Review: Callaway MD PM-Grind Wedge

You Can Buy Phil’s Wedge Game (Almost)

Everyone knows Phil Mickelson has one of the sickest wedge games around.  The magic he works around the greens amazes just about everyone.  The touch, the flop, the chip, the punch, the pitch, the stop and drop are all things that seem to be a his disposal for any shot.  I think we all wish we could do those things around the green.  Well now you can at least buy the same wedge as he plays and hit some of those creative shots.

The Callaway Mack Daddy PM-Grind is Phil’s creation based off his old Ping Eye 2 wedge.  It has an odd shape in terms of current wedge designs.  The very high triangular toe, the off-set/rounded leading edge and the concave sole grind are certainly different.  The ported back moves the weight and CG around to that you can still get the right head feel and maximum hit into the ball.  The face is also different with grooves basically covering the entire surface top to bottom, side to side.

This is the most versatile wedge I’ve ever played for creative shots, but you can’t just throw it in the bag and expect every time you want to escape some nasty lie or flop it out of a pot bunker you’ll be able to do that.  It takes practice.  The best thing that happened to me when this wedge arrived was an entire afternoon at the range.  I hit a couple buckets of wedge shots in the practice area to really learn how to make this wedge do some magic.  After a couple hours of work, I added a couple shots to my arsenal that I didn’t have before and took them to the course.

I’m not sure I would do a full set of Callaway PM-Grind wedges for my bag, but for a sand or lob wedge or both, it is hard to deny what this wedge can do on the course.  I ended up with just a 58* in my bag.  The biggest difficulty I had with this wedge was a full fairway shot.  Let’s say, 85 yard to about 60 yards were the most difficult from the fairway.  The bellied leading edge and offset hosel just made it hard to get the clean contact I wanted on full swings.  Out of the bunker or rough, there probably isn’t a better or easier wedge to hit.  It wasn’t just me, a couple of buddies picked up a PM-Grind wedge too and found the same things.  Super easy and accurate out of the bunkers or thick rough, but more difficult to hit consistently well off of tight fairways.

Flightscope X2 Launch Monitor

Callaway Mack Daddy PM Grind 58* Wedge

    • Spin: 10224 rpms
    • Launch Angle: 56.4*
    • Dispersion: 3.1 yds
    • Club Head Speed: 77.6 mph
    • Ball Speed: 79.3 mph
    • Total Distance:  81.7 yds
    • Carry Distance:  79.2 yds

Yes, you can buy Phil Mickelson’s short game in this wedge(almost) but just remember it will take practice.  If you expect to throw this wedge in the bag and get amazing results on every shot, it won’t happen.  You’ll get some awesome shots right away, but if you want it consistently, you’ll need to practice with this most versatile recovery wedge.

For more information: www.callawaygolf.com

Quick Hits
+Super versatile
+Great spin
+Good feel
+Escape anything

–Takes practice
–Non-traditional headshape