I bought a set of last year's Eidolons over the winter, and today and yesterday were my first chances to actually try them out on the course.

First of all, I have to say that I really like the patented V-Sole for low trajectory shots. I'm usually good for 2-3 flubbed chips a around due to my club getting stuck on the ground before it hits the ball, but I didn't have a single one over the last two rounds. I attribute this to the low bounce angle. I love it. A lot.

I had two chances to use them in the sand, and once again, they came through for me. My sand game obviously needs some work (see my February scores in Texas), but I got out and on in one stroke both times.

But what about the grooves?

I was pretty amazed by the way my wedge shots were sticking. I've been using a low spin ball (Bridgestone E6), and anything I take a full wedge swing with has been backing up. For the first time ever. Also, I have found that I need to play much more aggressively with them, and that is something I need to get used to. They just don't releasee like my old wedges, so playing a bump and run is a challenge with them. I'm going to start experimenting with putting the ball outisde of my back foot at address to see if I can make consistent contact like that.

And the high trajectory chip shots have also been quite a challenge, and I suspect it is because of the higher bounce angle when opening up the club face (more V-sole). However, I have found that with the way my low trajectory chip shots have been sticking, I might not even need the high trajectory chip shot anymore. I just need to figure out how to get them to release so I can welcome the bump and run back to my game.

Overall, I have to say that these are easiy the best wedges I've ever payed with. I look forward to experimenting with them more and more as the summer goes on. I haven't, for instance, had a chance to use a flop shot yet.

I have the GW (51 bent to 50). I like it, just starting to put in the bag after some testing. Has a different clicky sound, but kind of like it. I do like the way it performs for the chips, seems easy to adjust the shaft lean angle to control the shot height and roll out without digging. I'm more of bump and run style, and use different clubs for the roll I want to try for, never seen a chip or approach spin back.

Not so impressed with the grip, feels skinny and hard. I might re-grip it with something more like my irons. I chose the stiffer steel shaft but maybe should have gone with the regular flex.

Are these cast or forged metal heads?

I have last years 51 degree bent to 52. I was out playing this past weekend and used it on a 60 yard pitch shot. It bounced once then stopped 1 ft. from the hole. VERY GRATIFYING! Great clubs!

Bryan K wrote:

Also, I have found that I need to play much more aggressively with them, and that is something I need to get used to. They just don't releasee like my old wedges, so playing a bump and run is a challenge with them. I'm going to start experimenting with putting the ball outisde of my back foot at address to see if I can make consistent contact like that. And the high trajectory chip shots have also been quite a challenge, and I suspect it is because of the higher bounce angle when opening up the club face (more V-sole). However, I have found that with the way my low trajectory chip shots have been sticking, I might not even need the high trajectory chip shot anymore. I just need to figure out how to get them to release so I can welcome the bump and run back to my game.

Bryan: Certainly, playing the ball way back in your stance will deloft the face, but I always play a "bump and run" with a less lofted club and play it back in my stance, usually inside my back heel. I typically play a 7i-PW, depending on how much fly distance vs roll distance is necessary. Sometimes even a hybrid if I need lots of roll and very little air. Curious as to what others do, but I never thought of a bump and run as something that needed a real lofted club. JMHO.

There are a lot of reasons why I don't use lower lofted clubs on chip shots anymore. The biggest factor was control. I can just about always get my wedge shots to land pretty close to where I want them to land. The tricky part is predicting the roll. With a lower lofted club, it's a crap shoot. And all too often, the hard part (the roll) became even more difficult to control.

Also, bounce is a big factor. I use blades for my wedges, semi-hollow backs for my high irons (8i through pitch), and full-hollow backs for my mid irons (5i through 7i). I really struggle getting those hollow backs through deep rough unless I'm taking a full swing, and even then I need to use an extra club or two. For a chip shot in the deep rough, the blade wedges with the low bounce seem to cut through the grass like it isn't even there.

If I'm chipping from a nice lie, I'd almost just as soon use my putter.

My playing partner really has a nice chip shot where he gets the ball to release forward on the second bounce. He gets a lot of control that way, but he swears he doesn't know how he does it. Oh well...I guess I'll be able to get on the practice green soon enough.

