The Cleveland Golf lineup came back with a bang a couple of weeks ago with the launch of their new Launcher XL drivers and fairway woods. One area where this company has been at the forefront of innovation has been the hollow body and specifically the category of hybrid irons.
What started with the Altitude line back in 2013, the hybrid iron segment has continued to grow and today bringing their latest iteration with the Cleveland Launcher XL Halo irons. Before we dive into our full video review, let’s show off some of the tech specs.
The lineup comes complete with either the True Temper XP 90 steel shafts or the Project X Cypher iron shafts. An interesting note is that if you are someone that struggles with the length of irons, the Cleveland Launcher XL Halo irons can be ordered in what is called “Accuracy Build” where the clubs are a half inch shorter across the board. By going with this setup, you would lose the Action Mass CB, which is an 8g weight placed inside the butt end of the grip to deliver more balance.
In our THP Tech Studio video below we kick it off with some Cleveland Launcher XL Halo irons tech talk from an overhead view. From there, we hop into the hitting bay where you will see all of the swings and then finally we sit down in table view and breakdown the data from the swings you saw.
After watching the video above, what are your thoughts on the Halo irons?
The Details
In Stores: 8/20/21 for Graphite and 9/17/21 for Steel
Cost: $899 for Graphite and $799 for Steel
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360
Great observations, Et Tu Brute. I found on the HB3’s, the PW and 9 iron, the ball goes no where as well. It’s kind of weird. Look forward to the Cleveland demo day in two weeks to check out these clubs, especially, the high lofted ones.
Also I don’t remember the wedge soles to be that wide. I thought when I bought the CBX wedges that the CBX soles were wider than the Tude wedge soles. But never wrote down my measurements.
We have a newer Galaxy as well as older one in the area nearby. Neither carry Cleveland clubs other than wedges.been this way for probably 5 years now.
I guess they can’t carry everything, even though more choices would be nice. Atleast, our GG had the Turbos, Trails and Launchpads. That was all new at beginning last year. Typically, it is mostlly Ping, TM and Callaway.
Good Points and If you are Good golfer you probably are NOT looking at these!
Yeah the extremely light shafts and counterbalancing pretty much save me from even having any curiosity about them. That kind of thing is a complete non-starter with my tempo issues.
I understand what you’re saying, and you’re right, most probably aren’t, but I’ll counter with this… a lot more “good” golfers should be playing a set like this than do. Ego is a thing.
I’m not a great player, but I’m not horrible either. I play off a 12.6 from the white tees. I don’t consider that being good, but it’s not far from it.
Im 67 years old though, and although I can get close to 150 with my very strongly lofted 7 iron, I need to hit my iron shots higher. These enable me to do that. So for a good Senior player, they’re worth looking at.
I play very few rounds “for fun.” Almost every time it’s either a money game, a league comp, or tournament. There’s always a buy in, never less than $20, most times a lot higher. Side bets are as high as agreed upon. So I’m not looking to impress anyone with my WITB, and no one is looking to impress me. We’re all looking to get inside the other guys pocket, that’s it. Nobody cares who plays blades, Player distance, or GI irons.
We play what gets the ball in the hole the quickest. ?
I went into a local pga store today to hit these again also, since I knew they’d be “out”.
I was surprised to hear they didn’t have any demos yet? They had one LH set on the wall, and it was 5-DW also, and in Senior flex, no less!
The salesman taped up a 7 and I hit about 25 balls into a net. I’m in love with these things. ?
When I got home, I called Cleveland to ask about the lead time on them, and was told stock orders placed pre release or today would ship by the middle of next week.
Do you have the regular shaft, did you demo the sr? I wonder low long it would take for a special order, +1/2 inch. I’m also a sr golfer and look forward to a lighter shaft. If they got rid of the hook bias, it will be an amazing club.
I demoed them 3x this week, and placed an order after the 2nd time, lol.
I think we talked the other day, and you asked about hook bias and some other numbers. I didn’t have my spin numbers, but today the average was 5150 with the 7 iron. No hook bias at all for me any of the 3 days I hit them.
I hit the regular flex the first day along with the A flex. I could’ve gone regular, but I’d be right on the edge (86mph SS with the driver), so at age 67 and not getting any faster ? going with the A flex seemed to make sense. That’s what I went with.
FYI after checking the specs on the Cleveland website, the A is 59g, the R is 61, and the S is 62. One other thing I liked was that after the first day when I hit the 4, 7 and PW, I could only hit the 7 the next two. Each day I hit it though, I got an additional yard or two. Obviously that won’t continue, but it leads me to think there’s more I can get from them as I become familiar with the set.
I’m debating whether or not to get the head covers.
With conventional irons I‘d never consider it. Do you think I need them with this type of set?
So here are my thoughts.
I had the Altitude irons. Their cavity had a sort of flat/matte black color finish that really held up. I believe it was some type of a baked on, not painted on finished because it never really flaked off. But over many years of use would sort of wear off but having said that it held up really good. No covers needed really.
With the HB Launchers they used a satin black paint that wore off pretty quickly. Also the paint on the soles wore really easily too. I bought a 5 and 6i and after a round or two the paint began to wear.
With the HB Turbos, the cavity paint was more of a flat finish that held up better than the Launchers but not as good as the Altitudes.
I haven’t seen the Halo’s yet, so I can’t comment on their cavity finish.
I guess if you wanted to play it safe, snag the head cover set Cleveland usually sells for around $40-50 and see what you think
Here’s what I was describing in my previous post:
Altitude wear (wish they would go back to this finish) – I bagged the Tudes for about 4-5 seasons and they never got any worse looking than this and held up really well.
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HB launcher wear
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HB Turbo wear
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Guess it all depends on how much wear you can tolerate looking at. That will be up to the individual.
