Since making their debut at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, where Cameron Smith earned the first victory with the new model, NEW Titleist Vokey Design SM9 wedges have been overwhelmingly the most played wedge on the PGA TOUR.
Last week at The PLAYERS, there were more Vokey Design gap, sand and lob wedges (206) in play than all competitors combined, with 35% (142) of all gap, sand and lob wedges in play being SM9. In fact, in addition to playing a Titleist golf ball, every player in the Top 3 positions on the final leaderboard played a Titleist TSi driver and Vokey Design wedges, while the fourth-place finisher also had Vokeys in the bag:
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 52.08F, 56.08M, 60.10S
“I put them in the bag straight away. They’re great,” he said. “For me the biggest difference in these new ones is the longer ones, the 46 and the 52, I feel like I’m able to flight a little bit more. (Kapalua) was so receptive and I felt like I could keep being aggressive, I didn’t have to worry about the ball spinning off the front of the green. They set up the courses pretty tricky for us and these are the ones that help us make all the birdies and those really good pars, so you’ve got to be able to rely on them.”
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 52-08, 56.10S, WedgeWorks 60T
“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 consistently coming off with that nice low ball flight. So it was a pretty easy decision for me.”
“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 dialed 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.”
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 52.12F, 56.14F, WedgeWorks 60T
“When I was testing SM9, it was nice to see the low controlled flight. For me, for someone who likes to flight my wedges and control my spin a lot, I need to be able to see that ball hit the windows. And I’m looking both low and high, but especially low. Because for me, it’s nice to be able to feel like I hit it and I don't look up and it’s coming high and floaty. It’s hitting the flight that I want, the spin that I want and reacting how I want.”
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 56.08M (@ 57)
“You’re always looking for a little edge on controlling distance and I was able to control the flight and distance really well with the SM9. And so it went straight in the bag. When you’re testing a new wedge you want to see that it’s interacting with the turf the right way and is able to perform no matter what kind of shot you’re hitting. And I feel very comfortable that this wedge does that.”
Wedges: Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 50.12F, 56.14F, 60.04L
“I put [the SM9’s] right in just because honestly I trust Voke and I trust (Aaron) Dill a lot. But I got here and could tell right away it was just something that was going to be a little bit easier to flight in the breeze, which is always good. The extra control is just taking out a variable. If the ball’s flying into the wind, and sometimes it puffs up there and sometimes it doesn’t, that’s just another guess you have to make. So with [SM9], knowing what it’s going to do, it just brings a lot of comfort. Especially if you got one for quite a bit of FedExCup points, you want to know what’s going to happen and not just guess it.”
Other SM9's in Play
Garrick Higgo: 50.12F, 56-14, WedgeWorks 60.06K
Cam Davis: 52.12F, 56.14F, WedgeWorks 60V
Matt Jones: 58.08M (@ 60)
2021 Northern Trust winner: WedgeWorks 60T
2021 Houston Open winner: 56.14F, 60.08M
2021 Byron Nelson winner: 60.08M
2014 FedEx Cup Champion: 52.12F, 56.10S, WedgeWorks 60V (@ 62)
2009 Open Champion: 52.12F, 60.12D
2009 U.S. Open Champion: 52.12F, 56.10S
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