Cast wedges Vs. Forged wedges

[natp0wers]

Anyone notice a difference between hitting the two? I have used forged KZG wedges for the past two years but recently got some Vokeys and i cant seem to hit them nearly as well. Almost as if i am hitting them semi-fat, sliding under the ball too much. Then again it could be my swing is off a smidgen, first time on the course in over a month.

[kurisu]

The Vokeys you are comparing to the KZGs have the exact same loft/bounce configuration?

[WUTiger]

I have a forged SW - got it used for $45 and it seems to work well.

My GW is cast, replaces another GW with higher bounce.

The SW feels a little "softer," but it's not why I got it. Got a good price on a club which works. Some reviews suggest that forged and cast are manufacturing processes, and the irons don't perform that differently.

Callaway wedges X-Tour (cast) and X-Forged wedges tend to have pretty high bounce angles - OK for SW, but troublesome in other wedges.

[Shorty]

Anyone notice a difference between hitting the two? I have used forged KZG wedges for the past two years but recently got some Vokeys and i cant seem to hit them nearly as well. Almost as if i am hitting them semi-fat, sliding under the ball too much. Then again it could be my swing is off a smidgen, first time on the course in over a month.

How could there possibly be a difference between forged and cast regarding the way you are striking the ball? Bounce and loft make a diffeence, as does your technique, obviously. What stretch of the imagination brings forged v cast into the equation?

[jpalermo]

Agreed. Not quite as harsh tho....

[Blades4me]

I play Edilon wedges which are cast and they are good wedges. Last week I demo'd a Niki 54* 12*bounce VR wedge which are forged and the I thought the "feel" was better. But the VR Niki and Volkey seem to be heavier wedges, and I've found I like a heavy wedge.

[Bump-n-MI]

Weight? Loft? Bounce? Cast -v- forged will have no impact on how you strike the ball .

[wolverine_man]

My forged wedges are heavier than my cast CG-12. Other than that, I generally feel that forged clubs are more accurate in their shot dispersion. Now, I have always been a good wedge player but I definitely knew the difference in accuracy when I switched from my old Ping Zing irons to MP-14s in high school. With the cast cavity backs, I would occasionally get a shot that would go 5-8 yards further than standard with the same exact swing. With forged irons, they are all extremely consistent. I'm not going to comment on feel, because that is a hotly debated topic and many believe one cannot discern any difference in feel between forged and cast. I will say that the black nickel material in my MP-R wedges, which happen to be forged, is fairly soft. That is probably more an attribute to the black nickel and not the forging, though. In summary, I feel that forged clubs are heavier and more accurate, everything else being equal.

[natp0wers]

They are all the same loft, and the only difference in bounce is on the 58*, it has less bounce than my KZG, which probably accounts for the difference between those two but i almost got the same thing on the 54* and 50* as well. Could the actual bounce vary between the two companies? Ill be hitting the range again in an hour or two, so hopefully it was just rust wearing off from a long break.


*EDIT*

As for the whole "feel" of the two, i have always thought that whenever one thinks of feel, they are really "feeling" the sound. I'm sure if i plugged my ears i couldn't tell any difference but since i have always played forged, the sound of the cast wedge does sound funny to me.

[Quinn07]

I think there is a little confusion as to what you are asking here. Your OP made it sound like you wanted to know if wedges that are manufactured differently would change how well you struck the ball. But from your last post you actually wanted to know if they felt different.

Comparing two types of wedges, let alone one cast and one forged, they are probably going to feel different. More than likely made of different material and engineered differently. So I guess to help answer you question, yeah they probably do feel different. I am going to guess that's why you see such a broad stroke of the type of wedges people play...a lot like putters IMO. Those clubs need to provide you with confidence and good feel for you to be successful with them; more so than the irons and the woods. (CAVEAT: I understand that you need to feel confident with all of your clubs, just IMO it's more important with the wedges and putter, further discussion would be for another thread)

[Leftygolfer]

There is no weight difference in wedges if they are cast or forged wedges or clubs. The swing weights the same for all standard wedges. I believe vokeys are the best and they are cast.

[sean_miller]

In case this thread heads in the direction I thought was (based on the title), IMO whether a wedge is cast or forged has no bearing on the quality of contact. On the quality of result (versus expectations), there may be a difference. Some cast and multi-piece wedges can seem either too hot or completely dead compared to a quality forged wedge.

I have a gazillion wedges, and one thing I try to do (been expirimenting with this during the indoor season) is try to match your wedges. In other words, if I use a cast gap wedge, I match it with a cast sand or lob wedge. Forged gap wedge / pitching wedge? Forged sand wedge.

[natp0wers]

Hit the range today and hit them much better. I could only tell a difference on the 58* Vokey which has lower bounce than my 58* KZG. The other two felt fine, guess my swing was just rusty yesterday after a long layoff.

[GaijinGolfer]

There is absolutely no difference in feel or performance from cast to forged wedges. If there were dont you think that Vokeys would be forged?

[PS90]

Since the process of making them are very different, the alloys involved are slightly different, and the hardness of the metal is affected by the length of time and amount of heat applied during that process. The end result is that forged clubs are slightly (some would even say negligibly) softer than cast clubs.

Whether this affects the feel or performance is hard to say. More likely, it is a psychosomatic response to the golfer "knowing" that the club is forged rather than cast, or vice versa.

[WUTiger]

I'm not going to comment on feel, because that is a hotly debated topic and many believe one cannot discern any difference in feel between forged and cast. I will say that the black nickel material in my MP-R wedges, which happen to be forged, is fairly soft. That is probably more an attribute to the black nickel and not the forging, though. ...

W_man, I think you've nailed it.

The softness of the metal - rather than forged v. cast - may be where feel comes in. Here's a clip from Alpha Golf http://www.alpha••••••••••••••/produc...s/c1-pro-irons on the matter:

The sound and feel of a forged iron can differ greatly from an investment cast iron. This is due to 2 factors: 1) The carbon composition of the steel and 2) The density of the metal (remember cast irons will have voids and air bubbles as opposed to the solid forged piece). Feel is subjective and perceived. Sound can be quantitatively and qualitatively measured....

Note: Alpha mixes a physics lesson with a marketing pitch, but the physics part it on density appears to be valid.

However , I don't think that it would make much of a difference in performance in topline forged vs. cast clubs. (Like, a forged club with denser metal will get you 1" closer to the hole from 150 yds.?) Can any science people give us the details?

[Shanks A Million]

Forging and casting are merely ways of building clubs, and have no bearing on their performance. However, in golf, the term "cast" vs "forged" almost certainly refers to the material as well. The metal used is more important than anything, so we'll simply refer to them as "stainless steel" and "carbon steel" clubs.

Stainless steel clubs are much harder than carbon steel clubs. Harder faces react differently to the ball than softer ones. When you hit a stainless wedge, you'll notice that it does indeed feel like the ball slides up over the face. This has nearly everything to do with the fact that the stainless steel doesn't absorb shock as well as the carbon steel. Forging also alligns the grain pattern, which again, affects the feel.

Vokey wedges, however, are not typical cast wedges! Vokeys are made from 8620 , a mild carbon steel. Saying a Vokey is cast is somewhat a misnomer. The terms cast and forged should be banned, and the only terms we should use are 10-17, 431, 403, 8620, etc.

[kleraudio]

Vokey wedges, however, are

I completely agree with that! Good post! The Vokeys are made from pretty much the same stuff as any mizuno out there.

Jim