Cleveland makes a surprising, but welcome, re-entry into the Iron Market

Weren’t they just a wedge company? Not anymore, it seems.

By Tony Dear

Its reputation for the last 38 years – ever since Roger Cleveland founded the company in fact, has been based largely on the success of the superb 588 series, first launched in 1988. It introduced the ‘My Custom Wedge’ Program a couple of years ago, and established a schedule of cross-country short-game clinics. Last year, the company launched the highly-acclaimed RTX-3, and published a 184-page (including index and references) book describing every possible facet of the short-game club that made its name.

Yes, it branched out during the ‘90s and first decade of the 21^st century building a number of very good drivers and irons (indeed, one of my favorite ever sets of irons was the TA7) but, the fact remains, Cleveland has long been synonymous with the wedge. As Dunlop Sports stablemate Srixon grew in stature in the US (Srixon bought Cleveland in 2007), so Cleveland’s star plummeted, its market share in the irons and metalwoods categories dropping to roughly 1%. A couple of years ago, it became abundantly clear, Srixon would be the full-line company, building clubs for serious golfers, while Cleveland’s focus would be on short-game clubs.

The company’s return to the iron market was therefore something of a surprise, especially given the quality of the two sets it debuted recently – the Cleveland Launcher CBX and Cleveland Launcher HB – the only two irons sets that appear on the company’s website.

Far from being budget super-game improvement models aimed at casual golfers shopping in department stores, the Launcher CBX is a high-quality iron that’s aimed at the better player but which is priced to differentiate them from Srixon’s irons. Happily, that makes them extremely good value.
“With all of the new CG Launcher products – irons and woods, we really tried to focus strictly on performance,” says Product Manager Zack Oakley. “Anything that adds to the performance of the club, we included. Anything else we took out.”

A lot of clubs these days, Oakley adds, have a lot of bells and whistles that are simply marketing bullet points and which don’t necessarily do anything for performance but add to the cost. “This is a major contributor to iron prices going up,” he says. “And it’s why we can focus on giving golfers real innovations at an exceptional price.”

The Cleveland Launcher HB is similarly-priced to the CBX, and equally good value. Based on the popular HiBore iron released ten years ago, the Launcher HB is a hollow-back design that sends the Center of Gravity (CG) low and deep into the head, making it easy for higher-handicaps to get the ball in the air. “From a design standpoint, the Launcher HB is fairly similar to the HiBore,” says Oakley. “If it ain’t broke, why fix it, right? Quality stock shafts and new innovations, such as the stabilizing ribs in the clubhead which make it easier to bend the club and therefore customize, will improve its performance, however.”

The wide sole; sloping, recessed crown and back; and the high-strength HT1770 steel face insert all combine to launch the ball higher and at faster speed, says Oakley.

The high launch of the HB allowed Cleveland to strengthen the lofts – thus the pitching wedge is just 44 degrees (four fewer than normal), the 7-iron 30 degrees, and the 4-iron 21 degrees. “Standard lofts have gotten stronger in recent years, especially in the Game-Improvement and Super Game-Improvement segments,” says Oakley. “Due to the low CG, these irons make it extremely easy to hit the ball high. Stronger lofts generally make hitting it higher tough for some golfers (less loft, lower launch angle), but with the Launcher HB irons, hitting it high is no problem.”

No one will argue the Cleveland Launcher HB is the prettiest club in the world. But the higher-handicap player who wants to hit the ball high and straight probably won’t be thinking about how his club looks as his ball rises high into the air.

Cleveland Launcher HB Iron Prices

Men’s seven-club set – $700 (steel)
Men’s seven-club set – $800 (graphite)
Women’s seven-club set – $800
Shafts – True Temper Dynamic Gold DST98 (steel), Miyazaki CKUA (graphite)
clevelandgolf.com

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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