. I just don’t have a ton of confidence to get the ball close to the hole with them. I’m able to get out just fine but it’s nowhere near as close as I would like and I find it tough to predict my results out of the sand with them. 

Pitching:

From tight lies these wedges shine with pitching. I can play shots with a very shallow angle of attack and still generate plenty of spin to stop the ball. For example I was pitching to a pin that was just on top of a plateau and only a few feet passed was a downslope. The rest of my group was off the green waiting and I played a low spinner just right off the flag. I see it bite as the rest of my group oohs and ahhhs at the stopping power of the shot. They fully expected it to run off the back but a one hop and stop down hill left them slightly disappointed. 

The 56* despite having high bounce at 12* of bounce is still it great in wet conditions and when it a soppy lie I tend to get a bit unsure in how to play the shot. There is unfortunately no magic bullet for a fat shot from a wet lie and these wedges don’t offer enough help there. 

The Good Bad or In-Between 18 out of 20:

 

The Good:

Beautiful Looks.

Great for straight forward short game shots.

Strong performance with wet wedge testing.

Weight of club head out right on the wrapper.

Handwritten note inside the packaging with a beautiful black box. 

Really easy to control around the greens on straightforward shots.

Produces a very straight and penetrating ball flight on pitches and full shots. 

Amazing feel on centered strikes. 

 

The Bad:

Not enough grind or bounce options.

Not a strong performer in wet conditions.

Feel on off centered strikes leaves much to be desired. 

The In-between:

Some room for creativity around the greens but not a ton. 

Turf interaction is good but not great. More grind options could help here. 

 

 

Play it or Trade it 16 out of 20:

 

For now I’m gonna play these wedges for the rest of the season. I’m really playing well around the greens with them and I’m gonna ride that wave for as long as I can. However I do miss the versatility of the M grind on my 60* and the turf interaction of my SM8’s was also much better than that of the TAIII’s I’m going to ride out the rest of the season with these wedges since I’m comfortable with them and have consistency and predictability with them. However I still think next season they will be replaced by something else in the main bag and be slotted into my travel bag for trips. I do very much enjoy these wedges but there are these little things here and there that just seem missing at times and I can’t quite put my finger on them until it happens. 

 

Conclusion:

Overall these wedges very good but not perfect. They have their strongest showing in the looks department by far. Again the milling detail is beautiful and almost puts you in a trance the more you look at them. The unboxing process was fantastic as they were delivered with a handwritten note, no grips, and a sticker with the club head weight right on the face. To me this is such a small detail but the attention to it is fantastic. These are all details that a smaller DTC company can provide that you won’t find anything close with bigger companies. 

 

Being a smaller DTC brand Sub 70 doesn’t seem to offer multiple grind and bounce options. This could be to keep quantities high with less skus which keeps costs down and overall a cheaper product but I really think the lack of options is what might be hurting them. For me the turf interaction was just not great with softer conditions. By making a one size fits all high and low bounce grind it gets tough to be dialed in. I might be on the fringes of this grind or in the middle but I can’t say for sure. Dry and slightly firmer conditions these wedges shine though and are a pleasure to play with. They have plenty of spin and forgiveness on all types of shots but they tend to favor the straightforward shots more than the creative shots.  They also feel amazing out the middle but if you play a former golf ball be warned it might be a bit jarring of a miss hit. Your shot will still perform but you won’t feel the best about the contact. 

 

The person I would most recommend these wedges for is someone looking for a beautiful wedge who plays firmer conditions but doesn’t like to get fancy with their short game. They perform well enough to compete with the larger brands and save you some money but in a head to head they might have their work cut out for them. I really enjoyed testing these wedges and above else they have improved my short game all else aside so for that they are comfortably in the bag. Don’t let the final score scare you off. These are great wedges for somebody but I’m not in that category of player. I am a unique case and find myself to be the exception not the rule of perfect fit. 

 

Final Score 82 out of 100

 

Edited August 7 by ZMendle10
Added missing data image for 56°

[CB Lobo 4 Life]

Introduction (6/9/2023):

Right off the bat I can not help but thank My Golf Spy and Sub 70 for the chance to review these clubs. I am super excited to put these wedges through the ringer. For the first test, I couldn’t be more grateful and excited that it is both Wedges and Sub 70 that I get the opportunity to review.

