Cleveland Golf Clubs
Choosing a Wedge Grind: What the Letters Mean
FULL, MID, LOW and ADAPT — and how to pick without guessing.
Grind versus bounce
Bounce is a number. Grind is the shape of the sole that delivers it. Two wedges can have the same stated bounce and behave completely differently because material has been removed from different places.
Grind matters most when the face is not square. Sole the club normally and bounce dominates. Open the face, and grind decides whether the leading edge rises off the ground or stays down.
Cleveland’s RTZ grind options
FULL — the widest, least relieved sole. Maximum turf resistance. Best for steep swings, soft conditions and golfers who play most shots with a square face.
MID — moderate heel and toe relief. The most broadly useful option. Enough versatility to open the face for a greenside shot, enough sole left to stop it digging on a full swing.
LOW — significant relief through the heel, toe and trailing edge. Sits very close to the ground and opens beautifully. Requires a shallow delivery and firm turf. In soft ground with a steep swing it will dig.
ADAPT — the full-face option, aimed at open-face play and shots from rough where contact drifts toward the toe.
The realistic recommendation
If you are unsure, MID. It is the option that fails least often, and the majority of club golfers are best served by it in both the sand wedge and the lob wedge.
Choose LOW only if you have specifically found that other wedges bounce off the ground and catch the ball thin. Choose FULL if you dig and your home course is soft.
Do not mix grinds without a reason
Some golfers end up with a FULL gap wedge, a MID sand wedge and a LOW lob wedge because each was bought separately at a different time. That produces three clubs that behave differently through the turf, which makes the short game harder to calibrate.
Pick a philosophy and stay close to it, unless there is a specific shot you need one club to hit.
Test it properly
Put the club on the ground, open the face 30 degrees and look at the leading edge. If it rises well off the turf, that grind will not let you use an open face. If it stays low, it will.
Coach’s tip: Test grinds on the turf you actually play, not on a mat. Mats hide every difference between grinds — the sole cannot interact with a surface that does not give.
Model names current as of September 2026.