Sub 70 TAIII Wedges – Key Takeaways
New cast wedges designed by Tommy Armour III
Milled sole with modest bounce for versatility
Tour Satin, Tour Uncooked and Black Diamond-Like Carbon finishes
$135 per stick. Shaft, grip and ferrule upgrades out there
Out there now at GolfSub70.com
The brand new Sub 70 TAIII wedges are a contemporary reply to that age-old query that you just in all probability by no means requested: What would occur if an revolutionary membership designer/direct-to-consumer pioneer provides a gearhead PGA TOUR veteran/grandson of a golf legend free rein to make a set of wedges?
C’mon, you imply you’ve by no means requested that query?
Effectively, you’ll need to ask it now. Sub 70 founder Jason Hiland and Tommy Armour III have teamed up once more. The duo nailed it final 12 months with their TAIII cast blades. And if the early returns are any indication, the TAIII cast wedges will certainly be worthy of your consideration.
A Hiland/Armour Manufacturing, Half II
You recognize Hiland because the maverick golf entrepreneur who turned Sub 70 from an internet curiosity right into a direct-to-consumer paradigm buster. And Tommy Armour III is a longtime Tour veteran who held the PGA TOUR four-round scoring document for 14 years.
Oh, yeah, and his namesake grandfather—the Silver Scot himself—was a legendary golfer whose identify is on two of the biggest-selling irons of all time.
“The pure factor for us was to benefit from all these years of expertise Tommy has and do a wedge with no preconceived notions,” says Hiland. “He had full autonomy.”
After the success of the TAIII blades, it was solely pure to increase the household to incorporate wedges. And Hiland determined to offer Armour free rein to do what he needed. And he didn’t must ask Armour twice.
“I used to be trying to make a wedge that I favored, greater than the rest,” Armour tells MyGolfSpy. “I just like the outdated Wilson Fluid Really feel wedges and that’s the place my eye has all the time gone. Lee Trevino began me on these again in my late teenagers and early 20s after I’d practise with him so much.”
Armour says he’s all the time favored slightly offset in his wedges with slightly little bit of a thinner bounce. “I believe actually good wedge gamers don’t want a number of bounce They do want some in order that’s why the bounce is type of narrowed on these.”
“For those who play golf with Tommy, he hits every kind of photographs,” provides Hiland. “He’ll hit the bump and run, he’ll hit flops and he’ll hit these Steve Stricker-type no-manipulation photographs. And there are occasions he’ll need to manipulate the face, so he desires a wedge he can do all that with.”
Sub 70 TAIII Wedges – Center of the Highway?
For those who’re pondering the brand new Sub 70 TAIII wedges sound like they’d slot proper within the center between the corporate’s simple 286 wedges and the extra versatile Seve/Phil-like JB wedges, you’re pondering accurately.
Not that Hiland or Armour deliberate it that means.
“It wasn’t by design. I informed him to make no matter he needed to make,” says Hiland. “However they fell proper between the 2. It has some forgiveness and sufficient shot-making means so you possibly can play it from all around the course.”
“It’s a wedge that may journey,” provides Armour. “You may go from the northeast to the south to the west and play all completely different surfaces and also you’ll have a really efficient wedge.”
In comparison with the JB wedges, the brand new TAIII wedges have a barely extra rounded sole grind—that slight bounce Armour talked about. Hiland says that makes the TAIII wedges noticeably extra user-friendly.
“Tom doesn’t need to make it tougher than it must be,” he explains. “For those who want an easy chip-skip-stop, then that’s what he’ll do. Not all the things must be flopped on a regular basis. This wedge permits you to get one of the best of each worlds out of it.”
The TAIII wedges are cast from DT-4 metal. For those who’re a fan of the Rockwell Scale, you’ll discover DT-4 to be barely softer than conventional 1020 carbon metal. Moreover, Armour included laser-etched micro-grooves within the design, much like Cleveland’s signature groove sample.
“We needed to do all the things we may to get the spin price the place he needed it,” says Hiland. “It’s the primary time we’ve accomplished microgrooves and it labored out properly.”
Archer or Arrow?
Armour was all the time generally known as an ideal ball striker and lengthy hitter on Tour. His quick recreation, nonetheless, wasn’t as stable.
“I’ve gotten higher as I’ve gotten older,” says Armour. “When my brother caddied for me, he mentioned, ‘We gotta repair this.’ We checked out all one of the best wedge gamers on Tour, and those who weren’t, We in contrast what made that man good and that man unhealthy. We put the findings in my recreation and I obtained higher.”
“Tommy will inform you if he had his quick recreation now again when he was on the PGA TOUR, he’d have received a hell of much more,” provides Hiland.
So does that put Armour within the it’s the archer, not the arrow camp? The Silver Scot’s grandson says whereas there may be some reality to the outdated saying, it’s not absolute.
“The higher the participant will get, the arrow turns into extra essential,” he says. “And golf equipment that don’t match can create unhealthy habits. And you’ll work your self right into a rabbit gap that’s laborious to get out of.”
It’s clear Sub 70 is making TAIII a franchise. The brand new wedges be part of the TAIII cast blades within the lineup. Armour says a line of TAIII cast cavity-back irons is within the works as is a clothes line. Metalwoods can be the apparent subsequent step, though Sub 70 isn’t giving clues.
And Armour is clearly following in his well-known grandfather’s footsteps.
“You recognize, it’s some one thing I by no means thought of,” he says. “I’ve been identified on Tour as a man who is aware of so much about golf equipment. Whilst a child, I’d all the time tinker with golf equipment and I really like taking place to the golf store and messing round with golf equipment. So it’s all the time been a ardour of mine.”
TAIII Wedge: Specs, Value and Availability
Armour’s new Sub 70 TAIII wedges can be found in two-degree loft increments from 50 to 60 levels. All the line has what may finest be described as a subdued bounce: a listed 9 levels on the 50 and 52, 11 levels on the 54 and 58, 12 levels on the 56 and 10 levels on the 60. The 54- by way of 60-degree fashions are additionally out there in a low-bounce possibility. The 54 and 56 LB wedges have eight levels of bounce whereas the 58 and 60 LBs have seven.
As with something from Sub 70, there’s no such factor as inventory. The usual, no-upcharge providing is $135 per persist with the Dynamic Gold or the Elevate 95 MPH shafts. The Lamkin Crossline and Crossline 360 are the usual grips.
Different shafts can be found for upcharges starting from $5 to $20 for metal or graphite. The Mitsubishi MMT and Aerotech Metal Fiber are a $40 upcharge. The Paderson Ballistic 95 is a $90 upcharge. Nearly some other grip you possibly can consider can also be out there with upcharges starting from $3 for a Golf Delight Tour Velvet to $10 for the NO1 50 in black or white.
Quite a lot of coloured ferrules can also be out there for $3 per stick.
The Sub 70 TAIII wedges will likely be out there in three finishes: Tour Satin, Tour Uncooked and a extremely sturdy Tour Black QPQ.
They’re out there now on the Sub 70 web site.
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