Officially announced this week, the new Vokey Design SM9 continues the tradition and was immediately the most played wedge on the PGA Tour in its first week, when Cam Smith carried four SM9s to victory in Hawaii.

Driven by Vokey’s “keys to great wedge play” – shot versatility, distance and trajectory control, and maximum spin – the new line-up is the most complete in terms of loft, grind and bounce options in Titleist history. A widely varied offering Vokey says delivers “ultimate in optionality” across his three performance areas of focus.

“It sounds simple, but having the correct wedge and knowing when to use it has a direct impact on scoring performance. The most important thing for golfers at every level is to know when and where to use the variety of wedges in their bag. That can be achieved by being properly fit based on swing and style of play, and understanding the roles for each,” Vokey said.

Finding this correct wedges has never been easier, with a total of 23 different SM9 wedges available in lofts starting at 46° all the way up to 62°, six Tour proven grinds (F, S, M, K, L and D) and three finishes (Tour Chrome, Brushed Steel and Jet Black). A Raw option also offered as custom.

The brand’s ‘Vokey Wedge Selector’ helps golfers find their perfect wedge setup and grinds, as do Titleist fittings where the aim is to produce the ideal impact location between the second and fifth grooves producing a more penetrating and higher spinning flight.

To aid in creating this optimal wedge flight, the ‘Progressive Centre of Gravity’ (CG) concept of the previous SM8 wedges has been enhanced.

The CG remains hovering in front of the face to help the wedge face square at impact every time and improve feel, while it has been moved higher via more weight in the topline area in the form of tapered toe pad that does not change the appearance of the club behind the ball.

“I took them to the range with a launch machine to check out spin rate and stuff on more of the full shots. I had the SM8’s and the SM9’s in for maybe two or three days before I was comfortable just saying, ‘Yeah, these are better'." - Jordan Spieth.

Named SM9 for the ‘Spin Milled’ groove cutting process, the new model utilises a new version of the renowned process that not only increases maximum spin but also raises consistency.

Tolerances have been tightened to produce sharper grooves that are 100 percent inspected for rule conformity, and ‘Micro-Grooves’ lie in between each groove to create more friction on partial shots around the green. A heat treatment applied to each SM9 greatly increases the durability of the new model’s grooves.

Beyond the refined grind offerings in the range, loft specific performance is also delivered through the use of different groove depths and widths and progressive hosel lengths throughout the SM9 family.

The suite of performance improvements impressing many of the best players in the world, who like Smith were quick to put the new model in play at first opportunity.

“I like to really hit my wedges with lower trajectory. I feel like that I can control my distances a lot better when I do that, so the idea that when I’m hitting three-quarter shots with those clubs on those kind-of-not-full yardages, maybe if you have to flight one in the wind or off an upslope, they seem to be really, really consistent coming off with that nice low-ball flight. So, it was a pretty easy decision for me,” said Jordan Spieth, who joined Smith, Matt Jones, Justin Thomas, Max Homa and Patrick Cantlay as an immediate adopter.

“I took them to the range with a launch machine to check out spin rate and stuff on more of the full shots. I had the SM8’s and the SM9’s in for maybe two or three days before I was comfortable just saying, ‘Yeah, these are better.’

“All the good stuff stayed the same and then I felt like I could get even a little more dialled in on some of those three-quarter approach shots that a lot of times we have to have into some tuck pins out here. Without jeopardizing any of the full shots or any of the workability that I’ve always liked with my wedges.”

The new SM9 is available for pre-order from February 11 and will be in Australian golf shops one month later.

SRP: $269.

For more information, visit www.titleist.com.au