Getting Fit For Titleist’s New SM10 Vokey Wedges

When you think about getting fit for new clubs, wedges aren’t usually top of mind. But in reality, this is an incredibly intricate and important process to get your short game dialed in.

Fully Equipped’s Ryan Barath visits the #titleistperformanceinstitute to test out the best new SM10s for his game.

Become a subscriber: https://www.youtube.com/@FullyEquippedGolf
🛒 Shop Fairway Jockey: https://bit.ly/3StB45F

Together with Tour Validated, Fully Equipped is now home the home for all GOLF’s gear insights and new releases. Hit #Subscribe & #HitTheBell so you don’t miss out on any new videos!
Instagram ► https://instagram.com/fullyequippedgolf
Twitter ► https://https://twitter.com/Fully_Equipped
Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/tourvalidated
TikTok ► https://www.tiktok.com/@tourvalidated

#golfclubs #golf #vokey #titleist

See that was 10 out of 10 right there whatever happened there I was 10 out of 10 like like the contact felt really clean um and I you know as I was looking at I did not get a glimpse of what that so was but that would be like the

Technique that I’m trying to Accomplish feel is really important that’s the one thing about wedge play that I try and focus on is how do we find the best feeling product to give you the best chance to swing freely and confidently and pull off shots you need to pull off cool cool yeah all right and

You said LZ what Flex it’s a 6o just a standard 6o LZ okay perfect I know we’re a little bit flat here so I’m going to have you start with the 46 sure U and the reason why is I’m sure you’re content with the iron set pitching wedge you have but there are

Three benefit always but yeah there are three benefits that I believe in when it comes to a vogi pitching wedge or a vogi 46 or 48 you get classic Timeless Bob Voki shaping so they’re very pretty but you get a very forgiving bottom so it’s a basically allowing you to just kind of

Go and do your thing and hit on grooves two through five a little more often but the best and most valuable part is the spin Mill Groove this is going to reduce Flyers so on clean lives like this you’re going to get great strikes great flight great good you know good spin

When you’re in a scenario where you have moisture sand any sort of debris that’s going to get between the ball and the on ball in the face you are going to see some Artic flights and Spins yeah and this is going to reduce that so over 60%

Of our guys on tour are using Aoki pitching wedge for that reason they’re trying to get that ball to do something that they want it to do right yeah if your ball is basically flying off and it’s going 15 yards further than you think you’re setting yourself up for

Some challenges so we’re going to try and tighten that up a little bit cool so I’m going to have you warm up with this a little bit the blood flowing we’re going to run a little test here to just kind of see what your numbers are sure

Um I want to make sure that your gapping is spot on so we’ll start with a little gapping work nice how’s that flight look that’s yeah kind of what you’re looking for yep that’s as good as all hit like a pitching L it’s beautiful so I don’t know what that was

But that was good all right what’ you say about 120 I was hoping for in my head I’m thinking 120 that’s like always my my pitching wage number 120 really yep beautiful we got on camera like we got that thing where he hits the ball I think we got

It yeah 120 all right Let’s do let’s do one more just to validate it okay I do agree that you are definitely on the flatter side um you know a little bit of this is path related you know if if you’re coming this way yeah you have an

Opportunity to hit Custer PS right yeah so how do you kind of how do you decide what you want to do obviously big pole is not quite as forgiving as as a little cut so there is definitely a sweet spot but the one thing I will say is that

Flight tends to produce a lower launch so you’ve got great spin numbers and you should have very consistent carries 122 yeah all right let throw you a curveball here you ready sure I’m ready for it my 60 I don’t really think too much about like what how far it goes I don’t

Hit a lot of full shots mhm but having like a pitching wedge distance a 50 like my 50° my gap wedge distance and then a 54 like knowing how far those go yes and understanding that gapping which I know is like not new to anybody like understanding how far your wedges go and

Carry not roll out like how far they carry makes such a huge diff has made a huge difference in my golf game as someone who enjoys playing well but doesn’t like practice that much is it lighter I’m trying really hard not to look at it all right take this guy out of

Here trying very hard not to look this is the fun part but you know what’s great about this is that you’re exploring the space we’re learning we’re going to figure out kind of what you need to go into going forward um and then this will sort of

Guide us into what we think you should be in as you increase Loft but I think this may be more of the direction oh this one has a label on it this one you might recognize little left thoughts on feel feels familiar that like cuz I this

Is generally what I play in my my 50 yeah just great swing feels like I’m home I think we figured out sort of the direction that makes sense for you okay and this is something that we see in in wedge fitting quite often is feel plays

