Most of the wedges in the market today are cast rather than forged so it was a bit of a surprise when the king of castings Ping sent me the Ping Glide Forged wedge to review.
This is not actually the first time that they have done this as in 2011 we had the Ping Anser Forged Wedge. Your body essentially replaces itself by renewing all the cells over seven years, so maybe this is one life cycle in Ping forged wedge terms.
Anyway rather than being created to complement a set like the Anser, the Glide Forged wedge is a standalone product of the Glide wedge family.
Unlike the most recent addition which was the Glide 2.0 wedge the Glide Forged is a blade design, which is a first for Ping.
The Glide 2.0 is a cavity back design with a wider sole than the Glide Forged, which is much narrower and that gives it a bit more versatility.
The trailing edge is much sharper than before and there is a little bit of heel relief so you can open the face up a little if you want.
There are six lofts from 50° to 60° with one bounce per loft, so 10° up to 56° then 8° for the lob wedges.
The back of the forged 8620 carbon steel head has a clean look with a 'dual fly-cut' milling pattern on it.
However under the Hydropearl finish in the toe is a 13g high density tungsten weight to counterbalance the weight of the hosel and improve the MOI of the head.
With this much loft you shouldn't need too much of that but the weight does help to move the CG position away from the hosel and more towards the centre of the club for better feel.
The grooves on the Ping Glide wedges have always stood out as generating high amounts of spin and the Glide Forged is no exception. Even on short chips and pitches I was getting great control and hopefully they will last as long with the softer forged metal as they do on the cast Glide wedges.
The Glide Forged wedge is very versatile and what every single figure player could wish for in a blade wedge. The feel was excellent and the head size was about right for this level of wedge and a little smaller than the Glide 2.0.
Out of the sand it was easy enough to open the face with the 56° version I was using and the usual Ping design of a tapered hosel as it moves into the neck should help it get through deeper sand more quickly and easily.
There is really nothing to fault with the Glide Forged apart from the price which is 50% more than the Glide 2.0 and over 30% more than the marketing leading wedge brands. Forged or not this is asking for a lot of faith, but if you are a Ping believer looking for a forged blade wedge then your prayers have been Ansered.