It Started as a Grinding Bench
WedgeWorks was named for what the shop actually did first: reshaping wedge soles for people who could not get their club to work on Bermuda turf. The rest of the bag came later.
2009: One Belt Sander and a Loft-Lie Machine
The original space was half of a leased unit on Eisenhower Drive, shared with a marine upholstery shop. There was no launch monitor, no hitting bay, and no appointment book — just a belt sander, a loft and lie machine, a swingweight scale, and a growing pile of wedges belonging to golfers who had been told their club was fine and knew that it wasn't.
What made the wedge work interesting was how specific it was to this part of the country. Coastal Bermuda in July sits up and lets a club slide. The same fairway in February is tight, damp, and unforgiving, and a sole that worked all summer starts digging. Golfers here do not need a generic wedge recommendation. They need one that accounts for a course they play fifty times a year, in conditions that change more than the marketing copy admits.
2013: The First Enclosed Bay
Grinding wedges by feel only gets you so far. When the neighbouring unit came free, we took the lease and framed a single hitting bay with a camera-based launch monitor pointed at the mat. Suddenly the question stopped being "does this feel better" and started being "does the leading edge actually enter the turf where we think it does."
That bay changed the business. Within two seasons we were fitting full sets, and the wedge bench went from being the whole operation to being the department that kept everything honest.
2018: Out the Back Door
The addition we are proudest of is not indoors. Behind the building there is a mowed landing area with real turf, a set of markers, and a radar unit on a tripod. It is not a driving range and we do not pretend otherwise — it is a confirmation space. Once the bay narrows a decision down to two or three options, you take them outside and hit them into whatever the wind is doing that afternoon.
More fittings get overturned out there than most golfers expect. A shaft that produced beautiful numbers on a screen can look completely different when the ball is flying through humid coastal air with a crosswind off the marsh.
Today
Three bays, a landing area, a build room, and four people. We do not sell memberships, we do not run a retail floor, and we are not required to move a certain volume of any manufacturer's product. When a fitting concludes that your current club is already correct, that is a legitimate result and we will tell you so.
What We Are Not
- Not a retail store with a fitting bay bolted on
- Not tied to a manufacturer quota or brand agreement
- Not a same-day-purchase environment
- Not a lesson studio — we fit clubs, we do not rebuild swings
Where We Draw From
Most of our appointment book comes from Savannah proper, Pooler, Richmond Hill, and Wilmington Island, with a steady stream across the bridge from Hilton Head Island and Bluffton. Roughly a third of what we build every year is a wedge set, which we take as a sign the name still fits.
Three Rules We Do Not Bend
Average the Middle, Not the Best
We drop your two best and two worst strikes from every test block before we compare anything. Fitting to your career shot is how golfers end up with clubs they cannot hit in October.
Confirm Outside Before Building
No build order leaves the bay without at least one round of outdoor testing. If the weather makes that impossible, we reschedule that portion rather than skip it.
Say So When Nothing Changes
Sometimes the honest answer is a lie angle tweak and a new grip. We would rather lose the sale and keep the golfer than write a build ticket nobody needed.
The Bays Are Easier to Understand in Person
Walk-ins are welcome to look around, but the bays run on appointments — call ahead and we will make sure someone is free to talk.