Why do Callaway Opus SP wedges have a hidden slot?

Callaway’s new Opus SP wedges are the follow-up to the original Opus wedges that came out in 2024 and introduce a new feature—an internal, hidden pocket. In this video, I test the Opus SP and explain how the Spin Pocket design affects spin rates, launch angle, and feel through the turf. I also explain how the Opus SP wedges are made, and how the grooves in the Callaway Opus SP wedges help them create more spin and control around the greens.

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00:00 Introduction – Opus SP
00:16 A two-piece wedge?
00:39 Opus SP = Spin Pocket
01:32 Updated grooves and face
02:27 Looks and shape
03:04 Sole grinds
03:56 My thoughts and experience
06:13 Dark finsih
06:59 Opus SP questions/comments

Hey everybody, welcome back to the channel. This is the new Callaway Opus SP wedge. The next generation of the Opus wedges from Callaway. And underneath the hood, there is a secret lying inside of this wedge that Callaway feels is going to be the key to helping you create a better trajectory and generating more spin. So unlike most wedges which are going to be cast, which means you’re taking liquid metal and pouring it into a mold, cracking it open, and then cleaning up the the wedge that basically is produced by that process, these wedges are made with two different pieces. You see what you’ve got here is a 1025 carbon steel face that’s been attached to an 8620 carbon steel body. Now, why would you want to have a two-piece construction in a wedge? Well, if you go underneath this face plate here, you’ll notice that there is going to be a large opened up area, a pocket inside the wedge. Now, Callaway is calling this a spin pocket. According to Callaway, the spin pocket is going to be removing weight from low in the wedge, just above the sole and allowing its designers and engineers to have more discretionary weight where they can position up higher in the wedge. That’s going to elevate the center of gravity location. You see, in irons and in hybrids and in fairways, when you’re trying to hit the ball up as high as you can to make it a little bit easier to play in wedges, you’ve already got 54, 56, 58, 60°. You got plenty of loft. The ball is going to get up in the air. Most players find it easier to control wedges when they can flight them down, creating a more piercing flight. But when you do that, oftentimes you’re going to be robbing yourself of spin. You see, according to Callaway, by elevating the center of gravity location, you’re going to be able to get that lower trajectory that you’re looking for, but generate more spin. Callaway has also updated the face in the Opus SP wedges. Now, there is spin gen 2.0 grooves, which basically means that the grooves are going to be packed a little bit more tightly together. And the company says that that is going to help you out, especially on longer shots that are going to be hit from the rough. There’s also a new laser etching face texture. Now, we’ve seen this kind of thing from Callaway and many other manufacturers before, but this one is a little bit different. According to the company, the laser etching that’s done in between each one of these grooves is put on before the metal plating that sort of finishes the grooves. So, it’s not something that’s burned in over the top and then is going to wear away after you play just a couple of rounds of golf. It’s underneath the plating, which means it should have more durability. So, you’re getting the benefit not just of the grooves themselves, but also the micro grooves, which should stick around longer. They come into play much more on touch shots, um on softer, slower club head speed shots, chip shots, pitch shots, it’s going to get you just a little bit more spin and a little bit more friction um between the golf ball and the face. Now, in terms of the look and the shape of the Opus SP, it is going to be darn near identical to the original Opus wedges, and that is by design. See, Cali put a lot of time and effort into creating a shape that its tour staff, especially John Rom, really liked and they took that shape out. The S6 stands for sixth generation. Um, they took that out to many tour pros on the LPGA tour, the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour. They got something that everybody really liked. Xander Schoffley, Rose Jang, obviously the aforementioned John Ra, everybody put it into play really, really quickly and liked it. So, with that much invested into the shape and the look of the wedge, Callaway didn’t really feel that there was a need to make a change. The Opus SP wedges are going to be offered in a number of different sole grinds and sole configurations. So, if you work with a good custom fitter, you should be able to find some wedges that going to match the way that you swing and your approach to short game as well as the conditions that you play. Most often, there are wedges that are going to have wider soles um with more bounce. And those are going to be good for people who play in soft conditions where the sand tends to be fluffy or people who tend to get a little bit steep and diggy. That big bounce, that wider sole is going to help you work your way through the turf and avoid