Callaway Opus, Opus Platinum wedges

Gear:

Callaway Opus, Opus Platinum wedges

Price:

$179.99 (Opus), $229.99 (Opus Platinum), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Mid 115 Wedge shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips

Specs:

Cast stainless steel with four sole grind options and lofts from 48 to 60 degrees (Opus). Cast stainless steel with internal tungsten weight, two sole grind options and lofts from 54 to 60 degrees (Opus Platinum).

Available: July 19 (Pre-Sale), July 26 (Opus), August 16 (Opus Platinum)

Who It’s For: Golfers who want to maximize spin and shortgame versatility.

The Skinny: The Opus wedges have a redesigned shape that was driven by feedback from tour pros and feature a new face treatment that enhances friction and surface roughness to complement the grooves and boost spin.

The Deep Dive: Callaway lied to us. Well, lied may be a little strong, but the Carlsbad, California, brand was not especially forthcoming with golf fans when it said the 52-degree gap wedge that Xander Schauffele used to win the 2024 PGA Championship was a JAWS Raw wedge. In fact, it was a prototype Callaway wedge that was internally referred to as an S6. Yuka Saso had a prototype S6 lob wedge in her bag when she won the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open, too. Jon Rahm used a similar prototype Callaway wedge last season at the British Open and Ryder Cup. Rose Zhang had one in the bag when she won the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup, and several other players have quietly had one in the bag for a while.

It turns out that for about a year and a half, Callaway has disguised a prototype wedge by labeling it as a JAWS Raw for tour players, showing different shapes and sole grinds to its staffers and taking their feedback home for refinement. The sixth shape (S6) is now being released as the new Callaway Opus and Opus Platinum wedges, making it one of the rare clubs that has won multiple major championships before hitting pro shop shelves.

Aside from having tour pros drive the look of the Opus wedges, Callaway developed a new technology to increase surface roughness and friction which it refers to as a Spin Gen Face. Astute golfers will notice that there are more grooves on the Opus wedges than there are on previous Callaway wedges, and the space between each groove has decreased. This should allow more groove edges to come in contact with the ball to create more bite with a lower launch angle.

Looking closely between the grooves, you can see angled microgrooves, which, looking at the face, slant from the top right to the lower left. When a golfer opens the face on a greenside shot, the microgrooves add another layer of spin generation.

However, you can’t see the new way Callaway blasts the hitting area. In the Opus wedge, quartz is sprayed at high pressure over the face to make the hitting area rougher.

All three of those elements — the main grooves, the microgrooves and the quartz-created surface roughening — combine to create about 500 rpm more spin on wedge shots from the rough than Callaway’s JAWS Raw wedges and about 1,200 rpm more spin in wet conditions. At the same time, shots launch about 1 degree lower on shots from the rough and 6 degrees lower in wet conditions. The result should be a more predictable, consistent spin rate across a broader range of conditions.

As Callaway refined the shape of the Opus wedge and worked to help it generate more consistent spin, designers also developed sole grinds and configurations to help Opus wedges handle a wider variety of conditions.

• S Grind (48-60 degrees): This is a straight, all-purpose sole designed to work well on shots hit from a traditional, square-face position.
• W Grind (50-60 degrees): This is the widest-sole option and comes in 12- and 14-degree bounce options, making it more forgiving and excellent in soft turf and fluffy greenside bunkers.
• C Grind (58-60 degrees): With extreme heel and toe relief, this lob-wedge-only grind with 8 degrees of bounce should allow golfers the most versatility around the green.
• T Grind (58-60 degrees): Designed with only 6 degrees of bounce, this new shape is for skilled golfers who take shallow divots and want to get the leading edge under the ball on tight lies.

In addition to the standard Opus wedges, Callaway is offering more premium Opus Platinum wedges.

The Opus Platinum has the same Spin Gen Face as the standard Opus wedges, but instead of casting the heads, Callaway used metal-injection molding (MIM) to manufacture the clubs. In the process, metal powder is superheated inside forms, so the shapes designers want to produce more accurately. Callaway also claims that the MIM process inherently dampens vibrations created at impact more effectively, so players should find the Opus Platinum wedges have a softer feel.

A 17-gram piece of tungsten has also been bonded to the topline of the Opus Platinum wedges, which elevates the center of gravity location and should help golfers create low-launching shots.

The Opus Platinum wedges are available in two sole grinds: the straight S grind with 10 and 12 degrees of bounce and the wide, low-bounce Z Grind (with 8 or 10 degrees of bounce). The Z Grind also has a pre-worn leading wedge along with trailing edge relief. Both the S and the Z grind come in even lofts from 54 to 60 degrees.

Below are several close-up images of the Opus and Opus Platinum wedges: