I just finished playing 18 with a nice young man – 30 years old, struck his woods fairly well. But he gave away at least 12 shots around the greens – full wedges off the toe or high on the face, chunks, duffs, lack of spin. Sometimes technique was to blame. Others, though, I would attribute to the cut-rate wedges in his bag.
Most amateurs miss their wedges in one of three ways: 1) on the toe, 2) high on the face, 3) chunk. So that young man’s misses were textbook.
Wedges that tour pros play are not very good for amateurs with these misses. The top of the face is too thin, so there’s no mass if the ball rolls up the face. MOI is limited, so anything off-center tends to twist the face and kill distance. And if you hit it on the toe, there’s no grooves to provide spin and control.
Cleveland’s new CBX 4 Zipcore Wedges ($170) address every one of these design faults in one fell swoop.
The CBX 4 design is reminiscent of cavity-back irons, with perimeter weighting increasing heel-toe MOI by 7% and high-low MOI by 5.8%. Believe it or not, most of the spin on wedge shots comes from clubhead mass distribution, rather than the grooves. So putting some weight at the top of the clubhead not only increases stability, but also spin.
Not that grooves aren’t important. Cleveland’s Zipcore technology combines deeper, closer-together grooves with HydraZip technology. This one-of-a-kind face blast and laser line pattern boost friction off the face for improved spin consistency from any lie. There is also texturing all the way to the edge of the toe, so even contact totally out on the toe will still get some spin.
Finally, to fight the chunky shots, the CBX 4 wedges all come in three different Dynamic Sole Grind selections, each optimized by loft. All three sole grinds (V-Shaped, S-Shaped, C-Shaped) feature a leading edge design that promotes smoother turf interaction and helps prevent chunking. My old wedges were real gamers, but the leading edges were very sharp. So if I contacted the ground just a fraction before the ball – especially playing on courses with sticky Bermuda turf – they would dig in…chunk! Since putting a couple of CBX 4 wedges in my bag months ago, I can count on one hand the number of chunky chips I’ve hit. Literally, maybe just two, now that I think about it. To maximize your performance, however, I’d recommend researching those three sole grinds and even getting fit for your swing (picker? digger? gouger? – you know who you are).
Cleveland CBX 4 Wedges: The verdict
Bottom line on the Cleveland CBX 4 Wedges is that they will improve your bottom line, i.e., your score. Stop wasting shots around the green, and you’ll be amazed how much lower you shoot. These aren’t “one-hit wonders,” either. They’re designed to help reduce poor shots, but they let you get creative, too. In short, the CBX 4 Zipcore Wedges feature the masterful engineering we’ve come to expect from Cleveland, targeting a wide range of recreational golfers at a very reasonable price point.
Midwestern Golf 