To get to know a little about me I should first explain, for those who have not been privileged to hear my explanation, my tag name in the Forum. CB Lobo 4 Life, was actually something I happened to choose by chance. CB is my initials for my first and last name (Christopher Binnie), while Lobo 4 Life has its association with the High School I graduated from and also played on the golf team at. 

I graduated from Snowflake High School, whose mascot is the Lobo (as can be seen on my signature). This is actually where my wife and I find ourselves residing now. It is a very small town - about 15K people - but we love it, and the golf course is always going to be one of my favorites. My wife and I live here in Snowflake with our 5 kids, 15 chickens, and a lot of gardening and DIY housework that we are constantly doing. We love living in Snowflake AZ as it seems to just suit the homestead lifestyle that we have tried to create and also, with all of our kids it helps to have a family so close which we thankfully have. I am a small-town dude, with a big heart and that will never change. 

Getting to know me: 

I won’t take too long as I do not want to be long-winded, however, I would love to take some time to introduce myself a little bit more. 

Currently, I work for a company called 3Cloud where I am a Consultant for Data Analytics. I love my job and I take it very seriously. Data is the lifeblood of the world now and it feels incredible to be a worker in something so profound as clients' data and helping them make important business decisions. When I am not working, hanging out with family, or playing golf I can be found doing a lot of different things. I love to read (Fantasy, horror, and True Crime), write (same genres), and go hunting.

I am a man of many loves with the obvious greatest love being my family. As seen above we have all of our kiddos along with our newest born this year. I love family and they're incredibly important to me. 

I love all things life offers and am excited to share more about me, my game, and this review as time goes on. 

About my Game:

Outside of my Faith, family, and my profession, I am not sure if there is anything in my life I have a greater passion for than the game of golf. I started playing at the ripe age of 12 when my dad took me out to an executive par 3 course. We plinked around on the range a bit, getting very basic lessons from my dad, and then we went and played. It wasn’t until hole 4 came up (a short par 3 playing at about 120 yards) that I finally had “The Moment.” You know, the one where you pure it for the first time, the stars align and you knew in that moment that golf would forever be a part of your life. Yeah, that was what happened to me. I hit a glorious 6 iron to 5 feet, and the rest is history. 

From that point on I devoted as much time as I could. I would love to say that I turned into a major junior amateur and won a million tournaments and found myself staring at the table before him having to make the decision between ASU and UT. However, that is not the case. I came into a decent game in High School but I was never able to really get out of my own head. We did really well on our Snowflake high school team, in fact, we won state all four years. My greatest moment was the first round of senior year where I shot a 77 and became the two-man for my team. There is nothing quite so amazing and frustrating as the game of golf. 

As of now, I feel like my game is actually in the best shape it has been in a very long time. Having gotten my handicap down to 7 at this point I would say that is for the most part how I play. I can play almost scratch at times but that is certainly more rare than common. I play a lot here in the White Mountains and my mainstay is the Snowflake Municipal which is basically in my backyard. With the season on the horizon, I am looking to play in more competitive matches and see how well I can start playing. 

 

My game has always been best with my long irons and woods. I love to crush the ball and I do very well to the point where most of the holes out here are driver and wedge shots. However, the latter part there is where we find ourselves. I have always struggled with touch in my short game. FOGL (Fear of Going Long) or bad technique has always left me wanting. With this test, I am eager to see how new wedges (which I have never owned), and wedges by a company I have yet to try will do for me. 

Expectations, Plan, and The Final Decision

 

Firstly I would like to talk about the Final Decision in regard to what my selection was for the clubs. I have recently felt like my current wedges (TM MG 2 52, 56, 60), though wonderful, just feel out of place. What I mean by that is I seem to have an awkward yardage of 130 - 140 where I just can not seem to get the ball to land in that area. So, with that being said, I made the decision to focus on using 50, 54, & 58 as my wedge lofts. I am more than eager to write about the lofts and how they change my game along with how the wedges perform overall. 

 

Prior to being selected I had actually done an extensive amount of research on these wedges and found that with the addition of TA III, it sounds like Sub 70 has really created a wedge that will compete with and maybe even outplay the big boys. I love the fact that these wedges lean toward players who like to play multiple types of shots with their wedges. That is how I do it! Maybe not the best but I love being able to play all kinds of different shots into greens and even around it as well. This is where my plan comes into play. 

