Callaway Jaws Raw wedge review: add some bite to your short game

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water (hazard), Jaws is back and has more bite than ever. Along with the TaylorMade Stealth driver, the Callaway Jaws Raw wedges are one of my favourite new products of 2022 and they feature prominently in our guide to the best wedges. Read on and I’ll explain why, but before you do you might want to check out T3's guides to the best golf watches, best golf bags, best golf shoes and the best golf balls.

But back to the matter at hand. The Jaws Raw wedges were launched to much fanfare in the summer of 2022. You’ll see these wedges in the bags of many pro golfers, both on the PGA Tour and also in Europe on the DP World Tour. I recently attended the Cazoo Classic at Hillside Golf Club and it seemed like half the field were playing Callaway clubs with Jaws Raw wedges in the bag.

The wedge set up used by tour pros won't suit the less skilled golfer but fear not my fellow mid-handicappers, there are 17 loft and bounce combinations available, as well as a graphite and ladies models, so finding something to suit your game won’t be a problem. 

You have a choice of two finishes; chrome or black plasma. Both look stunning and this is arguably the most aesthetically pleasing wedge on the market. And the good news is that it performs as well as it looks.

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Callaway Jaws Raw wedges - price and availability

As with anything from the major brands such as Callaway, these are readily available from most golf shops and online retailers. You can expect to pay £169 in the UK, $179.99 in the US and in Australia you're looking in the region of $299.  

Because of the vast array of choices for bounce and lie it makes sense to get fitted first to see what configuration is best for you. If you've been fitted before and know your requirements then you can shop around online for the best deals. 

• Buy Callaway Jaws Raw wedges from American Golf in the UK

• Buy direct from Callaway in the US

• Buy Jaws Raw in Australia from GolfBox for $299. 

Callaway Jaws Raw wedges - Looks & Feel

The Jaws Raw is available in two finishes. The Black Plasma looks very slick but I’m always wary of a black finish as they tend to scuff and show scratches much more easily than chrome. They usually aren’t the most long lasting but if you’re someone who changes their clubs every couple of years then that’s not a priority anyway. 

Alternatively, you can opt for the Raw face chrome finish. The face will rust over time which is intentional as it aids performance, especially in wet conditions. Rusty wedges are very much en vogue and in addition to the performance benefits they look rather cool. The rustier the are, the cooler they look. Within only a week I noticed significant signs of rusting (see photograph below) so it won’t take long for the face to completely rust up.

From the back it looks terrific so aesthetically it will certainly enhance your bag as it sits in there. Over the ball it also has a pleasing look. The thin top line and lack of offset makes for an inviting feel at address.

Jaws Raw are customisable so you can add colour, medallions or emojis to the four small circular zones in the back of the face or change the letter colouring, while personalisation is also available. So for example, you could have your initials or a nickname stamped on the back of the face, for an extra fee of course.

As for the feel, I’m used to a heavier head so initially the Jaws Raw felt a bit light at first, especially when chipping. It took a little while to get used to that but the benefit is that you can really feel the club interacting with ball and turf and if you like to use your hands in your chip shots then you’ll love this wedge. 

On full shots it did feel a little firm off the face in comparison to other wedges I’ve recently tested, such as the Cleveland Zipcore CBX which was buttery soft, but overall though the feel of the Jaws Raw wedges was excellent.

Callaway Jaws Raw wedges - The Technology

Designed by the legendary Roger Cleveland, Callaway say Jaws Raw has the most aggressive grooves in golf to promote a “one hop and stop” trajectory. The ‘raw’ comes from the removal of the plating on the face which allows for rusting over time on the face only. That rust aids performance due to the extra traction it gets while the rest of the club head maintains the premium chrome look.

The face also features offset Groove-in-Groove technology. This is achieved by positioning the milled micro-grooves at a 20° angle which Callaway say promotes added spin on chips, pitches and lob shots.

The Jaws Raw lineup includes 17 loft and bounce combinations per finish to fit a wide variety of wedge needs starting with the brand new, tri-level sole Z Grind, standard S, wide sole W, high bounce X grind. For the average golfer, the S bounce option will be ideal as it is a good all rounder that will suit most players and most conditions. 

Tungsten is in a Callaway wedge for the first time ever, on the sand and lob wedges. The purpose of this is to really lock in the centre of gravity position for control and feel. Additionally, variable length hosels are engineered to control trajectory while enhancing forgiveness.

Callaway Jaws Raw wedges - Performance

I took two Jaws Raw wedges onto the course to put them through their paces. I had a 52 degree in the Raw Face Chrome and the 58 degree in the Black Plasma. Both were S Grind with 10 degrees of bounce. 

I spent a summer evening moving around my local course to different holes that allowed me to hit a variety of full shots, chips, pitches and bunker shots from varying distances. It was a lot of fun actually. Golf is infinitely more enjoyable without the pressure of trying to keep drives on the fairway and get the ball in the hole! 

