What pops into your mind when someone says, “hybrid irons”?
Personally, my mind immediately goes to Cleveland Golf. For years now it feels like no one has been as invested in the idea of hybrid irons as Cleveland. In fact, you might even say that in 2012 the 588 Altitudes kicked the door down for the brand in this category, and since then, they have been a committed proponent and innovator of such irons.
Now though, the name of that game for them is Halo XL, and this year they are going Full-Face.
Quick Take
Sure, there is a lot to look at when it comes to the Halo XL Full-Face irons, but as big and in your face as their progressive hollow body size can be, there is an equal amount of fun. With a more streamlined look and better blend of offset, they are the perfect platform for Cleveland to bring the full-face look to irons. Most importantly, they are about as easy to hit high and consistent as you will ever find. They go a long way to making the game more enjoyable.
Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face Irons – Technology Rundown
When you lead new irons with the tagline, “Get Better with Bigger”, then it leaves one with a pretty good notion of what they are about to experience in a golf club. You see, big is exactly the point here, and that all starts with Cleveland’s “XL Head Design”.
The notion behind the XL Head Design not only fits in with all the other releases under the Halo XL umbrella in which bigger means more confidence inspiring, but also in the case of these hollow body irons it means the ability to push boundaries. The size is exactly what is allowing Cleveland to push the limits of perimeter weighting and forgiveness, and within those baselines they have packed the rest with more tech than one would ever expect.
It is within that framework which Cleveland has been able to implement the use of unique weight pads which allow precise placements as well as their “MainFrame Face”, both of which have been driven by the company’s application of AI. The decision to implement AI was an easy one for the brand as it has thousands of simulations which have taken place, testing reactions to the misses which amateurs experience the most.
In the end, Cleveland says they found a blend of increased COR as well as MOI compared to the previous versions of the Halo XL irons. The aforementioned weight pads vary based on which club in the progressive set you are discussing. The MainFrame Face on the other hand uses variable thickness as well as a much expanded sweet spot which runs beyond center mass, extending to the higher toe as well as lower heel section.
That same face is indeed using the brands breakthrough “HydraZip” technology that applies a face blasting system with the lower lofts (4i-7i) being rougher to minimize excess spin for more carry, and the higher lofts (8i-SW) slightly smoother for more spin consistency. If that wasn’t enough, Cleveland has also made the iron grooves Full-Face, adding up to 20% more hitting area, providing a potential boon for the type of golfer most likely to play these.
The progressive nature of the Halo XL has historically been focused primarily on profile, and that is the case here as well, there is also a Three Sole design across the set. The understanding by Cleveland is that this is a set about needs, and for the amateur seeking forgiveness, that changes drastically through a set. So, the long irons (4i-7i) have a full GlideRail design like the Halo XL hybrids allowing better interaction for sweepers. The short clubs (8i-9i) have a V-Shaped Sole which aids hitting down and not digging. Finally, the wedges (PW-SW) use a Three Tiered Sole that brings a combination of bounce and versatility to the set.
All of this is tied up in a bow with the use of Action Mass CB alongside the rest of the 2024 lineup from Cleveland. There is an 8g counterweight placed underneath the grip in the butt end of each golf club in the set. Counterbalance has been long proven to help aid sequencing and thus consistency for amateurs, not to mention the ability to create speed. As you can see, there is no shortage of technology built into these large irons.
Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face Irons – Performance Review
This article, however, is not simply a tech breakdown for a new release. No, THP was able to get 5, 7, and 9 irons from the Halo XL Full-Face set in hand to see just how they perform as well. Yes, they are big, bold, absolutely in your face, and are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but, they aren’t intended to be. They take aim at the group seeking maximum forgiveness and playability, and are willing to let go of looks in its favor.
Even with that in mind, I have to say, I don’t think the looks are bad. While they aren’t my preferred profile, I was thoroughly impressed with this latest evolution visually. In fact, this is the closest to the 588 Altitudes I can remember in look, size, shaping, and offset. Some of you might be wondering how that is a compliment, well, those are the gold standard in taking ultra forgiving and making them palatable in my books. Here, there is much of that DNA, from the oversized almost full hybrid like long irons, to the surprisingly normal looking wedges.
