Nike's VR Pro wedge
If you’re a wedge freak like yours truly, then there is nothing better to get for Father’s Day than a wedge. Loft and lie really don’t matter, I just like hitting wedges. So if the short game is your game, you might want to hint the kid for a Nike Golf VR Pro wedge – the same kind Stewart Cink and other Nike Golf staff players are playing in this week’s U.S. Open.
The VR Pro looks good, feels good and thanks to X3X grooves, spins great, especially around the greens.
“The profile and the sole and 100 percent Tour proven,” said Tony Dabbs, product line manager for clubs at Nike Golf. “One of the things we do for our Tour professionals is actually grind out a wedge by hand really from scratch. It’s becoming more common place for is now because our stock wedge has become so good.”
One of the main reasons for that is a man named Mike Taylor, a legend in Nike Golf’s famed “Oven,’’ where the company’s clubs are designed. Taylor’s wedge design roots go back to his days at the Ben Hogan Company.
“Mike T literally has literally refined so many areas of the wedge,” Dabbs said. “He’s probably built 2,000 to 5,000 wedges for various guys. What you see with the VR Pro is a culmination of all that work.
“This particular line with grind is really versatile. It has a fair amount of heel relief so a good player can open it up and the leading edge still sits low to the ground behind the ball. There is enough bevel on the leading edge so you can get to the ball well. And there enough lofts and bounces so a player can individualize their game based on the descent angle of their swing and the condition they play in.”
The VR Pro wedge is so good, Dabbs said, that it’s rare that Taylor has to grind out any from scratch.
“The guys pick these things up and they’re just spot on every single time,” Dabbs said.