Wonderfully, Snowflake has a great chipping green. Upon which I will be spending a lot of my time. I plan on having multiple parameters with which I will be judging these wedges. Here would be my shortlist:

• Feel (I prefer soft not so clicky types of wedges)
• Spin (Obviously this is a big deal but not quite as important to me as feel)
• Workability (How well shots can be played from 140 in as well as shots around the green)
• Looks (Who doesn’t want their clubs to not look good in the bag?)
• Cutting (Meaning how much it cuts up balls)

My overall expectations are that I will enjoy these wedges, but can they go through the gauntlet? I expect they will do very well as these look like the new flagship “tour” wedges and with all the dialogue about how TA III was involved in the process they will definitively be put through the wringer. Expectations for all readers to know is that I should be able to expend a lot of time testing these as the chipping green is not far from my home and I am an early bird. Thereby allowing me to spend an exorbitant amount of time testing these wedges to an extent that will surely give out the best possible review I can provide.

Now, I guess the big question is, how will these stay in the bag? For me personally, a supremely important factor is feel. Though I might not have the greatest touch, I am very sensitive to how a golf club feels. I have sent back name-brand, high-dollar items simply because I did not like the feel. That being said I could be swayed, but setting precedence for myself and for you all. A big point I mentioned above was in regard to wedge gapping. If these wedges fit in the gaps the right way that could make me put them in as well. Of course, lastly, a big thing for me is being able to spin my wedges as I love to be aggressive on approach shots. That one hop stop is my go-to shot and one I take advantage of when I am out 50 - 80 yards. If these TAIII wedges can satisfy these requirements you will be seeing them in future iterations of WITB. 

I can’t express enough how grateful I am to be a part of this test and have this opportunity. I am eager to get you all information as much as I can and will be eager to give you the nitty and gritty details of everything. This was just a little taste of who I am and what I hope to bring to this test. Those wedges can not come soon enough!

First Impressions & Initial Testing (6/21 & 6/27):

In the world of golf equipment, it seems that aesthetics are just as valuable as performance. Everywhere you look golf club manufacturers take increased effort to look their very best. With social media one of the largest markets for Golf Clubs now, it only makes sense that making golf clubs beautiful to look at is just as high a precedence for R&D as much as advancements in tech. With this in mind, the TA III wedges surely fit within the upper echelon, if not the Olympus of superior looks. Picture this; you are one of the current top OEM golf companies attending a party dressed in your best suit and tie, when out of the corner of your eye you see a well-groomed gentleman wearing the crispest tux you have ever seen, garnering all the attention of that evening's attendees. This is how I imagine what the TA III wedges are doing to the world at large regarding their impeccable looks. These undoubtedly are the “Steal your Girl,” or in this case the “Steal your Guy” types of wedges. The stunning looks, symmetrical milling, and even the cavity cutouts all seem to have both beauty and purpose to them. In fact, the word Stunning would have to be the one word I would give for these wedges. You don’t have to take my word for it though. Simply take a gander at the video and pictures below to see for yourself.
 

 

Additional standouts in my first impression of the wedges were not actually just their aesthetic appearance but also the appearance of great performance. I mentioned briefly above that they looked like they performed, but to elaborate here you can really tell. Simply by holding the club, you can feel more heft to the wedges than what I am normally used to with my Taylormade MG2’s. I appreciate this because I was already thinking about how this could help me take the club back with a smoother tempo. It also can not go without mentioning how the grooves felt right out of the box. Simply gliding the meaty part of my thumb over the grooves felt like sandpaper, I could foresee the spin as I did so. As well, the mini grooves were a really nice touch. You could feel their assistance on the club's face but didn’t have to worry about seeing them clearly. This is a big deal, as I imagine for most golfers the sight of noticeable mini grooves on the club face would be a major turn-off. I am pleased to inform you that this is not the case here. Without a shadow of a doubt, I was absolutely impressed with the overall first impression of the clubs. Their design looks, and future performance surely was done by a master artisan and craftsman of the game.

 

Initial Test - 6/21:

 

Time - 5:30 AM (AZ)

Weather - Chilled with no wind affecting.

