First look: New Cleveland Launcher woods and irons
The all-new Cleveland Launcher woods and irons range aims to help golfers gain more ball speed, distance and control.
The new Launcher range – which includes woods and two sets of irons – comes hot on the heels of the new CBX wedges which are also designed for mid-high handicap players.
We attended Cleveland’s launch event to test them all out for ourselves. Here are our first impressions with more detailed reviews to follow…
Cleveland Launcher HB woods
The first thing I noticed when hitting the new Launcher HB driver was the high launch – so that was a good start!
Cleveland say that this is their longest and most forgiving driver to date and after a few hits it was hard to disagree.
The launcher cup face technology helps increase forgiveness on off centre hits by creating a larger sweet spot, and its lightweight hosel design helps to push the weight lower and deeper in the club.
Cleveland have added something they are calling Flex-Fin technology which acts as a spring on low centre strikes and should still result in good distance.
Cleveland stress that these woods have been specifically designed for golfers who aren’t looking to shape the ball and look for different shots off the tee. There’s no adjustability on the sole or in the hosel.
This is for golfers who want to hit it high and straight every time.
SRPs:
Driver: £279
Fairways: £200
Hybrids: £179
Cleveland Launcher CBX irons
My first impression of the new CBX irons was they had heaps of shelf appeal for a ‘game-improvement’ iron. From a looks point of view they were ticking a lot of boxes.
The shorter irons are more compact, have less offset and a thinner top line, in contrast the longer irons have a longer blade length, more offset and a thicker top line.
Through feel balance technology the weight from the hosel has been moved closer to the centre of the club to better align the sweet spot with the impact pattern. This reduces rotation at impact, gives you a softer feel and helps increase ball speed.
In the longer irons there’s a new cup face design that helps increase ball speed and distance. The progressive V sole design improves feel and overall performance by maintaining speed through the turf without digging in at impact.
One of the main design features of these irons though is the spin technology. The Launcher CBX face is designed to minimize spin drop-off when going from fairway to rough.
The iron grooves are identical to that of the RTX-3 and CBX wedge grooves, resulting in much more control from various lies and improving distance control.
And interestingly they have the loft printed on sole of each iron to make sure you get your gapping right at the top and bottom end of the bag.
SRPs:
Men’s Steel Set (5-PW): £570 (single iron: £95)
Men’s Graphite Set (5-PW): £648 (single iron: £108)
Cleveland Launcher HB irons
If it’s ultra forgiveness and easy launch you are after then the Launcher HB irons should be right up your street.
These hollow construction irons offer even more forgiveness than a cavity back iron with its ultra thin flex face which allows for more weight to be distributed further back and lower in the club.
Cleveland say they have really pushed all the boundaries with these irons to appeal to those who struggle with iron play.
The long irons are more hybrid shaped to give a feeling and shape of better forgiveness, whereas the shorter irons are more iron-like shaped to promote the feeling of better control.
Cleveland say that regardless of the strike location you will see the same results from across the whole face due to the hollow construction design.
SRPS:
Men’s Steel Set (5-PW): £570 (single iron: £95)
Men’s Graphite Set (5-PW): £648 (single iron: £108)
Cleveland Launcher range – NCG verdict
What Cleveland have done here is appeal massively to the golfer who simply wants to hit the ball straight, have more control and improve their distance.
The Launcher range offers that in abundance with its slick technological design features.
Despite Cleveland being more commonly known for its wedges, their longer game products are certainly not one to be overlooked. They all have tremendous shelf appeal and they do exactly what they say they do.
Coming in at a reasonable price point, I expect the Launcher range to be popular with club golfers when available. If you’re someone that struggles to get the ball in the air and wants a bit of added distance – this technology is going to work for you.
More information can be found on the Cleveland website.
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