New irons
Edel SMS Pro irons and SMS P Grind wedge: What you need to know
LUCAS_BOTZ
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Edel’s SMS Pro iron and latest SMS wedge grind, the P Grind, both feature the company’s movable weight technology in the back of the club. According to Edel, the weights—two 2-gram screws and an 8-gram screw—when placed in the optimal position for a specific swing, can lead to a more efficient move into the ball.
PRICING/AVAILABILITY: The SMS Pro Irons will be offered in 3-Iron through pitching wedge and are priced at $250 per iron. They will be available at retail on February 24, 2023.
3 COOL THINGS
1. Doing things different. Edel Golf has done well for itself by designing clubs that are a touch outside the mainstream. It designed the single-length clubs that Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Amateur.
Edel continues down a path less worn with its latest iron, the SMS Pro. The SMS stands for “swing match system” and uses three weights in the back of the clubhead. The weights on the three ports in the SMS Pro irons include two 2-gram screws and an 8-gram screw, but can be customized with 4-gram, 6-gram and 10-gram weights as well.
Low-handicap contrarians who revel in others peeking in their bag and asking, “What is that you’re playing?” might consider these. Immediately noticeable are the movable weights on the back of the clubhead. The weights on the three ports include two two-gram screws and an eight-gram screw. When placed in the optimal position for each individual, these weight screws can promote a better swing path. The milled tri-sole uses different geometries in the leading edge, middle and trailing edge to bolster turf interaction.
Unlike in drivers, the movable weights’ effect in the forged SMS Pro irons aren’t specifically about the shifting of the center of gravity, but rather how changing the weights can help certain swing types get on a better swing path.
“It comes down to swing efficiency,” David Edel told Golf Digest. “The way you slot the golf club in the swing is a transitional force. For example, if you have weight toward the shaft, that’s going to change its rotational forces one way and slot the club differently from backswing to downswing. By that player being able to slot the club better, the swing is going to be that much more efficient.”
2. Sole searching. One of the underappreciated elements of this iron is the tri-step sole design which features three separate surfaces, each precisely engineered for better turf interaction
The leading edge helps the iron move through the grass at impact while the middle-tier bounce keeps the club going through the turf post impact. The trailing-edge bounce reduces the effective sole width of the club, creating smaller, more efficient divots.
3. Wedges to match. Edel’s SMS wedges use the same weighting technology as the irons with the same idea of matching the weights to produce the best swing path and optimize spin, launch angle and accuracy. The grooves, meanwhile, are elongated and have a diamond micro texture between the grooves to produce surface roughness to enhance friction and spin.
Most equipment technology focuses on what happens when the club meets the ball. Conversely, Edel designs clubs that help players get to impact more efficiently. The Edel SMS wedge is the latest example, using three adjustable weight ports in the back of the wedge not so much to adjust the wedge’s center of gravity (moving the heavy weight among the three ports only moves the CG slightly), but to adjust the way the wedge feels and matches your swing type, producing significantly better and more consistent distance, dispersion and spin compared to the other settings.
The clubhead is forged from 1025 carbon steel head and the five sole grinds are CNC milled to ensure precision from club to club, including the new P Grind option. The P Grind is geared toward better players and is available only in 58- and 60-degree lofts. The grind has a wider sole with low bounce making it a viable option for players that like to open the face on shots around the green and from the sand.