The Jaws Raw is a lovely wedge to hit when you connect properly on full shots but I didn’t necessarily find it to be that forgiving. Personally I’m ok with that because if you hit a bad wedge shot you should expect to be punished for it. 

I'm used to that anyway as I’ve carried a cheap Wilson Harmonized 60 degree wedge in my bag for the last few years. Whereas I’ve tended to look towards the higher quality, more expensive options throughout the rest of the bag (especially driver), I was always happy enough with the basic Wilson wedge to compliment the PW, GW and SW I have in my iron set. 

This is partly because I don’t feel like my game is good enough to really benefit much from a top of the range wedge set so therefore why spend money needlessly on them? My belief was that I’d get a similar result from the cheap Wilson wedge than I would from anything a tour pro would use. 

I still feel that way to some extent even after extensively testing the Jaws Raw wedges as well as some of its competitors. If your ball striking is top notch then you will benefit greatly from the best wedges, but for average players such as myself it's only really noticeable on those all too rare pure strikes. 

That said, I did love using the 58 degree lob wedge around the greens and I had a lot of success with that. It certainly gave me more check than I'm used to seeing on pitch shots and the overall performance of both wedges was impressive, even in the hands of a mid-handicapper such as myself. 

The sand wedge I usually carry is 54 degrees so I did not have an exact like for like comparison with the 52 degree Callaway, but there was roughly an eight yard difference between them so to compare I would hit a dozen shots at the flag with my SW and then move back eight paces and hit another dozen with ‘Jaws’. I used the same balls too. Callaway Chrome Soft LS, which are one of the best Callaway golf balls. 

When it comes to judging accuracy a dozen shots is not a huge sample size for me as my ball striking isn’t consistent enough, so I repeated the process a couple more times for a better comparison.

Overall there wasn’t any significant difference in proximity to the flag but I did notice a difference in flight and spin. Despite the slightly higher loft, the Jaws Raw had a more penetrating flight and the ball sat down quicker. The ball did not spin back but that’s normal for me. I don’t strike it crisply enough to be fizzing it backwards. Besides, the greens were very firm as this was in the middle of the July heatwave that the UK experienced. 

I repeated the process with the 58 degree Callaway Jaws Raw up against my cheap 60 degree Wilson wedge and the result was similar. I got a nicer flight and more spin from the Callaway but if anything, the shots that were closer to the hole tended to be with the Wilson. I expected that though because I’m much more familiar with that club and wedge shots from around 70 yards in is currently one of the stronger parts of my game (famous last words!). 

As mentioned above, around the greens I loved the control and check I was able to get on pitch shots with the Jaws Raw. My preferred shot is usually a bump and run with a lower lofted club but that’s not what this review called for so I was pitching it up onto the green and trying to get it to sit quickly. My success rate wasn’t great as these shots are really tough to play, but on the ones I nipped nicely off the turf there was quite a bit of action on the ball and it’s great fun playing those shots when they come off.

Closer to the green I tend to like using a high lofted club so the 58 degree was just the job. It suited my eye perfectly and really inspired confidence at address. It helps a lot when you’re standing over the ball believing that you’re going to hit a good shot, and I had that feeling over every chip shot I played with the Black Plasma Jaws Raw. Of course I didn’t always hit a good shot, but I always thought I would, which is important. 

Out of the sand my results were mixed but that’s hardly surprising. I’m not a great bunker player. I can get it out of the sand and keep it on the green most of the time, but that’s about the extent of it. I hit some nice shots and some bad ones, so nothing out of the ordinary there. I did see more spin than I’m used to on some of the better shots though. Interestingly I had better results with the lower lofted 52 degree club than I did with the 58 degree. Usually I play bunker shots with the highest lofted club in my bag, so maybe something for me to think about there. 

Ultimately though I can’t honestly say I saw a massive difference in my wedge play with the Jaws Raw or indeed any of the other wedges I’ve tested recently, including the Wilson Staff Model and the Cleveland Zipcore CBX. That isn’t so say there wasn’t any difference, just not a game changing one. I know that is down to me just being an average ball striker and not having the skill set to benefit from these top of the range clubs in the way a low single handicap player would. 

Will they knock shots off my score? No, but I don't think that's something an average golfer should be thinking about when they buy new clubs anyway. The important things are whether they suit your game and if you feel good about them. On that front, I can't fault these wedges. They felt good in my hands and the way they sit behind the ball definitely inspires confidence. 

Callaway Jaws Raw wedges - Verdict

This is a high quality wedge and you’ll do well to find anything better or indeed prettier. A mid-high handicap golfer is not necessarily going to see any greatly improved results with it when compared to a much cheaper, more basic club (as I discovered myself), but then that’s the case throughout the bag really. 

If you’re a 25 handicap golfer there’s not going to be a huge difference between a 10 year old driver or the best driver of this year. You might still want to have the latest, coolest gear though and if that’s the case then the Callaway Jaws Raw is probably the coolest wedge on the market right now.