All the Gear: New cavity-back wedges from Cleveland
By James Savage
It’s been a really busy week on the equipment front. We were down at Heythrop Park to get a look at the sublime new Mizuno MP-18 irons.
Surely you read the reviews but if not they can be found here. And there’s some more new gear from Mizuno which you can read about below.
We also headed down to Castle Combe to spend time with the guys at Cleveland/Srixon who showed us some exciting new ranges. Some we can talk about, some we can’t.
Look at these beauties from @ClevelandGolfEu the new CBX wedges are a treat⛳️? pic.twitter.com/cstFzOxAQd
— Craig Middleton (@CMiddletonNCG) August 2, 2017
Cleveland CBX wedges
Seems like a logical place to start. Cleveland have a rich heritage in the specialist wedge game. And I really like their thinking with the new CBX line.
They say around 84 per cent of golfers use cavity-back irons but there is a gap in the market for specialist cavity-back wedges.
I completely agree. If you play with a fairly chunky pitching wedge it’s going to be a bit of a jump to a Vokey or Cleveland RTX-3.
The CBX promise a bit more forgiveness with better spin technology than you’d expect from a non-specialist wedge.
[skylab_video id=”125320″]First Look: Cleveland CBX Wedges[/skylab_video]
More information on the CBX, which have an SRP of £109, can be found on the Cleveland website.
New TaylorMade irons spotted
Are driving irons back? Hang on, we asked that last week. I’m calling it, driving irons are back.
Check out the P790 2-iron from TaylorMade.
Look out for this new @TaylorMadeTour P790 2-iron at #wgcbridgestone Are driving irons making a proper comeback? pic.twitter.com/06HloSJyIF
— James Savage (@JamesSavageNCG) August 2, 2017
And with Rory and Justin Rose having their own prototype irons made, TaylorMade have been trying to get Dustin Johnson into their new P730 irons…
More new irons from @TaylorMadeTour These are the P730 which DJ has been testing out. I blame Rory McIlroy… pic.twitter.com/4yXqQKOOht
— James Savage (@JamesSavageNCG) August 3, 2017
We’ll look to bring you more details over the coming weeks on both models.
Meanwhile, Jason Day and Rose have also been spotted using new putters…
Jason Day and Justin Rose had new @TaylorMadeGolf putters in the bag today. White Spider for Day and red TP Chaska for Rose. pic.twitter.com/m2TYlg76hZ
— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) August 3, 2017
Cobra F-Max super game-improvement range
Cobra launched the game-improvement King Oversize models last year so I guess you could call their new F-Max range their latest super game-improvement offering.
We’ve got plenty of off-set and draw bias available in the driver. The irons are equally helpful and are being made offered in One Length models too.
The concept of a 7-iron length throughout the set went down a storm with the F7 and Forged Tour models so it makes sense to offer it here as well.
If anything, I think the concept of single-length irons should appeal more to the higher handicapper looking to improve.
The F-Max driver (£229) is ultra-light to try and increase swing speed with extra weight added to the rear and heel of the head.
Interestingly, they have also added a larger midsize grip as standard. And you can choose between an off-set head and a square one.
Expect similar technology in the fairway woods (£169) and hybrids (£149).
The irons (£499), available in single and variable length, promise to be light and easy to hit with plenty of forgiveness.
We look forward to testing them all out.
More information can be found on the Cobra website.
Mizuno CLK hybrids and S-18 wedges
The new hybrids and wedges from Mizuno may have been overshadowed by the MP-18 irons in their latest launch.
The CLK hybrids (£245) have been launched at the same time as the irons for a reason as when you start stuggling to launch your irons is when you should really thinking about bringing the hybrids into the set.
We’ve got a much stealthier look here than with the blue JPX900 but there’s similar technology in the sole to help get the ball launching with plenty of speed.
The blue S5 wedges were a real winner for Mizuno but they have been replaced with a black version in the S18 (£140) which are a larger more playable alternative to their T7 models – which still have a blue option available.
As ever with Mizuno they have nailed the aesthetics. Look out for our reviews of the performance in the not too distant future…
More information can be found on the Mizuno website.
New Scotty Cameron Futura 5.5M
This new model from Scotty Cameron was inspired by staffer Justin Thomas who asked for a slightly smaller mallet but with plenty of alignment help.
Titleist say the Futura 5.5M (£335) will combine the forgiveness of their high MOI Futura models but with the feel and feedback of a blade.
It could be ideal for those players who want something larger than a blade but smaller than the other Scotty Futura models.
More information can be found on the Scotty Cameron website.
Shotscope V2 GPS watch
We are big fans of the Shotscope game-tracking system as you can see in our recent review here.
But now the Scottish company have added a GPS feature to their offering which means it now has all the game tracking features as before but also acts as a GPS watch.
This is a smart move as if people are going to wear the wristband to track their shots, they may as well have some helpful information displayed as well.
More information on the V2, which has an SRP of £225, can be found on the Shotscope website.
PGA Championship outfits
Seeing as we’ve only got one more major to go, let’s take a look at what out usual suspects will be wearing at Quail Hollow.
The only positive of a big break between the PGA and the Masters is being spared the ‘scripting’ alerts…
The Mizuno MP-18 irons are here – and we’ve played with them
Equipment: Cobra One Length irons review – big-hitter comparison
Equipment: Cleveland RTX-3 wedges review
James Savage
Former equipment editor of NCG. Inconsistent ball-striker and tea-maker.
