“Forged KURO wedge with a laser-milled face for consistent spin, sold as a single club to complete the KURO set. Soft feel, tour-ish shaping, MODUS3 Wedge 105 stock. Fits the player who wants matching OnOff feel through the scoring clubs.”
OnOff is the premium golf line of Globeride (Daiwa Seiko before its 2009 rebrand), the Japanese tackle maker whose golf division leans on decades of fishing-rod carbon and shaft engineering. The KURO ('black') forged line traces back to development work with Japan Golf Tour veteran Shingo Katayama around a stated philosophy that accuracy and control outrank raw distance, and OnOff has refreshed the KURO name almost every year since (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2024). The 2020 wedge sits inside that run: an SAE8655/S20C forged hollow-structure head, a laser-milled face meant to hold spin consistency on mis-hits and in wet conditions, and a thicker top blade that raises the center of gravity slightly for a confidence-inspiring look at address. It shipped as a standalone piece to complete a KURO iron set, stock on NS Pro Modus3 Wedge 105 (roughly 452g at 35 inches in the 50-degree loft).
It has no mainstream US following because OnOff sells almost exclusively through the Japanese domestic market, but dedicated JDM-import specialists (MST Golf, GOLF Partner USA) stock it year after year and it turns up regularly in GolfWRX's Japanese-equipment subforum, evidence of a real if narrow following among players who specifically seek out Japanese forged wedges rather than mainstream US brands.
Suited to better ball-strikers already gaming OnOff KURO irons who want matching feel and spin through the scoring clubs; it is a JDM specialty purchase, not a wedge a casual buyer stumbles into, and it offers little for a high-handicap player chasing forgiveness.
It landed inside a decade-plus run of annual or biennial KURO refreshes (2015 through at least 2024), competing in Japan against other JDM tour-style forged wedges from Miura, Fourteen, and Titleist's Japan-market Vokey line rather than against mainstream US retail wedges.
A compact players' wedge, not a game-improvement design: the laser-milled face is built to stabilize spin on strikes away from center and in adverse conditions, and the raised-CG top blade helps mid-face performance, but the shaping and sole width are still tour-oriented. It rewards a controlled, descending strike more than it forgives a poor one.
Calibrated across the whole catalog — a tour blade scores low here on purpose; it means control, not ease.
No mainstream US retail price exists since it was never sold there; JDM specialist resellers (GOLF Partner USA, MST Golf) and Japan-based eBay sellers price single 2020 KURO wedges roughly in the $180-$260 range new-old-stock or lightly used, with used listings sporadic rather than a deep, liquid secondary market.
Reading is one thing — hitting is another. Book a bay and see the numbers for yourself before you buy anywhere.