2020 Official Member Review: Cleveland RTX Zipcore wedges

[Shankster]

Have to work tomorrow night... might sneak out for 18 tomorrow.

[BrownBearGolf]

I’ve got to stop thinking that this wedge will generate more spin than my gamers. Now I’ve got to focus on how it feels at impact.  The pictures below were on full swings from fairway approx 75-80 yards. With two drastically different results. 

[dhartmann34]

Really struggling with this wedge in full shots. Ball is not going as far as my other 58* wedge. Chipping around the green is a struggle. Ball doesn't want to come off the face as I expect it to. I don't want to take super aggressive motions for a 20 yard chip/pitch. That's really the hard part for me. If I don't hit this hard on chips, it doesn't go anywhere....

 

But it's extremely easy to get out of the rough.

 

Two sides I'm weighing heavily.

 

No extra backspin. Seems to hit and stop on most shots, Which is pretty typical for me. No actual backspin for a few feet going on.

 

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[TBT]

I had my 50* RTX ZipCore reshafted and the lie adjusted.....I pulled the Recoil shaft out of my Cobra wedge and had it installed in the Cleveland and had the lie adjusted to my 2* up specs.

WOW! What difference! I’m hitting the ball in the center of the face and I’m now hitting my normal 3 yard draw instead of blocking shots 10 yards right.

I also am hitting it about 8-12 yards further on full swing shots and I’m generating more spin based on the reaction around the greens in the short game area.

I played DG spinner shafts before and always found them a little “whippy” which cost me distance and spin.....this is a whole different club with this new set up......more to come after my round tomorrow,


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[dhartmann34]

I will say that the 58* was money for my 50-85 yard shots during my match on Sunday morning. Scorched my opponent and set the course record for that 9...and my personal best ever.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[mr.hicksta]

On 9/6/2020 at 7:26 PM, dhartmann34 said:

 

No extra backspin. Seems to hit and stop on most shots, Which is pretty typical for me. No actual backspin for a few feet going on.

 

This line captures almost exactly what I'm seeing. On the eyeball test, the RTX4 seems to be generating a lot more backspin, especially on 3/4 swings. I'm also finding that the additional 3* of bounce is more of a hindrance for my game. I'm going to start hammering out the review this week and I'll keep putting in work with the ZipCore! 

[Shankster]

I will be tied up all week.  No golf this week, unless a miracle happens.  Maybe Sunday.  I’ll look to get some more thoughts and information up early next week sometime.

[Reesedw]

OK, It's been crazy the last week or so but I did get out last weekend. Played with SWMBO and had a great day. SWMBO shot a personal best 92 breaking 100 for the 1st time.. I was very proud of her.. 

Moving on to the Wedge.. I was more impressed with this wedge. I hit several shots that saved par and a couple that gave me birdies.. I hit a 40 yd chip that landed 2 ft past the hole 1 hopped and stopped within 3 inches of it's ball mark.. Nothing really spun back, but 3-4 that one hopped landed and came back an inch or two which was very confidence building.. I was able to throw the ball into the green and knew it was going to stop.. I am getting used to the heavier feeling, but occasionally I notice that it feels late getting through the ball.. When that happens I am usually Shorter than expected... But all in all I am loving the the Ball flight and Spin that I am noticing which is something I don't normally see..

[dhartmann34]

Going to play in a couple hours. Been raining a lot the past few days and the cool weather has set in. I'll be interested to see how the 58* works off of the wet, soft ground.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[TBT]

Played last Sunday for the first time since I re-shafted my RTX ZipCore 50* wedge. Getting the club adjusted to my specs of + 3/4” and 2* up made a HUGE difference!

With the standard shaft and lie I was blocking a lot of shots right and missing several greens which is not good with a wedge in your hand.

Sunday I hit 9 total shots with the RTX ZipCore and was inside 15 feet on all of them! 5 shots were inside 8 feet and 2 were inside 3 feet with one that was a kick in birdie.

The ball flight was much better and it seemed like I was generating quite a bit more spin.

I was on the fence and whether or not this was going to stay in my bag after the test, but if it keeps performing like this it’s not going anywhere.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[Shankster]

Fly Like the Wind Bullseye

Another day in paradise today.  Short game area was rather full when I got there today.  But the chipping green was empty.  I normally do not chip with a PW/46° club, but it was blowing like the gales of November out there (that’s for my Yooper friends)... 

 

Anyways, I found the Zipcore to perform rather well on the chip shots.  A nice firm, authoritive connection between ball and club.  My phone was on 1% at the time, so I didn’t even attempt to take any pictures.  But from 15 yards, I was putting them in the friend zone for a gimme. 
 

