--- title: "Vokey SM11 vs TaylorMade MG5: grind range against spin that lasts" url: "https://ifrothgolf.com/read/vokey-sm11-vs-taylormade-mg5" type: "comparison" topic: "wedges" author: "Ross Hamilton" published: "2026-08-15T18:00" publisher: "ifrothgolf" --- # Vokey SM11 vs TaylorMade MG5: grind range against spin that lasts > These are the two default wedges in golf and they're sold on genuinely different premises. One gives you more ways to match your turf; the other keeps its spin longer. Which matters depends entirely on where you practise. Titleist's Vokey SM11 and TaylorMade's Milled Grind 5 are the two wedges most likely to be recommended to you by a pro shop, and most comparisons of them collapse into feel and finish. That's a shame, because they're actually built around two different answers to the question of what wears out first. The short version: **Vokey sells you fit, TaylorMade sells you durability.** If you practise heavily off mats, that difference is worth more than anything about looks. ## Where Vokey wins: the grind range The reason Vokey has been the tour's default for two decades isn't the face. It's that the SM range is offered across an unusually wide spread of bounce and grind combinations, and grind — the shaping of the sole — determines whether the club digs or glides on your particular turf with your particular attack angle. This matters more than golfers realise. A steep player on soft turf and a shallow player on firm links need materially different soles to hit the same shot, and no amount of technology compensates for the wrong one. The practical effect of Vokey's range is that a good fitter can almost always find you something that works, which is a genuine advantage that doesn't show up in any spin test. It also carries the associated risk: buying a Vokey off the shelf without knowing your grind means you've bought the one wedge whose main advantage you've specifically declined to use. ## Where TaylorMade wins: spin that survives The MG5's more interesting property is the raw face option. An unplated face rusts rather than wearing through a chrome layer, and the practical consequence is that spin performance holds up better over a long life rather than tailing off as plating breaks down. For a golfer hitting a handful of wedge shots a week, this is close to irrelevant — you'll change wedges for other reasons long before it matters. For someone hitting sixty range-ball wedge shots a week off a mat, it's the single most relevant difference between these two clubs, because that golfer is wearing a face out on a timescale measured in months rather than years. The trade is cosmetic and slightly practical: a raw face rusts visibly, which some players like and others find scruffy, and it needs drying rather than being left wet in a bag. ## Where they're genuinely the same Both are milled, both are precise, both are made to modern groove tolerances, and both will spin plenty when new, clean and dry. Anyone telling you one materially out-spins the other in normal conditions is selling something. On a clean face with a urethane ball off decent turf, the difference between them is smaller than the difference between your good and bad strikes. Pricing is close enough that it shouldn't decide it either. ## The variable neither manufacturer controls Both of these clubs are sold on the face and the sole, and both are downstream of something neither company can do anything about: the ball you play and the state of the grooves when you hit it. A urethane ball on a clean, dry face with a mid-wear wedge will out-spin a brand-new wedge hitting a firm two-piece ball out of wet grass, every time, by a margin that dwarfs the difference between these two models. That's worth holding in mind while comparing spin claims, because it reframes the purchase. You are choosing between two good wedges whose real-world difference is small, and the larger gains sit in the ball you've already chosen and the towel you're not using. ## Which one you should buy **Buy the Vokey SM11 if you're getting fitted, or if you already know your grind.** The range is the product. If someone is going to measure your attack angle and match a sole to your turf, this is the wedge with the most options to match into, and that's worth more than any other difference here. **Buy the MG5 raw if you practise heavily off mats.** Spin durability is a real, measurable advantage for high-volume practisers and the group most likely to notice a wedge dying. If you're at a range twice a week, this is your club. **Buy neither if you don't know your bounce.** This is the honest answer for a lot of golfers. Both of these are precision instruments sold on properties you can't use without knowing your own numbers, and a fitting-led option like the [S259](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/ping-s259-wedge) — or simply a session with a fitter before buying either of these — will do more for your short game than choosing correctly between two excellent wedges. **Buy one, not three.** Whichever you choose, your scoring wedge does most of the work and most of the wearing. Replacing the set because one is tired is the standard way to spend three times what the problem required. ## The verdict There isn't a better wedge here, which is why this comparison keeps getting written badly. There's a wedge that suits being fitted and a wedge that suits being hammered. Answer one question — do you practise mostly off mats? — and the choice makes itself. Yes, take the raw MG5. No, get fitted into a Vokey. And if the honest answer is that you don't practise much at all, keep the wedge you've got, clean the face before every shot, and spend the money on the lessons that same survey says golfers buy more of than almost anything else. ## The takeaway Vokey SM11 and TaylorMade MG5 are sold on different premises: Vokey's product is the breadth of bounce and grind options, which only pays off if you get fitted; MG5's raw face holds spin longer through wear, which only pays off if you practise heavily off mats. When both are new, clean and dry, the spin difference between them is smaller than the gap between your own good and bad strikes. Get fitted and take the Vokey; practise off mats and take the raw MG5; and replace only your scoring wedge, not the set. ## FAQ ### Is the Vokey SM11 or the TaylorMade MG5 better? Neither is better outright. Vokey offers a wider range of bounce and grind combinations, which matters if you're being fitted. The MG5's raw face holds its spin longer as it wears, which matters if you practise heavily off range mats. Your practice habits decide it. ### Do raw face wedges rust? Yes, that's by design — there's no plating, so the face oxidises over time. Many players like the look and the fact that spin performance doesn't tail off as a coating breaks down. The practical cost is that the club should be dried rather than left wet in a bag. ### What is wedge bounce and grind? Bounce is the angle of the sole relative to the ground; grind is how that sole is shaped and relieved. Together they decide whether the club digs or glides for your attack angle and turf conditions. Getting them wrong feels bad regardless of how good the wedge is. ### Can I just buy a wedge off the shelf? You can, but with Vokey in particular you'd be declining the main advantage you're paying for, since the range of grinds only helps if something matches you. If you're not going to be fitted, a fitting-led range or a session with a fitter first will do more for your short game than the choice between these two. ## Products mentioned - [Titleist Vokey SM11 Wedge](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/titleist-vokey-sm11-wedge) · $225 approx — Buy for the grind range — that's the actual product - [TaylorMade MG5 Wedge](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/taylormade-mg5-wedge) · $225 approx — Buy for spin durability if you practise heavily off mats - [PING S259 Wedge](https://ifrothgolf.com/product/ping-s259-wedge) · $250 approx — Buy if you'd rather be measured than choose between the two --- Source: [ifrothgolf](https://ifrothgolf.com) — independent golf-gear editorial. Canonical URL: https://ifrothgolf.com/read/vokey-sm11-vs-taylormade-mg5 Quote or cite freely with attribution and a link to the canonical URL.