A big part in that right you can change shavs all you want some are going to be more rigid and spin managing some are going to be a little softer and spin increasing what we do tend to see and this is become very very common for what we’re doing on tour around the

World feel and weight are very important together and the majority of players are going to more weight in their shabs and their wedge play because it adds more feel it’s why we’ve been using s200 forever yeah it’s that great balance of I want it to feel nice but I also want

To feel a lot of what’s Happening as I’m taking the club down if we get too light you have to change the way the chea feels make it more rigid make it more stiff um and that’s going to pull away from the things that you value as you’re

Bringing that club down to the ball this s200 again it’s a little heavier yeah but you want that and you want that feel you want that soft sort of structure with the shaft is most popular shaft we use on tour is the S400 just a little bit heavier version of this yeah but

Again weight and softness yeah that’s my go-to is I they use the s400s um generally um and I just yeah you know what the interesting thing that you talk about and it’s it’s so much like a Tempo thing is I find that it’s not it’s not

Even the feel going down it’s the feel on the way back yes like I don’t want I don’t want it to feel like it’s moving too fast if it’s lighter even if like this maybe the swing weight’s the same or like total like just the total weight

Just the whole thing just feels like it wants to move back a little faster whereas when it when I have that extra weight I feel like if I can just get to my top of my swing where I know like it’s going to go a certain distance like

Stock shot or whatever if I can get it there nothing well a lot of things can go wrong but hopefully not a lot of things can go wrong from that point right but that feel to get to that point if it’s too heavy or too light then it’s immediately like there’s something not

Working here which be which becomes the problem so if you find the right shaft and you create the right Fields taking it back better opportunity to return it to the ball in the right way yeah okay cool one more sure and then we’re going to switch Lofts okay uh we’re looking at

About 120 yards carry on this Loft which is good this is sort of going to set the standard right we have a bookand idea of what we know this wedge is supposed to be with Carrie and what we think this wedge is going to be with Carri and we

Can sort of fill in from there okay the highest lofted wedge we have a lot of flexibility in that cuz it’s not about distance it’s about the best opportunity to get it close to the hole the day I sorry say the day I decided to never hit

A full lob wedge again was like definitely like better on my golf game most most players would say the same all right one more just to validate let’s switch it up all right now based on the 120 yage carry on this guy I’m hoping that our next wedge will get you somewhere in

That 107 range I was going to ask what’s your formula for that like when you’re trying to determine gapping off the pitching wedge like what are you looking to go down like per yardage or is it is it cppy related how does that work I like to set the standard for everybody

Regardless of your ball speed right we’re looking for about 13 yards in between each wedge okay it’s not so far away from each other that you have to start guessing and Swinging softer and harder and it’s not too close where you have the same Club so right around that

13 yardage range if if we can sort of hit that occasionally that’s really good plus or minus a plus or minus a yard I think pretty good numbers and because your path is the way it is as your fitter and I see this often as your fitter the way your Club is coming

Through the ground um is usually a sign that A Little More Bounce is probably beneficial for you okay right if you were the other way if you’re coming this way and you tend to be a block drop type of player you would like less bounce

Okay and it’s not so much because of the diving as it’s more about when the club interacts with this with the turf and the players who tend to come this way will interact with the turf earlier than you will coming this way okay pretty looking down on this wedge I

Know it’s it’s the new one so it’s shaped slightly differently yeah something tells me that it’s not a 50 now again I could be wrong but I’m like I feel like there’s a touch more Loft than I’m used to looking at in this golf club again I could be

Very wrong on that and it’s just the it’s just the shaping like the new profile like the slight tweaks of the profile on the wedge mhm get strike that’s is that’s as good as I’m going to hit a hit a wedge right there do that a few more times make it

Easy 109 109 yep so we’re kind of in that wheelous all right change you up when you talk about what you’re looking at can you go through that one more time you think that there’s more Loft on this I felt looking at it and maybe it’s

Because of the wedge that I’m using has a um it’s it’s it’s a different finish okay so it looks brighter cuz I I play generally play a raw wedge if it’s that or if it’s just the the like the toe profile something looked like it had more Loft on it okay

Now again I could be very wrong but that that was kind of the interpretation that I got well let’s try let’s try something different here okay and I think this is actually a good move for you and I’ll explain why okay in just a second now when players are when you’re

Looking at like the bounce mhm I think people think of like where they want to hit a wedge it’s it’s not like the you obviously you don’t want to catch on the bottom Groove but it’s not here like it’s not the middle of the face is it

