Wedge Grinds
Also called: sole grind
The shaping and material removed from a wedge's sole - it controls how the club interacts with turf and how it behaves with an open face.
A wedge grind is the specific shaping of the sole - the material removed from the heel, toe, and trailing edge. While bounce sets the baseline angle, the grind determines how that bounce behaves in the real world: how the club sits when you open the face, how it glides through different lies, and how versatile it is around the greens.
Manufacturers label grinds with letters and names - Vokey's F, S, M, K, L grinds; Cleveland's various sole options; and so on - but the underlying ideas are consistent. Wider, fuller soles with heel-and-toe relief help on soft conditions and forgiving full shots; narrower, more heavily ground soles let skilled players open the face and manipulate shots on firm turf.
The grind you want depends on your shot repertoire and your conditions. A player who likes to open the face and hit creative flop and spinner shots needs a versatile grind with relief that keeps the leading edge low when the face is open. A player who makes the same square-faced swing every time is better served by a fuller, more stable sole.
Grind is the spec most golfers ignore and most short-game specialists obsess over. It is fitted alongside bounce, because the two together define how a wedge interacts with the ground.