A collaboration between Phil Mickelson and Roger Cleveland, the PM Grind (2019) expands its offerings this year into a few lower lofts, an update from the original high-lofted one-off designed for—and by—Mickelson and his famous flop shots. The new line is focused on helping golfers hit the three short-game shots Mickelson believes are key. That includes the aforementioned flop shot, as well as a high-spin, quickly checking pitch and the low-flighted knockdown.

The design of the wedges emphasize those shots in three specific ways. First, from a spin standpoint the design incorporates Callaway’s wide grooves and unique raised ridges between the grooves that provide some 80 contact points with the ball for better grab. Once again, the PM Grind features grooves that extend fully across and up and down the entire face, but to improve the potential for spin on flop shots the ridges in between the grooves are canted at a 20-degree angle to match how the face is open and cutting across the ball when hitting these shots.

Second, more weight is positioned higher in the toe to create a higher centre of gravity for a more penetrating flight.

Third, the wedges feature more offset than traditional wedges, setting the leading edge of the club slightly behind the shaft. The idea is this better facilitates positioning the hands forward of the ball when hitting the knockdown shot.

“Working with Phil on the PM grind wedges has been a fantastic experience,” said Cleveland. “His insights are always spot-on, and implementing them to create something innovative like the PM Grind 2019 is incredibly satisfying. This wedge is going to help a lot of players hit shots they couldn’t hit before.”

The PM Grind will be offered in five lofts (54, 56, 58, 60, 64 degrees). They will be in stores Feb. 15.

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The Hi-Toe features a distinctive raised upper corner that is reminiscent of several higher-lofted speciality models introduced in recent years, all in some way inspired by the Ping Eye2 L-wedge, first introduced in the mid-1980s.

“That high toe gave it that high center of gravity, which is better for low launch and makes it a little bit harder for that club to release so you can keep that face open a little longer for a lot of those shots around the green,” said Paul Demkowski, TaylorMade product development manager for wedges.

The Hi-Toe’s design also includes a sole shape reminiscent of the company’s ATV wedge sole from earlier this decade. It’s able to be reproduced more efficiently through its computer milled sole shaping that replaces the less exact casting and polishing method that is traditionally used in wedge manufacturing.

No less noticeable on the Hi-Toe is how the grooves run across the face into the upper toe region. It’s the result of input from the TaylorMade tour staff, led by Dustin Johnson, who put the club in play last fall and used it in his victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions to start the year in Hawaii. Other TaylorMade tour staffers like Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose have either experimented or put the wedge in their bags, as well.

“Players told us by having the grooves run all the way across the face, it gave them more confidence to open the face and cut across the ball,” Demkowski said. “On a traditional wedge, they said they were making contact in the toe where there are no scoring lines.”

The Hi-Toe removes mass with three cavities in the lower portion of the back of the sole to further help raise the centre of gravity in an effort to further raise spin on partial shots. As well, the Hi-Toe uses a lighter, 115-gram shaft (KBS Tour Hi-Rev 2.0) also for more spin, another result of tour player input.

The Hi-Toe joins the rest of TaylorMade’s Milled Grind lineup, first introduced last year. The Hi-Toe will be offered only in higher lofts (58, 60 and 64 degrees). It is scheduled to be in stores March 2 ($170).
—Mike Stachura/@MikeStachura

Image courtesy of TaylorMade

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Choose your club depending on length of shot and pin position
By Jack Woods

During any round of golf, it’s a given that technical mistakes are going to cost you shots. But many amateur golfers compound this by losing more shots with rushed decisions. For every shot you face out on the golf course, you should always ask yourself: ‘how do I make getting the desired outcome as straightforward as possible?’. This is especially applicable to the more technically challenging shots, like those from greenside bunkers.

Pictured left on our Academy Par 3 course at Dubai Creek is a greenside sand shot to two flags. It’s automatic for most players to see their ball here and reach for their most lofted wedge without thinking too much more about it. Sure, for the tight short pin, this is unquestionably the right club. You want to pop the ball up high and soft with minimal roll.

But what about the shot of about 20-25 yards to the longer pin? It’s far easier to play it exactly the same way as the short pin, but just drop down to a pitching wedge. You can make the same swing, and take the same amount of sand, plus your margin for error goes up. By minimising your variables, you can give each shot its best chance of success.

Jack Woods is a PGA Teaching Professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. For more information, visit dubaigolf.com

Photograph by Kristina Nabieva
Photo Illustrations by Clarkwin Cruz

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