[fozcycle]

Played Champions Gate National just outside Orlando yesterday. On the ninth hole, Par 4, I was laying 2, just 10 yards off the green down the embankment. Pulled my 58* Zipcore, took a practice 1/2 swing, then pop......watched the ball hop up to the green then roll 4 yards and drop in the hole!


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[Shankster]

Looking to put a bow on this review soon.  Are there any lingering questions out there?

[artful_golfer]

My fellow Spies and ZipCore allies: I apologize that my ZipCore posts have been MIA the last couple of weeks. I was tasked with sorting through, packing and cleaning my parents home of 57 years all by myself. Then I created 30 inventory videos of everything still stored in the house in preparation for a renter. I made it through in time and now I can concentrate on golf and ZipCore again.

I haven't been able to actually play much and when I did I was too tired to focus very well. I have a practice setup inside my house that I used instead. I'll create and post a video of that to share. It helps me.

A couple of weekends ago I participated in an ABCD Scramble tournament. I had the honor of being our D player. The opportunity to use my 46° ZipCore arose only once (below is a video an accommodating team member made). We are 65 yards from the 18th pin, a par five. Sorry my ball hitting the green is cut off at the end. My awesome team tied for 2nd with 11 birdies.

 

[fixyurdivot]

On 8/11/2020 at 8:24 PM, artful_golfer said:

The reason we decided to blow the grip on was because I'm not sure if 1 inch off is enough. We can remove this grip and reuse it. But we had so much trouble that my husband did plead with me to "just do it the normal way". We first tried a hacksaw on the shaft but it didn't even leave a scratch on that shiny steel. I was desperate to keep trying when my husband remembered our Dremmel tool. It got quite hot but worked.

Great work on the video and shaft length modification!  Did you just match the length of your current wedge(s)?

[artful_golfer]

1 hour ago, fixyurdivot said:

Great work on the video and shaft length modification!  Did you just match the length of your current wedge(s)?

Thanks. It was a guesstimate and leap of faith. My husband questioned me 3 times "do you really want 1 inch off, you know you can't change it?" And every time I replied I was sure that it was a good length to start with. I compared the length of the men vs ladies avg wedge shaft length on the Cleveland website. From that I knew I needed to trim at least 1 inch. All of my 4 wedges are Cleveland men's and all have been trimmed 1 inch. I have a tendency to grip down to the middle-to-lower part of the grip on all of my clubs anyway so the lengths work for me. I say they work, but I don't have anything else to compare them to know any difference.

[StrokerAce]

I've had some tougher than expected bunker shots recently and have made some really surprising and fantastic saves. ball comes out with a lot of spin and comes off the face really nice.

I've also kind of figured out how to hit a check down zipper that hops and and stops - did it on 18 today with a 54 from 82 yards and was able to make the birdie putt for my only birdie of the day.   

[GolfSpy_BOS]

I've had some tougher than expected bunker shots recently and have made some really surprising and fantastic saves. ball comes out with a lot of spin and comes off the face really nice.
I've also kind of figured out how to hit a check down zipper that hops and and stops - did it on 18 today with a 54 from 82 yards and was able to make the birdie putt for my only birdie of the day.   

You had several really good *zippy* shots around the green! Bunker play was awesome.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[artful_golfer]

2 hours ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:

I've also kind of figured out how to hit a check down zipper that hops and and stops - did it on 18 today with a 54 from 82 yards and was able to make the birdie putt for my only birdie of the day.   

What is a check down zipper that hops and stops?

[TBT]

Got out for a quick 9 last night, played my normal round and since the course was empty I dropped 10 balls on the 9th fairway at various spots and played them all into the green.

During the round I hit 4 shots with my RTX ZipCore *50 wedge.

First let me say again, this is a completely different club since I got it set to my specs, I put my old wedge shaft into it which lengthened it by 3/4” and had it bent 2* up. This got rid of the extreme toe strikes that I was seeing and eliminated the big block to the right...just goes to show the importance of getting fit for every club in the bag.

1st shot - 89 yards to a back pin on a small ridge, narrowed my stance, moved the ball all the way back and made a “9 o’clock” swing for you Pelz guys ....trapped the ball so it came out low with a medium high trajectory with LOTS of spin....it landed about 25 feet short of the pin took one bounce and checked HARD! it basically stopped dead after the first bounce and left me 12 feet up the slope for birdie.

2nd shot - 112 yard to a pin tucked over a bunker on the left side of the green. Lined up about 20 feet right of the pin made a full swing. The ball launched very high with a slight draw it cleared the bunker landed just short of pin high took 2 hops and then spun back a few feet to the left leaving me a 17 foot birdie putt.

