2018 Official Forum Member Review - Cleveland Launcher HB/CBX Irons

[ole gray]

12 hours ago, 3putter said:

Gonna give it a few more rounds, weather permitting. Hit some really nice shots yesterday. If it continues, I will adjust 1 club. Good advice, thanks.

Yea that sounds like a good plan.   Sometimes it takes several rounds to adjust to a new set of clubs.  Especially when they have the big butts like the HBs have and you're use to the conventional look.  Once you get em dialed in, you'll be having more fun than a cat in a minnow bucket. 

[3putter]

Finally had some decent weather today and played in an outing.  Was very impressed with the HBs. Slight misses only lost marginal distance  or were off line minimally. They are very forgiving and solid feeling.  It seems that the problems I was having with them early on was what appeared to be a square clubface  to me actually wasn't. I have never been a fan of hybrids and don't consider these a set of hybrid irons. They do have wide bottoms but they are and play like irons not hybrids. All in all I feel a lot better about my recent purchase and will provide a more detailed update after another round.

[ole gray]

16 hours ago, 3putter said:

Finally had some decent weather today and played in an outing.  Was very impressed with the HBs. Slight misses only lost marginal distance  or were off line minimally. They are very forgiving and solid feeling.  It seems that the problems I was having with them early on was what appeared to be a square clubface  to me actually wasn't. I have never been a fan of hybrids and don't consider these a set of hybrid irons. They do have wide bottoms but they are and play like irons not hybrids. All in all I feel a lot better about my recent purchase and will provide a more detailed update after another round.

 

  It gets better.....     Of course you will have an occasional golfing round from hell as they are certainly not bullet proof however for the most part, these puppies will get you through with a smile on your face.   Hang in there partner as the good stuff has yet to come!

[Reesedw]

On 10/28/2018 at 5:00 AM, ole gray said:

Especially when they have the big butts

OG I thought you liked big Butts... LOL

[Wedgie]

Finally had some decent weather today and played in an outing.  Was very impressed with the HBs. Slight misses only lost marginal distance  or were off line minimally. They are very forgiving and solid feeling.  It seems that the problems I was having with them early on was what appeared to be a square clubface  to me actually wasn't. I have never been a fan of hybrids and don't consider these a set of hybrid irons. They do have wide bottoms but they are and play like irons not hybrids. All in all I feel a lot better about my recent purchase and will provide a more detailed update after another round.

I’m happy to hear they are getting better for you. I honestly have to play close attention to setting the club face square each shot or I will lose them right as well.


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[ole gray]

12 hours ago, Reesedw said:

OG I thought you liked big Butts... LOL

Those big butts will get er done!  

[3putter]

Played last week during a warm but very wet day. Have to pay attention to clubface to make sure it is square not open.  Conditions were poor but iron play is improving. Unfortunately, I am watching the snow fall with almost 3 inches down already.  Don't know when I will be able to play. Monitoring of the irons will be on hold for now.

[Wedgie]

Time to revive this thread for the holidays now that the Launcher HB irons have won the Most Wanted SGI category. Really not surprised by this as testing proved them to be great for ole gray and I. Now if we can get a head-to-head against all categories of Most Wanted Iron winners that would be fun.


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[Jon Brittan]

19 minutes ago, Wedgie said:

Time to revive this thread for the holidays now that the Launcher HB irons have won the Most Wanted SGI category. Really not surprised by this as testing proved them to be great for ole gray and I. Now if we can get a head-to-head against all categories of Most Wanted Iron winners that would be fun.

I keep trying to persuade my father to try these, but he has a mental block. He's convinced his Ping G10s don't suit him and keeps trying to pull the Hogan Ft Worth Black's from my bag...

 

That said, a test against the other "Most Wanted" irons would have to take a slightly different format. In the standard tests then by all reasonable rights, these should win as they should be the most consistent and consistently straight irons out of all of the groups. However, that's not what someone legitimately playing player's irons is looking for as they should be fairly consistent anyway.
If you were to compare these against the other groups of irons then both distance and lateral dispersion should be one part of the package, but you'd need to find a way to effectively test "workability" too... Maybe say "Hit five shots at x -6* launch angle" then "Hit five shots at x+6* launch angle", then "Hit five shots with an 8 yard draw", "Hit five shots with an 8 yard fade"...

These should default win a "What's the most consistent and straightest" competition, but that doesn't mean they fulfill the needs of every golfer.

Edited November 27, 2018 by Jon Brittan

[Wedgie]

I keep trying to persuade my father to try these, but he has a mental block. He's convinced his Ping G10s don't suit him and keeps trying to pull the Hogan Ft Worth Black's from my bag...
 
That said, a test against the other "Most Wanted" irons would have to take a slightly different format. In the standard tests then by all reasonable rights, these should win as they should be the most consistent and consistently straight irons out of all of the groups. However, that's not what someone legitimately playing player's irons is looking for as they should be fairly consistent anyway.
If you were to compare these against the other groups of irons then both distance and lateral dispersion should be one part of the package, but you'd need to find a way to effectively test "workability" too... Maybe say "Hit five shots at x -6* launch angle" then "Hit five shots at x+6* launch angle", then "Hit five shots with an 8 yard draw", "Hit five shots with an 8 yard fade"...
These should default win a "What's the most consistent and straightest" competition, but that doesn't mean they fulfill the needs of every golfer.

Keep pushing your dad to try them. He will thank you at some point. I get that these clubs aren’t for everyone but man there should be a lot more people playing this type of club.