Like it’s what’s kind of the the in between group do you mean like up and down yeah so grooves 2 through five and basically in the center is the ideal place to live right that’s not just about feel but it’s also about ball speed how we engineer the CG where we

Put it in water why also giving yourself the best ability to miss some of the more Troublesome locations that are inside Center yeah uh we want to avoid that as well um that’s essentially the reason so 2 through five is that spot we want to hone our our attention on okay pretty good

There 105 I don’t know I’m just going to start throwing random numbers until I’m right what did you say 105 he’s good 105 on the money what a shot all right how’s that face looking the Leading Edge this I don’t know if it’s again I don’t know tell about the blade shape is

Slightly different from the last one yes um so this is the fun part about fitting right and I encourage anybody who gets fit to ask a lot of questions talk a lot about what they’re going through on that last Club you said I feel like there’s a

Lot more Loft on here I don’t know why yeah just feels that way there are two reasons why I’ve snuck into this club the number one is to reduce some of that face size that you’re looking at or at least that Loft that you’re seeing the

Other is to increase bounce a little bit so that you can do what you need to do and know that the club’s going to come out of the turf okay and because of the first couple moves we made on the first one by adding some of those shape changes you immediately started speaking

Up and saying I’m not quite sure this is what I like to look at I think the modern day golfer is looking for this very straight very modern looking Club this is more in that direction also taking into consideration what you’re trying to do through the turf yeah the

First one we tested was a 512 okay at 49 oh interesting yeah and so when you talk about I see a lot of face I see more Loft yeah it is a slightly bigger shape so as we increase the Loft shapes are going to get a little bit bigger that’s

Intentional but because that turned you off and I know what you saw with a little bit of offset as well that’s the thing about when you bend a club you can either add or decrease the offset that didn’t work with you so now we’re in a

48 B to 49 so we’re going to test this first one okay and I want you to kind of go through that exercise right there’s going to be some full shots so’s hit a couple those okay let’s talk about the feels there let’s H some of the shorter

Ones as well talk about those feels usually from this distance you can test a lot of the different grinds and bounces and you’re going to go they all feel pretty good yeah we’re going to see the biggest returns over here right you’ll know right away I don’t like this one I love

This one yeah why right so it really narrows it down as we move from this location to there but we’d love to have a few options going there so we’re going to start here if you can Couple full ones we’re looking around kind of that

95 marker is that the idea yeah say a little bit less okay you know 95 or less I’m not thinking like trying to hit a distance I just want to like make the swing like I just want you to hit yep and let me do my part like a little long trajectory is

Not an issue for you like hitting it high or low what’s okay yeah no I can I will uh generally not play a floaty wedge shot with anything that’s like partial or like half mhm new Groves really help though I like that yeah it didn’t there’s

Something about the sound of it that was different again I’m not trying I’m really trying very I’m not looking at these things 92 so we’re in kind of that sweet spot okay now I’m going to that short one okay okay see I felt like I could hammer down on that and it wasn’t

Going to dig okay now do you want me to hit the short one now yes please okay and then I’m going to change heads do we have a trying to pick like a what say like a 50 yard 60 yard I guess try this okay actually that’s probably going to go too

Far that’s probably that the 90 range 89 it’s a fun game you hit it twoo well yeah that’s kind of the other shot though I would hit with this club if like you know again I like the stock one knock down one but if I need

Some like again I don’t know the numbers but like if I got more spin or like it’s I’ll see that shot a little bit but mhm okay change it up sure now most anything that’s like out further away I it’s it’s this way but then the short game is almost always

This way unless it’s a bunker shot yeah Couple full shots please no worries thoughts on that one that was good how’ it feel it felt good that’s the shot I want to hit with that wedge okay with i s like when I think of my my sand wedge that Loft

That’s the shot I’m trying to that L yeah cuz having done this and like not this but like having hit wedges and understanding the Dynamics like I’m trying to control ball flight when it’s up high learned long ago that being able to hit the low spinning shot your distance

Control is going to be better doesn’t mean I’m going to do it every time but I want to see that because I generally play small greens so if I can front to back control that variable it’s a lot easier all right yeah that felt more more my speed for that

Shot 9 1 yards 23 launch so launch goes up carry gets a little lower yep plenty of spin all right cool now this is definitely your Loft and I’m feeling like this is the right balance for you there’s a couple reasons why I think this is a good fit so much of this

