I've been looking into the equipment released by Dunlop (UK) over the past few months, initially their range of balls was recommended to me by a friend who in turn had been recommended by his club pro (who wasn't selling them in his shop, so no vested interest). At the moment they do 3 "premium" products, the DP1-V3 (ok, their naming conventions aren't very original), the NZ9-V3 & V2 (2 and 3 piece versions) and the Tour Soft. Bearing in mind that these come from Sumitoyo Rubber who own both Dunlop and Srixon, I imagine these fall into the 3 categories of Z-Star, AD333 Tour/AD333 & Soft Feel (maybe Ulti Soft?). Anyhoo, I didn't really take it that seriously myself until I found a Tour Soft whilst playing a bounce game in February. I was playing pretty wretchedly so I decided to carry on with that ball rather than lose a "good" one. To my surprise the ball was perfectly good, performed as well as a Velocity/PTS, Tour Soft or e7. So it got me thinking, why not try the others? The Dunlop range is available from Sports Direct in the UK (which is maybe even lower rent than Dicks in the US) but I got 24 of the NZ9-V3 for £18 (maybe $25, current exchange). Took them out and I found them equal to the NXT Tour, AD333 level ball for probably a 1/3rd the price? I haven't tried the DP1-V3 yet (a heady £38 for 24) as I still have plenty of the NZ9-V3 left. I've handed them to a couple of my playing partners who are known equipment snobs and even they have grudgingly admitted that they are no worse than the major brand products.
So, I also noticed in my research that they do a reasonably handsome line of wedges with the NZ9 logo on them. I happened to be in SD again about 10 days ago and noticed they had the 52°, 56° & 60° in stock for £14.99 each ($20?) so I took the plunge. I had to blow the grips off and put some tape under them as they were very thin, but that wasn't too hard. Took them onto the course this last weekend and first shot with the 60 was a hole out from a bunker for birdie, first shot with the 56 was a 80 yard shot to a small green to about 10 feet where it stopped dead and the first shot with the 52 was a 95 yard shot to 10 feet, again with great control on landing. Most of all they FEEL amazing, solid but soft and really well balanced. Overall I can't believe the quality and performance for the price. They come with True Temper red band component shafts which are better than no name branded (just!) and Gecko Tac grips, which are a bit thin as mentioned, but well contoured and sticky. These wedges are actually staying in the bag for a while.
I'm going to continue to investigate their range as and when the opportunity offers itself, but if you get the chance, give their stuff a try. I don't know if someone at Sumitoyo Towers has decided to expand the Dunlop brand into the mid range now that Srixon has kind of established itself at the higher level with a good tour presence, but it's good stuff at a remarkable price and I've had no issues with the balls going off after a couple of rounds or 75 full shots (as I sometimes see with Callaway balls).