need_my_wedge
Has Now Found His Wedgie
This is a spin off from the Japanese Wedges thread, but I think a thread worthy of its own. I have been looking to replace my gap wedge, and was considering Cleveland as the main choice, so I was very intrigued last week when MetalMickie mentioned ICYGOLF wedges in the previous thread, with Iain Clarke, the owner having worked in the Cleveland tour van for 15 years. I should state that I am in no way affiliated with ICYGOLF, other than just becoming a new customer….
After speaking with MM via PM, and finding that the wedges were £70 each or £130 for a pair, I thought that this was very competitive for custom made wedges. I immediately contacted Iain and arranged to meet him yesterday.
Due to the heavy wind and occasional “shower†I called Iain before I set out to see if he was still OK, to be met with the response that he was already there on the range working with two others. I immediately set out on the 1 hour trip up the M1 to Kilworth Springs Golf Club. The travel was not too bad, and largely irrelevant. Arriving at Kilworth Springs, the driving range was easy to find, and Iain was even easier – he was just walking back to the car park in his ICYGOLF hat. A swift introduction, handshake, and a suggestion for me to get my shoes on and meet him back on the range with my clubs.
We parked ourselves in a bay where Iain suggested I have a few warm up swings to shake the car journey out, whilst at the same time he asked me a few questions about my wedges, my wedge pay, bad shot and what I was after etc. He then got me to play a few shots with my gap wedge whilst attaching a “Swingbyte†device to my sand wedge. After a while he opened his rather sleek looking metal case to reveal 5 or 6 wedges, and handed me a 60 degree to try. After a few more shots, he explained why my bad shot happened, made a couple of suggestions to my setup and how to line up the wedge to make most use of the bounce, and hey presto, I started hitting shots that were either stopping dead on the first bounce, or where skipping a foot and stopping dead on the second. The spin was both obvious to see and a great feeling to experience.
I proceeded to play a number of shots to specific targets at his request, and the wedges were switched round, interspersed with explanations of the different bounces, and comparisons with the bounces on his wedges and the bounces on mine, and why I wasn't achieving the same with my own wedges. We looked at grip widths, shaft sizes and discussed counter weights, why his clubs were heavier than mine but actually felt lighter. This didn’t come across as a sales pitch at all, it was a technical explanation and demonstration, and very useful. He then told me there was no need for the Swingbyte analysis as my wedge play was pretty good, I’d just made it harder by my setup.
We eventually got down to three wedges, at which point we moved away from the range over to the short game practice area. Here I was again asked to play a number of shots to targets at Iain’s direction – because you only get one chance on the course, he was adamant that I didn’t take four or five attempts at any one target to get it right, in fact it was a really effective and useful drill. After going round the targets a couple of times, he gave me his 51 degree gap and got me doing the same again, the results were amazing, balls stopping dead within 3 foot of the hole, even pitched one and spun it into the hole. I still hit a few bad ones as you do, but even the bad ones, and the ones that felt like I’d thinned them, were still inside an 8 foot radius for the most part, so the bad ones weren’t that bad. Out of the hundred or more that I hit, I only sent two through the other side of the green, and they were more me hitting too hard….
By now, we were down to the 51 and the 58, so it was a quick move over to a 5 foot deep bunker for a few shots from there with the 58. Taking the weather conditions, particularly the wet compacted sand into account, along with the depth, I struggled to get out with the first couple of shots. Iain did think that I would get out of the majority of bunkers with the shots I’d played, showing me where I was hitting the bunker face, but I wasn’t getting the ball 6 foot in the air quick enough to clear the lip on this particular bunker. Not to worry, another bit of coaching advice from Iain and I pitched two balls out and within three foot of the pin.
We were now down to two wedges, and back to the range to hit some full shots against my own wedges. This time I started with the 51 gap, and proceeded to nail it about 130 yards with ease, stopping it on a sixpence every time it came down. This was an increase of 30 - 40 yards on my own gap wedge - which I could hit 100 yards on a good day if I flushed it, but usually reserved it for shots around 90. A small issue became apparent when we found it was out hitting my own pitching wedge….. But a small adjustment to my strike there switched that around. We eventually decided on a 52 gap and 58 sand, with the grind on the sand done in such a way that there are actually 3 bounces in place allowing the club to be used easily as lob wedge as well.
By this time, Iain had spent at least 2 hours assessing my wedge play and coming up with a pair of wedges to suit. Time for a hot drink and a bite to eat, during which time he showed me the Swingbyte software in more detail, and how simple and easy it is to use from Driver to putter…..
I had of course decided by now to order the clubs from Iain, my next question, was “how long would it take to deliver from order?â€â€¦â€¦ “How about Wednesday†was the response…. He then said that it was important to meet up again after they were ready to try them again and make sure he’d got it right, and if I went to his workshop first next weekend, he’d also do some work on the grips of my irons to match them with the wedges.
I hope I haven’t embarrassed Iain by gushing over the day too much; he was a very unassuming gentleman who worked as a materials engineer on aircraft engines and Mercedes race engines prior to his involvement with Cleveland. He certainly knows his stuff about wedges and the short game. What he does now is almost a hobby; it gives him a means to live whilst allowing him to play a lot of golf. Talking with Iain over the three hours he spent with me yesterday, it became apparent he is not looking for mass business, 25 wedges a week is his maximum aim. Basically he’d like to give something back to the amateur game, in his words “give the tour experience to the club golferâ€. Well yesterday I certainly felt like I had the tour experience. All in all, this was a totally unexpected and amazing morning. If any of you are thinking about changing your wedges, ICYGOLF are certainly an option to consider.
