50 Words or Less
The Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge is great for firm conditions or players who love to hit open-faced shots. High ball flight. Excellent feel and feedback.
Introduction
Many short game instructors tell golfers, “Bounce is your friend.” While that may be true, there are plenty of golfers who want their wedges with as little bounce as possible. Those are the players for whom the Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge, a lower bounce version of their popular Equalizer wedge [review HERE], was made.
Looks
In the bag, I think the Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge looks stunning. As much as I like minimalism and clean designs, all the mill marks on the sole and lower portion of the blade are mesmerizing. There’s a healthy amount of branding on this club – the “BH” sun on the toe and Ben Hogan’s signature across the top – but the simple color scheme and lack of paintfill on “Ft Worth Grind” balance that out.
At address, the standout characteristic is how round the club face is. The leading edge is heavily rounded, which makes sense given the emphasis on opening the face. There’s a fairly high toe which is also very round. To my eye, all this rounding makes the Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge look just a bit bigger than its mid-compact measurements. [See Price / Buy]
Sound & Feel
“Forged” is a big part of the appeal of the Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge. The company’s marketing touts “feel and feedback a cast wedge simply cannot [deliver].” While I think castings have come a long way, I found the feel of this wedge hard to argue with.
From range balls to Tour-quality balls, the dominant sensation I felt was that the ball was heavy on the club face. The Fort Worth Grind wedge is softer than average, but not dramatically so; that heavy feel is a bit different than pure softness. Regardless, there is tremendous feedback through the hands.
The sound of impact enhances the difference between pure strikes and misses. On center, the sound is a “thud” – quiet and dull. Mishits produce more of a “thwack.” The sound is never harsh or loud, but there’s a bit more of an edge to it on mishits.
Performance
In 2026, most OEM’s wedge lines offer a wide variety of sole grinds. Ben Hogan is going the opposite direction. The Fort Worth Grind is the titular feature, and it’s the only option they offer. They tell us, “Lower bounce means cleaner contact on firm turf and tight lies, and the freedom to open the face with confidence.”
Before we evaluate that claim, let’s dig into what the Fort Worth Grind really is. As you can see above, this is a multi-plane or V-sole design. At the leading edge there’s a significant amount of bounce; the trailing edge has very little. This is done to create a best of both worlds experience – some insurance against digging without the “interference” of the trailing edge dragging in the turf.
There’s one other important note before I get to my testing results. Across the six lofts offered, there are three different soles. At 50 and 52 degrees, the Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge has almost 30 degrees of bounce on the leading edge, under 3 on the trailing edge. At 54 and 56 degrees, those numbers change to roughly 28 and 6 degrees. Finally, at 58 and 60 degrees, the Fort Worth Grind has under 26 degrees of leading edge bounce and less than 2 degrees on the trailing edge.
In my testing, I found that the Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge slid under the ball as easily as any wedge in recent memory. On tight lies, hard lies, or mats, this wedge got under the ball like a spatula under a pancake. The leading edge stays low to the ground no matter how much you open the face, giving you additional confidence to take on the bold shot.
While it’s a lot of fun to hit flop shots straight up your nose, this sole design is not ideal for soft conditions or players with steep swings. The bounce numbers on the leading edge are quite high, but that side of the sole is very thin. If you’re playing in soft, wet conditions, you need a precise strike, or you’ll be sticking your club deep in the turf.
Turning to launch and spin, the Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge favors a high ball flight. I tested them with Dynamic Gold shafts – one of the lowest launching wedge shafts available – and still saw most shots flying higher than my normal window. This, paired with the below average spin, tells me that this wedge has a fairly low center of gravity. As always, this isn’t inherently good or bad, it just depends what you need and what kind of wedge shots you like to play. If you prefer to stop your shots with trajectory rather than spin, this will be great for you.
Finally, Ben Hogan offers golfers as many custom options as any direct to consumer brand I’ve seen. Length, loft, and lie can all be customized at no additional cost. There are numerous grip models and ladies, regular, and oversize options. Most importantly, Ben Hogan offers a wide range of shafts from Nippon, KBS, True Temper, and UST in ladies, senior, regular, stiff, and extra stiff flexes. [See Price / Buy]
Conclusion
In a world where too many clubs try to be everything to everyone, the Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind wedge is built for a particular group of golfers. This is a great wedge for short game artists, shallow swinging players, and those who play in firm conditions. If you’re in that group and you enjoy a high, soft ball flight, this is a wedge to try. [See Price / Buy]
Born from the fan-favorite Texas Grind in the Equalizer II, the Fort Worth Grind takes everything golfers loved about that sole and refines it with a lower-bounce profile built for maximum versatility. Forged, precise, and made to order.
Ben Hogan Fort Worth Grind Wedge Price & Specs
He founded Plugged In Golf in 2013 with the goal of helping all golfers play better and enjoy the game more.
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.
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