We rebuilt a wedge from scratch. Three times.

Palmetta started because tour-caliber wedges cost $180 to $200, and a big share of that is the trip from the factory through a distributor to a pro shop. None of that money goes into the club.

So we went at it directly.

The scan was a dead end

Our manufacturer scanned a wedge head and sent us the file. It was a shell, outer surface geometry and nothing else. No sketches, no curves, no history. You can look at it, you cannot really change it. And at high zoom there was a transition section in the middle of the head that was never going to manufacture cleanly.

We brought in a mechanical engineer, thirteen years modeling steel parts. His call was to stop trying to edit the scan and rebuild the entire head from scratch as a parametric model, every curve controlled. He did it at no extra charge. Everything since is built on that model.

Six revisions on weight alone

The scan computed at 0.654 pounds in carbon steel. Too heavy. A reshaped version came back at 0.741, and the note that came with it said it would play like an axe.

We slimmed it. Thinned it. Pulled material out of the stem, which had the useful side effect of moving the center of gravity back to center after physical testing showed it sitting slightly right.

Final: 0.528 pounds. 239 grams. Recessed lettering area at 0.150 inches, raised portion at 0.175. For scale, an eighth of an inch of steel is already very tough, so those numbers sit comfortably above where durability becomes a question.

The details nobody would notice

Groove count went from eleven to nine across the same coverage area, so each channel takes on more sediment. The cuts through the back of the head were enlarged and rounded on the inside edges so sand and wet grass flow through rather than packing up.

The elbow where the face meets the shaft got smoothed over several passes. It is the most geometrically complex part of the head and it took the longest. And there was a sharp point that would have snagged on the backswing, so it is gone.

Where we are now

This is REV 3, and it is good. Testing also gave us a list for REV 4: more weight up top, slightly higher toe, more rounding on the back cut sides.

We had a choice. Sit on the design for another year and keep refining, or bring a validated club to market and fund the next revision from sales. We chose to sell.

A putter is next.