The other day Geotech Golf sent over a box of new clubs for me to check out including the new GT Forged Tour Issue Bite V2 wedge.  When talking to Yaita-san, head of sales over at Geotech, he was very proud of this new model and confident in its performance. Taking it our of the box I loved the way it looked so I rushed out to test the wedge right away.  At that point I realized my Nikon DSLR was not with me as its currently at Sigma Japan having my lenses calibrated to match the body. So in order to take pictures for today’s review I used the trusty old Panasonic GF1.

Leading Components…

Geotech as many of you know is Japan’s leading components club maker. They have long worked hard to create high performance clubs without breaking the customers wallet.  They have a long hist0ry in designing and manufacturing quality woods and irons and provide some of the best cost performance heads available in Japan (you can read more about Geotech’s history here). When it comes to overseas sales however, even Geotech has been affected by the ultra strong yet. Their very attractive pricing has taken a hit from the Yen’s climb over the last 3 years.  Outside of Japan, Geotech has seen their prices rise along with the Yen by nearly 30% in the last 3 years. Even with this increase, Geotech is still very well priced against most other JDM brands that have also seen similar price increases.

Dual Sole Design…

The GT Forged Bite V2 is Geotech’s flagship wedge and bears the “Tour Issue” name. This designates the fact that the wedge has new conforming USGA grooves, not that it is a wedge from the Japanese tour (though it certainly is designed to look like it). The Bite V2 is a small sized, tear drop shaped wedge aimed at the better player looking for maximum spin control and direction. Forged in Japan from S25C steel for that premium soft feel, the Bite V2 features an all new dual sole with trailing edge relief and a cut away heel.  The cut away heel reduces contact with the ground and improves stability and direction allowing for more pure impact.  More pure impact equals better feel and more spin. The heel area also allows for the wedge face to be opened up in various lies and still aim right at the target.

Great Shape…

Better players will appreciate the Bite V2’s amount of offset or lack there of.  It’s very straight neck flows right into its slightly rounded leading edge. It’s high toe and tear drop shape will allow better players to work the ball up the length of the face creating huge amounts of spin and stopping power. It’s durable plated all satin finish is just as appealing to the eyes as the way the wedge sets up at address.  The head is not ultra compact but probably more on the small side. Improving golfers will still feel confident enough at address to play this wedge while better players will look at the GT Bite as an accurate attacking weapon.

More Lines More Bite…

Another key design point of the Bite V2 is its scorelines. With the new USGA Groove rule reducing spin on all new wedges, Geotech wanted to find a way to create more bite. Their research with several Japanese pros found that by reducing the distance interval between scorelines and thus increasing the amount of scorelines on the wedges face, more spin is created thanks to a larger amount of grooves making contact on the ball.  More friction caused equals more bite and more spin, much like a milled faces on wedges except in this case its more scorelines.

Lower Bounce…

The sole of the Bite V2 is not ultra thin and is slightly rounded with its trailing edge relief. Its more of a balanced wedge for all conditions. Unlike many other JDM wedges which cater to the lush and soft courses of Japan with higher bounce soles, the Bite V2 has lower bounce across all its models with all lofts having 5* of bounce except the 56 and 58 sand wedges which have 10* of bounce. Couple that with its wide variety of lofts, 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 and 62, there are many options for each player and the wedge makeup they want to use.

Head Only or pick your shaft…

The tester I received was a 58/10 with an ATTAS 95 Spinwedge shaft. Another Great thing about Geotech is that they are not only available as heads only but will also be built to customer spec by Geotech for the customer with any shaft and grip available in Japan. With graphite iron shaft technology and materials always improving, more and more irons and wedges these days are shafted with carbon. I am a big fan of graphite as it produces very good feel and feedback and has many weight advantages over steel. The ATTAS is a nice match for the soft forged head of the Bite V2 and feel is very pure. The slightly rounded leading edge and dual sole allowed me to hit very clean shots and I really enjoyed the feel of this wedge along with the way it looks at address. As for spin, I am no pro and creating back spin is always quite a challenge for the average golfer. I’m glad to say though that when I tried hard enough to run the ball up the length of the wedge face to create maximum friction I could create enough spin to stop the ball on the spot.

Even with the huge increase in Japan’s currency, the GT Forged Tour Issue Bite V2 wedge is still under 100.00 per head. It’s good value for a Japan forged top performance wedge that can then be custom made to each players specs.  As I said I’m happy with the way it looks and feels and performs, I’m now just trying to figure out a way to fit one in my bag and what shaft I should use with it!  Look for the new Geotech Bite V2 in the pro shop this weekend!

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