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Slide Sole Master 56°: Who Does 1° of Bounce Fit?A 56° for players who don't push their hands ahead

Updated: Nov 7, 2026Contains affiliate links

Bounce on a 56° wedge runs from 8° to 14° on the Vokey SM11. Now there is a 56° with 1° of bounce. Many players will wonder whether it suits them. It is the Lynx Slide Sole Master 56°. Lynx Co., Ltd. issued the press release on Sep 30, 2026.
As a nerd who studies golf gear, I lined up the official numbers and read them. The answer first: the Slide Sole Master 56° fits players who set up without pushing their hands ahead. It is not a club for someone who adds forward shaft lean out of fear of the chunk to switch to while keeping that same technique.

Product image in the header image: Rakuten Ichiba (Ad) | Lynx Slide Sole Master Wedge 56°

Lynx Slide Sole Master 56° review: bottom line

56° with 1° of bounce. The Vokey SM11 56° has 8–14°

First, the numbers side by side. The comparison is the Titleist Vokey SM11, which offers the same 56° loft.

Slide Sole Master figures are from the Lynx Co., Ltd. press release (Sep 30, 2026). Length is 35 inches for both the 53° and the 56°, and the head is stainless steel. The press release gives no price; the price shown is the selling price at the Lynx Golf Rakuten Ichiba store (checked Oct 1, 2026, + shipping). The NSPRO MODUS WEDGE 105 version was ¥19,800 at the company's Yahoo! Shopping Japan store. SM11 prices are MSRP from Titleist Japan's official site (checked Sep 25, 2026).

The gap is 7° to 13°. At the same 56° loft. With a gap that wide, I think it is fair to say that although both are called sand wedges, they are different kinds of tools in how they meet the ground.

The lie angle is also 2° flatter: 62° versus 64°. The more loft a club has, the more lie angle affects where the face points, so this is not a small difference. For tall players, or players who set up with high hands, the toe sits down and the face tends to point right. It is a number I want you to know before buying.

On timing, the news item on the official site dated Sep 15 said it "will go on sale," and the press release is dated Sep 30. As of Oct 1, the manufacturer's own Rakuten store showed it as available for immediate delivery. Some other stores still show "scheduled for release in early October."

With the hands 5° ahead, 1° of bounce becomes −4°

Bounce is the angle by which the back of the sole sits lower than the leading edge. It touches the ground first and stops the leading edge from digging in.

That angle is the value with the shaft set vertical. Move the hands ahead and the whole head tilts forward, and the bounce drops by that much. Paul Wood, formerly in a technical role at PING, describes forward shaft lean on wedge shots as roughly 4–14°. I calculated the remaining angle across that range.

My calculation. Remaining bounce = stamped bounce − forward shaft lean (the geometric value when set up without opening the face). A negative value means the leading edge meets the ground first. Actual contact also changes with sole width and shape and with how firm the turf is.

Look at the 5° column. The SM11 56.12D still has 7° left, while the Slide Sole Master 56° is at −4°. Leading edge first.

It looks like a flaw. It isn't. This is what the wedge is aiming for. In its release for the 53°, Lynx wrote that you no longer need to put the ball back toward the right foot out of fear of hitting it fat, and can naturally place it from center toward the left foot. It makes you stop relying on bounce to bail you out. That is the design thinking.

So if you switch to it while keeping your hands ahead, it works toward more chunks, not fewer. Put the ball in the middle and set the shaft straight up. For players who swing from that setup, a sole that doesn't bounce is on their side. Few wedges divide the players they fit from the players they don't this clearly.

I wrote in detail about how bounce disappears when the hands move ahead in the article on chunked chips and bounce. The pick there is a 56° with 12° or more of bounce. It helps a different player from this one. The exact opposite.

The Gear Nerd's Take: a 26mm CG distance and grooves that look aimed right

Besides bounce, one more number has been published: the CG distance from the shaft axis. 26mm. Lynx explains that this is about 9mm shorter than the 35mm of a typical wedge. It says the number comes from a squared-off head with the heel and toe at the same height, and a longer hosel.

