I haven’t actually used a Titleist Vokey wedge for more than ten years. My personal preference has been Callaway wedges, and I’ve had my Jaws wedges in the bag for a few years now. I like the shaping and spin enough that I’ve never really had a reason to fault them.
But Vokey carries a level of tour and market-wide validation and appreciated that is pretty unprecedented, a bit like Titleist’s Pro V1 in the golf ball world, so I wanted to see whether they really live up to it and whether I was missing out.
In all honesty I don’t think wedge design and technology tends to change that much from one generation to the next. There are usually small tweaks to CG, but it’s difficult to point to many truly significant shifts across the market in recent years, beyond things like Hi-Toe or full-face grooves.
It’s a tricky category for any brand to stand out in, because so much comes down to the individual golfer.
Who Are They Aimed At?
Titleist will tell you that you don’t need to be a scratch golfer to play their drivers or irons anymore. Wedges feel a bit different, though, and I still think Vokey is aimed squarely at good players.
You can see that reflected in the price, and I’d expect to see far more club golfers gaming TaylorMade, Callaway, Cleveland, Ping or Mizuno wedges down at your local golf club. Vokey has always been the name you picture on a scratch golfer or tour pro’s wedge.
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The Tech
Titleist call SM11 the most complete Vokey lineup yet, built around Bob Vokey’s three keys to good wedge play: contact, flight and spin.
The main change is CG positioning. Previously, centre of gravity shifted slightly depending on grind, even within the same loft. SM11 provides an identical spot regardless of grind, taking one more variable out of the fitting process.
It’s progressive through the set, so lower lofts (44-52°) sit the CG lower and closer to the face, higher lofts (58-60°) push it higher and towards the heel for a lower, squarer flight, with 54-56° in between.
There are also three groove shapes by loft: wider, shallower grooves on lob wedges to shift debris on delicate shots, and narrower, deeper grooves on pitching and gap wedges for full-swing spin.
Groove volume is up 5% on the SM10 thanks to tighter tolerances, helping out of the rough and in the wet. A new directional face texture and a heat treatment on the scorelines is said to double groove edge durability.
The fitting side is really where Vokey earns its stripes. SM11 offers a whopping 27 configurations across six grinds (F, S, M, D, K and T). A new Wedge Selector Tool and Fitting App use launch monitor data from just 15 swings to point you towards the right setup. This is pretty handy, given how confusing bounce and grind can be for most of us amateur golfers!
New for this generation is a Jet Black finish alongside the usual Tour Chrome and Nickel, with the tour-favourite Raw finish still available to custom order – this is the finish that I ended up going for.
Looks
These are great looking wedges. I tested the Raw finish, which had already started to mark up nicely after a handful of rounds, alongside a look at the Tour Chrome and Black options too.
The classic Vokey design hasn’t changed much, and there’s a simplicity to it that’s written right into the strip across the back of the head. The logo is instantly recognisable.
The SM lettering has moved to the hosel for SM11, which tidies the whole head up and gives it a bit of that Wedgeworks custom look, more like something a fitter’s built for you.
The shaping is sharp and clean, all straight lines, and it reminded me a little of my own Jaws wedges – perhaps a sign of how hard it is to find a shape these days that screams one manufacturer over another.
Despite the clean lines, these aren’t remotely scary looking down at address. Not too big, not too small, and nothing to put you off over a full shot.
Feel
The SM11s do have quite a firm feel at impact, which is something that I have always found with Vokey wedges. It gives you honest, instant feedback, so you know straightaway whether you’ve caught it out the middle, which is probably why this is seen as more of a better player’s wedge.
Around the greens they feel properly grabby, and I hit some pitches during testing where I trusted the club completely to do what I wanted. On full shots, they feel great too, although as the raw finish starts to rust, it almost feels like the spin backs off slightly – quite possibly just in my head.
Performance
I went through a full fitting at the Titleist Performance Centre at Woburn and came away with 50.08F, 54.10S and 58.08M wedges. This is a fairly standard gap wedge, an S grind sand wedge with enough versatility to open the face when needed, and an M grind lob wedge that has plenty of bounce while still offering more versatility around the greens.
The Wedge Selector Tool is genuinely useful if, like plenty of golfers, you find the bounce-and-grind conversation a bit much, asking about your own game rather than leaving you to guess. My pitching wedge sits at 43°, and the tool put me at 50° for the gap wedge, a bigger gap on paper than I’d like, though it hasn’t caused a single problem across the rounds I’ve played since.
Performance overall has been strong, with consistent spin throughout. In the fitting, my gap wedge carried 114 yards with backspin over 9,000rpm, more than enough for my needs, while the 54° carried around 100 yards with similar spin.
On the course, performance has been just as good. I got up and down from the left side of the 18th at Royal Birkdale during testing, no easy shot, and after a couple of rounds I noticed I’d stopped thinking about the wedges altogether and started just thinking about the shot in front of me.
Over a season, that kind of trust could actually save you shots, and one of the biggest compliments I can give these wedges is that they just seem to do exactly what I expect from them.
Verdict
I still think Vokey are the best wedges on the market for better players, but there are still so many good options from other brands now that it’s a harder case to make than with a driver, for example, where the numbers do more of the talking.
Where Vokey really wins is the whole package. The fitting, the grind options and the wedge selector tool all combine for a really impressive offering.
If you do invest in a proper fitting, make sure you invest time in practice afterwards too, or you’re not going to get the absolute best out of them.
Then there’s the price. £179 a wedge is a lot, and it only gets worse buying a full set of three. I don’t know how many amateur golfers are actually replacing all three at once, though, so it might sting less in reality than on paper.
Would I Use Them?
Yes, they’re in the bag already. I’d lost a bit of confidence in my short game before this test, and going through the fitting gave me a proper focus again. Having the right setup does that. It’s one less thing to think about, and one more reason to trust the club in your hands.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much do the Titleist Vokey SM11 wedges cost?
The SM11 wedges have an RRP of £179 in steel, £194 in graphite, and £219 for the custom-order Raw finish.
What grinds are available in the Vokey SM11 range?
The SM11 lineup spans 27 loft, bounce and grind combinations across six tour-proven grinds: F, S, M, D, K and T, including a newly added .06K low-bounce lob wedge grind and a stronger-lofted 44.10F option.
What’s new about the Vokey SM11 compared to the SM10?
SM11 introduces identical CG positioning across grinds within the same loft, three shot-specific groove shapes with 5% more groove volume, a new directional face texture, and a high-frequency heat treatment said to double groove edge durability.
Is it worth getting fitted for Vokey SM11 wedges?
Yes. Titleist’s Wedge Selector Tool and Wedge Fitting App are designed to take the guesswork out of choosing between bounce and grind options, and a proper fitting is where the SM11 lineup’s biggest advantage over rivals really shows up.
Are Vokey wedges only for better players?
Vokey wedges remain most closely associated with scratch golfers and tour professionals, and the price point reflects that positioning, although the six available grinds mean there’s genuine scope to fit golfers across a range of abilities.