Another thing I thought I'd point out that I didn't realize until this past Sunday is that my overall distance is about 25% less in the air with the Eidolons. I'm thinking that's because they are lighter, and that combined with the lack of roll that I'm used to getting is causing me to come up short a lot. Once I get used to them, though, I'm sure that problem will be solved.

After playing over most of the Summer with the Eidolons, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that they are absolute junk.

I expected a lot out of my game this year. But instead, I've been moving backwards. This is dispite the fact that I'm hitting my driver, my irons, and my putter better than I ever have before. I even invested in a 5w, and I'm hitting the snot out of that as well.

On my round today, I took 28 shots with the Eidolon wedges. And there were five holes where I didn't use them at all. So that's 28 shots on 13 holes...that's an average of more than one per hole. Unacceptable.

Last year at this time, my wedge play was the best part of my game. That's certainly not the case right now. So I took my Adams Pro Gold wedges out to the practice green after my round, and wow. I can't believe I didn't notice how poorly I was hitting those Eidolons for so long.

So I'm going back to the Adams wedges. And the Eidolons will probably end up at the pawn shop.

Bryan K wrote:

After playing over most of the Summer with the Eidolons, ... so I'm going back to the Adams wedges. And the Eidolons will probably end up at the pawn shop.

So you switched to your old Adams wedges about 9/1. Your handicap has dropped a few strokes since that time. Do you think it is a result of better wedge play or something else? Have you actually tracked your wedge game or are your impressions anecdotal?

bkuehn1952 wrote:

So you switched to your old Adams wedges about 9/1. Your handicap has dropped a few strokes since that time. Do you think it is a result of better wedge play or something else? Have you actually tracked your wedge game or are your impressions anecdotal?

Good questions. That is what this site is for, right?

Before I give you any stats, I just want to point out some anecdotal observations I've made. First of all, the one shot that was really killing my game through most of the summer was the flubbed shot from about 100 yards out that would only go about 40 yards. I was doing that constantly with the Eidolons. Since I went back to the Adams wedges (which are also blades), I have only done that a handful to times, and they were all last Sunday when I was playing in the rain (and I did it with all of my blades that day).

Now the best statistic I can think of that would show improvement of my wedge game would be putts after chip. In the months from April to August, when I was using my Eidolons, my putts after chip aferage was 1.8. Not very good. Since I switched back to the Adams clubs, my putts after chip average has dropped to 1.6. It's a small improvement, but it's definitely an improvement.

The next statistic, one that I actually had to go through my scores to record because I don't keep automatic track of it, is sand saves. Turns out, I had one sand save from April to August. I've had five since I switched to my Adams wedges including three in one round last Saturday. And I'll never forget the one I had a few weeks ago that hit the pin twice...once on it's flight and once on its backspin. That one should have dropped.

But I honestly think that the biggest reason my handicap has dropped is becuse of my GIR percentage. Now this is a measure not only of how well I'm hitting my wedges, but it's a measure of my iron game overall. Therefore, it can't be taken solely on the merit of how much I prefer my Adams wedges over the Eidolons. However, I know several instances over the course of the summer where I was hitting from inside 100 on my approach shot only to miss the green entirely, and I would oftenimes take 3-4 strokes to get on the green from that distance. It was horrifylingly frustrating, but my handicap wouldn't reflect it due to equitable stroke control. That simply doesn't happen anymore unless it's extremely windy or extremely wet. Even so, my GIR's went from 12% from April to August, and have been at 21% since.

Now keep in mind that there was a learning curve involved here given the fact that I also switched from a set of cavity back irons to a set of blades. And I thank you for bringint this post back up. It was kind of fun to go back and analyze what has actually transpired. Given the statistical nature of my game, I'd say that ditching the Eidolons has resulted in about 2 strokes from my handicap. I think two strokes are from my game simply improving, while switching to the blades is thus far neutral (even though I'm playing better with them now, the learning curve set me back a little bit). Of course, remember tha tthe thing that exacerbated this whole situation was having to take 28 wedge shots on a beautifully calm and dry day where the rest of my game was absolutely stellar. I haven't even come close to eclipsing that since.