Wedge Grooves

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Righty to Lefty

Right on so I'm not entirely wrong (and spreading bad information which I never want to do)....I think....so at certain lofts you are saying that the edges of the grooves can "grab ahold" of the ball and aid in spin rates?

Yes. The corners of grooves can aid in generating spin. That's why some wedges would scuff golf balls, or "shred" them.

[Shambles]

Originally Posted by birlyshirly

Sorry Shambles - but I have some unplated stainless steel wedges whose worn out grooves rather contradict you on this point. Whether the material surrounding the grooves has been removed, or just deformed by repeated impacts with a much softer ball, the bottom few grooves are now so indistinct that a groove sharpener won't track the groove.

That doesn't mean that the club is entirely redundant - but there's no question that the grooves are worn, and not just "dirty" as you suggest.

I'm still playing my original Eye 2 S wedge which still stops the ball. The flange has some significant wear because some heel relief was applied to make opening the face a bit easier but the grooves are still very much intact. I actually have some older wedges that are forged but they were not used as much as the Eye 2. I also lucked into a set of Eye 2+ at a garage sale and the set was essentially unused other than the 5 and 7 irons they were still in their original wrappers. I had them bent to my specs and put them in play. The old set and the new, separated by more than two decades of use,  performed very similarly in every way I could see.

Shambles

[Shambles]

Originally Posted by iacas

Yes. The corners of grooves can aid in generating spin. That's why some wedges would scuff golf balls, or "shred" them.

Your post reminded me of the early days of square grooves wherein some small manufacturers produced genuine square grooves with sharp edges. Those clubs scuffed the ball with every club, while Ping's did not because the edges of the eye 2 were slightly rounded to prevent the ball damage but still give sufficient backspin. I no longer remember the name of those horrible clubs but they made the ball into a hairball within the first nine, depending on how often you used the irons, any iron.

Shambles