Lighter weight wedge heads - who makes them?

[Pnwpingi210]

Looking to build some wedges 3/4 (50 and 56) over standard.  What manufactures make lighter heads in their wedges?  Vokey?  Mizuno?  Taylormade?

 

[Guest RobS]

Vokey doesn't but you can get wedges ported to remove some weight through Vokey Wedgeworks.  Mizuno did for years but didn't with the T22 line.  Not sure about the new T24 line.  Taylormade has the bullet weights in the bottom of the hosel bore that can be removed.  I don't know how well they accommodate custom swing weight orders but I have just bought the wedges stock, removed the weights and reshafted.  The weight sizes vary but I've usually found them heavy enough to drop a few swing weight points.

[Howard_Jones]

13 hours ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

Looking to build some wedges 3/4 (50 and 56) over standard.  What manufactures make lighter heads in their wedges?  Vokey?  Mizuno?  Taylormade?

 

I have no clue who offers lighter wedges, but wedges is quite easy to remove wgt from by hosel drilling, and in most cases, it improves performance since we move COG from heel side (where it typical is) and against the center. 

If you look on typical wedges, the hosel is LONG and longer than irons, so is BBGM, and that pulls COG UP, but heel side, so when we remove weight from the hosel, we also get COG closer to where it should be, and thats in the center of the face. 

My suggestion is simply, choose the brand with the sole grind that fits your game, and find some one who can remove the weight needed by hosel drilling. The chart below might be handy, so you get to see what it takes to remove what you want to remove. 
 
ALL drill bits suggested is smaller than 0.355 Taper, so we DONT lower BBGM
Drilling should be done in a drill press with a hosel fixture if we wants to drill below 3/8"
Always start with a small drill bit, then go up in steps.

For IRONS we can remove 10 grams from most designs, for wedges WAY more.
NEVER drill below the STRAIT part of the hosel with the largest bits, that will make a hole on the hosel if you dont pay attention. (been there done that)

Edited October 16, 2023 by Howard_Jones

[MFBach]

1 hour ago, Howard_Jones said:

chart below might be handy, so you get to see what it takes to remove what you want to remove.

Howard - just out of curiosity, have you noticed a difference in your weight/depth measurements between different brands? Or probably more importantly, head material? 
 

It seems like there would be some discrepancy based on the various raw materials used to cast or forge the heads, but with the end result being a similarly shaped and weighted head, it’s probably minimal or even completely negligible? 
 

Obviously, porting a hear or drilling a hosel should be done by a professional or at the very least someone with plenty of experience, and they would be weighing the heads throughout the process to hit the desired result anyway. Reading your response just made me wonder if there was “TM”, “Vokey”, etc. chart, or if the measurements were pretty standard. 

[Pleasedwith3putts]

3 hours ago, RobS said:

Vokey doesn't but you can get wedges ported to remove some weight through Vokey Wedgeworks.  Mizuno did for years but didn't with the T22 line.  Not sure about the new T24 line.  Taylormade has the bullet weights in the bottom of the hosel bore that can be removed.  I don't know how well they accommodate custom swing weight orders but I have just bought the wedges stock, removed the weights and reshafted.  The weight sizes vary but I've usually found them heavy enough to drop a few swing weight points.

I've done exactly the same with TM too. Removing the bullet weight normally gives enough scope for a +0.5" build at standard swing-weight. You just have to heat them like your life depends on it to get them out!

[Howard_Jones]

1 hour ago, MFBach said:

Howard - just out of curiosity, have you noticed a difference in your weight/depth measurements between different brands? Or probably more importantly, head material? 
 

It seems like there would be some discrepancy based on the various raw materials used to cast or forge the heads, but with the end result being a similarly shaped and weighted head, it’s probably minimal or even completely negligible? 
 

Obviously, porting a hear or drilling a hosel should be done by a professional or at the very least someone with plenty of experience, and they would be weighing the heads throughout the process to hit the desired result anyway. Reading your response just made me wonder if there was “TM”, “Vokey”, etc. chart, or if the measurements were pretty standard. 

I was a Scratch dealer, so it was 1018 or 8620 for the most, and if i recall right, Vokey is 8620 too, and i did a few of those too, but im not able to recall them all 8 years later....the drill press took them all without issues. 

The only heads i recall that was a pain in the a....was Ping, NOT wedges but DRIVERS with a "plug" in the hosel i had to remove before hot melt... .

Except for that, the only issue is BBGM and hosel shape who either limits or allows the needed wgt reduction, i cant recall any issues due to the metal they was made from. (i never found out what that PING plug was made of, but it always cost a few drill bits to get trough it, so it might have been tungsten.)  

Weight is more or less the same for all steel alloys used for golf irons and wedges, the chart is based on regular carbon steel who is 7.9 grams for each CCM3

Edited October 16, 2023 by Howard_Jones