“All the guys (on the PGA T
our at the
time) were using very old wedges—1957
and ’58 Wilson Dyna-Power wedges—which
were beautiful,” Cleveland remembers.
Vokey noticed the same thing with a
slight variation.
“Most of the players I saw were gravitating
toward that (Walter Hagen) Haig Ultra look
from the early ’60s,” he recalls.
Both men saw an opportunity and pounced
on it, not because they thought they could
build a business or a brand with wedges—
that was, in their minds, too much of a niche
market—but because they loved the passion
that tour players brought to the short game.
Vokey began working exclusively with wedge
design in 1997.
“I tell everybody that I had the best
(research and development) department
in the world, the PGA T
our,” Vokey says.
“Early on I worked with Lee Trevino, Morris
Hatalsky, Mark O’Meara, Lanny Wadkins,
a lot of them. I had players who wanted to
hit a certain shot so they wanted a particular
grind. And then I’d get another player who’d
say, ‘Gosh, I just played with so-and-so, and
he hit some shots that I don’t have.’ So I’d say,
‘Well, let’s make up some wedges like so-andso and see if you can hit them.’ ”
Players loved the attention Vokey
and Cleveland paid to clubs that most
manufacturers either ignored or lumped into
sets as an adjunct. Cleveland played Spalding
wedges at the time, so he incorporated much
of what he liked about his own clubs and
blended in the concepts of what tour players
favored with the Dyna-Powers. The result
was his first series of custom wedges.
Vokey did the same, taking some of the
rounded features and tight radius of the
Wilson R90 and complemented it with the
larger bounce of the Haig Ultra. Then he
tweaked wedges to fit each player.
TITLEIST
INNOVATIONS TO FIT PLAYERS’ NEEDS
The wedge business grew slowly over
time. Vokey and Cleveland became cottage
industries with tour players seeking them
out for their artistry as much as for their
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