Introduction
Friend of PluggedInGolf, Chip Usher, has been a well-known Miura dealer dating back to the time Miura Golf first brought their product to the United States. In the many years since, Chip has developed strong working and personal relationships with the great people at Miura Golf and has had the opportunity to work on some pretty sweet projects with them. Chip’s company, Usher Golf, is now one of the dealers to participate in a program with Miura to offer made-to-order custom ground wedges. What started as a neat one-off project to showcase a cool 1 of 1 wedge turned into a chance for more people to get their hands on their own unique, custom Miura wedges.
About Custom Miura Wedges
If you think about it, this concept of custom Miura wedges practically sells itself for golf gear nerds. Chip gets a blank wedge head from Miura and then works with the customer to figure out exactly what they want from their own custom Miura wedges. Obviously the right sole grind and shape are key to getting the best performance out of the wedge. Once Chip knows what the customer is looking for, he hand grinds and mills each head to get the exact shape the customer is looking for. Once the grinding, milling, and shaping is complete, the next step is finishing.
When the world is your oyster, customizing a golf club actually becomes more difficult. Fortunately, Chip is very flexible and provides endless options. Once you figure out all of your stamping, next you have to figure out what finish and paint you want. Many of the same finishes available from Chip’s Black Lab Golf putters are available on these wedges and look just as good. Once finish and paint are done, all Chip has to do is put in the shaft of your choice, throw on a grip, and there you have it – a truly one of kind custom Miura wedge. Tell me that doesn’t get you excited.
Designing My Wedges
When I first spoke with Chip regarding this Miura wedge venture, I was pretty happy with my wedge setup, so I just said, “Let’s try a 54º and have a ton of fun with it.” The only direction I gave Chip was a handful of crazy custom wedge pictures and the request, “Give me something totally over the top.” Well what I got was exactly that (above left). I got a purple torch finish with a bunch of milled out circles, custom stamping, and a literal nod to the wedge being “over the top.” I told Chip to send it blank because I didn’t know what paint I wanted to do. After trying six different color combinations, I settled on the one pictured. I think Chip and I nailed the over the top look I was looking for.
As it always seems to go, I received the wedge and instantly fell in love. Once I got over the idea that it would just be a beautiful conversation piece in my office, I contacted Chip and told him we had to do another one to round out my wedge setup for next season. Once again I gave Chip minimal direction, and with Halloween right around the corner, I just said, “Do a cool torch again, give me my kids’ names, and throw some skulls on it…hold the paint.” When it showed up, I was pumped. I used Halloween-esque colors that really pop on the blue torch (pictures do NOT do it justice). The skulls were were a little shallow (that stamp has to be impossible!), but I love how they looked without paint so I left them as is.
How Can I Get One of These Sick Wedges?
Right now, the one-off custom Miura wedges are selling themselves for Chip. The only way Chip has been advertising these wedges is by posting occasional photos of his work on his Black Lab Golf Facebook page. Given his Miura reputation, a lot of Chip’s in-store customers will see these wedges and buy them on the spot or place their own orders.
If you’re interested in working with Chip to order your own one-off Miura wedge, you can contact him through his website and figure out exactly what you need. All I can say is that you won’t be disappointed. If you’re interested in reading some reviews on Miura equipment, you can read a stock wedge review here, you can read our reviews on some of their irons here and here, and one of their putters here.
Bill plays Scott Readman Concepts putters and accessories.
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Hey Bill, Great Job. I had to wear my welding googles to look at those pictures;)