Wet conditions? - Morning Dew

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I could not wait to get out the first morning after receiving the clubs. With the new grips installed the prior evening, they were ready for their maiden voyage. 

 

The morning itself was beautiful. The grass itself was wet from the watering the evening before. However, that did not seem to deter the clubs from performing with glowing colors. Like in my first impression, if I was to give a single word to describe how it felt to play with these clubs I would have to use the word “Effortless.” It just seemed like everywhere I played the club just did the work for me. A 20-yard pitch from the first cut? Hello, less than 3ft left and a few hole-outs out of ten shots. 80-yard approach shot from the rough? Do you like birdie chances? Everywhere I seemed to play from the clubs just worked phenomenally. The 54-degree worked so well as bump and run all the way up to opening it slightly and getting loft. These clubs do as TA III wanted them to. The workable type of wedge for good players and the confidence booster for high handicaps. The question remains though, what about feel, spin, and sound?

 

Feel - 

For me personally, I really like soft wedges. Anything too firm and I am turned off right away. With these being forged wedges, it is common sense that the feel with be more soft than firm. This was certainly the case here. I found the wedges to be a wonderful forged soft if I could describe it in words. Every time you hit a good one you knew it because the ball just felt like air to me. On the flip side though, you definitely noticed when it was not off the center of the club face. Firmness I definitely noticed on more toe shots, center, and even into the heel the softness stayed forgiving. Overall these wedges in this initial test beat out the TaylorMade wedges I am currently using when it comes to the soft feel. Definitely, if you are like me and you prefer more of a soft-feeling wedge you will want to give this one a go.

Spin - 

It goes without saying that this category is extremely important for anyone looking to get new wedges. This category is more difficult for a mass review in that some people find it easier to get spin off their wedges than others. Being as I am in the bucket of the former I found that these clubs had no problem whatsoever in getting LOTS of check on short chips shots all the to rapid drop and stops on longer pitches and flop shots. This was actually so noticeable that I could go to a location where I was 50 feet from the hole and just played all kinds of shots generating from small check and runs, up to flop shots that drop and stopped on a dime. It goes without question that these wedges generate plenty of spin for your game. 

Note - As these are brand new wedges spin is relative at this point in that over time the spin rates could go down. I am going to be continuing to update at different intervals to see how they continue to perform.

Sound - 

This particular category is not necessarily as important to me as the others. I hear a lot of golfers I play with talk about the sound of a club and how important it is to them and this is why I have included it. Regarding the TA III wedges though they do have a pretty sounding click noise when struck. It is pretty audible but I do feel like it sounds almost identical to all the wedges I have ever played. If I were to really try to guess the sound was a hair higher pitched than my TaylorMade, but truly almost imperceptible. 

 

Initial Test - 6/27:

 

Time - 5:30 AM (AZ)

Weather - Chilled with no wind affecting.

Wet conditions? - Early sun, dryer conditions

After a heavy work week and a vacation that pushed me away from getting out to the course, I was overjoyed and eager to get out again and try these wedges for the second time. I will not be as long-winded here but there are some points I wanted to make that are in addition to what was discussed above. The biggest thing for me was attempting to avoid any “honeymoon” biases that may have come up. The following is what I found: 

1. Feel - Wedges still felt incredibly soft. Not only on center shots but also even on those odd off-center ones as well.
2. Spin - Still lots of spins. Checks up on 20-yard pitches for both the 54 and 58-degree wedges without too much effort. Flop shots using 58 degrees stopped dead when trying to from both rough and short grass.
3. Played a 50-yard approach shot & on average the ball when struck well did not go more than 2 feet from where it landed. Spin from rough = fantastic if needed.
4. Better than a Texas Wedge? - Something I really wanted to test is the “VS Texas Wedge” test. In that can I get it closer to the hole on average than I would using my putter instead? This test entails hitting 10 balls from the fringe to 30-40 feet and seeing if the ball can end 3 feet or shorter. The 58 certainly passed (the 54 has not been put through the paces yet). In three attempts, so 30 balls, I averaged 2.85 feet. This will be my club on these shots, to say the least.

 

Not ALL Sunshine and Rainbows?