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[Jon Brittan]

19 minutes ago, Wedgie said:

Keep pushing your dad to try them. He will thank you at some point. I get that these clubs aren’t for everyone but man there should be a lot more people playing this type of club.

 

Oh, I'll get him there eventually

And, I agree.
I play blades myself initially because I wanted clubs that would force me to practice consistently to be able to use them and where I wouldn't get any performance until I was doing it fairly well because, for me, I had an end goal and didn't care what my outcomes were until I got there. I'm also the type of person who will spend 20 minutes to 2 hours every night hitting balls in my practice net.

My father, these days, plays golf once a month, maybe and doesn't swing a club in between those occasions. He then tries to grab a thin blade from my bag and makes a hash of it consistently.
For him, I'm sure he'd enjoy his occasional rounds more with something like these...

[ole gray]

No doubt these are the most forgiving irons I have ever gamed, bar none!  They just flat out perform and if you're not a low handicapper and have not given these a thought, you must enjoy getting your arse kicked by the game of golf.  Seriously......

 

[ole gray]

I'll keep popping back in here proclaiming my love for these irons because for me, they just flat out perform.  I won 3 of 4 greenies last Tuesday. My buddies said they were going to wrestle these clubs away from me.....   Yup these puppies bark like a champion blue tic!

 

I will say I'm disappointed that Cleveland did not option a 3 iron in the mix.  I love the 4 iron and having the option of bagging a 3 would be heaven on earth!   Well at least in the golfing scheme of things. 

[russtopherb]

I'm guessing the majority of golfers who would put these in their bag wouldn't dream of playing a 3i, leaving that for a hybrid or fairway wood. Wouldn't make sense to manufacture a club that so few golfers would want, so I can see why they don't offer it. 

[Wedgie]

I'm guessing the majority of golfers who would put these in their bag wouldn't dream of playing a 3i, leaving that for a hybrid or fairway wood. Wouldn't make sense to manufacture a club that so few golfers would want, so I can see why they don't offer it. 

Same could be said for the 4 iron but once you hit the 4 iron in this set you will want a 3 iron too.


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[ole gray]

3 hours ago, russtopherb said:

I'm guessing the majority of golfers who would put these in their bag wouldn't dream of playing a 3i, leaving that for a hybrid or fairway wood. Wouldn't make sense to manufacture a club that so few golfers would want, so I can see why they don't offer it. 

 

The 4 iron is easier to hit than any hybrid I have ever bagged and I love hybrids. It looks like a hybrid and plays like a hybrid so a 3i in the set would basically be another easy to hit iron er hybrid or whatever ....   Love em! 

[ole gray]

20 minutes ago, Wedgie said:

 

Same could be said for the 4 iron but once you hit the 4 iron in this set you will want a 3 iron too.


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Heck the 4 iron plays like a 7 iron in terms of playability.   I bet a 2 iron in the HB's would be awesome for tight courses. 

[Wedgie]

Went to True Spec and this will serve as my 6 month update:

Grant,

Thank you for coming into our studio this afternoon. I hope you enjoyed the experience of a True Spec iron fitting and felt like we identified beyond a shadow of a doubt your Cleveland Launcher HB irons were the best overall solution for what you're looking for at this stage in your game.

While you originally had some concerns about the lie angles of your current irons, the GC Quad report (attached) show that you're consistently delivering a neutral lie angle at impact. Additionally, you were hoping to find a setup that was more forgiving, and while certain combinations changed the dynamics of the ball flight, I feel confident that the numbers you're producing are optimal for your swing signature.

Sure, the Callaway Rogue Irons gave you 3 more mph of ball speed, but they also launched 4 degrees lower and had a whopping 8.5-9.0 degrees lower dynamic loft at impact. While they fly almost 10 yards farther, they are coming in so shallow (38-39 degrees) with about 600 rpm of spin less that you won't have any luck stopping the ball coming into the green. The best combination of forgiveness, launch, speed, and consistency was achieved using your Cleveland gamers. Best of all, you got them from MyGolfSpy!!

I'm really interested to have you back and get fit for a Driver. The XXIO line is notoriously very easy to hit, so I'm up for the challenge of trying to beat it and find a more permanent solution for your tee ball. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. Bunch of new gear is coming out soon so next time you're in we should have some new toys!

Thanks,
SF


True Spec Golf
Shaun Fagan
Master Club Fitter

413-454-2726

TrueSpecGolf.com

The guys there were great and I would highly recommend them to anyone. I’m sure I will build a relationship with them as I round out other parts of my bag. I can provide monitor data if anyone is still paying attention to this thread.




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[Nunfa0]

That's very cool, I love that they didn't try to sell you on the rogues and admitted that your clubs are the best solution for you. Sounds like my kind of store

[Wedgie]

That's very cool, I love that they didn't try to sell you on the rogues and admitted that your clubs are the best solution for you. Sounds like my kind of store

 

They were really good guys and I feel very honest. They asked what my top priority was and I told them scoring. That is why we ended up keeping things as is. They said they get guys that only care about distance or looks. They don’t judge, they try to get you what you ask for. Frankly after shaft testing I settled in on the steel fiber i80 which is 10 grams lighter than what I game so if those where in the launchers distance would have been very similar. They also said the Rogue was like my 5 irons. They had never had anyone in that had Launchers and they were surprised at the spin numbers these put up. Best of the bunch by far.

 

 

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