By Jeffrey A. Rendall, Images courtesy of Tour Edge

BATAVIA, IL – Pick up a sand wedge and you’ll almost certainly notice that its grooves are different than for any other golf club. The head shape is different too, but the grooves are mostly where it’s at in wedges.

That’s certainly the case for the Exotics CB PROs wedges, the first forged offering in the Exotics line (The parent company is Tour Edge, which manufactures and sells clubs under both the Tour Edge and Exotics brands. The company says Exotics are for those who “demand the finest performing golf clubs in the world,” and is generally known as the premium brand).

The CB PROs wedges feature MONGO grooves, which offer the most aggressive legal sharpness and width allowed by the USGA. We aren’t hearing nearly as much about grooves these days, with the fury over the golf governing bodies’ banning of “square” grooves several years ago having died down.

As probably would be expected, golf manufacturers have found innovative ways to generate the same or comparable spin to the “old” wedges – and in this sense, Tour Edge’s MONGO grooves are no different.

According to the company, MONGO grooves are layered with 28 micro-grooves to provide maximum face roughness for the ultimate control in your short game.

As mentioned above, the CB PROs wedges are forged from 1025 carbon steel, which provides all the feel benefits derived from soft forged clubs. It’s hard to describe, but hitting forged wedges with this material is… sweet (the one drawback being they nick easily).

Again, according to the company, versatility is maximized in the CB PROs through the tour-grind beveled sole. A custom sole grind, perfected by David Glod, president and chief designer, increases the versatility to meet the needs of PGA Tour players and good amateurs alike. The eliminated bounce from the heel and toe of the CB PROs allows players to easily open the face or shut it down for the ultimate in shot-making ability.

Aside from the very unique groove design, the CB PROs doesn’t look all that different from the premium wedges of all the major brands. Upon closer comparison, however, the head is slightly larger than the most recent Titleist Vokey design, but the soles look similar.

Because wedges look alike, we asked David Glod about how to go about picking out a sand wedge. “Players should keep in mind what kind of bunker conditions that they face on a regular basis. Bunkers with softer, more white sand conditions need a wedge with a wider sole or more bounce. Bunkers with more firm conditions need a thinner sole and less bounce.”

Glod also recommends choosing a versatile wedge, one that can be used from the rough and the fairway.

We’ve found versatility’s not always included in wedges. Wedges with too much bounce are significantly harder to hit cleanly in hard conditions – but wedges with too little bounce are tougher in soft conditions. For that reason, it’s easy to see how even average players would need a selection of wedges – and choose accordingly based on the course conditions.

Image from golfwrx.com

Along those lines, Glod said the CB PROs wedges feature a thinner sole width and more bounce than what Tour Edge has produced in the past. He added that years of research and experience in the golf industry have shown that more bounce is what most people really need from their wedges.

That’s probably true. Bounce equals forgiveness for many shots – and let’s face it, most of us need a lot of forgiveness out of our clubs… especially a sand wedge.

For our test, we selected the CB PROs 54 and 60 degree wedges (both with 14 degrees of bounce). We tried them on courses that were fairly wet, so the high degree of bounce worked well.

Results? Both wedges performed capably from all sorts of lies. We can honestly say that these wedges were the most reliable clubs in the bag during the testing period. There was a degree of confidence not often experienced – especially with wedges.

With sand wedges, you either like ‘em or you don’t. These wedges are easy to hit and reliable.

At GolfTheUnitedStates.com, we don’t recommend clubs -- but we certainly suggest that you try the Exotics CB PROs wedges. Serious players should compare them with others – and there are a lot of good choices. Like putters, wedges require a high degree of personal preference.

Maybe it’s the MONGO grooves that made the CB PROs wedges so effective for us. But in order to find out, try them for yourself.