Wedge Review: Fourteen Golf's J.Spec Wedge

Good players change drivers about every week. They have about 20 putters that rotate in and out of their bag. But when a really good player finds a wedge that works, he tends to stick with it.

Since the days when Gene Sarazen created the first flanged sand wedge there have been a number of classic wedges, clubs that good players trusted to help them score.

For the longest time Cleveland did most of the heavy lifting when it came to wedges. They offered more lofts and bounce angles that most of the other wedge makers put together and they were solid hitting clubs.

Later, Titleist tried to do with the Bob Vokey name what they had done with the Scotty Cameron name back in the 90s. They succeeded, but only to a certain degree. The wedge market today is wide open.

Fourteen Golf is taking advantage of that wide open market and bringing out a number of superb products, especially for the wedge market.

The MT28 J.Spec that I've evaluated is a medium bounce (10 degree) 56 degree wedge that uses an noteworthy revere taper on the face. Simply put, the J.Spec has more mass higher up on the face than it does toward the center. The effect of this is to raise the club's center of gravity, producing a more controllable and generally lower trajectory than other wedges with the same loft. The J.Spec also uses a premium, light weight N.S. PRO 950GH shaft...one of my favorites.

No discussion of Fourteen products would be complete without mentioning the amazing level of quality and finish that their designs display. The forged nickel chrome molybdenum head is a work of art...every smooth surface is perfectly shaped and its grooves are meticulously formed. The ferrule is buffed neatly and fits to the hosel with great precision. The J.Spec has a feel that can only be described as luxurious.

That feel translates very well when you hit shots with the J.Spec. There is a smoothness and a slickness to the club's feel that creates a sense of accuracy. The ball comes off the face crisply with a soft, muted sound at impact. The club soles cleanly and it's easy to fan the face open when circumstances require it.

I would truly like to congratulate the J.Spec's designer, Takamitsu Takebayashi, and also to commend everyone at Fourteen Golf. The J.Spec is a product that stands out from the crowd, for all the right reasons. I look forward to evaluating other clubs from Fourteen. If each is as good as the J.Spec the competition has a real challenge on its hands.

The New Daly?

Fresh from being beaten by Anthony Kim, Robert Allenby called Anthony Kim The New Daly and the Loosest Canon on the American Presidents Cup team.

The bummer is that Allenby quickly apologized. My guess is that Allenby woke up this morning and realized that he had really taken a shot at himself by contending that the guy who thumped him 5 & 3 had been out drinking 'till 4 in morning and only gotten 5 hours of sleep.

Me? I'd call that a pretty impressive feat, if it's true. It would seem that Kim is a bit of a wild man, though hopefully not up to the standard setting wildness of John Daly, and possibly not a classic team player in this most individual of sports.

I still consider Anthony Kim a bright spot on the PGA Tour since he's the kind of player who can upset people a little and because he does his part to occasionally rattle the ranks of the other oh so drab tour pros.