Edel SMS Wedges

[iacas]

A general video about the weight ports on the SMS Wedges:

A bit about moving the weights:

A bit about the grinds:

And then a video on each grind — C, T, V, 😧

 

[iacas]

Also, my wedges (the "V"s at least).

I got some Ts in the same setup (48°, 54°, 60° with the C-Taper S) just in case I want to try those out.

And no, no paint fill in any of my wedges. None, anywhere. I like the entirely plain look.

[rlb]

How forgiving and easy to hit are these wedges? Say compared to the Cleveland CBX2 wedges. I'm talking 20 handicap type player. I struggle with wedges, full and partial swings. I tend to chunk AND skull them. Yes, I will be taking lessons. I do have a much easier time hitting my Cleveland Smart Sole wedges vs traditional wedges. The wide, deep sole really keeps the leading edge from digging in.

[boogielicious]

10 hours ago, rlb said:

How forgiving and easy to hit are these wedges? Say compared to the Cleveland CBX2 wedges. I'm talking 20 handicap type player. I struggle with wedges, full and partial swings. I tend to chunk AND skull them. Yes, I will be taking lessons. I do have a much easier time hitting my Cleveland Smart Sole wedges vs traditional wedges. The wide, deep sole really keeps the leading edge from digging in.

With Edel wedges, you are fit to the grind that is correct for your swing. They also fit you for the shaft, so the combination of the two helps you get the best contact for your swing.

Check out Day 6 and 7 for some good chipping and pitching drills.

 

[rlb]

4 hours ago, boogielicious said:

With Edel wedges, you are fit to the grind that is correct for your swing. They also fit you for the shaft, so the combination of the two helps you get the best contact for your swing.

Check out Day 6 and 7 for some good chipping and pitching drills.

 

Thanks.
Those videos/drills are great. The Edel fitting process and all of the bounce and grind options is why I was looking at the Edel wedges. My fear is that they are not forgiving enough for my level of ability. They seem like player's irons/blades  where as I see myself as a game improvement Cleveland CBX2 or super game improvement Smart Sole wedge

[boogielicious]

29 minutes ago, rlb said:

Thanks.
Those videos/drills are great. The Edel fitting process and all of the bounce and grind options is why I was looking at the Edel wedges. My fear is that they are not forgiving enough for my level of ability. They seem like player's irons/blades  where as I see myself as a game improvement Cleveland CBX2 or super game improvement Smart Sole wedge

They are not blade like. In fact, they are the opposite and are forgiving because they are fit to you.

[rlb]

2 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

They are not blade like. In fact, they are the opposite and are forgiving because they are fit to you.

Understood. I think Club Champion is the only Edel fitter near me. Is it necessary to do the wedge fitting outside on grass or is a turf mat ok? Maybe @iacas can comment on this or recommend an Edel fitter near me (northern NJ).

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, rlb said:

Understood. I think Club Champion is the only Edel fitter near me. Is it necessary to do the wedge fitting outside on grass or is a turf mat ok? Maybe @iacas can comment on this or recommend an Edel fitter near me (northern NJ).

I did mine indoors at Golf Evolution. What they fit you for is launch, spin, decent angle etc to pick a shaft. Then you try different grinds with that shaft on mats, some that are simulated rough. You get a good sense of turf interaction this way. You also chip and pitch. When I finally got to play on course with them, they felt the same. 

[iacas]

BTW, here are some photos that compare the T-Grind to the old Driver (DVR) grind. These are both 54° wedges.

It helped to directly compare the two wedges to see exactly what is different. Let's step through them a bit.

From the face-on or semi-address view (if you rotate your computer 😄), you can see some differences, but the later images really highlight them.

The first change we'll focus on is the back of the club. The old Edel wedges seem to have a much shallower angle up the back of the club, with a gentle curve. I would think this would move the CG a bit higher, but maybe the added metal to the top of the SMS make that irrelevant.

Next, we'll look at the leading edge, and in this view you can see that the leading edge is much less "round" in the SMS:

The biggest difference at setup, which is how you'll see the wedges most of the time, is that the new SMS wedges look "chunky." If you scroll up to the first image, I think you'll see that a bit, but here you can see why: the topline has a lot of beveling in the old wedges, but the SMS has a relatively "flat" topline, so it appears quite thick. I've made the apparent topline, what appears to be the top line of the wedge, in red lines here:

You can see the light change on the old Edel wedge.

I've got two of the same pictures, now, with lines drawn on one, that highlight this thicker topline.

---

I will get used to the new SMS wedges, but for now, I prefer the look of the old ones. The "thicker" topline implies a thicker sole (which has some validity as well if you look at the second or the last pictures), which to me implies that I have less of an "edge" to get under the ball with loft. This isn't really too true as the leading edge is pretty similar in both wedges (it may be a tiny bit rounder from the face down to the sole), but looks inspire confidence. So, too, does performance, and I'm sure I'll learn to trust the wedges over time. The grinds are still similar (I'm currently playing the V Grind, which is even more similar, but the T is good too), so the performance likely will be as well. And maybe the thicker topline will result in a bit more of a solid hit on some short game shots that I may catch higher up the face?

We'll see. But, in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the photos.

P.S. I don't get paint fill on my wedges, so the center 8-gram weight is the heavier one. It has a ring around it. Just no paint fill.

[cipher]

I love the changes, especially less rounding to the leading edge.  I should not have looked at this thread. ☺️

[boogielicious]

In addition to what Erik posted, here is the top line of my Edel SMS 54 (right) versus my Titleist 716 CB PW (left). I do prefer thin top lines, but the Edel SMS is not too bad.  I think I need to clean these faces too!

[Shindig]

These are beautiful.   Wedges are the next equipment for me to replace -- I have my Ping Glide 1.0s from when I did the member review for them in Spring 2015.  They're temporarily out as I'm trying a different loft setup by borrowing a friend's 54 and using a 58 a different friend gave me.  Maybe I'll end up going the Edel route this time;  I don't know if there's a way to demo them, but then again, I don't think the other companies I'd consider are doing demo days these days either.

(Nevermind on that last comment -- Edel is doing fitting events near me.  They look like private courses, but maybe I should look closer)