Mavrik Irons and Wedge Gapping

[The Flush]

I had my first club fitting ever yesterday with an independent fitter. After determining that my current Adams Idea A3s were too long and 2 degrees too flat, the Mavrik irons narrowly beat out the Mizuno Hot Metals after adjusting for the loft differences. They had better dispersion. I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but think I might do it soon. The plan was to buy the 6-AW with R flex Elevate 95 shafts, plus a 4H and maybe a MD5 SW.

My question is about gapping between the Mavrik AW and any other wedges I have or buy. The Mavrik PW is 41° and the AW is 46°.  They offer a Mavrik GW at 51° and a SW at 56°.  I haven't hit any of the Mavrik wedges, but did hit a MD5 56° SW (Flightscope data has not shown up in my account yet, but I believe I hit it 80 yards with a 3/4 swing or easy full swing). I guess my question is do I need a 51°ish wedge or not and if I do should I buy the Mavrik or find a MD5 or something else for that club. 

Since there is a Mavrik SW, should I consider it over the MD5 SW? The Mavriks cost a less than a new MD5, but about twice as much as used MD4s at Callaway Preowned in average condition.

The MD5 specs from the fitting was a 2° upright standard length 56° S grind with a True Temper Tour Issue shaft. The fitter didn't write down anything else about the shaft. Looking at Callaway Preowned, there are different Tour Issue shafts S200, S400, X100. What are differences between these shafts?  Is there much difference between the MD5 and MD4 wedges?

Ultimately I will ask the fitter these questions before I order anything, but I was just looking for more info to help me ask better questions.

Edited May 9, 2020 by The Flush

[Bonvivant]

11 minutes ago, The Flush said:

I had my first club fitting ever yesterday with an independent fitter. After determining that my current Adams Idea A3s were too long and 2 degrees too flat, the Mavrik irons narrowly beat out the Mizuno Hot Metals after adjusting for the loft differences. They had better dispersion. I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but think I might do it soon. The plan was to buy the 6-AW, plus a 4H and maybe a MD5 SW.

My question is about gapping between the Mavrik AW and any other wedges I have or buy. The Mavrik PW is 41° and the AW is 46°.  They offer a Mavrik GW at 51° and a SW at 56°.  I haven't hit any of the Mavrik wedges, but did hit a MD5 56° SW (Flightscope data has not shown up in my account yet, but I believe I hit it 80 yards with a 3/4 swing or easy full swing). I guess my question is do I need a 51°ish wedge or not and if I do should I buy the Mavrik or find a MD5 or something else for that club. 

Since there is a Mavrik SW, should I consider it over the MD5 SW? The Mavriks cost a less than a new MD5, but about twice as much as used MD4s at Callaway Preowned in average condition.

The MD5 specs from the fitting was a 2° upright standard length 56° S grind with a True Temper Tour Issue shaft. The fitter didn't write down anything else about the shaft. Looking at Callaway Preowned, there are different Tour Issue shafts S200, S400, X100. What are differences between these shafts?  Is there much difference between the MD5 and MD4 wedges?

Ultimately I will ask the fitter these questions before I order anything, but I was just looking for more info to help me ask better questions.

I would see if you can find the specs on bounce for the GW and SW from your set. If they fit your needs, then the full set down to SW might be a good option. Sometimes the wedges in sets have goofy or progressive bounces which can be ok, or not. I am sure the gapping on the set clubs will be good or close to it at least.

If you end up going the MD route, the clubs may gap different even if they have the same lofts as the ones in the set. The amount of spin and launch angles probably won't line up quite as nice as the Mavrik set, but with a good fit they could be deadly tools, especially if you can get them in the bounces you want/need. Note: usually wedge fittings are a separate cost from iron fittings, so unless you went the full bag route, you may need to pony up a bit more cash to get the wedges fit properly.

As far is the difference between S200, S400, and X100, the S200 isn't a tour issue as far as I can tell. DG basically makes shafts to a certain stiffness, then sorts them by weight. The S200 is the lightest stiff shaft of the bunch, and the S400 is the heaviest. They do make S400 in tour issue and they have a tighter tolerance than the DG TT S400 as far as weight. Weights are as follows: S200: 127g     S300:130g      DG TT S400: 134g          DG Tour issue S400:132g        DG Tour issue X100:130g but extra stiff.

Hopefully that last paragraph made sense, but I don't know how much it will help you, or how much those things matter to you. This may depend on what shafts you got fitted into for the iron set, but you didn't mention this above. If you got fitted for something light and graphite, going to one of the heavier options above probably wouldn't be a good idea because you would have lots of variance in your swing-weights. I would say that if you got fitted into a DG TT or DG tour issue shaft, to just keep those through the wedges if you like them lots. I personally have Vokeys with "wedge flex" which is somewhere between the DG R line and S line. They are just a tad softer than my irons, but this makes sense because most wedge shots aren't played with a all out swing like iron shots are, so they can be a bit less stiff.

Let me know if you have any more questions about any of the stuff and I am excited to hear what you end up doing, because that kind of thing is always interesting to me.

[The Flush]

@Bonvivant, thanks for the reply.

