Cleveland Classic Driver - THP Preview Thread

Going to a local shop after work to try this bad boy. Excited!!! Could this be the day I switch to a Cleveland Driver? (I'm a Titleist fanatic!) We shall see boys. I'll post updates with some numbers later.
 
Great stuff Ary! I am very envious of this driver! I think I would love your set up but it is hard to tell without hitting it. Random question for you. What color is the Blue shaft where it meets the club head? Is it blue or black?
 
Glad your big stick made it to you Ary! I'm also glad you confirmed your choice to rock it a little shorter. I'm also glad you're seeing that straightness. That helps.

I gamed my Classic again today and hit it really well. I only hit it on 6 occasions and only missed the fairway on #18. It was a slight push (again, not quite a slice, but a glider to the left). It didn't hurt me at all as I birdie'd the hole, but other than that, this thing is money. I'm quickly falling in love with a lot of this driver. The sound, while polarizing, is good. My playing partners both commented on how they enjoyed how quiet it was. It looks so badass out in the sun. It was overcast yesterday but get that beauty out in some sun and that "persimmon" look really has some nice depth to it. This driver is making golf easier for me. I like that.
 
My Classic was pulled off the trading blocks today. I hit 9/11 fairways with the Classic this afternoon, and my two misses were just barely off the short grass. I popped up a few today so I was hitting a little shorter, but I had 4 drives over 260, and my shortest popup drive still went 225. Thanks to my new GPS, I now realize I may have been overestimating some of my longer drives in the past.

I'm still excited to experiment with a Razr Fit, but I think I will pass on the 10% discount my club was offering for the Demo day. If the Classic can keep the ball in the fairway then I want to stick with it.
 
Great stuff Ary! I am very envious of this driver! I think I would love your set up but it is hard to tell without hitting it. Random question for you. What color is the Blue shaft where it meets the club head? Is it blue or black?

I don't know the answer to that! I'll try to grab you a picture in the next couple of days.
 
Great job on the feedback, Ary and TC.

I worked a lot with my driver swing today at the range and it ended up really paying off for me when it came to getting some yards back. I was about 50/50 good swings vs bad swings. Lets talk about both.

Good Swings:

First off, I decided I was just going to turn big and swing big today. When I was able to get my hips around I was absolutely crushing the ball (for me). I wasn't only reaching the 240 flag, I carried it a few times and bounced over the hill behind it. I know that's not a huge number, but for me it absolutely is. Ball flight bordered between mid to mid/high for the most part. I did hit a couple just about perfect that were a touch higher, and just carried and carried. Ball flight was either straight or a 5 yard cut, which while a bit different than my old ball flight, is definitely doable. The feel is really responsive in that I'm able to tell good/bad strikes very easily. I still have work to do, but today was a real eye opener as to what I'm capable of if I keep up the work. Really glad I went to that lesson on Monday.

Bad Swings:

For some reason, I'm back to cutting the ball and when I don't get my hips working I'm hitting little pull fades or straight fades. They are typically weaker than the good swings. Ball flight tends to be low on the pull fades and high on the straight fade. The one true positive out of the bad swings is that they were all fades. As is, none went left. That means I can aim a little left if needed to account for the miss. If I let one really get away I figure I will still miss the fairway, but not worrying that a lefty is going to creep in there makes it easier for me to aim down the left side. Typically, a fade miss was getting me 200 yards carry - maybe a little more at times. Pull fades had a lot of roll as the trajectory was lower and a number of them rolled up on the 240 green.


In all, confidence went way up today and I was able to see some shots I knew I had in me. I honestly felt bad that I got this driver at the true peak of a driver meltdown that had been brewing for a few weeks. I really wanted to be able to give some valuable feedback and now I feel like I'm able to. Today was a good start back and I figure I'm ready to swing away come Sunday.
 
Great stuff ary, tc, and hawk. I love that all of you are feeling the same way I am. I, like TC, am really in love with the classic!
 
Glad your big stick made it to you Ary! I'm also glad you confirmed your choice to rock it a little shorter. I'm also glad you're seeing that straightness. That helps.

