Bob Vokey celebrated his 85th birthday doing what he loves: talking about wedges and the short game.
But this occasion was extra-special. It took place last month at TPC Toronto Osprey Valley, home of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Titleist’s master wedge craftsman got to see his Hall of Fame locker for the first time, commemorating his induction as the Hall’s 79th member. (Vokey is a native of Canada, having been born in Montreal in 1939 and raised in nearby Verdun.)
On the day of his induction in 2017, retired Acushnet chairman and CEO Wally Uihlein said:
“Bob is product-centric, first and foremost. He embodies all of the core values of performance and quality excellence, commitment to the process, servicing the needs of our pyramid of influence. He understands there is a route to market advantage if you do it right and, most importantly for him, who we are in wedges, is who Bob is. He personifies our brand.”
MyGolfSpy contributor Rick Young has covered Vokey and the Vokey wedge franchise since it began in 1997. He sat down with Vokey after the TPC Toronto event to talk wedges, his career and Vokey’s passion for wanting to help golfers with their short game.
Q: Happy birthday. You’re 85 years old now and here you are still following the sun on behalf of Titleist and Vokey wedges. What keeps you going?
Vokey: I talk about how much I enjoy working with Tour players and interacting and learning from those guys—best players in the world, right? Well, I love working with average and recreational players, too. When I work with average players who play for fun and I see them improve, there’s a lot of joy in that for me. People who want to learn, pay attention, ask the right questions … you know they’re into it. You know they want to become better with their wedges. I want to help them enjoy a difficult game a little more.
Q: Are wedges and, by extension, the short game, the least understood part of golf when it comes to improvement?
Vokey: Least understood by miles. You got that right. We did a survey a while back and everyone told us what clubs they had been fitted for. Combined, it was slightly more than 50 percent for drivers, fairways and putters but, when we got to the wedges, it was just 17 percent. That’s too low. We need to get that number way higher because recreational golfers need a better short game. I tell people this all the time: a person isn’t hitting 300-yard drives like the pros. But, with practice, he or she has the ability to hit every shot a Tour player can play inside 100 yards. Everyone has the clubhead speed to do that.
Q: And the percentage of shots where recreational players use their wedges is pretty high, right?
Vokey: Extremely high, depending on the player. It can be as high as 50 percent of shots in a round because most golfers aren’t hitting a lot of greens in regulation so they’re hitting a lot more greenside shots. But if you’re fit right and work at it, like I said, you can save a lot of shots with your wedges.
Q: But as you just indicated, a lot of golfers have never been exposed to a wedge fitting.
Vokey: The biggest mistake I see when I do events like this one here in Toronto is golfers just not having the right tools, not having the right combination of lofts, grinds and bounces. The short game to me is an art form. You’re an artist painting a picture and the more ways you can use the brushes to create the painting is how you make a work of art. But you gotta have the correct brushes.
Q: Is bounce still the least-understood aspect of wedges for golfers?
Vokey: Bounce is the angle of the sole in relation to the ground at setup. It’s like the rudder of a ship turned sideways. For most golfers, “bounce is their friend.” I’d rather see average players with more bounce as opposed to less because higher bounce means divots will be shallower. You won’t dig in as much. Higher bounce is most beneficial in softer turf and fluffier sand conditions. Of course, the opposite is true. For golfers who get a lot of tight lies or play on firmer turf, lower bounce wedges allow them to get under and through the ball with better results. If you play a lot of different types of courses, I encourage people to go right down the middle. Split the difference and go with medium bounce. And, hey, you need flexibility in your short game. Having multiple lofts, making sure those lofts are gapped properly and the right bounce configuration is a fast track to a better short game.
Q: There’s a direct correlation between bounce and sound/feel, right?
Vokey: Absolutely. Wedges make different types of sounds and we often hear that “sound is feel” when it comes to gear. For me, I can hear the bounce of a club, either too much or not enough. Sound alone can tell me if it’s right or wrong for a player.
Q: Outside of having the right configuration of wedges, what are a few intangibles someone needs to elevate their short game?
