Callaway JAWS Full Toe Wedges – Key Takeaways
Update to the 2019 PM Grind series Full-face grooves, modified sole and more streamlined shaping Presale starts Aug. 26; at retail Sept. 9 $169.99There are two types of golfers and the new Callaway Jaws Full Toe wedge is expected to snuggle up with both of them.
First is the golfer who absolutely adores the PM Grind. Callaway is certain that golfer will swoon and gush over Jaws Full Toe.
And second, is the golfer who gags at the very sight of the PM Grind and at pretty much every other full-face, high-toe wedge, for that matter. Callaway says that golfer, too, will swoon and gush over Jaws Full Toe.
At least, that’s what Callaway is hoping.
Pretty lofty expectations, wouldn’t you say?
Callaway Jaws Full Toe Wedges – A PM Grind Update
Callaway made full-face wedges a thing again back in 2015 when it introduced the PM Grind. It was Phil’s wedge and a direct descendant of the PING Eye 2.
It was also a one-trick pony.
“The PM Grind was becoming more and more specialized,” says Patrick Dawson, Callaway’s Senior Manager for Wedge R&D. “It just didn’t quite fit the broader audience.”
While the PM Grind was most useful for partial shots around the green, it was less useful for anything resembling a full shot. And that’s being charitable. The leading edge was too rounded, there was too much offset and the overall profile was, well, an acquired taste.
“The sole was configured so it worked really well with short shots,” says Dawson. “But as soon as you hit a full shot, the head would tend to deloft the club and you’d lose the bounce. It would either dig in too much or we’d have to add more bounce to it.
“(Jaws Full Toe) is going to be money on full shots. The PM Grind was more of a specialty wedge.”
In other words, Callaway is blending the PM Grind with Jaws MD5, plus a dash of panache, to give you a better-looking wedge. And it’s one Callaway says will be more of a weapon from 50 to 100 yards than its predecessor.
A Spin Machine?
So, yeah, you can say Callaway re-started the full-face, high-toe wedge thing back in 2015. Since then, TaylorMade, Wilson, Cleveland and a few others have joined the party.
As the name suggests, the Callaway Jaws Full Toe features Callaway’s Jaws groove technology. Callaway brought back the Jaws name two years ago with the Jaws MD5 wedge. At the time they told us they’re the most aggressive grooves in golf. For the record, we haven’t heard anyone say their grooves are only sorta-kinda aggressive or even modestly passive. Hey, it is what it is.
Of course, the grooves are full face and feature Offset Groove-In-Groove technology which debuted in the 2019 PM Grind. It sounds, well, groovy. Callaway says it’s “angled micro-positives that provide additional spin on partial shots and pitch shots.”
Angled micro-positives?
“Around the green, you tend to open up the club and your impact location tends to migrate towards the toe,” says Dawson. “You need grooves out there. And Offset Groove-In-Groove is at an angle so when you open it up, it’s still perpendicular to your shot direction. You’re still getting a groove that’s grabbing your ball and hit hitting it at an oblique angle.”
Dawson says Callaway’s testing showed those angled micro-positives added more spin on open-faced shots but wasn’t all that helpful on full shots.
Jaws Full Toe: A More Versatile MD5
It’s important to note the Callaway Jaws Full Toe wedge is replacing the two-year-old PM Grind and not the two-year-old Jaws MD5, although you can bet the ranch an MD5 update is coming soon. And while there’s still plenty of PM Grind DNA in it, Jaws Full Toe is closer to a traditional-looking wedge than it is to PM Grind.
A common beef with PM Grind was the combination of aggressive offset and rounded sole grind made it a challenge to hit on full shots. Jaws Full Toe has considerably less offset and a noticeably straighter leading edge. The sole itself is a modified C-Grind. It has more toe and heel relief and a touch more bounce than the C-Grind you’d find on MD5, which should make sand and flop shots easier.
PM Grind also featured a toe-peak that was damn near Himalayan in proportion. The high toe design is purposeful as it pushes CG higher and more towards the toe for spin. The Jaws Full Toe is still high in the toe but is more Berkshires and less Himalayas. To make up for the lower profile, Callaway has added a little extra mass to the toe pad. That extra mass pulls the CG higher and more towards the toe.
The weight ports on the back of the club also play a role in moving the CG more toe-ward.
“Again, when players open up the club, they tend to hit more towards the toe,” says Dawson. “We made the heel-most weight port the biggest we could and we bored it deeper than the others to pull weight out of the heel and allow the natural CG to progress toward the toe.”
Callaway Jaws Full Toe Wedges – Final Thoughts
The full-face wedge category seems to be coming full circle. Yes, they’re great around the greens and can make almost anyone feel like a Phil-level flop-shot artist. That full-shot versatility, however, has been lacking. Cleveland’s RTX ZipCore full-face wedges have turned that trend around and the Callaway Jaws Full Toe follows suit, sort of.
Although Callaway does tout full-shot capabilities, the Jaws Full Toe will only be available in traditional sand and lob wedge lofts (54 to 64 degrees). Cleveland, meanwhile, goes as low as 50 degrees with its full-face offering (as does TaylorMade with Hi-Toe) and two months of on-course testing shows Cleveland’s lower lofts are viable full-shot weapons.
But if you’re trying to tell a story, there’s no sense in muddying the waters. Callaway makes it simple: MD5 (or its inevitable successor) for lower-lofted wedges and either Jaws Full Toe or MD5 (or its inevitable successor) for your sand/lob wedges. For what it’s worth, Callaway introduced Jaws Full Toe to its PGA TOUR staff at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in late June, with eight players putting them in play immediately.
“Straightaway, they loved the look,” says Dawson. “And they loved the straighter leading edge. They’ll play these in conjunction with their MD5 wedges. Some will play just lob wedges, some will play lob and sand wedges. They kind of mix and match.”
Specs, Price and Availability
The Callaway Full Toe wedges will be available in 54- through 60-degree lofts in two-degree increments as well as in a spatula-like 64-degree model. The entire lineup will be available in both left- and right-handed models.
As mentioned earlier, the entire line features Callaway’s modified C-Grind sole. The 54- and 56-degree models have 12 degrees of bounce while the 58-, 60- and 64-degree models have 10 degrees of bounce.
You’ll also have your choice of two finishes: Raw Chrome and Raw Black. In both cases, the face is raw, meaning no finish, while the rest of the head is either chrome or QPQ black (which, by the way, is a massive upgrade in durability from PVD). Yeah, the faces will rust over time. No, Callaway isn’t saying rust will add more spin. (It doesn’t. Spin comes from the lack of a finish, not the rust.)
True Temper’s new 115-gram Dynamic Gold Spinner is the stock steel shaft while the 80-gram Project X Catalyst wedge is stock graphite. The 52-gram Lamkin UTX is the stock grip.
You can also go full Callaway Custom with the new Jaws Full Toe wedges. For 20 bucks, you can get up to 10 different paint fills and colored weight ports if that’s your thing. And for another $15 to $25, you can get an array of custom stamping.
If that’s your thing.
Pre-sale for the new Callaway Jaws Full Toe wedges starts Aug. 26 and they’ll be in stores Sept. 9. They’ll retail for $169.99.
For more information, visit Callawaygolf.com.
The post Callaway JAWS Full Toe Wedges: Spin Machines appeared first on MyGolfSpy.