 

At this point, you are probably thinking, “Okay Chris it is a perfect club, what a lame review.” However, I do have a negative and it could be a pretty big one. So far everything about these wedges has been fantastic. The negative so far is that I am deeply concerned about the durability of the club. Right after the first testing session, I found some marring on the face of the 58-degree. As much as I know this is normal over time it was still pretty shocking to me to see that happen so fast (maybe after 50 balls hit). The grass I played on was clean and devoid of rock or large grit but I still found scuffing and a ding. 

Now, I will give the wedges the benefit of the doubt in that they are forged clubs and generally softer. I have not seen any performance changes due in part to the issue at hand so, that is very comforting. This will be something I will look for and report on continuously as the test goes on. Looking forward for more to come. 

 

The more to come? How well does it play in competition?

Competition - Pioneer Days Tourney, Snowflake AZ, 7/21/23

I had the wonderful opportunity to play in a three-man scramble tournament where I had the chance to put these wedges through their paces and they did not disappoint. My 58 got a lot of play and there were some wonderful shots where I was able to see a good amount of spin and go really close for birdie. 

 

Some instances to mention: 

Hole 1 of the 18-hole course here in Snowflake is a short par 4. My playing partner hit driver to about 65 yards left into the hole and from here I used my 58. The green sloped down towards us so I decided to go at it from the rough with as much spin as I could generate. Once in the air, I knew it was going to be a great shot. I actually nearly holed the shot. It landed about a foot short bounced just over the hole and then checked right behind leaving us with a gimme birdie. 

Hole 12 Is a short par 3 where you have to hit over water. A separate playing partner from the first hole mentioned above hit the ball on the fringe short. These shots actually intimidate me more than any. Mostly because for me judging speed from the fringe is something I struggle with. In addition to this using putte would require hitting your putt from the fringe through the green to more fringe and then back on the green to the hole. Yeah, very tricky shot. Both of my playing partners pulled the putter for safety, however, they both left it well short. I decided to just go ahead and pull my 58, lean the shaft and close the face and just hit a low check shot to the pin. It was a shot executed almost to perfection. Two more rolls and the ball would have been in for birdie. Needless to say, however, it is a shot that brings me so much confidence and to have executed it, in that moment I fell in love with this 58 again!

For me playing in this competitive format I had a lot of confidence in my wedge play. My putter was the issue but that is a discussion for another time. Sub 70 has really created a club that helps to instill a lot of confidence in your short game. I loved hitting these clubs in competition as I truly felt they could not only perform but put myself and my partners in great positions for birdie or to save par with an up and down. 

 

Though not all my shots were perfect I found myself still coming back to my 58 and 54 with what I wanted them to do and more often than not they would do it. 

 

It was not all such a honeymoon experience for me playing these clubs as there were some things I came to notice as I played in the competition. The biggest standout was that these clubs can come back to bite you if not executed well. I had a couple of shots that were either hit off-center or chunked and the shot was pretty nasty. I either pushed it far right (my miss with these clubs is off the toe more than the heel). So, I would say that as much as I absolutely adore these clubs, which I really truly do, I would recommend and add my note to whoever wants is looking for new wedges these would be perfect for the mid to low-handicap player. These individuals can really take advantage of the strengths of these clubs and keep back their weaknesses.

 

Grading
 

Aesthetics (20 out of 20 Stars) 

It can not be said enough that these wedges are absolutely gorgeous. When I went out with some family to the range who have never played before I asked their opinion and these are some of the things that they had to say that I got the chance to write down: 

“I don’t know exactly what I am looking at but all I can say is they are beautiful.”

“I don’t think I could ever play with it because it looks so good. You sure you want to hit the ground with those?”

“As an artist, I am envious of the artisans who designed this. The attention to both detail and beauty is mesmerizing.”

 

I am a huge sucker for the “Tour Satin” look. It is classic and timeless, and then Sub 70 goes ahead and adds more to the gorgeous nature of the standard and mills the backside. I love the way it looks as well. It is a contemporary kind of look but not so much that you lose anyone who prefers the ultimate classic look (I am talking o you Vokey fans). 

 

I also have to talk about the milling that they did at the bottom of the club. It is a very cool aesthetic that I have enjoyed all the way since Taylormade came out with the original Milled Grind wedges. However, Sub 70 Has really outdone itself with this look. Surprisingly, not only does it look amazing, but I have to say that mentally I felt like seeing that on the bottom of the club, I could glide it through the turf better. Call me crazy but it is a great confidence booster to see something like milling on the bottom of the club to make you think you can slip it through the grass with ease.