CG distance is the length from the shaft axis to the head's center of gravity. The shorter it is, the more easily the head rotates around the shaft. The manufacturer writes that the face's tendency to open during the downswing is held in check and the head is less unruly. It does not say which model the 35mm comparison figure belongs to. I read this part with a discount.

The grooves have a trick, too. The scorelines are tilted so they point very slightly right. Because the face looks a little open to the right at address, the player unconsciously moves toward closing the face. That is the manufacturer's explanation. It also writes that the leading edge is kept close to straight so that the club doesn't become awkward to set up with.

What I found interesting is the pairing with the 62° lie angle. A flat lie angle tends to send the ball right, and grooves that look aimed right invite a closing motion. To me it reads as two things pointing in different directions layered together. This is not in the release; it is my own reading.

The head is stainless steel, with laser milling on the face. The release says the milling direction was chosen so the ball grips the grooves even when you hit with the face open. No spin numbers have been published. Because it is stainless, it is safer to assume you can't have a club fitter bend the loft or lie angle to fit you, the way you can with a soft carbon steel wedge.

The difference from the 53°: you can get the ball up without opening the face

The 53°, which came out first, has −2° of bounce. With its stronger loft, you had to open the face when you wanted to get the ball up.

The 56° changes that. The maker writes that the ball gets up from a setup that stays close to square, and that it is easy to handle even for players who aren't good at opening the face. It also writes that the bounce was set at 1° as the minimum a 56° needs.

Which to choose depends on the wedges you carry now. If the club after your PW is a 50° or 52°, the 56° fits the gapping better. The 53° is a loft that tends to overlap with its neighbors. How many wedges to carry, and at what lofts, is covered in How many wedges to carry (decide from your PW loft).

How far forward do the hands go before the bounce hits 0?

The bounce figure is the value with the shaft vertical. When your hands move forward, the head tips forward with them, and the remaining bounce shrinks. With a 35-inch (about 89 cm) shaft, I estimated how far forward the hands go before the bounce reaches 0.

My calculation: shaft length of about 89 cm × tan (the bounce angle). In practice the figure moves with hand height and lie angle, so treat it as a guide.

On the Slide Sole Master 56°, the bounce is 0 once the hands are about 1.6 cm forward. At 5° (about 7.8 cm) forward, it is minus 4°. The Vokey SM11 56.12D only reaches 0 at about 19 cm forward. Even on the same 56°, how sensitive it is to hand position differs this much.

Measuring your own hand position costs nothing. Film your address from the side with a phone and use a ruler or an app to see how many cm ahead of the line above the ball the grip end sits. If it is over 2 cm, this wedge's bounce is already insufficient at address. You can also compare the number of fat shots over 10 balls with the ball in the middle and 10 balls with it toward the right foot. I hit fat 6 times in 5 rounds, so I judged from this number that a 56° with small bounce would be hard for me.

Applied to my own address, how much bounce is left?

I calculate with my own numbers. My ball position is in the middle to slightly toward the right foot. My hands are about 3 cm ahead of the ball at address. This is an estimate I measured by filming from the front with a phone.

My calculation: assuming that putting the hands about 3 cm ahead tilts the shaft forward by about 1.9° (from 3 ÷ 89), I subtracted that from the stamped bounce. It is an estimate.

At my address, the Slide Sole Master 56° comes to about −0.9°, with the leading edge hitting the ground first. The 56.12D, a 56° with larger bounce, would keep about 10°. The answer for my address is that a larger bounce suits me better.

I will also write down my miss numbers. With the Vokey SM11 54° (10S) and 58° (08M) that I use, the breakdown of about 40 approaches over 5 rounds was 6 fat (about 15%), 3 thin (about 8%) and about 31 good. The sole of my 58° is worn and shiny not only near the leading edge but also toward the back, and my misses on the lie are mostly on the digging side.

The hardest was the wet rough. From about 60 yards out, I hit fat once, and then thin twice in a row. When I put the ball half a ball to the right and went back to an address with my hands not too far ahead, I finally got it to 4 yards from the pin.

Since my misses are mostly on the digging side, I fall under this article's 'not for you' group. I think this wedge only has a place on days when I can keep an address with my hands not too far ahead.

