Cleveland Golf Launcher XL2 Driver is a Fairway-Finder

Golfers’ single-minded pursuit of distance at the expense of control reminds me of the way some people – mostly young people – drink the strongest booze possible, flavor be damned, just to “get there” faster. With age, one realizes that savoring a fine bourbon is more enjoyable than slamming shots of swill. And on the golf course, one learns that second shots from the middle of your fairway are more conducive to low scores than from rough, woods, and other fairways.

This is all to say that there is virtue in control. If your golf game is predicated on this axiom – or if your game could perhaps stand a skosh more virtue – the new Cleveland Golf Launcher XL2 Driver is worth a look.

Cleveland has long been known as a top-tier wedge- and putter-maker. In 2024, Cleveland has also debuted outstanding irons, with their ZipCore XL Irons and hybrids, with their XL Hy-Woods. Rounding out the XL line, the Launcher XL2 ($450) brings AI-assisted technology to the tee. The high-tech approach allowed Cleveland’s engineers to identify the spots on the face where amateurs tend to contact the ball (i.e., high/low, and heel/toe), and increase MOI in those regions of the face. This made for a 2% heel/toe MOI boost and a whopping 12% MOI boost on high/low contact. These numbers translate into less yardage lost on off-center hits.

Playing the Cleveland Launcher XL2 Driver

What does this AI-driven design look like on the golf course? I took the Launcher XL2 out for several rounds early this season, when my swing usually feels rusty and fairways feel like foreign lands. Much to my surprise, and delight, I found myself hitting my second shots from short grass at a far higher rate than normal for the time of the season. In fact, I would have been very pleased with the number of fairways hit in every one of these test rounds mid-season. Was it that my swing had somehow weathered the winter better than usual? I don’t think so, because several swings felt cringingly awkward. Still, off went the ball into the fairway.

Don’t get me wrong, there were still a few pulls and pushes – the Launcher XL2 isn’t a cure-all. It must also be said that when it came to “pop” resulting from my best swings and contact, the results were somewhat less than anticipated. Several drives – in admittedly cooler and wetter conditions than normal – ended up about 10 yards shorter than I would have otherwise expected. The XL2’s Rebound Frame technology produces two flex zones for concentrated power, so power wasn’t lacking, per se, but it felt like contact was just a bit soft. This said, the off-center hits ended up about where I would have expected them to. So it was overall a reasonable trade-off.

Here’s where we return to the opening reflection on distance and control: Despite often being first to hit in the foursomes of much younger players than me, I was also often the only one in the fairway, the only one to hit the green, and the one with the lowest score. Ah, the joys of sipping over taking shots.

The verdict on the Cleveland Launcher XL2 Driver

My testing of the Cleveland Launcher XL2 left me extremely impressed with the control it provides. The cool, wet, early-season conditions (and my advancing age) may have been detrimental to its distance performance in my rounds. However, even if there is any lack of “pop,” the ultimate value of a dependable fairway-finder cannot be overstated. If you happen to struggle with a slice, there is also a draw version, and if you REALLY want to go all-in for control, there is a custom control version with a shorter custom shaft.

In short, if you pair this solid big-stick with Cleveland’s excellent irons, hybrids, wedges, and putter, you’ll have a bag top-to-bottom that will allow you to savor every hole, tee to green.