Opinion & Analysis
Starting a wedge business? I can help with that
Let’s say you have temporarily abandoned your plan to introduce a full set of woods and irons, but your passion to be in the golf equipment business still burns. In desperation, you contact me to help with your wedge business and pay my upfront fee of a dozen low compression golf balls (you know, the ones designed for swing speeds that are barely moving). With the mutual understanding that you are definitely going forward, I take a few days and devise a plan.
Since you told me the golf balls had to wait a few weeks while your credit card balance dropped, it’s fair to say that unless a benefactor appears this will be a shoestring effort and I should advise accordingly. In the old days, I used statistical analysis on the cause and effect of ball flight. I determined that golf clubs are used in separate and distinct environments — namely ball on tee, ball on ground (including rough), ball in sand and ball on green. This may sound simplistic, but this type of analysis wasn’t the norm when I started on my own 27 years ago (or 40 years ago when I was hanging out with Dave Pelz). For example, fairway woods used to look like mini drivers and were not designed with a “ball on fairway” mentality save increased lofts.
First a bit of good news. Every currently significant golf club company (except Nike) had one club that got market attention and grew from there.
- Adams and the Tight Lies
- Callaway and the Big Bertha
- Cleveland and its wedges
- Cobra and the Baffler
- Ping and the Anser putter
- TaylorMade and metal woods
- Titleist and the Bulls Eye putter
With a bit of a stretch, I could also point to Mizuno and irons and also Wilson Staff and irons, but Wilson is not a major player today. I include this bit of trivia to show that starting with one product doesn’t restrict a company from future growth.
The point is that if you become significant with a wedge it could open the door to other products, but first things first. As I said, we have ball on ground, ball in rough and ball in sand as three completely different design environments for wedges. Given our cost effective approach, ball on ground and ball in rough doesn’t fit. It’s not that you can’t make a great wedge; it’s the issue of marketing. There are dozens of wedge companies out there and they all have good designs and strong marketing stories. You are just starting and need the best chance of getting a clear message to the hearts and minds of millions of golfers.
In the literature you sent me, you had a design for a nice looking wedge and its appeal is the use of a soft metal which, in turn, produces a great feel and sense of control at impact. I don’t mean to belittle your effort but what you have done applies to maybe 5 percent of golfers — some of whom are given wedges as a promotional effort. Further, there is no significant relationship between soft metals and feel.
If you want to store this away, differences in feel for more than 98 percent of the golfing population are actually the brain reacting to sound. Put earplugs in, go to the range and test for yourself. The other 1+ percent are tour professionals, and I gained great respect for their sense of feel and never tried the sound blocking experiment with them. Ping has certainly been successful with golfers of every level, and I remember back when their clubs were supposed to be “too hard.” Turns out, they were very good!
So, with all this background my advice is to concentrate on one club (actually two, as you’ll see), the sand wedge.
We will call the sand wedge the “Beauty” — actually the “Beauty-1” and “Beauty-2.” If that name causes nausea, it’s your nickel. Finding a name for a golf club that isn’t being used or isn’t registered in some attorney’s office is a major project. You would never know unless you become successful. I picked “Beauty” because it’s so off the wall there is a chance that no one uses it, but I strongly advise you spend the money and get that name (or your name) verified.
The design of a sand wedge is all about dynamic bounce, which is the relationship between the bounce angle, sole width, face loft and type of sand. I’ll let you do the final design, but I suggest you research underslung head designs. Having the hosel somewhat removed addresses the shank, the bane of the average golfer.
- Beauty-1 has a very wide sole with some bounce for soft, fluffy sand.
- Beauty-2 is slightly narrower, but it still has a wide sole and essentially no bounce for hard-packed sand.
You said you have access to a machine shop where you can get samples made and you can test in different sands.
This is NOT a project for good players — this wedge is for those who approach sand traps with trepidation hoping to get out in one swing. Why? It’s simple: by far the biggest market. Your website should be technically accurate and enjoyable while showing both wedges’ designs and the types of sand that work best for each. It will explain “dynamic bounce” in detail, which will help you get to the heart of the average golfer and sell product. I will review the site when finished as part of my dozen balls payment. If I might intrude on your design, take a long look at the concept of “underslung.” It will certainly be a different look and maybe provide the claim of being shankless.
As for shafts, let’s go with one flex (stiff) and one type (steel). Why? Cost, and steel works fine. The challenge will be a controlled inventory after you fully test the machined heads to verify your concept. “Make them in China” is the easy answer, but you will need some leads on trustworthy suppliers and you will pay for tooling, initial samples and an agreement on an initial order. Make it as small as possible to save money, but small can easily be 1000 heads, a minor production run. I think I can dig up a couple of Asian sources when the time comes.
