Father's Day Gift Guide, Titleist alignment aids, TaylorMade zero-torque putters and more

USA Today

2 days ago

Father's Day Gift Guide, Titleist alignment aids, TaylorMade zero-torque putters and more In this Get Equipped, we bring you Golfweek's 2025 Father's Day Gift Guide, new Titleist alignment aid balls and zero-torque TaylorMade putters.
Not to look past this week's RBC Canadian Open, but next week, the game's best male players — along with some hearty souls who went through qualifying — will descend on Oakmont Country Club for the 125th U.S. Open. The course is insanely hard. It's long, the rough is thick, and the greens are diabolically fast. In case you've forgotten, Dustin Johnson won at Oakmont in 2016 with a score of 4 under, and Angel Cabrera won at Oakmont in 2007 at 5 over.
Distance off the tee and driving accuracy will be important, but everyone in the field is going to miss greens, which means that wedge play will be critical. Pros often put new wedges in play at the Masters, having played a practice round of two with them to make sure they like the bounce and sole configuration while keeping the grooves sharp. While summer is just arriving in many parts of the United States, given the amount of time elite golfers put into their short game, many will repeat the exercise before they arrive and compete at the U.S. Open. In two months, grooves wear down, spin rates on chip shots and pitches can decrease, and control can be sacrificed. If you want to win a U.S. Open, that can't happen.
On the other hand, some recreational golfers will use the same sand wedge and lob wedge for years and wonder why they can't make a chip shot spin or check up quickly at their local course. If you play 25 to 30 rounds a year and don't practice often, you can probably get two seasons out of a sand wedge or lob wedge before groove deterioration will rob you of enough spin to lower performance. The more you play and the more you use those clubs, however, the quicker the grooves can wear out.
There are lots of great wedges out there now, from brands like Callaway, Cleveland, Cobra, Mizuno, PXG, Ping, TaylorMade, Titleist, Tour Edge and Wilson. If you're still carrying a 56, 58 or 60-degree wedge that was in your bag before the COVID-19 pandemic started, talk with a good custom fitter about new wedges and get ready to see your short game come back to life.