Is path related right so if you understand how path influences selection because your path is just ever so slightly this way y you have a tendency to be a little steeper and create a bigger divot right you’ve left plenty of evidence you’ve been here yeah the other

Guys who are this way tend to be shallower okay so they’re going to be on the way up they tend to launch the ball higher with less spin so when we look at what is important wedge fitting in ball flight you’re a good lad launcher with plenty of stopping power right you don’t

Have the issue of hitting it too high unless you’ve caught one heavy yeah um so that’s those are the two really good things you can take away from this experience is all right I know my flight’s really good I know my spin numbers are really good my biggest issue

Is finding a bounce and grind that fits what my path is you need to add bounce to certain shots mainly the full shots right yeah we can fin tune it over here but I know right away You’re a can it for a little bit more just due to the

Way you move the club through the turf yeah okay okay so uh two shots some of the shorter ones the ones we did before there we go there’s another one that’s so clean it’s the one as your fitter I like that sound that’s just the sound of good

Connection okay so we got three out of four done on this side all right now the lob wedge let’s talk about it what’s the highest Loft you currently play uh 60 60 why do you play 60 why not 58 why on 57 just kind of like the Gap separation I

Like having the higher Loft around the because I it’s not a club that I will use for almost I’ll hit the shot that I just hit there I’ll hit it with a 60 and feel in my head like I’m trying to create more Spin and that low launch

That where I really want to try and stop it yep um and so that’s and then for me because of the separation of like 5050 5460 is the way that I I play those those wedges then in my head that’s just like that’s the way I’m going to going

To use them basically so I’m going to tell you why I love that approach you’re not basing this wedge on distance you’re basing it on function how do I get it close to the hole you’re going to do the majority of your work over here I’m

Still going to have you hit it because I want you to understand how it feels through here if you’re ever put in that position cuz we all are you’re going to get to a weird number one time and you’re going to go I can’t hit my sand

Wedge it’s too long I got to hit the lob wedge so I want to run you through some of that testing just real quickly so you can feel the the different Souls we’re going to learn the most over here but I love the fact that you said I could be a

58 based on the paper but I I think I’m a 60 guy because I think I get more value here on the short game area yeah which I think is the right way to approach it all right and low bounce Guy high bounce guy what do you what are you into generally play

A like mid to lower bouns okay but with uh some relief around it because again it’s it is more of a a short game club where I like to open it up and really have that that Leading Edge sit lower without being so but I won’t use like

Super low balance because I want to be able to get it through the turf if I do open it up kind of thing so that’s so beautiful that’s exactly what I want getting a little far but still not bad I’m me I’m Mega curious now CU I I

Knew I okay like I’m not not inexperienced at this part but like I know that whatever that was was probably very very either narrow Soul or like very very little bounce he’s good he knows exact you know exactly what you’re feeling which is great um first one I

Tested you in M Grind okay middle of the road you said I’m kind of a mid to low bounce 60° wedge player this is that middle of the road I need some bounce I also don’t want some bounce I want a little bit of everything sort of style

Of grind right so we start you off with kind of the middle of the pack and then I start thinking about your path I start thinking about your Tendencies I start looking at your divots I start looking thinking about your feelings on just kind of how you approach your shots all

Those little different things and I test you in something more because I know right away that A Little More Bounce is going to be a more forgiving option for you and free you up to remove some of the stress you’re feeling as you’re getting through so we we go into the D

Grind okay right and then I take you to the T and the reason why is I want you to feel this I want you to experience it I think we get we get lost in this this is the kind of grind bounce guy I am without being fit based on everything

We’ve done today everything is leading me in this direction it’s pulling me away from what you think you’re supposed to have and why now we saw only a few shots here we’re going to validate what we’re feeling and seeing over on the green side stuff that’s what really

Matters the most right because I know you’re not going to use this club here from distances it’s about getting it done on this side of the golf course so we’re going to hit all three of these and see what they do cool as well as a few sand wedes

Nope Ryan would you feel better if I said you could hit the same way every single time and not have any fear about digging I’d like that okay so again these next two shots don’t be afraid to thump the soil right okay beautiful how’d that feel that felt good

Okay felt like it just kind of skitted through good now it didn’t fly the way I wanted to but want to go a little higher or further what would you like it to do I would just for me I feel like I would have carried that my goal would have

Been to carry that further okay but I also feel like I didn’t hit I was like a fact that I’m on the green putting if this is like a scenario I’m just trying to get up and down that’s like a six out of 10 but I’ll take

It like I’m put as long as I’m putting again I’ll get myself an above five but we just need to practice is that no good that was pretty damn good I will take that that that sound like that sound whatever and I don’t think I’m sure it has a relationship to the turf

