Equipment
Why does Aaron Beverly’s wedge have holes in it? A wedge expert explains
Aaron Beverly received this year’s Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption from tournament host Tiger Woods to play in the 2022 Genesis Invitational. Before even making his PGA Tour debut, Beverly is already making a splash in our GolfWRX forums with his unique wedges.
On Tuesday ahead of the event, we spotted Beverly with a unique set of wedges. Each of his Titleist Vokey SM9 wedges (52, 56 and 60 degrees) have two holes in their back cavities; one on the toe portion and one on the heel.
With our GolfWRX forum members speculating why the holes are there, I wanted to get the real answer. For that, I went straight to Titleist’s Vokey Tour rep Aaron Dill – the man who worked on Beverly’s wedges himself – to get the inside scoop.
According to Dill, there are two main reasons for drilling out, or “porting,” holes in his wedges:
“The first reason would be to reduce swing weight,” Dill explained. “He’s a little bit long, he’s a half-inch over standard length, but he likes standard swing weights. And it’s really tough at a half inch to get him down to D5 and D3, so that’s the first reason.
“The second reason is because it looks cool. Part of it is, yes, we want to balance up the weight. Whatever we’re going to pull from it I want to make sure it’s even on both sides. The other part of it is I don’t want to disturb the BV wings. I’m trying to stay out of there and have a little respect for The Man (master craftsman Bob Vokey, for which the wedges are named). But, other than that, it’s really more about hitting the tolerance and the specs that [Beverly] wants us to hit, and in order for us to do that accurately, we have to port them.”
For those of us who like to experiment with custom club building for ourselves, take Dill’s work as a valuable lesson. For every action there’s a reaction with club building, so make sure that when you change the length of your club setup that you keep an eye on swing weight and make the proper weighting adjustments. You don’t want to drastically change one variable when you’re trying to change another variable in isolation.
Beverly’s wedge set, as you may notice, doesn’t have a uniform finish throughout; he uses a Jet Black 52 and 56 degree wedge, but his lob wedge has a chrome finish. Dill explains why:
“The cool thing about [Beverly’s] set is he actually has a black gap wedge and sand wedge, and then the lob wedge is chrome. I asked him, ‘What’s up with that?’ He’s just like ‘This is what I like.’ I thought that was cool. That’s kind of his thing. Most guys would maintain the same finish throughout, and the majority of guys out here use raw. But for a handful of guys like Cam Smith, Callum Tarren, etc., there’s a handful of guys that really love the darker finish and go with the Jet Black.”
That’s the fun part of customizing your wedges: You can make them functional and practical, while still expressing yourself with things such as custom stampings, the finish, or even ported holes.
Check out all of our photos from the 2022 Genesis Invitational here.
Neal Shipley was the first to admit that he enjoyed his food while in college. But since his days at Ohio State, he’s slimmed down and earned a PGA Tour Card.
That hasn’t stopped him from having fun with his wedge stampings, though it’s led to some misunderstandings.
On the 54 (degree), we have ‘Big Fudge,'” Shipley told GolfWRX. “It was supposed to be ‘Big Fridge,’ so this happened a little while ago. ‘Big Fridge’ was a nickname between my college teammates and I, with ‘fridge’ meaning stomach, a big stomach.
“We told the Ping guys to put … ‘Big Fridge’ on it, and I think maybe some bad cell service or something, and they thought I said ‘fudge,’ so they put fudge on it.”
On Shipley’s 50-degree he also continues the food theme, this time with his go-to order at the “Golden Arches,” and his stamping “DONS 7.”
“The number 7 meal, the two cheeseburger meal, that was my McDonald’s order, back when I would have McDonald’s frequently,” Shipley shared.
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @raw10628 has a L.A.B. DF3 putter and Masters putter cover up for grabs.
From the listing: “Some great items here today, time to thin out and make room for next set of gear. All prices include shipping.
LAB DF3 Purple 33.5” 68° lie with TPT – $725. LAB Masters release DF3 cover – $150.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
5-wood: Ping G440 Max (19 degrees @18)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
Hybrid: Ping G440 (23 degrees)
Shaft: Oban Isawa Red Hybrid Shaft 04 Flex 70 Gms
Irons: Srixon ZXi7 (5-P)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i80
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (50-MID, 54-FULL, 58-MID)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i105
Putter: L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i
Shaft: ACCRA Putter Shaft
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
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Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4 3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4 5-wood: Ping G440...
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Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (10.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 60 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour (15 degrees) Shaft: Project...
LUFC Fan
Feb 23, 2022 at 2:38 pm
Minor third thing is it raises the swing weight higher in the wedge which can help achieving a lower flight and increase spin. Definitely helps with players who want lighter swing weight though.
drumdude96
Feb 20, 2022 at 12:00 pm
I guess the guys in the Titleist tour van have never heard of deburring. He Aaron Dill, every seen a countersink before?! Someone’s going to get their fingers cut on the burrs and sharp edges of those port holes. Terrible workmanship.
drumdude96
Feb 20, 2022 at 11:57 am
I guess the guys in the Titleist tour van have never heard of deburring? Someone’s going to get their fingers cut on the burrs and sharp edges of those port holes. Half-a$$ed work, if you ask me. Hey Aaron Dill, ever heard of a countersink?!
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ericsokp
Feb 18, 2022 at 1:22 pm
Yeah, that must be what’s wrong with my game … my wedges are at D5 instead of D3! I believe that equates to a whopping 6 grams of club-head weight? 🙂
Cantstandya
Nov 3, 2024 at 1:08 pm
Bozo. Half inch over puts the SW at D8. Dill is D5 in wedges and D3 in irons.
burner accnt gianni sux
Feb 17, 2022 at 6:01 pm
“The second reason is because it looks cool. Part of it is, yes, we want to balance up the weight. Whatever we’re going to pull from it I want to make sure it’s even on both sides. The other part of it is I don’t want to disturb the BV wings. I’m trying to stay out of there and have a little respect for The Man (master craftsman Bob Vokey, for which the wedges are named). But, other than that, it’s really more about hitting the tolerance and the specs that [Beverly] wants us to hit, and in order for us to do that accurately, we have to port them.”
two words, get real
Eric
Feb 17, 2022 at 10:13 am
This is huge. They should offer this. I play +.5 and struggle with my vokeys. I always leave them at stock length because of the swing weight issue. I’ve felt Vokey’s +.5″ and they are nearly unplayably heavy. So I just squat more when I have wedges in hand.
Joe
Feb 17, 2022 at 1:29 pm
Get raw wedges and pick a couple grinds on Wedgeworks, that should drop the SW to about right..
Eric
Feb 18, 2022 at 10:26 am
I play Vokey 60.08 M as one of my wedges, as an example. Ordering that wedge raw has no impact on swing weight and Im not interested in other grinds.
But even if I were, grinding has almost no impact on swing weight. I would need 6 grams ground off the wedge to meet my needs at +1/2. Aaron Beverly has 2 x 3gram holes drilled in his wedges. You can see how much metal needs to be removed.
drumdude96
Feb 20, 2022 at 11:53 am
This is nothing new. People have been porting wedges since forever. You can easily do it yourself if you have any mechanical ability at all and a few basic tools.