What I divine as innovation is how Mizuno uses two types of grooves in their wedges, wider and shallower in the higher lofts and vice versa. With the MP-T11 I maxed out at 10500 RPM with the spinner shaft, while with the Titleist CC my highest was 8000 RPM. The fact that I can get 24% more spin with Mizuno wedges over Titleist is what I consider innovation. I play Titleist Driver through PW, but the wedges are slacking as of right now. I'll have to take a look at the SM4 for sure though. 

DJ S again it is a matter of club fitting. a number of players are moving to the KBS C Typre shafts, Steve Stricker was one of the first and put them in his wedges to have better spin controll, not more spin!!!! My big issue with Vokey wedges is, why do they make cast and not forged?? making a cast club cost 30% less than forged plus forged has a lot more feel. vokey has fallen behind in wedge manufacturing. Vokey is like TM to Drivers, big name but way behind in quality. People will shoot me for saying this but R 11 driver have set the trend for gimmik ajustability. Sorry no Vokey for my bag, Mizuno for its design and forging (they work for Luke Donald who with Phil Lefty are the top wedge players around) or Callaway who is made by the great Rodger Cleveland for its design and forging. I have played Miura wedges for the past 8 yrs and playing Vokey after Miura, cant do. spin from a clean lie have been effected very little by the groove changes, the spin from rough had been effected most, yes a lot of tour players use them because it is part of their Titleist deal, they play forged irons?? same story with Ping, one of the most expensive of the shelf iron sets but they are cast and very little goes into the finishing of the clubs But cost 30% less to manufacture. design from the i5 series to the i 15 have seen not much more than a badge change.

To answer a couple of the questions that have come up....Vokey wedges are used by many more players than Titleist staffers.  To date, for 2011, there were 4,471 Gap, Sand and Lob Vokey wedges played on the PGA Tour.  At the Deutsche Bank last week, 223 wedges were played,  and 96 were Vokeys.  There are many reason so many players play Vokey wedges (there is no paid player pool to play these wedges),   One of the biggest reasons is Bob himself.  He and his right hand man, Aaron spend every week talking with players, getting feedback and working with them to create the wedges that work the best for them.  They play his wedges because they work the best. 

Bob brings the best of these tour wedges to production.  The SM4's will offer the grinds that have been the most popular with these players.  In the last year, Bob has worked with the players developing the new aggressive grooves that will maximize the groove geometry to the conforming limits.  Since the limits are so close, they will be 100% inspected on 100% of the wedges for production and tour.  They will have the patented spin milled, CNC face and will undergo the new treatment to help retain the increased spin and control. 

We use S200 shafts because it is a great blend of weight and feel.  We have done tests in the past and players liked the feel of that shaft because it helps them hit the "touchy feely" shots that Bob likes to talk about.  We do have several (3 ) players playing the DYG spinner shaft and 4-5 players playing the KBS shaft, but they have not become a preferred shaft on tour.  Although Steve Stricker has put the C Tapers in his irons, he uses X100 sensicore in his wedges.  If Bob were to find a wedge shaft that worked more optimally in the wedges, he would bring it to his production line. 

Bob uses 8620 mild carbon steel that can be cast or forged.  He chooses to cast the wedges because the designs and grinds can be more precisely brought to a production wedge.  There are many arguments regarding cast vs forged.  The guys that make their living with their wedges have voted and they play Vokeys.  Not because they have to, but because they want to. :)