3rd shot was my first time using this wedge from a bunker, I hooked a 6 iron approach shot and hit a deep bunker on the far left of the green with the pin on the back right...so I had a 35 yard bunker shot. Set up for a chunk and run type shot.....well I got more chunk than run....ball came out soft and only went about 20 yards and landed soft with no run out leaving me a long 40+ foot putt to try and save t par. (This was definitely caused by a bad swing,,,first time hitting from a bunker with this wedge and it dug deeper into the sand than I expected)

4th shot - laid up to 104 yards on a par 5, pin was right center and in front of a small ridge. I lined up for a slight draw put a nice smooth swing on the ball...beautiful ball flight..nice tight draw...ball landed pin high and bounced into the ridge and spun back to 4 feet! Yes I made the birdie!

As I mentioned earlier there was nobody behind me since I was out late, so I dropped 10 balls (some in not so good condition) at various spots from 120 yards to 45 yards. All shots hit the green with a couple within a couple of feet.

I love the looks of this wedge, nice classic shape the grooves look great and inspire confidence at address.

I have plans to play 18 holes Sunday before my final review next week, I’ll give you a slight hint of my thoughts... I just ordered a 54* and a 58* to replace my current wedges.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[artful_golfer]

 A couple of weeks ago I met with the pro at my club to get advice on the lie of my ZipCore wedge. I have a tendency to hit low and toward the toe with all of my clubs. I wanted to know if trimming the shaft improved the lie or if it needed more tweaking.

He had me hit off a bounce board. I've never done that before, very interesting. That's the highest I've ever watched my ball soar. The result was that the mark on the tape on the bottom of my wedge straddled the center line in the same spot every time. Sorry I didn't think about taking a photo of the tape before he removed it from my club and tossed it. He said that the shorter length plus that I usually grip down to the mid-to-lower part of the grip made the lie flat so we left it as is. We only tested the ZipCore but I assume that my other Cleveland wedges would have the same results.

The mark also showed that I have a tendency to be what the pro call a "sweeper". I said yep, that's me. I rarely leave a divot.

The pro also gave me a couple of setup adjustments to improve my accuracy. My shots going where I envision I'm aiming has never been my strength. So now I have been trying to use his tips to practice my aim with my wedges (some times it helps). What can I say - I'm an inconsistent amateur!

I'm playing in a team scramble tomorrow. Two men and one woman on each team. My team is all seniors! Hopefully I will get to use my "Zippy" and see if my accuracy improvement decides to show up.

[Shankster]

Consistency is Key

Friday round planned.  This is the “earn the spot in the bag or not” round.  
 

I was at the range on Saturday for a bucket... got lost on my way to Lowe’s somehow, and had a car full of golf gear... how does that happen?

 

Still really consistent in the distance area, something I had it pegged as not as good as a CB gamer PW. Fairing really well, there is some real world testing from a mediocre golfer on the set vs specialty wedge. Being that it is a full swing club for me, most of the time, it really shines on well struck shots. But the slightly off shots are not punished as much as say my 58° wedge, if I miss toe or high with it, I am short of target every time. Not present with the ZipCore.

 

I will post up a post round assessment... but you’ll have to wait for a few to find out if it makes it to the tool kit permanently.

[mr.hicksta]

Poking around the Cleveland website today I've got to say, the new tour rack finish and all the available customization options are intriguing to say the least! As for the test wedge, I really wish I would've went with the 60 Mid as I believe it would've yielded slightly different results for me. Just a couple random thoughts as I finish up this review!

[artful_golfer]

1 hour ago, mr.hicksta said:

Poking around the Cleveland website today I've got to say, the new tour rack finish and all the available customization options are intriguing to say the least! As for the test wedge, I really wish I would've went with the 60 Mid as I believe it would've yielded slightly different results for me. Just a couple random thoughts as I finish up this review!

I've been looking also. I love the new black satin finish! Very Classy!

[tchat07]

Played my final round before my final review and Zipcore decided to show out a little on the 18th hole. Hit a low spinny shot to 2 feet for a par save. Had the beautiful hop-hop-stop that I've been looking for since we received these to test. Final report coming this Friday!

Sent from my SM-G950U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[tchat07]

Final review is posted! https://forum.mygolfspy.com/index.php?/topic/39960-2020-Official-Member-Review:-Cleveland-RTX-Zipcore-wedges#entry667854

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

 

 

 

 

[mr.hicksta]

My final review is up!

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/39960-2020-official-member-review-cleveland-rtx-zipcore-wedges/?do=findComment&comment=667862

[Shankster]

Review is up!  Enjoy! 

[dhartmann34]

You guys did incredible with your reviews. I don't have the picture taking skills or visions that you guys have. Really great job folks! 

[BrownBearGolf]

October 4^th, 2020

What an amazing experience.  I've learned so much and actually improved my USGA handicap!  Link to full review here!:

Full Video Review to be posted in the next 48 hours. 

Thank you, again, to My Golf Spy and to Cleveland Golf and to the other testers whom helped me as this was my first review for MGS.  Well done everyone!