Quick Review: Ben Hogan Equalizer II Wedge
Ideal for golfers who want a forged, compact short-game wedge with custom-build options at a very affordable price point. It provides outstanding carry distance control, excellent forgiveness on mishits, and aggressive spin around the greens.
- Exceptional value for money at £119.99 per club
- Excellent customisation options for shafts and grips
- Very neat, compact head shape with a slim top line
- Spot-on carry distance gapping
- High forgiveness on off-centre strikes
- Firmer impact feel and slightly clunkier sound than premium alternatives
- Basic shipping packaging
- Limited stock availability on website
Delivery, packaging and custom build setup
One of the biggest benefits of buying directly from Ben Hogan and not a third-party retailer is the level of customisation they offer for these wedges, which is actually well priced. I ordered the 52°, 56°, and 60° wedges in the Diamond Black Metal finish with the Standard grind.
In keeping with my current irons, I went with the KBS Tour X (Extra Stiff) shaft in the 52° gap wedge, as this club is only ever used for full approach swings. For the 56° and 60°, which are more about finesse and feel, and are only really used for partial shots, I went for standard True Temper S300 stiff shafts, which is the shaft I have in my Titleist Vokey SM6 wedges. Finally, I finished all three off with Golf Pride Z Grips, chosen to match my irons.
Shipping was quick, though the packaging was very basic and much less well presented than other wedges or irons I’ve bought in the past. The clubs arrived in an unbranded cardboard box with the heads wrapped in bubble wrap for protection. Whilst the packaging was a bit underwhelming, the clubs were well protected and finished to the highest possible standard. Personally, I’m not too fussed about the packaging so long as the clubs arrive undamaged. If less unnecessary packaging is used and this helps to keep the price down, then I’m all for it.
Shop the latest Ben Hogan Equalizer II wedges and get them at the very best price, with a range of customisation options, using the link below.
With this affiliate link, I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Grind selection: Standard vs Texas grind
The Equalizer II wedges come in two sole configurations: the Standard Grind and the Texas Grind.
The Texas Grind features aggressive sole and heel relief with lower bounce, designed primarily for hardpan or dry, tight turf. Despite living in Scotland, home to some of the best links courses in the world, I play most of my golf on parkland courses with soft to medium turf, so I opted for the Standard Grind across all three lofts.
If you are looking to order these wedges with the Texas Grind, it’s worth mentioning that this grind is only available on the 50°, 54° and 58° wedges.
Looks, behind the ball, and Diamond Black Metal finish
Looks-wise, I absolutely love these wedges. The heads are very small, compact, and neat, and are not too dissimilar to my trusty Vokey SM6s. The top line is very slim (always important to me), and they look great sitting behind the golf ball.
When it comes to irons and wedges, I’ve always preferred a neat, compact clubhead over a larger, cavity-backed profile. Particularly for wedges, I feel smaller heads make getting creative for shots around the greens (e.g. opening the club face) much easier and help with feel.
In terms of the finish, although it has been an option for a while, this is my first time going for a black coating on any of my clubs, and I think it looks great. Apparently, the Diamond Black Metal isn’t simply painted on (as some manufacturers do), making it more durable and helping reduce wear on the grooves.
Longer-term, it remains to be seen just how durable this coating will be, but after my first few uses of these wedges at home and on the golf course, there are only very small, expected markings on each club, and nothing concerning.
Garden launch monitor testing: FlightScope Mevo Gen 2 data
To properly test the wedges and get a better idea of what they have to offer in terms of performance data, I decided to obtain some numbers using my FlightScope Mevo Gen 2 launch monitor. I hit 10 full shots with each club in my garden practice area, using Titleist PRO V1 RTC golf balls for accurate spin tracking.
Here are the averages across the three clubs for some of the key wedge metrics:
| Club | Ball Speed | Carry Distance | Launch Angle | Peak Height | Spin Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52° Gap Wedge | 83.8 mph | 97.1 yds | 34.3° | 88.6 ft | 8,060 rpm |
| 56° Sand Wedge | 77.7 mph | 85.8 yds | 38.4° | 86.0 ft | 7,777 rpm |
| 60° Lob Wedge | 71.8 mph | 75.5 yds | 41.3° | 79.8 ft | 7,660 rpm |
With wedges, one thing that is really important for me is to have consistent gapping between clubs. With the Equalizers, the data shows a 10-to 12-yard carry gap between each club, with predictable, progressive peak heights that confirm the ball isn’t ballooning up in the air.
Spin rate-wise, the rates are slightly on the low side for brand-new CNC-milled wedges. Having looked into the data, this is more likely down to my delivery rather than the clubs themselves. As documented in my Journey to Scratch series, I struggle with properly compressing the golf ball, so my dynamic loft at impact across the bag is generally on the high side. With these wedges, my dynamic loft was too high (54.6°, 60.4° and 64.1° for my 52°, 56° and 60° wedges, respectively), which explains why the spin rate was lower than it should be for a wedge.
However, looking at the individual shot data proves the clubs themselves are more than capable of producing excellent spin rates. For example, with the 52° gap wedge, where my session average for dynamic loft was 54.6° with a spin rate of 8,060 RPM, I noticed that the spin rate reached 9,721 RPM for one particular shot which had a lower dynamic loft of 51.3°, and 9,229 RPM for another with 52.0°.
Reducing my dynamic loft by just 2° to 3° led to an increase in spin of between 1,500 and 2,700 RPM, which shows that the clubs are doing what they need to do, it’s just about me learning to control my dynamic loft better if I want to generate more spin.