I gamed my Classic again today and hit it really well. I only hit it on 6 occasions and only missed the fairway on #18. It was a slight push (again, not quite a slice, but a glider to the left). It didn't hurt me at all as I birdie'd the hole, but other than that, this thing is money. I'm quickly falling in love with a lot of this driver. The sound, while polarizing, is good. My playing partners both commented on how they enjoyed how quiet it was. It looks so badass out in the sun. It was overcast yesterday but get that beauty out in some sun and that "persimmon" look really has some nice depth to it. This driver is making golf easier for me. I like that.

Its great to hear how well you are hitting this driver there TC. I know you were really in serious ponder mode trying to decide which shaft to order for it.
 
526674_10151575333940417_675010416_25220758_1081442085_n.jpg

Ok Guys, I want to pick your brains for a sec here.
The Titleist is my current driver. Specs: 9.5, Diamana Kai'l 65g, Reg Flex
2nd one was The Classic 290: 9 loft, Miyazaki C. Kua 43, Stiff
3rd one was The Classic 290: 10.5 loft Miyazaki C. Kua 43, Stiff

Unfortunately, they didn't have the Classics with Regular flexes.

So By looking at those numbers, do you think it's worth it to switch to the Cleveland Classic? Maybe better numbers with a Regular Flex? What do you guys think?
 
Based on those numbers, I think you need to do further testing if you get the chance. It looks like a few of them had some high side spin with the 10.5 and it is hard to tell when that comes into play.

I also think you should try to compare apples to apples (shaft flex) to see where you stand. When you hit it well, the numbers look decent.
 
Based on those numbers, I think you need to do further testing if you get the chance. It looks like a few of them had some high side spin with the 10.5 and it is hard to tell when that comes into play.

I also think you should try to compare apples to apples (shaft flex) to see where you stand. When you hit it well, the numbers look decent.

Thanks JB. Yeah I gotta go back and pull some more numbers. I was hoping they'd have reg flex but didnt
 
I came home yesterday and there was a FedEx tag on my door asking for my signature. Sigh, I would have to wait until today to see what Cleveland had crafted for me this time. Thus far, it's been quite imprressive to see what has come out of their warehouse.

Before I get into the details of my driver, I'm going to get caught up with my fellow Cleveland staffers and their drivers.

Hoping for some course time tomorrow. Should be another chilly start, but I'm excited to see how it plays on my course. On a side note, I really love that staff bag.
Nice work on the video and pics Ryan. I liked the sound of the club.

Nice to see you got some swings with it already.


Nice Hawk! Looking good buddy.

I returned home from the glorious Mountains of WNC around 5:30 this evening and I had a splendid package waiting for me! It's hard saying hello to your family and pretending like you're excited to see them when you know what waits you outside...............that throw back driver known as the Cleveland Classic!
Congrats on your driver TC. I particularly enjoyed reading about how you came to the decision of your specs. I can't wait to see how the combo works out for you.

Here are a few drives I hit with the Classic 290 at Tour 18 Dallas last weekend. Some were asking about the sound recently and these videos will give you a good idea.

Good drive on hole 3 (Doral #18). Actually rolled through the fairway barely into the rough close to 300.
[video=youtube;yBqdHH-_OaY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBqdHH-_OaY&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
This is a drive that went about 280 right down the middle with a slight draw on hole 7 (Harbortown #18).
[video=youtube;y-E9XOf80wQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-E9XOf80wQ&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
Another good one starting amen corner at 16. (Augusta #11)


Just thought I would help some of you who haven't seen or heard the Classic 290 in action. I am in love with this driver. Hit a solid 10 fairways with it again in this round. Double digit fairways hit in all but one round so far with this beauty.


Loved your addition to the thread TH. I'm glad its working out well for you and I just love the sound of the club.
 
I can confirm these rumors gentlemen. Today was the maiden voyage for the Classic. What I really want to type is OMFG! but that's not really appropriate. I hit this club on holes that I normally wouldn't, but hey, it's for the sake of feedback, and boy, if it wasn't impressive.

I will say that the first time I hit it, off the tee on Hole #2, I was very taken aback by the sound. I thought I broke something at first, LOL. Very muted "THUD" as opposed to the "TING" or "PING" I'm used to from the G20 and the R9. It wasn't bad or good, just different.

