Club review: Scratch Golf's 1018 Forged 56-degree wedge

It was a long time coming, but this past Friday I received my long awaited new sand wedge from Scratch Golf. Due to some supply issues overseas, my order (among with many others) were delayed quite a bit. But I stayed patient and the guys at Scratch were more than apologetic, as well as VERY responsive and polite to each one of my many emails inquiring about the status. They even sent me a demo (in the 8620 Milled) with the same makeup to tide me over until the new wedge arrived. Now that's customer service people.

I had some buddies coming in from out of town for a 2-day golf blowout and I really wanted to make sure I had it in time to put it in play. The timing was good, and Zach from Scratch made sure to overnight the wedge (on their dime) to me so I could have it in time... along with a Scratch hat for my troubles (again, great customer service).

I could barely contain my excitement when I pulled the beautiful new shiny toy from the long cardboard box, and then gazed at the custom stamping of "Jeffa" on the head of the club. The club is beautiful in it's simplicity, with simply the Scratch old English "S" and my stamping on it. Very cool looking indeed.

I was playing the next day and only had a few minutes to warm up on the range but made sure to hit a few balls with it before heading out. I was instantly struck by the soft feel on impact of each swing. That's a forged club for you! But when I struck it pure, there was no doubt. The great feel is accompanied by a KBS Tour shaft adding to it's top of the line make up. On the 4th hole I had my first real chance to hit it. The hole, a reasonably long par 5 of 525 yards, with a pond right in front of the green protecting against most people going for the green in two. I laid up and had 115 over the pond to a tight front pin placement. I'm not going to lie, I was a little uneasy over the ball with a shot like that and my first real attempt with this club. I hit it flush and pured it right at the flag, and while I watched the ball flight I felt confident of the shot, knowing how good it felt coming off the club. It dropped over the flag and spun back to about 8 feet from the pin. Yeah, I was really going to like this wedge.

For the rest of the day I used it a handful of times around the green and really liked the feel of it, and felt that the ball checked up off the face very well. However, there were a handful of other chances to hit full wedge shots with it througout the day. Each shot felt buttery soft and gave me increased confidence each time I stood over the ball with it. I'm not sure if it was due to some wind or uphill shots, but on a few occasions I felt that I may have lost a little distance (maybe 5 yards) compared to my old Cleveland 56-degree. This could very well be, seeing as a completely different manufacterer as well as the new being a forged head. But I'll reserve judgement on that until I get some more play out of it and can make a more informed statement.

All in all a fantastic club. It was well worth the wait, and the people at Scratch are doing many things right... in terms of the quality of their products, as well as their fantastic customer service.

To learn more about Scratch Golf, visit their website at: www.scratchgolf.com

Jeff Palopoli is a frequent contributor to New England Golf Monthly and can also be found on his blog at: www.goodwalkgolf.com