I won’t sit here and try to convince you that these are the best looking things ever, but I will tell you that they let you get away with some pretty terrible swings. It was interesting to get such a varying taste of each because they are so drastically different, yet flow. The 5 iron has a very low face height to it and with the extra thick topline into the HiBore cavity it looks similar to a full hybrid, where the 7 and 9 irons increase each in depth while becoming a traditional game-improvement size.
At impact, the sound changes almost as much as the profiles do, with the 5 iron being the most hollow in its resonance while the other two irons kept a nice crisp metallic leaning feedback that reminded me a lot of the new Halo XL hybrids. It should be of no surprise that given the size, the feedback stays quite similar on strikes across the face. Along with the consistency was some of the highest stability that I have seen in some time, a night and day difference compared to my typical players cavity style irons to be sure.
On the course and off, it was fun to experience two of the three different sole styles within the set as the 5 iron has the full GlideRail setup and the 7 as well as the 9 irons use the V-Shaped sole. Given how big and shallow the 5 irons is, the rails activate easily since there is a natural tendency to want to sweep that one compared to the others. Just as I have seen with the Halo XL hybrids GlideRails, they bring as much versatility to shots in the muck and mire as they do in aiding a gliding sensation on tight lies. As for the V-Shaped irons, I brought a variety of descending angle-of-attacks to work them out and the more aggressive I got, the better they responded. I was quite surprised at how playable the wider soles of the 7 and 9 were, in fact I never anticipated I’d have been able to get that aggressive.
As you can see in the data recorded and placed throughout this section, the Halo XL Full-Face irons are also long. I anticipated more distance, but not as much as I saw. Yes, part of that is them being paired with lighter graphite shafts for testing (UST Helium Nanocore 60), but even then, the clubheads have to maintain efficiency. In the 9 iron there is a level of normalcy at setup and in feedback as well, it’s not outlandish in size so there was an ability to hone in on dialing shots. That said, it was still really hot faced regardless on where my strikes were landing.
Speaking of using the face, as I worked into the 5 and 7 irons I began using more of that surface area as admittedly timing things up shaft wise was something I had to work at since speed wise I’m not the exact demographic for the shaft pairing. But, even in that I saw the things I needed to, and for Cleveland Golf’s sake hoped I would. They want to go. Even when I was working things out onto the toe of the 5 iron, it seemed to fight the twisting, which of course is thanks to the hollow design.
All three of the irons showed enough of themselves to illustrate the blend of needs for golfers like Cleveland Golf intended. The 9 iron brought incredible descents and the ability to take dead aim, things were similar with the 7 iron and despite the somewhat lower spin, descent angles keeping in that 50 degree realm means they will hold greens. As for the 5 iron, I will openly admit that I struggled here a bit in timing because of the setup, as my swing speed began to really go, I fought timing the face. Even so, the things you hope to see for the type of golfer who will fit into these were there, power and speed in a long iron making it possible to get to the green even if you are missing.
For those wondering, the lofts this time around on the Halo XL’s are one degree stronger (5 – 23.0, 7 – 29.0, 9 – 38.0, set plays off a PW – 43.0), but before some of you clinch your fists, both the oversized hollow-body/hybrid iron design allows for that. More importantly the new MainFrame face and its speeds make it necessary to hit proper windows and maximize blending through the set. The faces are no doubt the stars, with the Full-Face being surprisingly perfect for this style in looks and performance, not to mention the HyrdraZip brings incredible consistency despite these not implementing ZipCore. The bottom line is these remain in a class of their own, literally and physically.
The Details
Cleveland Golf is making their new Halo XL Full-Face irons available for pre-order starting 1/15/24 and at retail on 1/19/24. The irons will come standard with either UST Mamiya Helium Nanocore (60 in men’s, 50 in women’s) or KBS Tour Lite. There are as always, a ton of custom options available through Cleveland and they have even designed the irons to be able to be bent for fitting as well as a custom “Accuracy Build” which is ½” shorter and without the counter-balance.
The Halo XL Full-Face irons are available in 4-PW and SW, the price for a 7-piece setup will be $899.99 for steel and $999.99 for graphite. Check out more details at us.dunlopsports.com/cleveland-golf.