Vokey: Creativity and imagination. You have to have both. To me, that’s what makes a good wedge player. Having a purpose when you hit the shot, having a picture in your mind and being decisive is part of the art form. One thing I also encourage: go get short-game lessons. Learn from a teaching pro but develop your own way, too. Go to the range and try to hit all different shots with one wedge. Then go to the next. All of a sudden, you’re going to understand which wedge and which shot is going to give you the biggest percentage of getting up and down. Your goal is to make a really difficult game less difficult.
Q: You mentioned creativity. Who are the most creative players you’ve worked with during your career?
Vokey: Seve (Ballesteros) is at the top. For whatever reason, there were some people who didn’t like Seve but I loved the guy, loved working with him. We had so many conversations about wedges. I gained his trust when I was at TaylorMade with some work I did for him. (Lee) Trevino told him to come in and see me and I gained his friendship by the work I did.
Q: Did Tiger have some similarities to Seve?
Vokey: Tiger was great. I don’t think he had the same scope of knowledge that Seve had when I first started to work with him but he was very, very close. Tiger had and still has a phenomenal short game. We’re probably talking about 1(a) and 1(b) for creativity. He asked a lot of questions and loved to converse about the intricacies of wedges.
Q: Of the players on the Titleist staff today, who are the guys that have opened your eyes with their short-game ability?
Vokey: Justin (Thomas) and Jordan (Spieth). Both of them are gifted wedge players with a lot of imagination. Another guy that surprised me until I spent time with him was Max Homa. He didn’t impress me at the start, to be honest, but his short game is lights out now. And, look, I don’t think he had some of the gifts that a few of the other guys had. Max Homa has done it through hard work, through putting in the time and finding out what works for him. Adam Scott, too. I started working with Adam when he was 19. He’s got a better short game now than he’s ever had. He’s always given me tremendous feedback on the wedges.
Q: Ever think about where you might be today if you hadn’t put up your hand and taken the wedge gig at Titleist?
Vokey: Funny, I do think about that. I was brought in for the 975D (driver released in 1998) so who knows where I’d be? I know I wouldn’t be in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame or the Quebec Golf Hall of Fame. Yeah, I put up my hand up for the assignment and it’s worked out OK. I have Terry (McCabe) and Wally (Uihlein) to thank for that. They gave me the ball and let me run with it.
Q: There’s a lot you’ve always thanked Wally for.
Vokey: Wally is a top man. He did a lot for me … took care of me when I was diagnosed with cancer. He introduced me when I was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. It’s funny. I talked with “Coach” a few weeks ago. A long time ago, probably right around when I turned 75, he says to me, “Voke, you’ll be 85 years old, still at TPi, still fitting and helping people” and here we are. Wally was right again. He said to me in a phone call recently, “Bob, you can’t leave. You still have too many ways you can help the company.” He wants me to write a book about wedges. Who knows? Maybe some day.
Q: What do you see with wedges in the future?
Vokey: Were always looking at new materials but, honestly, nothing has come along yet that can replace 8620 carbon steel. It’s castable, it lasts, you can grind on it. You can do a lot of different things. There’s other materials out there you can get but you can’t grind on them or they cost too much …. so we stayed with it because it ain’t broke, right? But we’ll see. Materials science continues to evolve and advance every day.
Q: Still feel funny about seeing your name on the back of Titleist wedges?
Vokey: Still amazes me even to this day. I’m grateful and humbled by it. I’ve always said I’m no engineer or anything. I’m just a golf guy. I’m Bob Vokey, 713 2nd Avenue, Verdun, Quebec, Canada. That’s me. It’s still pretty crazy.
Q: How much longer, Voke?
Vokey: I think I’ll keep going until something forces my hand and I have to stop. I’ve had four knee operations and spinal fusion surgery on my back so I’ll know when it’s time. But I’m not there yet. I’m still on a mission. My mission right now is to continue to spread the wedge gospel. I still love doing what I’m doing and I intend to keep doing it until I can’t anymore.
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