Setup your website and try to get some wedges in the hands of known instructors with an arrangement resulting in you getting quotes. Set a competitive price and sell direct over the net. I’ve just given you enough to do that. I’ll long run out of balls before you have more questions.
As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
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Andy W
Dec 15, 2014 at 12:46 pm
Barney,
Love your “breakout” club listing as I call it. Same list I have, but did not know the Bullseye putter was “it” for Titliest.
Just sent to your email my job application to Taylormade who needs to grab me and my breakout putter I have developed “overnight” for 10 years. Well, it would have been overnight if could have avoided a 10-year battle with the USGA, which finally gave approval last year. LOL, we do this because it is fun and it’s our passion, right?
Read your WOW book three times, every word, once out-loud to my wife.
Asuume you now have some stock in TMag/Addidus, right?
Thanks, and you are an inspiration.
Andy
Roger in raining NZ
Dec 13, 2014 at 12:42 pm
Barney, love the pairings to Fame!
Cally Big Bertha, Adams Tight Lies,Cleveland 588
And i have renewed confidence in my Ping S58 made from Hard Non Soft Cast Metal !! A priceless comment, Thanks!!
You Beauty!
Straightdriver235
Dec 11, 2014 at 8:35 pm
Here’s my idea, forget the wedges, we have too many of them, and only a few are decent. As a Marxist/critical/meritocratic golfer I desire to upset the status quo. I’m an older guy who walks for the health and enjoyment. I don’t think I am anywhere near alone on that. There is a market for what I am about to describe, a market that could take off. Frankly, 14 clubs might suit your company and the present state of the golf industry which wants to sell a lot of clubs, but after giving it quite a bit of analysis I believe less would be more. I believe sets need to be made smaller, requiring more skill, and bigger gaps between irons; also making the game more healthy and returning it to the intent that it be a walking game. I have an ultralite bag and carry only 5 balls, etc. but 14 clubs is way too heavy for this 54 year old frame to lug… it was always too heavy even though I was once young and strapping… as I have said before, elsewhere, this is more meritocratic–the ability of young players to carry their own clubs and play well is vastly underrated in the development of excellent players and future stars. Altering the degrees of existing irons is not sufficient as it messes with standard bounces. Instead of having a standard set with Lob/SW-58*, Gap-52*, PW-46*, 9 iron-42*, 8 iron-38*, 7 iron-34*, 6 iron-30*, 5 iron-26*, 4 iron-23*, hybrid-21*, hybrid-18*, 3 wood-14*, driver-9*, putter=14 clubs. You can see way to many WITBs where there are one or two clubs in the top players bag with almost no difference between the distances they hit. Simultaneously we need to advocate to reduce the club limit for tournament play, but even if that doesn’t work there are enough people who would like this. Someone, myself, needs to start manufacturing something along these lines–engineered for serious players… SW-55.5; Gap-50.5; PW/9 iron-45*; 9/8 iron-40*; 8/7 iron-35*; 6 iron-30*; 5/4 iron-24.5*; hyrbrid 19.5*; Driver/3 wood–13* with fairly large head, but no large that it can’t be hit off the ground, with the putter that gets you 10 clubs…. I’m seeing an alternate version with slightly wider spacing for 9 clubs. It is amazingly fun to carry your own bag with 9 or 10 clubs, and not so fun for 14. The cost of clubs goes down, people start walking, carrying their own clubs, their kids can caddy for them, instead of being surrounded by obese, arrogant, costly and slow we can have healthy, meritocratic, affordable and quick.
Play would be a lot faster due to less need for deliberation, golfers would develop more skill in the ability to work the ball, hit partial shots.
To brag about my system… I do this already, but am not satisfied with the grinds on the clubs…. however, my game has improved from a 4.5 to a 2.3 handicap. I strengthened the PW, and 9 iron one degree, the 8 iron two degrees, dropped the 7 entirely, weakened the 6 one degree, kept the 5 the same, and strengthened the 4 iron one degree. Tonight I had my second hole in one hitting a six iron where the shot would have normally called for a 7. Presently no company makes a small headed driver in the 420 CC range that is very square, and has a higher loft. When they sell the higher loft driver they always want a hook face on it and put a regular shaft in it because they assume you must not be very good if you are playing a high lofted driver… the interchangeable heads are an option.
What’s my point? This could work… the game is messed up as it is, and the business model, starting with homes around the course, golf carts, over-manicured greens, courses that emphasize freakish distance have made the game not palatable.
BOB KNOX
Dec 28, 2014 at 10:47 pm
I have to say a lot of what you write in your article makes sense.