 

In all, I think this is the most beautiful golf club I have certainly ever played but also ever seen. Sub 70 has knocked it out of the park with this one. 

 

The Numbers (20 out of 20 points)

Unfortunately, I hate to say it but I have no access to club data tracking hardware/software. However, I have tested fresh wedges on sims before (this being the reason why I purchased my Taylormade MG 2, my gamer prior to these ones). I will be comparing to that club here:

Carry: This one is difficult as my TaylorMade MG2 is a 60-degree versus this Sub 70 is a 58 so obvious the 58 will go further. And I do have to say when it comes to the 58 degrees that I have been playing I was able to hit pins at 118 yards and then play it soft to locations at 50 and below. Needless to say the versatility of one club for me was incredible to behold!

Spin Rate: When I tested the Taylormade MG2 originally I was getting rates in the low 10k’s. With these wedges, I guarantee I was experiencing at least that if not more while I was out testing during practice and on the course. I had some hits spinning back several feet (something that was at times a rarity with the Taylormade). 

Max Height: For the Taylormade, I was hitting on average about 30 Yards. For the Sub 70, I was doing about the same if not a tad more surprisingly. I am assuming that has to do with the larger bounce.

In all, I feel like as an average golfer with a good amount of experience I was able to put what I felt were really good numbers that were comparable with my prior Taylormade MG2, if not better in a lot of cases. I sincerely felt that the Sub 70 when the dust settles for all testers, and even the MGS forum testers, I do believe these clubs will fit high on the list. Hence the 5/5 score.

 

On The Course (20 out of 20 points)

Here is where you will evaluate the overall use of the product.

Numbers are part of it, but how does it work on the course? 

Any and all on-course information should be in this section.

With the Sub 70 TAIII wedges in the back, I certainly found myself wanting to get out on the course as often as possible. I certainly took advantage as much as I could. Some details about Snowflake Municipal: 

Pretty soft turf with greens being really firm presently with lighter watering and hot days (Average mid-90s in the past month). 

High elevation at a little over a mile above sea level. 

Wet conditions in Fairway are pretty common as they get watered heavily compared to the greens.

Snowflake is a little bit of a shorter course for me (I hit driver, and when hit well, on average 315 carry). With that being said I tend to hit off the tree and have about 100 yards or less into the green. This allows me to play a lot of wedge shots and is perfect for a test like this. 

 

What I love about playing these wedges on the course was that when I practiced with them the confidence carried over wonderfully. Additionally, Sub 70 boasts the ability to play a plethora of different shots, and I can confirm that this is definitely the case. Need to hit a high shot over some hazards? Check. Knockdown wedge shot with a high spin into slop and zip back? Check. Short check-up chip from the fringe to get within the gimme range? Check. All these things I have accomplished with these wedges. 

 

The above is precisely why this wedge has the 5/5 marker. When on the course and you want to play multiple shots to accomplish the goal of getting as close as you can to the pin these wedges certainly deliver. I found myself coming up with exactly what I wanted on multiple occasions. One of the biggest is needing something to help me hit from the fringe (replace my putter I mean) to tap in range. These wedges were precisely what I wanted. 

 

The Good, the bad, the in-between (12 out of 20 points)

With everything that I have written above no doubt seeing my grade here might make you question, and I totally understand. Now, let me explain the score. 

 

If you are like me you are probably someone who loves the game and will play numerous rounds a year and want to have your equipment perform on every outing you play in. Additionally, you are probably also like me in that you don’t have the funds to legitimately put out and buy a new wedge every year. With this being the case I have to give these wedges this score. 

 

I have written about this before but I can not help but question the durability of these clubs. I totally understand that with forged clubs you will see that the softer metals tend to ding or knick from time to time. Just as much as I understand that, I was still frustrated when on my first outing with the clubs I found a decent-sized knick on my club (see the image in the first outing write-up). I had hit about 50 balls and when all was said and done I was pretty disheartened to see the nick roughly just off center of the face. 

 

For those of us that are looking for a gamer that will last as long as possible, this is something that is bad for me. It petrifies me to see dings, knicks, or scratches on my clubs as I want to keep them as nice as possible obviously, but also want to make sure they last as long as possible as well. The performance of these clubs is definitely not lacking, however, time will tell if the durability stands up as well. 

