What you need to know: Mizuno’s latest wedge offering delivers the better player, muscleback-shaped Mizuno Pro T1 along with the more player-friendly Mizuno Pro T3. Both share similar groove packages for optimum spin but are aimed at decidedly different—and specific—player types.

Pricing/Availability: $180 each for the T-1 and T-3. Available for pre-sale on Feb. 6 and in stores on Feb. 20.

3 Cool Things

1. Better players only. There are plenty of subtle elements in the Mizuno Pro T-1 that better players will take to. As usual with Mizuno, it starts with the grain flow forging process that has been refined over the past 50 years at its facility in Hiroshima, Japan to deliver a soft feel. Further adding to the feel is that the head is no longer made from boron but rather a comparatively softer 1025 carbon steel. The company’s use of a copper underlay underneath the finish further assists feel.

A re-designed muscleback shape with a taller heel section and mass moved to the upper portion of the clubhead helps bring flight down for more control—or exactly the kind of thing pin-hunters appreciate. For turf interaction, a sharper leading edge with more sole camber reduces resistance from the turf for those who like to take a healthy pelt with their wedges.

On the 48- and 50-degree wedges, there are 15 scorelines for full swing distance control. They also are narrower and deeper for better channeling of debris on full shots. On the higher lofts, 16 scorelines optimize short-game spin. The wider and shallower groove has better bite on partial shots, too. Microgrooves between the grooves are at a 10-degree tilt on the wedges 54 degrees and higher to promote more spin on short-game shots where the club might be opened up.

A return to the Mizuno Pro roots also was front of mind. “This was the first master check since the pandemic,” said David Llewellyn, director of research and development for Mizuno. That helped us dial in the head shapes and grind shapes before going into the molding process with craftsmen. We paid lots of attention to the hosel blend and ability to see the ridge line on the sole. The Mizuno Pro consumer and retailers like to understand what’s going on with their wedges.”

2. Help in a pleasing package. In the T-3, golfers get a well thought out mixture of technology that looks like it can be played by tour players in a clubhead designed to mask the flaws of those less skilled. The more player-friendly cavity-back shape boasts a slightly larger head, more offset and wider sole than the T-1.

You don’t need to be a tour pro to appreciate a soft-feeling wedge. Like the T-1, Mizuno has backed away from the firmer boron steel used in previous Mizuno wedges in favor of a cushy carbon steel along with the employment of the copper underlay.

Like the T-1, narrower and deeper grooves in the T-3 are used on the lower-lofted wedges to promote plenty of spin on full shots without the ball ripping back. On the higher lofts, wider and shallower grooves prove a better option for delivering spin on shorter shots. The microgrooves between the grooves is used here as well.

One difference is a softer leading-edge bevel designed to assist those who tend to take more turf that you should on wedge shots as opposed to crisp dollar-bill-like divots.

3. Everyone loves options. With two of the few forged offerings in this category, Mizuno takes a page from its Mizuno Pro iron business by offering options galore. That starts with three finishes (white satin, black and blue) as well as six sole grinds on the T-1 and a trio of grinds on the T-3, albeit in just the white satin finish.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com