I’m 68 (closer to 69) and I used to walk all the time until my knees and respiratory condition
won’t let me walk and carry any more.
But I like the concept of stronger lofts and less clubs, also which would enable the player to go
to go to a lighter “Sunday” bag as it used to be called to help the player in reducing the load on the back.
Good article, and very interesting. Good concept.
Bob
Stephen Finley
Feb 26, 2018 at 2:19 pm
Yeah, that’s good. Really.
riehlg
Dec 4, 2014 at 2:19 pm
I really think you should get the paperclip from the old MS Office to be saying the title of the article for the picture at the top. “Starting a wedge business? I can help with that!”
Jonny B
Dec 4, 2014 at 9:02 am
There are a lot of fringe companies in the golf equipment industry that seem to be concentrating on doing one thing – a driver, wedge, ball, etc. Look at Krank, Bombtech, Kick X, etc. I’ve never tried any of their products though.
Remember the Warrior hybrid club that the company was giving away for free with all those commercials? I wonder what happened to them. Just goes to show that even “free” products can’t generate enough buzz to make a successful equipment company. It’s a tough industry with some major barriers to entry.
Jonny B
Dec 4, 2014 at 9:05 am
As far as wedges go, there is SCOR, Hopkins, and now even Cleveland looks to be moving away from irons and woods and concentrating only on wedges.
I love the point made about how “feel” is really only a product of sound. I’m going to try the ear plugs experiment at the range next time. I can see that being that case with drivers/woods, but I’m pretty sure that there’s more too it than sound, because I know I have hit some harsh feeling irons.
Justin
Dec 16, 2014 at 7:05 pm
Try it. You’ll be surprised. I got the idea from Ralph Maltby’s “11 Steps” fitting manual. Totally killed the “forged/carbon steel is softer than cast/stainless steel” myth for me.
Sully
Dec 4, 2014 at 2:58 pm
Jonny B,
Thanks for throwing us in the mix. (BombTech). A fringe company is where I want to be. Because through our performance products and direct to consumer approach you have heard of us somehow, but the average Joe hasn’t and that’s the point. I could spend millions and sponsor pros in order to get exposure to golfers and non-golfers, but the industry has changed. Just like the craft brew industry. Yes beer…
Small companies with high quality ingredients or materials – aka our 2 piece production process can survive (and dual cavity design)….Well..Only if you product that performs…and you still will face challenges. I am very fortunate to have had so much success but it is because of our story, expensive production process and press we have received (Entrepreneur Magazine, PGA Tour Radio, Golf Digest…etc.)
I am always looking to learn from our customers and potential customers so if you have any additional insight or just want to talk. Call me (802) 448-2094.
I could say more, but I can’t give away all of our secrets.
Barney – Check your email…
– Sully
“Pull the pin!”
Jafar
Dec 3, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Great article.
Where can you have prototypes made?
I’d like to design a wedge or even a putter, even if it’s just for my own amusement.
Barney Adams
Dec 3, 2014 at 6:17 pm
Ask the guys at Dog Leg Right or Tom Wishon. Remember you are embarking on an expensive hobby
Mike
Dec 9, 2014 at 1:55 pm
I’m not in the golf industry so don’t know about specific issues but I would offer a couple of ideas. There is an internet-based e-machine shop that hobbyists use for example to get obscure car parts made. They even have a web page about putters:
http://www.emachineshop.com/machine-shop/Custom-Golf-Putters/page423.html
Also you could look to a 3D printing company to get your part printed directly in steel. One that I’ve heard of is 3D Systems but there are others. I would guess that you’re looking at a bill around $2500 to print a wedge or putter and there’s no bulk discount with 3D printing so it’s not currently an option for mass-production.
ptjn1201
Dec 3, 2014 at 2:16 pm
Finally, somebody understands that the packed sand many of us face at our local muni needs low to no bounce. Now I hope more people start listening to you
golfiend
Dec 3, 2014 at 1:33 pm
Wedges tend to be replaced quicker than other clubs in the bag. Wedges can also be specialized for different courses and condition. I’m certainly not the only one that play different wedges for different courses. Generally speaking, a low bounce gap wedge and a high bounce sand wedge is adequate for many people including myself when I’m going to an unknown course. Then there is the material. Unless you’re vokey and can make cast wedges like they do and have the marketing power behind it, forged wedges tend to be favored by the enthusiast. But like the restaurant business, it’s not worth the risk. Still I agree that among the clubs we use, it is the entry point with the lowest, albeit still high, barrier.
golfiend
Dec 3, 2014 at 1:36 pm
I’m sure you’re going to write something about the putter because there are many types and people can go through many putters as well … like I have.