Great Question - based on Vokey's recommendation and the number of rounds you play: 3-5 years.

But I tend to notice that my wedges have great spin for the first 30-50 rounds and then level off for a long time. I play about 60 rounds a year and since no one is giving me my wedges for free like on tour, I go about 3 years and my wedges have worked fine for me.

In simpler terms, when the ball stops doing what you expect it to do, then its time to change.

Great thank you

I had the same problem. You should check out GrooveSharpner.com, they're great and bring the life right back to a wedge.

W - I like the look of that and may be just what I need to sharpen up my vokey grooves. Is that permitted under the USGA rules? I hope so!!

Adding to "in simpler terms" a non-urethane ball won't spin as much, and it takes a fair amount of practice to apply spin with a wedge. In that case it may take 5 years for the groves to degrade enough.

The best test is take your fingernail and rub it down the grooves and if your nails can get into the grooves you are still good.

Here is a good video done by the Vokey team on how wear affects spin:

https://youtu.be/U0vthLItO-Q

So many variables. Do you play a lot of sand shot or mostly from the fairway? Course sand and rocks do the most damage. Are you concerned about spin a lot or just when it gets bad enough to start creating knuckle ball shots? It's kind of different for everyone. I probably upgraded more often than necessary, just wanting the new models as opposed to wearing out my old ones. (Don't tell my wife)

I have a set of SM6s I have been playing since May 2016. I play and/or practice a lot. Literally out there close to 300 days a year. My wedges are probably the most important clubs in my bag. Certainly the best part of my game. Frankly, when I look at these, with thousands of shots made with each over the 2-year period, I would expect to see more wear. I am used to them, and love them. However, in reality, grooves break down through excessive use, but the deterioration happens at such a very slow rate, it is indiscernible from day to day. But, when I think back to when I first got them, I remember commenting on how much better they were than my previous set of 1-year old 2009 Spin Milled Vokeys with the old, soon to be non-conforming for most of us, square grooves. Spinniest wedges available back then. (I had 3 or 4 sets of the 2009 Vokeys from 2009-2016. It got hard to find new ones towards the end, so I broke down and went with SM6s, and once I did, never missed the 2009 versions.)

So, it is definitely time to replace my first set of SM6s and probably was last year. Now I'm torn between the new SM7s or a set of leftover SM6s. (If it ain't broke...) Either way, new wedges are going in the bag within the next couple weeks. And this time, not for 2 years and hundreds of rounds, but hopefully I can get a full season out of them.

If you only play 20 rounds a year, you can probably get through more than just a few seasons with them. My old SM6s still stick on full shots, but run out a bit more than they used to on chipitch shots.