 

Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20 points)

PLAY IT! This is a play-it club for me because it has been an absolute joy to be able to play these clubs. Between the performance of the clubs and the shot-making you can do with them, they are definitely worth getting. Sub 70 is also a wonderful company to work with (I can say this as I have purchased from them before). 

Do these clubs help you play your best? Absolutely! For anyone that is a mid to low handicap looking for a wedge that is soft feeling and can make the shots you want to make it is certainly worth it.

Nice to have? Just take a minute to look at them and they will make your playing partners drool when they look into your bag. Talk about sleek and sexy!

Asking price fair? Sub 70 is getting you a sleek-looking and great-performing wedge that is on par with all the big-name OEMs in the golf world, all while being almost $50 cheaper. I think the price is more than fair for what you are getting in return.

Who would play these wedges? These particular clubs are more for those mid to low handicappers who are very comfortable with their short game. Not only that but if you are the type who might not be able to play different shots with your wedges then you may not be able to take full advantage of what these clubs have to offer. Now, if you are just someone looking for something that spins a lot, then these are definitely at least work a look.

I certainly loved these clubs so much that I did go ahead and purchase a 50-degree to complete the set (needed a new gap anyway, might as well complete the set).

 

Conclusion

At the end of the time reviewing this club, I simply can not thank MGS & Sub 70 enough for this opportunity. It has been a wonderful time and I simply love this club. It feels just like what it felt like finding my wife to some degree. I knew after dating her that she would be mine and be perfect for me. I simply feel the same here with these Sub 70 TAIII wedges. The dating period is over and the marriage has occurred as I will be putting these wedges in the bag. The feel was incredible from day one. I love the soft feel and I even found myself loving the kind of clicky sound the ball makes when you strike it perfect. The spin was amazing, I had numerous shots on practice and play that would have totally beat out any other club I have used. Now, just like there are struggles in marriage, I did find myself struck with a glare in the relationship. This is the durability of the club. Having had a few more knicks and digs then I would have like might put off a few people. In all, however, these clubs are truly incredible and Sub 70 is really showing its colors as a company that is looking to compete in the big boys market. So, are you are a mid to low-handicap golfer looking to buy a new wedge that will deliver, saving money is a big deal, and you also want the envy of any on-looker staring into the wedge section of your bag. Then look no further than the Sub 70 TAIII wedges, they will not disappoint.
 

Final Score (92 out of 100 points)

Some Final Photos: 

Video of Standard shots: 

 

Video of some Flop Shots: 

 

 

Edited August 5 by CB Lobo 4 Life
Update format and final grade.

[sirchunksalot]

Congratulations testers! These are some great looking wedges and this should be a fun read getting to see how the Sub70's improve your short game. Ain't nothing like fresh grooves.

[ParFore74x]

Congratulations testers!! Looking forward to how these wedges work out for you. 

[rkj427]

Congratulations to this diverse group of testers.

Looking forward to their comments and reviews.

[Rchang]

Congrats all. Looking forward to your results 

[Tx-Ping]

Congratulations to all the winners. 

[MattF]

Congratulations all.

[josmi15]

as a fan of wedges, i look forward to reading these reviews.  please put em through their paces.  congratulations to those that were selected.  it truly is an honor and great opportunity.  

[MaxEntropy]

Thank you Sub70 and MGS!

I think this is going to be a fun test - my current wedges are Cleveland RTX Zipcores and I love them. How will the Sub70's stack up? Time will tell....

[Nunfa0]

Congrats testers, may your grooves be sharp and your spin be true

[Ben Joest]

Congrats testers! Interested in your findings, as I may be in the market for a new wedge myself.

[russtopherb]

Congrats everyone! Looking forward to seeing what you get and how they work out for you.

[ejgaudette]

Congrats testers, looking forward to hearing how they perform for you. I was close to buying these myself, so this test might put them on the short list for the future.

[Triple_Putt]

Congrats testers! Looking forward to the testing results as I need a full set of wedges in my bag!

[Blaine Dye]

Congrats to all the testers I love seeing some wedge testing cant wait to see some spin rates 

[OldCaddie]

Congrats all.  Looking forward to thoughts.

OldCaddie