I don’t think they are needed. But, then again. I have my original head covers from the HB3 set and like them.
Thanks for taking the time to post the pics, I appreciate it.
I got a great deal on my set, so I decided to spring for the headcovers.
You we’re right, $49.99 if I decide I don’t want them, I can always list them on the bay…
I ordered a set a few minutes ago. I like to take care of my clubs, but I also know the way I am, if they’re a pita, I’ll use them a round or two and say screw this and never use them on the course again.
Worst case scenarios, I’ll either resell them or put them on when I’m traveling or driving from SC to Long Island.
I think our video shows off a number of different things, which illustrates how far hybrid irons have come.
How might these work for sweepers? I can hit some pretty fat shots as well and have been using the Launcher HB’s this year and they seem to have more forgiving turf interaction than traditional irons.
I think they can work just fine. I think the rails themselves will have a bit less impact, but the clubs themselves with their wider soles and deep weight along with solid perimeter weighting will be very forgiving.
I bet they’d be an absolute blast to play. Heck, I’ll even volunteer to test ‘em 90 days for THP.
JB, Has Cleveland mentioned why the set wedges do not have the rails ? I thought the cobra T-Rail irons with their set wedges having the rails was a pretty neat idea. At night sometimes I lay awake missing those set wedges ?
Just an aside, I wonder how happy Titleist is with this video? As much as the boys talked up the T300’s, the Halo’s blew them away in every category.
These two sets we’re my top choices a month ago, and I went with the Halos. So far I’m very happy with my choice.
If my local shop ever gets these in I will give them a shot. I’m pretty happy with my Cobra OL set, but these are definitely intriguing for a high handicapper like myself.
Hey SC LEFTY, Have you played with them yet? Just ordered my set at GG and it’s due for delivery in 2-3 weeks. I demo’d them at a driving range and noticed it was hot with a very high launch. Hopefully, not too high where you lose distance. But, it went very STRAIGHT!
The whole line up felt great. I particulary liked the Lite driver and 5 wood.
Congratulations, I think you’re going to be very happy. What makeup did you go with? I’m 4-PW.
I’ve played 4 rounds with mine, and I love them so far. My confidence with these is off the charts right now, which is a 180* from how I felt with my prior set. I’m getting the same distance I was with my much more strongly lofted Rogue X irons, probably because these are so much easier for me to hit higher. The forgiveness is as advertised, and my scoring has been really good. *you’re going to love these for chip and pitch shots, they are so easy, it’s like cheating.*
I haven’t hit any of the woods in the Halo line yet, but I’m pondering a Halo launcher 3 hybrid. If I can get similar results with an 18* that I do with the 20* 4 iron, I might take out my 5 wood.
Thanks! I also got the 4-PW, in store they are selling 5-D. Glad to hear this is going to be good. My chipping can use some help. I’m sure the hybrids will be good. Curious about the hywood which is labeled 3+
When you talk about hitting them higher, how high is that? I only ask because I have played the T-Rails and found that they launch too high. I almost 60 and I have no problem gaming hybrid irons. But, I was losing distance and hitting moon shots with the short irons and wedges in the T-Rails.
@Carolina Golfer I recommend you do the same… very easy on and off and they eliminate just about all the chatter in my bag.
I wasn’t hitting my Rogue X irons high enough, I can tell you that. What’s too high for you might feel right for me, but I think I know what you’re talking about though with the t rails.
I had the same thing happen to me with my friend’s Altitudes when I hit a few balls years ago with them. These are nothing like that. I think it’s more a case of the ball getting up very quickly than too high with these, if that makes sense? It was a very strange “look” to me at first because of how low I was hitting the X’s.
I’ve had a few people who played previous versions tell me to avoid the set D wedge though, because that does seem to balloon for a lot of players. I can’t speak to that myself however, because I play a 50* CBX wedge in that spot.
Remember what I told you two weeks ago, each of the first 3 days I tested the 7, I hit it a little further. I think that was a combination of getting used to the head, and also having the confidence to go after these harder when i saw all the forgiveness they have.
Obviously, that’s since leveled off, but I’m easily getting the same yardage with the 30* halo 7 as I was with the 27* Rogue X, and maybe a couple yards more.
Probably because I’m hitting the halo higher and straighter, but I think the forgiveness has something to do with it also. I’ve gotten a few pretty good shots from some not very good swings.
Thanks. It’s more of what I would term moon shots, especially with the short irons and the PW and GW. The ball launches very high and ends up short.
Yep, I knew exactly what you were talking about.
As I said, the PW has been fine, I’d stay away from the Gap (DW) though. You will get more than enough forgiveness from a 50* CBX wedge if that’s what you need.
Wished they would have used the same shaft in both to get a true comparison.
As for the t300’s it all depends on the fit. If you are somebody who needs some help but hits the ball too high with too much spin the T300s would be a better fit. Mattie whether right or left handed always needs more spin and launch. For him the Halos worked better.
I’m the same way. Need launch and spin. The halos would likely work better for me as well.
Honestly, I think they did Titleist a little dirty, lol.
the better comp would’ve been the Halos and the T400’s. I know they were showing the difference between GI irons vs SGI, but a lot of people might not realize that, and Titleist was kinda hung out to dry.
They gave the T300’s a lot of praise, but I don’t think the boys over at Acushnet are loving this video. ?
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Just for grins you should add a T100 for reference. Also curious on the size of the Halo compared to G425 7H. Looks like it is a bit shorter front-back.
That’s surprising. You ordered everything stock Senior flex, correct?
If so, they must be seeking a lot of these.
No custom order, Sr flex. Adding plus .50 to the shaft and extra wrap to the grip.