I was googling while you were replying. It appears that the S200 is a wedge flex. I edited my post to state that I am fitted for the TT Elevate 95 R flex shafts in the irons. I assume that the S200 would fit in with those?

Callaway 2020 Custom Offering Guide

I have not yet found bounce specs for the Mavrik GW and SW.

I plan to get a CP2 Pro mid size grip on my irons. I need to decide how important it is to have the same grips on the wedges. Callaway Prowned will change the grip for about $9, but it doesn't look like they offer the CP2 Pro, only the CP2 Wrap which is not my preference. I know I could do it myself, but I haven't done it before and don't have any of the tools.

The smart thing to do is to buy and use the new irons and then figure out what I need to fill the gaps. But I have crappy old Pine Meadow wedges with slick grips that I really hate and I am ready to get rid of.

[Vinsk]

Maybe you could look at the Mavrik Pro for your wedges? PW is 43* AW is 48*. I can say the Jaws MD5 wedges are the best I’ve ever had. Crazy good! I have the SW 52*, 56* and 60*. Just awesome feel and dance the ball nicely.

[The Flush]

My fitter recommended that I get the Mavrik 51° GW and then the MD5 SW and LW. I think I will wait on the SW and LW because just the 8 Mavrik clubs will take all of my COVID stimulus. My wife already had plans for that and won't let me have her half.

I will have to figure out the gapping later. The Mavrik wedges are 5° apart. I'll have to decide if I want to keep 5° or maybe go down a degree when I get to the SW and LW.

I will have to decide how much more I want the MD5 over the MD4 wedges.  I can get used above average MD4s for $94 each from 2nd Swing after lie adjustment and grip upgrade. New MD5s will be about $165 each with the grip upgrades.

 

 

[Rkrider99]

I got my Mavrik irons about a month ago. 4-PW, AW, SW. The thing I noticed is that I lost the 60-90 yard range that I used to hit with my old X20 AW, which was 50 degrees. I've ordered the GW which I'm hoping will bring back that distance range.

[The Flush]

I have ordered the Mavrik Max 4H, Mavrik std 6-7-8-9-PW-AW-GW, MD5 56-10 through my fitter and a used MD5 60-10 through 2nd Swing.  This will be my first ever set of nice clubs. Holy crap it is a lot of money.

[Bonvivant]

27 minutes ago, The Flush said:

I have ordered the Mavrik Max 4H, Mavrik std 6-7-8-9-PW-AW-GW, MD5 56-10 through my fitter and a used MD5 60-10 through 2nd Swing.  This will be my first ever set of nice clubs. Holy crap it is a lot of money.

I think picking up the GW from the Mavrik set was probably a good choice. More often than not, us higher handicap players use this club as an iron (as opposed to a wedge with a specific grind/bounce), and having it match to the set will be an advantage most likely. I hope you enjoy your new clubs!

[WUTiger]

Here's a note on shafts you mentioned.

For years, the default stock True Temper "Wedge Flex" shafts have been variations on the DG S300.

Sometimes, the Wedge Flex was as softstepped S300. Here is a 2012 clip from the Vokey SM4 wedges:

Quote

TRUE TEMPER DYNAMIC GOLD

Dynamic Gold is a heavy-weight steel shaft with a high flex point that produces a lower, penetrating trajectory with lower spin for control. This shaft is ideal for strong, high ball speed players seeking greater weight feedback with lower launch and spin.

The softstepping gave a little extra spin on partial shots.

The Callaway MD4 and MD5 wedges offer the DG 115 Tour Issue S200 shaft, 15 grams lighter than most of the wedge flexes. (MD5 offers Catalyst and Recoil shafts also).

A "variation on a theme" was the Cleveland TRAction (tour reflex action) shaft. It was about 120 grams, and had a heavy butt (low launch) and soft tip (extra spin). TRAction appeared about 2010, being used in the CG10 through CG16 wedge models.

The TT Spinner Flex, which arrived in 2011 with the in-shaft kink, had similar dynamics. 

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by WUTiger

[The Flush]

I got my new Mavriks yesterday and promptly took them to the range. I hit them very poorly with my signature hook. I sort of figured it out (poor weight shift) by the end of the bucket and my last ball was the best 6 iron I have ever hit. I went back today hit in light rain and it was much, much better. I hit them almost 10 yards better today than I did in the fitting.

The ball really jumps off the Mavrik club face and has a much better, higher ball flight than my old Adams Idea A3. I am not upset that our league got rained out for tonight because it is going to take some time to figure out my gapping. Even after adjusting for the stronger loft of the Mavriks, I am hitting them further than the Adams. I hit the new 6 iron further than my old 5H even though they have the same loft.

I ended up with the Mavrik Max 4H, Mavrik std 6,7,8,9,PW,AW,GW, and MD5 SW and LW. Now I need to figure out my distances, remember that the AW is lower lofted than the GW and when to use each of the 5 wedges in my bag. I am going to go with 12 clubs in the bag until I figure out if I need something longer and if I can even hit it.

I will probably have to wait until COVID is over before I join the Champions Tour.