With wedges, spin is now more of a story than ever before with OEMs trying to squeeze every revolution out of a design as they can. Callaway’s new Opus SP, the next generation of their Opus wedge line, is no exception, featuring a new Spin Pocket design to raise the centre of gravity to help players flight lower wedge shots with more spin.
Callaway boasts one of the most impressive stables of pros, with staffers including Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Akshay Bhatia, Min Woo Lee and our own Tom McKibbin, among others. So when you see nearly all of them immediately switch into a new product, it’s worth taking notice. At the Memorial Tournament two months ago, Callaway had 18 players in the limited-field event playing the new wedge in its first week on Tour. By last month’s Open Championship, that number was up to 32.
One massive boon was the introduction of “Shape Six,” the sixth Opus prototype shape, which Jon Rahm put into play for the first time at the Ryder Cup two years ago. Part of the process was shaping the gap wedges to better flow from irons to lob wedges.
Here are three things to know about the new Callaway Opus SP wedges and our conclusion.
1. A new spin pocket
The “SP” in Opus SP stands for spin pocket which was developed from a new two-piece construction. Underneath the lower part of the face is a hollowed cavity designed to raise the CG of the wedge above the ball, which helps lower launch and raise spin.
Last year, Callaway experimented with the spin pocket in the Opus Platinum product before ultimately deciding they needed more time to get it right.
“In early Platinum testing, before we decided and made our final product, we had this spin pocket in it, and it was showing signs of something special,” Callaway R&D Manager for wedges Brian Herr said. “Through continuing testing, we were able to bring this to the masses, in a clean silhouette and a clean-looking product.”
The amount of weight moved higher and the size of the pocket depends on the loft of the wedge to create a progressive CG design. More weight is moved up with a larger pocket in the lob wedges and adjustments to shape and hosel also help change the CG to make it highest in lob wedges and lowest in the pitching wedge.
2. Spin per degree
The addition of the spin pocket helps Callaway designers maximise the spin per degree of the wedge, which is the spin divided by the launch angle of a shot. The lower the launch and the higher the spin, the more control a player has over a shot.
Another way the Opus SP helps a player raise their spin per degree is a new Spin Gen 2.0 face with a new 17° groove angle with tighter pitch spacing between grooves and deeper cross-hatch laser pattern.
“We found that this groove specifically is better in the longer rough shots and has the identical performance essentially to our previous groove,” Herr said. “We’re seeing a gain in that longer rough shot, more consistent spin.”
3. The X Grind returns
Callaway has been one to answer the calls of gearheads recently, with the release of different Tour-only driver heads or the eventual U.S. launch of the X Forged irons. With Opus SP, Callaway is answering calls to bring back the popular X Grind high bounce option in their lob wedges, last seen in the 2022 Jaws Raw wedges.
The X grind is a high-bounce option with a very narrow sole and extreme heel and toe relief to blend versatility and forgiveness for a steeper swinging player or one who plays in softer conditions. For that player that’s kind of got a steeper swing, maybe hits down on top of it a little bit more, but wants a little bit more bounce, still likes to be creative around the greens, we’ll have that now in the offering.
Conclusion
OEMs are learning that they can only do so much with grooves and face technology to improve spin, so they have to get more creative. Progressive CGs are nothing new in wedges, but it’s interesting to see that Callaway has essentially created a cavity back wedge that doesn’t look like one. Unlike a traditional cavity-back design, this one obviously focuses more on raising CG than perimeter weighting, but the spin pocket is still essentially a cavity.
The return of the X grind should also be a welcome decision for many amateur golfers — the majority of whom are steep — but still want to manipulate the face around the green. As a player who is both steep and struggles to flight wedges, I am very intrigued by both the new spin pocket design and the X grind and look forward to trying them out.
Callaway Opus wedges will be available for pre-sale starting Friday, Aug. 22, and arrive at retail on Friday, Sept. 12.
Each wedge will cost €219 for steel (True Temper Dynamic Gold S200 – 120g) and €239 for graphite (UST Recoil Dart HDC – 50g & 60g) and be available in both black shadow and brushed chrome finish options.
There will be 24 loft/grind/bounce combinations available, ranging from 48 to 64 degrees. The five available grinds include:
T – A low bounce option for precise shot making
X – A higher bounce option with extreme heel and toe relief for versatility
S – The standard mid-bounce full swing grind
W – An ultra-wide sole, high bounce option for max forgiveness
C – Low-to-mid bounce grind for versatility
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