Review: FOURTEEN MT-28 V5 Black Wedge

Designed to hunt flags.
Wedges are weapons in the golfer’s bag to hunt down pins.  Wedge need to hit high, controllable spin, and go straight at the pin.  While all wedges do that to some degree or another, the FOURTEEN wedges do that in one of the most accurate combinations I have found.
Over the past month I have learned more about wedges than I knew in my previous 30 some years of golfing.  I knew the importance of good grooves and was starting to understand grind and bounce angle, I just recently learned from a master wedge grinder the intricate details of wedges.
This was all during the time in which I had my FOURTEEN wedges in my bag.  I was able to order FOURTEEN wedges that fit my eye and grind style.   A 52* and 58*.  I use the 52* as a gap wedge to fill in full shot distance needs and the 58* for everything from the full fairway, to digging out of the bunker, to delicately flopping one at the pin.

On my first round with these (with my limited knowledge) I was impressed that it seemed that on every shot I was hitting the middle of the face on these wedges and the ball was always tracking right at the pin.  It had to be my most accurate wedge round ever.  I didn’t feel like I had changed anything swing wise or set-up, just the wedges themselves.  So you can imagine I was pretty happy and impressed after round one, but I didn’t know why.

Then came the education about wedges.  While I spend hours learning about the grind and bounce, the greatest factor that I learned was the CG of a wedge.  Where is the Center of Gravity?  If you look at the design of many wedges there is great amount of weight at the sole and then a fair amount by the hosel, but out on the toe, not so much, thus most wedges have the CG closer to the hosel.  But if you move the CG out toward the toe, you get a wedge that will square up better and hit more often on the intended line.  At first glance it didn’t look like the FOURTEEN wedges did anything to move the CG, but upon close inspection you can see that the high toe area of this wedge is much thicker than the rest of the back area. They subtly put more weight high toe moving the CG to the center of the face.  They call it “reverse taper blade” design.

The way that FOURTEEN cut the sole and added the high toe weight offers solid forged feel, easy lift, yet a centered CG for excellent results.   The black finish is a matte raw finish that does wear like most in the contact spots, but if does offer a great glare-free dark look on each wedge.  The grooves are conforming for all tournament play which means they spin nice, but nothing too aggressive.  They don’t chew up golf balls, even when they are brand new, but they do check up nicely.  The forged head offers an excellent feel.  I would put these against any forged wedge in terms of feel, so soft.

I found the 52* to fit the distance gap I needed even though it was a degree or more stronger than I normally play.  The sole grind is moderate yet thin enough to really work well off soft and hard surfaces.  This was the first 52* wedge that I could comfortably hit off hard-pan.  This fall has offered the greatest variety of conditions I think I have ever seen from soggy to hard. This wedge just went after the green from any surface on full shots.

The 58* has their M grind which is kind of a dual sole as some might say.  I used it for every single shot inside 85 yards; sand, hard, soft, lob, chip, pitch or full.  It is just simply so versatile and accurate.   Both wedges were made with DG wedge shafts and FOURTEEN grips.  There isn’t a marking as to which company made the grip, but they do remind me of my UST Mamiya velvet grips I’ve been using on some of my other clubs.

A FOURTEEN wedge is going to run you just a few more dollar than other off the rack wedges, but after my testing (and learning) I can see the benefits of playing them.  The design is better at squaring up the face at impact and has the CG right behind the ball where you want it.  FOURTEEN wedges have done very well on the pro tours and I can see why.  If you want get a little closer to the pin with your wedges, check out some FOURTEENs.
 

For more information: www.fourteengolf.com

Quick Hits
+Soft Forged Feel
+Nice black raw finish
+Perfect CG placement

–A little more expensive