Yonex EZONE Wedge Review

Graylyn LoomisProduct ReviewsLeave a Comment

This review is written by my good friend Andrew Rehfeld, who continues to offer his vast equipment knowledge to the site.
If you’ve read my other reviews, you’ll know that I’m very specific about what I’m looking for in a golf club.  When it comes to wedges, I’m not any different.  There’s a reason that you see so many custom grinds on the wedges of tour pros.  It’s true that each player has different specs on clubs throughout their bag. However, there’s something especially personal and specific about what every player wants in a wedge.  And since the short game is where real game improvement happens, it wouldn’t hurt to be especially particular in choosing a wedge.
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I have played the Scratch 8620 wedges for the past couple years and always felt short-sided since they are made through the casting process, and they have a glossy, chrome look.  However, I really liked the shape, size, grind, and bounce options of these clubs.  Now that it’s time to replace my wedges, I have been on the hunt for wedges with nearly the exact same head shape but with a duller finish and a forged head.  This led me to the Yonex EZONE wedges.
 
Specs
 
The EZONE wedges come with stock shaft offerings of either the Dynamic Gold or the Nippon NS PRO 950GH.  Since I have the NS PRO shafts in my irons, I chose to get the same shafts.  It was also nice to not have to spend extra money on custom ordering these shafts.  I got mine in a stiff flex with the thought that it might be nice to have a bit softer feeling in my wedges, since I don’t often make full swings with them.
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I ordered two wedges – 56º and 60º.  Yonex doesn’t offer any grind or bounce options, and these came standard with some trailing edge relief and 12º of bounce in both clubs.  This didn’t matter to me though, since I chose these wedges based on their stock grind and bounce configurations.
I think it used to be more common to have wedges offered without any plating – “raw” and unfinished.  I was happy that I was able to get these wedges in a special release, raw finish.  It’s always annoying when you’re using a chrome wedge, and the sun reflects perfectly into your eye on a chip shot.  It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it certainly doesn’t help.
 
Looks
 
The EZONE wedges look great.  The markings are very clean and simple.  I especially like the fact that the soles don’t have any markings on them.  I’m excited to see how the raw finish begins to rust.  You can already see in the pictures how much wear the clubs have gotten.  This is only after two light practice sessions.
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Yonex claims that these clubs have an “onset”.  Unlike most any club on the market, the EZONE wedges actually have a leading edge that’s in front of the shaft.  This was part of the reason I picked these clubs.  My Scratch wedges had the same sort of bulging, rounded leading edge that has always seemed easier to hit.
 
Performance
 
Yonex really hit a home run with these clubs, and I got lucky that they turned out exactly how I wanted. The grind on the 60º isn’t exactly like the Scratch 8620 D/S wedge that I came from, but the important parts are there.  The trailing edge relief allows me to open up the face without adding bounce, and that bulging leading edge is just perfect; I feel like I can hit it off any lie without a problem.  Out of the bunker, it performs exactly like my Scratch wedge – perfectly.
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The 56º does not have a very similar grind to the 8620 D/D I came from.  However, I knew this in advance, and I was looking for a change.  I wanted the grind to be somewhere between the 8620 and my old Mizuno MP-T11, and it has done just that.  It’s great on full swings and around the green.  With some trailing edge relief – unlike my Scratch wedge – it slides through the turf easier.
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I’ve heard it said that the reason so many blade wedges are cast is because the feel is harder to detect when the ball makes a glancing blow off of the face (compared to an iron).  Since I’ve never played a cast iron, I wouldn’t be able to compare this.  However, despite my love for the shape of my Scratch wedges, there was always a “clicky” sound to impact.  This is not the case with the EZONE wedges – they feel soft and smooth. Apparently the raw finish makes them even softer, but I am not able to compare this.
 
Conclusion
            
I’m very happy with this purchase.  My only complaint is that I wasn’t able to order them to my specs.  I had to cut them both down ¼” and change the grips when I received them, but this is routine and not a big deal. Yonex is hard to come by in the US, but they make very high quality clubs.  Some golf shops carry them, but they can always be purchased from the Yonex website.  This wedge is quite expensive at $179 a piece, but if you do some deep digging on the internet like I did, you’re sure to find it for less.

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