Gear: TaylorMade MG2 TW Grind wedges
Price: $200 each
Specs: Carbon steel body with a raw steel face, milled sole, vibration-dampening insert and laser-etched, surface-roughening pattern. 56 and 60 degrees.
Available: Sept. 4 via custom order
Many professional golfers travel to tournaments with several extra wedges in their bag so they can modify their setup to match the course conditions. If the sand is fluffy and the turf is soft, they go with higher-bounces wedges, but when conditions are firm, lower-bounce wedges can perform better.
Tiger Woods is not one of those players. The 15-time major winner brings the same wedges to every event. The Big Cat has a secret, however, and now with the release of the TaylorMade MG2 TW Grind wedges, you can too.
Tiger’s wedges have a unique grind configuration on the sole. It allows the clubs to have lots of bounce in the square position but play with less bounce when he opens the face and adds loft.
This is accomplished by creating three distinct areas on the sole. The portion directly behind the leading edge is narrow and has 25 degrees of bounce. But even with that much bounce, the leading edge remains only 5.3 millimeters off the ground, which is lower than most high-bounce wedges.
Behind that area, the center of the sole has a narrow section with 12 degrees of bounce and significant relief in the heel and toe areas. When the face opens and a player adds more loft, the leading edge can stay down, making tight lies more manageable.
Finally, the trailing edge has significant camber, allowing the club to exit the turf smoothly.
While the back of the club has a chrome finish, the hitting area lacks chrome plating. Instead, the raw steel is exposed, and with exposure to air and moisture, it will rust in time. According to TaylorMade’s research, a raw steel hitting area allows golfers to spin the ball more in wet conditions, making shots more consistent and predictable.
Finally, to enhance the sound and feel created at impact, the MG2 TW Grind wedge has a thermoplastic polyurethane insert in the back of each head to absorb excessive vibrations.