After speaking with MM via PM, and finding that the wedges were £70 each or £130 for a pair, I thought that this was very competitive for custom made wedges. I immediately contacted Iain and arranged to meet him yesterday.
Due to the heavy wind and occasional “shower†I called Iain before I set out to see if he was still OK, to be met with the response that he was already there on the range working with two others. I immediately set out on the 1 hour trip up the M1 to Kilworth Springs Golf Club. The travel was not too bad, and largely irrelevant. Arriving at Kilworth Springs, the driving range was easy to find, and Iain was even easier – he was just walking back to the car park in his ICYGOLF hat. A swift introduction, handshake, and a suggestion for me to get my shoes on and meet him back on the range with my clubs.
We parked ourselves in a bay where Iain suggested I have a few warm up swings to shake the car journey out, whilst at the same time he asked me a few questions about my wedges, my wedge pay, bad shot and what I was after etc. He then got me to play a few shots with my gap wedge whilst attaching a “Swingbyte†device to my sand wedge. After a while he opened his rather sleek looking metal case to reveal 5 or 6 wedges, and handed me a 60 degree to try. After a few more shots, he explained why my bad shot happened, made a couple of suggestions to my setup and how to line up the wedge to make most use of the bounce, and hey presto, I started hitting shots that were either stopping dead on the first bounce, or where skipping a foot and stopping dead on the second. The spin was both obvious to see and a great feeling to experience.
I proceeded to play a number of shots to specific targets at his request, and the wedges were switched round, interspersed with explanations of the different bounces, and comparisons with the bounces on his wedges and the bounces on mine, and why I wasn't achieving the same with my own wedges. We looked at grip widths, shaft sizes and discussed counter weights, why his clubs were heavier than mine but actually felt lighter. This didn’t come across as a sales pitch at all, it was a technical explanation and demonstration, and very useful. He then told me there was no need for the Swingbyte analysis as my wedge play was pretty good, I’d just made it harder by my setup.
We eventually got down to three wedges, at which point we moved away from the range over to the short game practice area. Here I was again asked to play a number of shots to targets at Iain’s direction – because you only get one chance on the course, he was adamant that I didn’t take four or five attempts at any one target to get it right, in fact it was a really effective and useful drill. After going round the targets a couple of times, he gave me his 51 degree gap and got me doing the same again, the results were amazing, balls stopping dead within 3 foot of the hole, even pitched one and spun it into the hole. I still hit a few bad ones as you do, but even the bad ones, and the ones that felt like I’d thinned them, were still inside an 8 foot radius for the most part, so the bad ones weren’t that bad. Out of the hundred or more that I hit, I only sent two through the other side of the green, and they were more me hitting too hard….
By now, we were down to the 51 and the 58, so it was a quick move over to a 5 foot deep bunker for a few shots from there with the 58. Taking the weather conditions, particularly the wet compacted sand into account, along with the depth, I struggled to get out with the first couple of shots. Iain did think that I would get out of the majority of bunkers with the shots I’d played, showing me where I was hitting the bunker face, but I wasn’t getting the ball 6 foot in the air quick enough to clear the lip on this particular bunker. Not to worry, another bit of coaching advice from Iain and I pitched two balls out and within three foot of the pin.
We were now down to two wedges, and back to the range to hit some full shots against my own wedges. This time I started with the 51 gap, and proceeded to nail it about 130 yards with ease, stopping it on a sixpence every time it came down. This was an increase of 30 - 40 yards on my own gap wedge - which I could hit 100 yards on a good day if I flushed it, but usually reserved it for shots around 90. A small issue became apparent when we found it was out hitting my own pitching wedge….. But a small adjustment to my strike there switched that around. We eventually decided on a 52 gap and 58 sand, with the grind on the sand done in such a way that there are actually 3 bounces in place allowing the club to be used easily as lob wedge as well.
By this time, Iain had spent at least 2 hours assessing my wedge play and coming up with a pair of wedges to suit. Time for a hot drink and a bite to eat, during which time he showed me the Swingbyte software in more detail, and how simple and easy it is to use from Driver to putter…..
I had of course decided by now to order the clubs from Iain, my next question, was “how long would it take to deliver from order?â€â€¦â€¦ “How about Wednesday†was the response…. He then said that it was important to meet up again after they were ready to try them again and make sure he’d got it right, and if I went to his workshop first next weekend, he’d also do some work on the grips of my irons to match them with the wedges.
I hope I haven’t embarrassed Iain by gushing over the day too much; he was a very unassuming gentleman who worked as a materials engineer on aircraft engines and Mercedes race engines prior to his involvement with Cleveland. He certainly knows his stuff about wedges and the short game. What he does now is almost a hobby; it gives him a means to live whilst allowing him to play a lot of golf. Talking with Iain over the three hours he spent with me yesterday, it became apparent he is not looking for mass business, 25 wedges a week is his maximum aim. Basically he’d like to give something back to the amateur game, in his words “give the tour experience to the club golferâ€. Well yesterday I certainly felt like I had the tour experience. All in all, this was a totally unexpected and amazing morning. If any of you are thinking about changing your wedges, ICYGOLF are certainly an option to consider.