Performance on poorly struck shots
Like most amateurs, I’m guilty of not finding the middle of the clubface on every shot, particularly when it comes to full swings, so it’s important to see how well these Equalizer II wedges cope with mishits. The test session data for all three clubs shows that even on shots where the smash factor was low, the carry distances remained close to my overall averages.
Starting with the 52° gap wedge, on a slight off-centre hit with a smash factor of 1.01, the ball still carried 94.2 yards, which was only 2.9 yards below my 97.1-yard overall average with this club. Even with my worst shot of the 10 (1.00 smash factor), the carry was 91.7 yards, meaning my poorest strike only lost 5.4 yards of carry overall. This theme continued with the sand and lob wedges.
With the 56° sand wedge, my poorest strike with a smash factor of 0.95 still managed to carry 81.3 yards, which was only 4.5 yards shorter than my average for the 10 shots. With the 60° lob wedge, my lowest smash factor (0.87) still carried 69.5 yards – a drop of 6 yards from the 10-shot average.
The data suggests that these wedges have a high degree of forgiveness built into them, so even when you’re not striking the centre of the clubface, you’ll not be penalised too heavily.
Progressive centre of mass and U-grooves in practice
Ben Hogan has incorporated two key tech features into the design of the Equalizer II wedges: a progressive centre of mass and CNC-milled U-shaped grooves.
The launch monitor data suggests that both features work well. On full swings with the 52° gap wedge, where the centre of mass is shifted higher up the club face to prevent ballooning in the wind, the average launch was 34.3° with a peak height of 88.6 feet. With the 60°, the peak height dropped down to 79.8 feet despite launching much higher at 41.3°, showing that the lower centre of mass helps the club to launch the ball higher and land softer.
Whilst it’s difficult to test just how effective the CNC-milled faces and U-grooves are, the Equalizer II wedges did seem to get the ball to stop quickly both on the golf course and when testing with the launch monitor. During testing, the wedges generated strong average spin rates of 8,060 rpm for the 52°, 7,777 rpm for the 56°, and 7,660 rpm for the 60°. Carry distances (97.1 yards, 85.8 yards, and 75.5 yards, respectively) were almost identical to total distances, with an average roll of just 0.7 yards seen across all three lofts.
On-course testing
Transitioning from the garden practice net to the soft turf of my home course was much more seamless than I expected. Hitting off a mat can mask fat shots or mishits, so I was keen to see how quickly I could get used to hitting solid shots off of the grass.
As my primary full-swing wedge from around 90 yards, the 52° gap wedge was consistent in terms of distance control. Hitting Titleist Pro V1s, full approach shots routinely stopped within 2 ft of their pitch marks, even when playing into firmer greens, which is better control than I previously experienced with my 50° MacGregor Tourney gap wedge.
Moving to the 56° sand wedge, this club felt instantly familiar. In terms of look, shape, and position at address, it was very similar to my Titleist Vokey SM6, which I really liked. On pitch shots and three-quarter swings, the ball checked up quickly, giving me the confidence to attack pins without fear of the ball releasing too far past the hole.
My 60° lob wedge is generally the only club I use for chip shots around the green. I’m incredibly confident with my current 60° wedge, so I was pleasantly surprised to see how similarly the Equalizer performed around the green.
Whether I was opening the face for a high flop shot, playing standard chips, or running a low bump-and-run off the back foot, the bounce coped brilliantly with the soft turf without the leading edge digging in. Out of the greenside bunkers, the sole handled the compact sand smoothly and popped the ball out with ease. That level of reaction and stopping power took a little bit of adjusting to initially, but it delivered fantastic control when it mattered most.
I really liked the fact that I got used to using these wedges so quickly and didn’t have to spend much time bedding them in.
Feel vs Titleist Vokey SM6
Weight and swing-wise, the transition from my Vokeys to the Equalizers during testing was incredibly straightforward as they swing very similarly.
The main difference I noticed was the feel off the clubface. The Ben Hogan wedges certainly feel a little firmer when striking the golf ball compared to the Vokeys, which always feel remarkably soft to me. This isn’t a major issue, just a noticeable difference in feedback that takes a few swings to get used to, particularly if you’re used to soft-feeling wedges.
Another thing that I noticed during testing was that these wedges also had a slightly clunkier sound when struck. Like the firmer feel, the sound isn’t a major issue, but it’s certainly noticeable.
Pros and cons
Here’s a quick breakdown of what I think the Ben Hogan Equalizer II wedges do well and what they could do better.
What I like
- Excellent value for money at £119.99 per club
- Wide range of customisation options for shafts and grips
- Very neat, compact head shape with a slim top line
- Spot-on carry distance gapping
- Forged construction with multiple finish and grind options
What could be better
- Firmer feel on impact compared to premium soft wedges like Titleist Vokeys
- Basic shipping packaging
Final verdict: Are the Ben Hogan Equalizer II wedges worth buying?
These Ben Hogan Equalizer II wedges are incredibly well priced and performed very well during my launch monitor and on-course testing, even outperforming my Titleist Vokey SM6s (comparison post coming soon).
So, who are they best suited to? Honestly, they would suit any golfer, but they will likely appeal to golfers who are comfortable using equipment from less popular or lesser-known golf brands. If you want an affordable, well-made, great-looking forged wedge that is compact and performs very well and comes with a range of customisable options, then the Ben Hogan Equalizer II wedges are certainly worth considering.
Where to buy
If you want to buy the Ben Hogan Equalizer II wedges with full customisation options at the best price, buy direct from Ben Hogan with my link below.
Shop the latest Ben Hogan Equalizer II wedges and get them at the very best price, with a range of customisation options, using the link below.
With this affiliate link, I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