The ball just wants to go straight off this driver face. Anyone who's played any golf with me knows that I have one miss with the driver: a slice. Not a weak slice mind you, but what I refer to as the "Bubba Cut". I didn't see that shot at all today. While I did see some shots that moved right to left, I would call them "drifters" not slices.

I think it's great that I'm already confident in this driver. I found it incredibly easy to hit the gold section on the face and it really serves as a phenomenal alignment aid. I'm still not sure where I want to tee the ball up yet. I had great success tee'ing it up both low and high to be honest.

One thing found really interesting was how much better a premium, or Tour level, ball worked for me with this driver. I had all but decided to abandon the ZStar XV ball, but after today, it's definitely in the #1 slot. I was the first person out on the course so I played QStar vs. XV today. I rotated which ball I hit first off the tee on every hole, no matter what the outcome was. I hit 10/14 FIR's with the XV and 8/14 FIR's with the QStar. However, the XV absolutely destroyed the QStar in distance. This is something that I didn't see at all with the G20. I don't know what it means but I know I cannot sacrifice the 15-20 yards of additional distance I was seeing from the XV. Remember, this was rotating the golf balls on the tee so there wasn't a comfort advantage with one over the other.

I'm over the moon with my first time out results. I'm very pleased with my Kusala Black decision as well. I expected to see a lower ball flight but that just wasn't the case. I do believe that the XV flew a little lower than the QStar, and it definitely held it's line better, which again, wasn't something I was seeing with other drivers.

I have bad news for my competition at the Morgan Cup, and that's that this could be the straightest I've ever driven the ball. Not only did I hit 10/14 FIR's but I backed that up with 14/18 GIR's and a round of 1 under 71 in some pretty significant winds. Ruh Roh!!!!

TC, that's really impressive. Not only your total round, but the numbers you ended up with regards to fairways and the distance and accuracy difference with the premium XV. Going to be fun following your progress as you get it dialed in. Nice going brother.

Gotcha! It sounds solid, that's for sure. I wish you could've seen my face the first time I hit it. LOL, I thought I completely missed the center of the face and broke something.

That's hilarious actually. The first time I demoed it, it was quite a change from the pingy Super Fast, but something I preferred. I can't wait to punish some balls tomorrow.


Tappin from my iPad
 
and another question. Most of you sport Cleveland clubs, a lot of former G20 users, am I accurate on that statement? Have you guys compared to other brands out there? Titleist, Callaway, TM, etc. and do you think this Classic Driver is just as good or even better than those brands? The only reason I'm asking is because I have a Titleist, owned TM, hit Callaways and Nikes but never a Cleveland. I guess I won't know until I hit the Classic but I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY interested by just reading all your posts.

Oh and I don't know why I'm asking questions 12:30 at night? Most of you guys are 3 hours ahead. I'm an airhead!

I've hit numerous drivers, but can't really do a comparison as of yet either. I will as soon as I've had a few rounds with it. Maybe next week sometime.


Tappin from my iPad
 
Here are my first impressions of the Cleveland Classic 290 driver after hitting about 40 balls with it at the range today. For comparison's sake, my current driver is a Taylormade R11 driver with Graphite Design Tour AD DI-6 stiff shaft at 45.75 inches. This driver is at 44.75 inches, and the Kusala Blue 61 shaft in stiff flex. So while I was a little concerned about going an inch shorter, I did it with an eye on accuracy. In terms of the looks....great looking shaft, and the gold on the face really pops. Headcover is really nice and soft as well. The club feels a little lighter than my R11 driver, but nothing earth-shattering in terms of weight difference.

My first few balls were a little concerning for me. For people that have played the same driver for a while, you know the "trajectory window" where you expect to see the balls flying when you are hitting them. Well, with my first few swings, I couldn't find the ball in that window at all, I was searching for it in the sky. After the first few swings, what I found is that this driver launched a little lower than my R11 driver. However, the nice part is that as far as I could tell, the distance was not suffering. I hit a few balls with my R11 driver in the middle to confirm this. The best way that I can describe it is that my R11 driver launches higher, but then the ball drops to the ground at the end of its flight and doesn't get much roll. With the Classic driver, the initial launch was a little lower, but the flight was flatter and it looked like I was getting more rollout at the end.

