Cost: $329 (steel shafts), $354 (graphite).

Tested By: Callum Hill, Golf Australia writer.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have at least one Vokey wedge in my golf bag, and the SM10s illustrate the same quality and class as all of its predecessors.

I ventured out to be professionally fitted by a couple of fine gentlemen from Titleist. Coming into the fitting, my game was in a poor state of affairs.

But before I got into any fitting, I strolled around the Team Titleist tent, marveling at the depth and range of options available. Not only are they one of the cleanest-looking golf clubs on the market, but the attention to detail in design and craftsmanship is second to none. The Tour Chrome finish is my personal favourite, but you can take your pick between Nickel, Jet Black and Raw to suit your taste.

As the boys ran their eyes over some paperwork, I picked out a wedge and got into my set-up without a ball.

At address, to the naked eye, you can barely tell the difference between the model I was using prior (SM7) and the new SM10, apart from the sparkly clean face compared to one that has seen some parts of the golf course no other golf club has.

Nic from Titleist had the treacherous task of fitting your resident scribbler and was keen to get straight to work.

He asked about my wedge set-up at the time, which was a PW, 54° and 60°. An alarming gap between the pitching wedge and my next club due to a loss of my old 52° that I had never got around to replacing. I told him I wanted to move into a more consistent split, perhaps a 50°, 54° and 58°.

He tended to agree and suggested the four-degree split between wedges was safe and common.

HOW THEY PERFORMED: During my fitting, I began with some pitching. The flag I had as a target was short sided with a backstop about 15 feet behind the flag.

We ran through some blind testing, Nic handing me wedges with the same loft but different bounce and grinds without me looking at what I was getting, I was just stepping up and hitting the golf shot to the best of my ability.

For the two wedges with more loft, we went into the bunker for more of the same. I was delighted with the feel and performance of the SM10, just the versatility and consistency of each wedge was incredibly impressive. Once we had decided what bounce and grind suited my move the best – 10S (58°), 08M (54°) – the leading edge just glided through the sand. The way Titleist can help players with all different swings and abilities so precisely almost impressed me more than the quality of the golf club I had in my hand.

I knocked the sand off my boots and ventured to the range to see what I could do with a 50°, and the 12F bounce and grind worked best for me.

Once I ventured out to the golf course, my first test was a short-sided chip over a bunker with a downslope towards the hole. Right, let’s see what these things can do. I clipped it okay, but certainly not perfectly, and the check was immediate; it pulled up nicely and trickled out to about seven feet from the hole.

Throughout the round, I got to play more and more shots and had ample opportunity to get each of the wedges in my hands in different situations.

RIGHT: PHOTO: Supplied.

Don’t get me wrong, I hit my fair share of ordinary shots, but I felt like I could control my ball better than I could with other wedges, and my dispersion was tighter.

Flighting the ball with a wedge hasn’t always been a strong point, and with the SM10s being fit to my specs, I found the helping hand from the tour-proven sole grinds and the new feature of the progressive centre of gravity placements through the lofts, helping with a lower and more controlled trajectory. This was far more straightforward than I have experienced with other wedges.

Fresh grooves always give you the confidence to spin or at least stop the golf ball on the putting surface. The patented spin-milled process is, in Titleist’s words, “refined to deliver higher, more consistent spin”. Plenty of spin was available when you really asked the question, but it was also not uncontrollable.

TITLEIST SAYS: Titleist’s new Vokey Design SM10 wedges have been specifically crafted to produce a more controlled and lower flight with improved feel and maximum spin – advancing the performance of the game’s most popular wedges through an unyielding focus on Master Craftsman Bob Vokey’s three keys to a fantastic wedge game:

Shot versatility: The Vokey Design SM10 family comprises six different tour-proven sole grinds (F, S, M, K, T and D) – with a total of 25 unique loft, bounce and grind combinations – allowing every golfer the opportunity to find their optimal wedge setup. Properly fit wedges that complement a golfer’s swing type and course conditions help unlock creativity around the greens and achieve proper turf interaction and contact.

Precise distance and trajectory control: SM10 wedges feature new progressive centre of gravity placements through the lofts. The result is a lower, more controlled trajectory, more solid feel, and tighter dispersion from the lowest-lofted wedge to the highest.

Maximum spin: Vokey Design’s patented Spin Milled process has been refined to deliver higher, more consistent spin.

Each TX9 groove is individually cut based on loft and finish and treated with high frequency heat to maximise durability.

For more details visit www.titleist.com.au.