Who it fits, and who it doesn't

Who the Slide Sole Master 56° fits

• The sole bounces off thin lies or hard ground and you hit it thin
• You can put the ball in the middle and hit with the shaft set almost straight up
• You aren't good at opening the face and want to get the ball up while staying square
• You want to cure the habit of pushing your hands ahead and want a club for practice that won't let you fudge it

Who it doesn't fit

• You often chunk it by digging deep in soft turf (a 56° with 12° or more of bounce comes first)
• You put the ball in front of your right foot, push your hands well ahead, and don't intend to change that
• You hit behind the ball and hit it thin about as often (that is a low-point problem; a sole won't change it)
• Soft-sand bunkers are your biggest worry

On bunkers, the manufacturer writes that it is easy to handle "in bunkers, of course." But the softer the sand, the more easily a sole digs in. Titleist names the K grind, wide with a lot of camber, as its shape that is strong in bunkers. The thinking is the opposite, so for players who struggle in soft sand, this is not the first club I would recommend.

For skilled players it has a different kind of value. The manufacturer also suggests using it alongside a regular 56°. That means swapping it in only on days with firm winter turf.

Before you buy, check two things with your current 56°

There are two criteria for choosing: how the sole of your current 56° wears, and whether you can strike well with the shaft set up straight.

1. Look at the wear marks on the sole (¥0). If it is worn all the way to the back and you hit a lot of thin shots, you have more bounce than you need and it is bouncing. This wedge has a role for you. If only the area near the leading edge is shiny, you are on the side with too little bounce. You would be buying in the wrong direction.
2. Put the ball in the middle and hit 10 shots (¥0). With your current wedge, set the shaft straight up and hit. If you make contact from this setup, 1° of bounce won't trouble you. If your hands move ahead no matter what, you will chunk more from the day you switch.

Put it on your list only if both apply to you. There are four shafts: besides the original steel, the NSPRO MODUS WEDGE 105, Dynamic Gold S200, and NSPRO 850GH NEO in S. If the same model as your irons is offered, choosing that is the safe option. This release gives no number for total club weight, so check at the store that it won't be lighter than your irons.

Where was the sole of your 56° worn?

About the writer and sources

Written by a gear nerd who studies golf equipment, averages a 72, and plays about 150 rounds a year.

I re-read the numbers against the sources below on Oct 1, 2026. Last updated Nov 7, 2026.

FAQ

Related reading

【Nov 2026 Update】Lynx Zero Magic II Review | 0° Bounce, 34 Inches
A 0° bounce, approx. 480g wedge you chip with a putting stroke.

Chunked chips and bounce: the further ahead your hands, the more it disappears
The case for adding bounce. It explains in numbers why to choose 12° or more on a 56°.

How many wedges to carry
Before 53° or 56°, this article decides your lofts starting from your PW loft.

Vokey SM11 vs. SM10: what changed
The SM11 used as the comparison here, compared with its predecessor and by bounce for each loft.

Latest Wedges 2026
A list comparing 2026 wedges by material, manufacturing method and bounce.

Sources for this article

• Lynx Co., Ltd. press release: [New 56° model] Lynx Slide Sole Master Wedge, supervised by pro Shinichi Yokota (PR TIMES, Sep 30, 2026)
• Lynx Co., Ltd. press release: Lynx Slide Sole Master Wedge, supervised by pro Shinichi Yokota, goes on sale (53°, PR TIMES, Feb 12, 2026)
• Lynx official site (news: Sep 15, 2026, "Slide Sole Master 56° to go on sale")
• Titleist Japan official site: Vokey SM11 (bounce for 56°, 64° lie angle, ¥29,700 for 1 club)
• Titleist Japan official site: Get to know the grinds | Vokey Design SM11 wedges (description of the K grind)
• GolfWRX: What is “effective bounce” anyway? (Paul Wood / PING, Mar 28, 2015. Forward shaft lean of 4–14°)

Last updated: Nov 7, 2026

Specs and prices are the figures published on manufacturers' official websites and in press releases, and by media outlets (checked Oct 1, 2026). These are published figures. The numbers I hit or played myself are given in the text, with their conditions.