But where I hit it on the face and like just kind of the the relationship that just happened there was really good and that’s what I’m going for that was 10 out of 10 right there whatever happened there I was 10 out of 10 like like the contact felt really

Clean um and I you know as I was looking at I did not get a glimpse of what that Sol was but that would be like the technique that I’m trying to accomplish okay that sounded crispier I maybe just cuz it was one shot that’s what I expected to see I

Didn’t put any in the bunker pretty scary no bunker none of those on camera we’re next but between the two models again we’re seeing a positive performance out of this D right there we go well that didn’t suck that didn’t suck beauti feel like I’m getting in

More of a I haven’t really hit a lot of Bunker shots like being longer is kind of like I know I realized we’ll cut the ones where I don’t take it back above my knee okay H this really good take that all right now let’s change courses okay let’s go a

Little further okay let’s try a sandwich cool what do you think let’s do it let’s go just throw a few in here sure no looking no looking oh gosh sorry you’re never getting that one back that’s how I envisioned that shot go little Rel yeah it it’s like yeah lands like I

Don’t know 65% of the way there and rolls out I like I I’m not trying to fly it there again putting myself in a position where like I kind of put it down in the sand a little more that’s that a very acceptable result so that’s kind of the

Result you’re looking for yes okay perfect there’s a huge value in running through a test like this with a trust fitter to better understand why it’s easy to just be like I’m just buying this because it’s here on the Shelf yeah but why does it work for you right I

Learned today so much about your long and short wedge play right I know your path is a little over the top I know your ball flight is low I know your spin is high I know your carry numbers tend to be very consistent those are all really important factors in really good

Wedge play right if you were the other way I’d be I’d be working really hard to try and find ways to bring ball flight down to increase Spin and get more carry but you kind of have a nice Foundation going right yeah the issue comes down to

Do I have the right Lofts and grinds and bounces that best fit some of the error issues places that I that I struggle with you tend to have a pretty good size divot so strikes can move up and down the face you’re typically going to be

Low on the face most of the time just because of how you trap the ball all the way down but there are some shots from time to time where you might catch one kind of high so your launch will vary anywhere between 26 and 36° of Loft so

We got to find bounces that best fit that you need more forward bounce forward bounce meaning you need more in the front on those styles of shots from 46 up to 54 right so you’ve got 4610 at 45 okay 4810 at 49 so you’re increasing bounce slightly there and reducing

Offset so now you’re that visual package is making a lot of sense once you get up to The Sand Wedge we know there’s a little bit of short game work to be done there’s a little bit of Fairway work there you’re kind of intermingling those

But there’s not a lot of open face stuff that you’re trying to accomplish so we don’t have to focus a whole lot on what’s going on back here we need to be more focused on what’s going on up front cuz from there to here the face is

Relatively square if it opens it’s ever so slightly so if we increase forward bounce you’re just giving yourself that extra bit of forgiveness that you need to feel like you can just swing and do what you need to do and get the ball out right same thing applies to the LOB

And it’s not common that we see players fit into the same grind in both but I think you’re really a better DG grind player in the 60 than you be an M Grind player right okay A little bit of it has to do with what we saw from a distance a

Little bit of it has to do with Bunker play okay and definitely a lot of it has to do with just the style of shots you want to play most of the time I don’t see you as the type of player who’s trying to create a lot of height it’s

Just kind of there’s my target this is my window and you have that lower launch window in your head the D gives you a better opportunity to get to that place just because it has four bounces to protect you when you’re just a little bit off of the condition soften that

Shot is an emergency shot for me yeah the other thing is the type of turf you’re playing on you’re playing on a type of grass and soil that tends to make the ball set up a little higher so adding a little bit of Bounce is going

To help keep you on groov two through five that’s where you want to be in the Northeast yeah it’s just if we had put you in the tea grind which is what we tested to you’d be in six seven eight who knows we’d be much much higher up

The face be you know be be coming up well short you definitely see increases in spin and stopping power sore RIS and the bottom the bottom would be somewhat lost so we need to add some forgiveness while maintaining a little bit of Versatility but just based on the style

Of shots you play adding forward bounce is a huge benefit so 54 12d at 53 okay and your 60D and again we’re not focused on distance with the 60 it’s really about getting you around the greens in the most efficient way possible it’s not about hitting at 90 yards so we’ve

Actually geared that towards just being a better Club around the greens than the rest of the set very cool I got to rake this bunker