The new TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 wedges are packed full of technology to maximise spin. Equipment editor Hannah Holden puts them through their paces
TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 review: First Impressions
The most striking part of picking up these new wedges is the large adhesive sticker present across the clubface. This is an airtight sticker to prevent the new raw face from oxidising and rusting.
TaylorMade have done some significant re-shaping of the clubhead making the design more simple and streamlined. The result is a really attractive new wedge design.
TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 review: The technology
The biggest new tech story in these wedges is the addition of raw face technology to maximise spin. Using a raw finish means there is no plating (the normal finish) across the face and grooves, this means the club-face has a rougher finish so creates more friction, generating more spin. The raw face is also less reflective so reduces glare off the club-face.
The grooves have been made deeper and narrower with a sharper radius and TaylorMade have also added extra grooves to the face. The clubface features laser etching between grooves for extra spin.
The wedges feature thick-thin head design, this variable face construction creates a sold positive strike providing the player with great feedback. The face thickness has been increased from 5.1mm in the MG1 to 6.5mm in the MG2. This reconfiguration of mass placement combined with the TPU insert dampens vibration allowing for enhanced feel.
The milled grind wedge is created by CNC milling machines rather than ground by hand. This means the grinds are much more precise and more easily repeated, so each club is exactly the same.
The Milled Grind 2 comes in two grind options: standard (standard bounce) and C-grind (low bounce).
The standard grind is designed for people with a neutral or steep angle of attack who hit a medium to large divot. It is designed for full shots and pitch shots and is more suitable on a medium or soft golf course.
In contrast the C-grind is designed for people with a neutral or shallow angle of attack who are more prone to hitting shallow divots. It is also enhanced for you to open the face hit different shots around the greens. It is best used on a medium or hard ground.
The wedges are available in a Satin Chrome or Matte Black finish and feature a new softer and lighter Dynamic Gold S200 shaft to provide enhanced feel.
TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 review: The results
The raw finish is a slightly different colour and finish to the rest of the club-head and I thought this may be off putting in set-up. I actually found it to be the opposite, it worked really well as an alignment guide and just helped me focus on a solid, central strike. The contrast is more obvious in the matte black finish compared to the satin chrome so that is a visual factor to consider.
The raw finish will oxidise and rust gradually over time. I have only had the wedge for a few weeks so haven’t seen any rusting appear yet – so don’t expect your club to turn orange as soon as you take it out of the packaging this is a very slow process. If you suddenly wanted the club to rust leaving it in a bucket of water would do the trick but obviously this is an extreme and not really recommended unless you really want your wedge to look that way.
Generally speaking how long the wedge will take to rust will depend on how well the golfer looks after the wedge. If you clean and dry it after every shot it will take a very long time to rust, if you leave it covered in mud and grass or damp after every shot the rusting process will happen faster.
Instantly I loved the soft feeling off the club-face it helped me control a variety of different shots around the green whether I was hitting high lob shots or low chip and runs with the face de-lofted.
Overall I was seeing a significant amount of spin on full pitch shots with the ball spinning back around 10 feet. The spin was also very consistent with me seeing almost identical amounts of check on all full pitch shots. This is very important so you know how the ball is going to react on the green and can pitch the ball in the right spot allowing for the spin.
TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 wedge review: NCG verdict
Overall the feel and control I had with these around the green was really pleasing. I had a consistent soft feel off the face which is something I find important as I am very much a feel player around the greens.
In the standard grind I still found I could manipulate the face and play different shots around the green. However I would get my lob wedge in the C-grind with lower bounce for those shots where you want to open the face considerably more such as bunker or flop shots.
The details
Available: September 6, 2019
RRP: £149
Shaft options: True Temper’s Dynamic Gold S200 (other custom shaft options are available)
More information: TaylorMade website
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