The xE1 Wedge – The Magic Bullet???

Everybody is always looking for something that will make their lives easier. Whether it’s me buying a Keurig Coffee Maker to avoid having to muck about with coffee grounds or using power windows on a car to avoid giving yourself an aneurysm cranking the car window down at the McDonald’s drive thru, we are always searching for the magic pot of beans that Jack found at the end of the golden rainbow under the ruby slippers.

“Golf Improvement” often falls with a heavy, moist thud into that category as well. Instead of practicing the best techniques and putting in the long, hard work that is necessary to truly improve, many of us continually look for the latest and greatest tool that promises amazing results and massive performance improvements. Guilty <raises hand sheepishly>. Between buying a ‘longer’ golf ball, or a more ‘responsive’ putter we have all been the patsies in this scenario – succumbing to the various ebbs and flows of the advertisers and ‘experts’ telling us how we can make this difficult game easy with absolutely no practice.

So here is the latest tool. You are inundated with the ads on the Golf Channel caressing your mind with the ease of use. You may get the mass emails joyously declaring the fix for your woes. You may even have seen the ads pop up on social media declaring that you no longer need to practice. I fell for it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the xE1 Wedge.

What is the xE1 you may ask? Frankly if you’re a golf fan (and I assume you are if you’re reading this) then there is no way you could have avoided hearing, reading or seeing the ads. It’s revolutionary! It’s amazing! It’s cheap-ish!

The xE1 Wedge is a $99, 65-degree wedge (also available in a 59 degree model) that comes with a ton of promises (and capital letters as you’ll see). From the xE1 web site: “Thanks To Its Unique and Ingenious Sole Design – You Can Easily Escape From Treacherous Bunkers, Nasty Rough, And Even From Tight Lies… It Virtually Eliminates Fat or Thin Pitch and Chip Shots… AND Lets You Effortlessly and CONSISTENTLY Hit Quality Shots From Anywhere Around The Green, Closer To The Hole, Every Single Time… GUARANTEED.” The focal point of the entire web site is that NO PRACTICE IS REQUIRED. Pick it up and hit it.

I’ll pause a moment here while you swallow an Excedrin to alleviate the migraine you have just suffered attempting to read that last paragraph. You should see their actual web site, with all of its color changes and font size differences. It’s enough to put you into some sort of hypnotic shock – which probably helps their sales immensely.

So why is this wedge so incredible? According to the site, it has an “auto-glide sole” with a ridiculous amount of loft – and this, according to manufacturer claims, makes it extremely easy for players of all skill levels to escape from all sorts of intimidating lies and bunkers with ease. Other claims are that it forgives all of your mishits and rewards all of your good hits. The ads state that it is almost impossible to hit a fat or thin shot – and the sole is bigger, heavier and AERODYNAMICALLY tuned to slide through any sand or rough effortlessly and without any practice.

I mean, holy crap – who wouldn’t want an aerodynamically designed club. It has to work… that will save me 5-10 strokes a round right there without ever having to practice!

“Ma????? Where’s the credit card?”

I waited in breathless anticipation – and this is what finally showed up to my door. And yes, rainbows (and unicorns – not pictured) are included in the packaging:

Immediately I was drawn to the club, as anyone would be drawn to a device that’s instantaneously going to give the beat down to your competitors. I took it gleefully out of the packaging and headed to the backyard to see the magic in action. I had watched all the videos describing how to hit the club with perfection and excitedly set up to hit my first shot.

Square off my stance, check.

Ball centered in the stance, check.

Club angled in neutral position, check.

Hands not forward, not backward, just right, check.

I took a gentle backswing and skulled the crap out of the ball, rocketing it into the wall of my shed, resulting in a wicked ricochet that took out the neighbor’s cat. Hmm. Maybe just a LITTLE practice is needed.

I proceeded to hit about 50 balls with two general categories of results:

1. Aforementioned skulled shots (they call them ‘skulled’ shots for a reason I guess – ask the neighbor’s cat)
2. Lobbed shots that went approximately as high as they did far – if I hit it 20 feet high it probably went 20 feet downrange. 2 feet high equals 2 feet of downrange distance.

I could find no way to get the stupid ball farther than 20-30 feet away from me (other than Category 1 shots above) which would NOT be a big deal if I hadn’t watched a dozen videos on the xE1’s web site showing people routinely knocking the ball 60-90 feet with ‘absolutely no practice’.

Over the course of a few days I continued to hit balls with the xE1 in the backyard and at various driving ranges and could eventually somewhat control the ball – as long as I could hit 2-3 in a row and get into that beautiful driving range coma. But there was always the definite possibility of taking out a local pet with a random shot as well. That is the main problem I see with the xE1 for me. While I can eventually play some beautiful flop shots with it at the practice green, when I pull the club out and have ONE chance with it during a round it’s completely up to chance as to whether it will be the talk of the after-round drinks for a good reason or a bad reason.

At the driving range I also practiced with the xE1 out of the bunker. To be honest, I DID get out of the bunker more with the new club than I do with more conventional sand wedges. However, I still had the problem of not being able to truly control the ball, limiting the flight probably to 20-30 feet even out of the sand. So if I land in a bunker placed in front of a 60-foot green with pin placement at the rear I would be in a world of hurt.

I’ve tried everything to hit it further, and can’t do it. I’ve watched the videos, read the comments, and can’t break the barrier. Obviously some people can do it, but this guy? Not so much.

So what’s my conclusion on the xE1? To me, it’s like any other new club that weasels its way into my bag. With time, patience and PRACTICE it can be a great tool to pull out when you want to impress your friends and flop a shot near the hole. I don’t see how the manufacturers can possibly claim with a straight face how it does not require any practice and how it will cure all your short game woes. I’ve got a copy of the vet bill for my neighbor’s cat to prove it. So with PRACTICE, it can be a valuable addition for the 3-5 shots per round that you might use it for. But I repeat, with PRACTICE.

Please pay at the next window – there is no magic bullet here.