C. Carnahan Forged Wedges

With wedges from the big name manufacturers going for around double the price of the C. Carnahan line of wedges, you might expect that you would be settling for lower performance for the sake of a bargain price with the Carnahan wedges – but you would be wrong.Sure, these wedges don’t have the high-tech face milling that is found on Vokey wedges, or Callaway Mack Daddy wedges, nor do they come with options for fancy finishes and custom stamping, but if you want wedges that perform well, and will last, and aren’t just interested in “bag bling” to impress your buddies on the course, you would do well to check out the Carnahans. (One of the drawbacks of the fancy milling on the face surfaces between the grooves is that it wears out rather quickly, so clubs with this feature perform very well, but for a relatively short period of time.)The Carnahan 56° wedge has a classic sole grind that I found to offer great versatility off of a variety of surfaces, and shots come off of the forged steel head with a lively energy. Carnahan advertises a 2-gram headweight bump over standard wedge specs for the 52° and 56° wedges, and I could feel the difference between this club and my older Hogan wedges (2 different styles). It only took a few swings for me to become accustomed to the weight of the Carnahan wedge, though, and in no time at all it felt very comfortable in my hands.This club worked well for me both at standard address and with the face open for increased loft. I found that I could control the trajectory of my short chips quite well by varying the face angle at address, with no feeling of compromise due to the club’s sole interacting differently with the turf at different attitudes – a very important feature in a wedge, to my mind.One caveat — on their website, Carnahan Golf advertises these Vintage Forged Wedges as well as V-Groove Wedges, and while they do not specifically state that the grooves in the face of the Vintage wedges are of the older, non-conforming U-groove style, they DO specifically state that the V-Groove Wedges conform to the latest USGA specifications.I checked the USGA’s database for conforming clubs, and did not find the Vintage Forged Wedge from Carnahan listed. Erring on the side of caution, and assuming that the Vintage line are non-conforming, they are fine for recreational play but not for USGA competitions. Not that anyone is checking, but if you are playing to establish a USGA handicap, the pre-Rule grooves are good until 2024 – and if you play with any frequency, you will have worn the face to uselessness by then anyway.