digging. There’s also going to be wedges that going to have thinner soles um and less bounce as well. So, if you’re somebody who plays in conditions where the turf is especially firm, link style golf courses here in the United States, if you’re down in Texas or Arizona where the lies can get really tight and you want a little bit more of a thin sold wedge, if you want less bounce, if you play golf courses where there isn’t a lot of sand in your bunkers at a lot of municipal facilities, then you’re going to want to probably go with a lower bounced option. And in the Opus SP, you’re going to have that. So, Callaway made a couple of Opus SP wedges available to me. I was able to take them here to the short game era at TPC River Highlands, home of the Travelers Championship, which is relatively close to my house. And here are my initial thoughts and uh feelings about Opus SP. Number one, I was wondering what a two-piece wedge was going to feel like if it was going to feel different knowing if there was going to be a spin pocket underneath the face. I would be really, really impressed if anybody could tell the difference between this and a solid body either forged or cast wedge. I don’t think that there is any way that you can tell any difference between the Opus SP which is made with two pieces and the previous generation of Opus. So to me, they feel absolutely fantastic. Very, very soft and impact. The the best compliment that I can give a wedge when it comes to feel. It’s as if the ball stays on the face for a prolonged period of time. It has a great what I refer to as dwell time. And I got that with the Opus SP on partial shots, chip shots, soft pitch shots. It felt like the ball was sitting on the face for an extended period of time and then it would come off. Did I generate a lot of spin? To be honest with you, Calli made a 60 uh C grind wedge available to me, which I was using around here, hitting a various shots with it. It’s not a wedge that I use a whole lot to be honest with you with my 10 handicap game on relatively short chip shots because I would rather run the ball up, but I did notice that a lot of times the ball would hop once and bounce up quite a bit. And that is an indication that I was generating quite a bit of spin. to be able to vary the trajectory of shots to hit them high, to hit them low. Um, it really comes down to your skill factor and making sure that you get custom fit into wedges that going to fit the way that you swing the club and the turf conditions that you’re going to be facing most often. When it came to bunker shots, I loved this wide sole in the C grind. There’s a little bit of leading edge wear down here. Obviously, I’ve got plenty of sole width in the C grind and it really seems to flow through the sand wonderfully. So, this is one of my favorite type of grinds, this sort of C with a little bit of heel relief, a little bit of toe relief. I find it’s a really really versatile design. But again, if you’re someone who’s relatively new to golf, if you’re an inexperienced player, I might not recommend getting into a 58 or 60°ree wedge. My personal feeling is that if you’re somebody who struggles to break a 100 or if you’re shooting in the mid9s and above that you probably want to top off at about 56°. That’s going to be plenty of loft for the average player who’s new to the game. Now, the Opus SP comes in a chrome finish as well as this dark finish as well. I got to tell you, the dark finish is really, really dark. It does an excellent job of um reducing glare. I wish that Callaway had made this particular wedge with the dark finish available with a dark um shaft. It’s a little bit jarring, the contrast between the chrome of the steel shaft here and then this really really dark finish. That’s a personal preference of mine. Um but I do find it visually a little bit jarring. Obviously, since I just got it, I really can’t tell you about the durability of this finish. A lot of times if you’re going to be playing with a sand wedge or a lob wedge, something that’s going to get a lot of turf interaction, a lot of sand interaction, these types of finishes tend to wear and a lot of people don’t like that. So, I really can’t speak to the durability of this finish. It’s going to be something you’re going to want to talk to a custom fitter about. And if it’s something that bothers you, you’re going to probably want to stick with this the standard chrome. So, I think that’s probably just about everything you’re going to need to know about the Callaway Opus SP wedges. But, if you do have a question, if you do have a comment, please feel free to drop it in the comment area below. I do try and monitor my comments um and answer as many questions as I possibly can. If you have any questions about wedges or golf equipment in general, I’m here to be a resource for you and I really want to help you make sure that you get the best gear in your bag that you possibly can. So, ask me anything that you like. If you did get some good information out of this video, it would be really helpful to me and to my channel if you would smash that like button as well as subscribe. It really helps me out tremendously. Thanks very much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you again really