The best thing about this driver from the initial session: how straight the ball comes off of it. I'm going to assume that it is due to the low spin properties of the head, but there was very little movement of the ball after it took its initial path. Sure, I can still push and pull the ball with the driver, but I didn't hit any huge hooks (my big miss with the driver) and only 1 or 2 big slices. I even had a couple of swings that were really bad, the "one hand comes off the club in the follow through" type of swings, and the ballflight wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. My last 5 swings, I really tried to go at the ball aggressively, and the shaft and club stood up to those swings with some straight bullets.

The good part about the end of my session is that the ball marks on the club from those swings were all on the top half of the clubface and in the gold section at the middle of the face. That section provides really good feedback, because if you're in that section, you know the quality of the strike is going to be pretty good. I think that on course testing of this club is going to be interesting. I found just about the highest tee that I could at the range on the mats that were there, but I still feel like I could maybe tee the ball up a slight bit higher. Also, hitting real balls vs. range balls will be interesting to see if I can get a slightly higher launch and spin.

Excellent feedback and read, Ary. That's always an interesting reaction when you go to a new driver and I like how you put it with "trajectory window". Doesn't sound like the misses killed you, conidering all of your circumstances, which is always something that's in the back of my head because not every swing is perfect, so I don't want to be too penalized by a bad swing. Good inital stuff though.

I like and agree with JB's suggestion with the tour level ball and I think he is spot on there.

Can't wait to hear out it reacts when you get it on the course.

My Classic was pulled off the trading blocks today. I hit 9/11 fairways with the Classic this afternoon, and my two misses were just barely off the short grass. I popped up a few today so I was hitting a little shorter, but I had 4 drives over 260, and my shortest popup drive still went 225. Thanks to my new GPS, I now realize I may have been overestimating some of my longer drives in the past.

I'm still excited to experiment with a Razr Fit, but I think I will pass on the 10% discount my club was offering for the Demo day. If the Classic can keep the ball in the fairway then I want to stick with it.

Hard to drop it when you only missed two fairways with it. I don't blame you there.

Great job on the feedback, Ary and TC.

I worked a lot with my driver swing today at the range and it ended up really paying off for me when it came to getting some yards back. I was about 50/50 good swings vs bad swings. Lets talk about both.

Good Swings:

First off, I decided I was just going to turn big and swing big today. When I was able to get my hips around I was absolutely crushing the ball (for me). I wasn't only reaching the 240 flag, I carried it a few times and bounced over the hill behind it. I know that's not a huge number, but for me it absolutely is. Ball flight bordered between mid to mid/high for the most part. I did hit a couple just about perfect that were a touch higher, and just carried and carried. Ball flight was either straight or a 5 yard cut, which while a bit different than my old ball flight, is definitely doable. The feel is really responsive in that I'm able to tell good/bad strikes very easily. I still have work to do, but today was a real eye opener as to what I'm capable of if I keep up the work. Really glad I went to that lesson on Monday.

Bad Swings:

For some reason, I'm back to cutting the ball and when I don't get my hips working I'm hitting little pull fades or straight fades. They are typically weaker than the good swings. Ball flight tends to be low on the pull fades and high on the straight fade. The one true positive out of the bad swings is that they were all fades. As is, none went left. That means I can aim a little left if needed to account for the miss. If I let one really get away I figure I will still miss the fairway, but not worrying that a lefty is going to creep in there makes it easier for me to aim down the left side. Typically, a fade miss was getting me 200 yards carry - maybe a little more at times. Pull fades had a lot of roll as the trajectory was lower and a number of them rolled up on the 240 green.


In all, confidence went way up today and I was able to see some shots I knew I had in me. I honestly felt bad that I got this driver at the true peak of a driver meltdown that had been brewing for a few weeks. I really wanted to be able to give some valuable feedback and now I feel like I'm able to. Today was a good start back and I figure I'm ready to swing away come Sunday.

I notice when I am fading it that I am not finishing my rotation and it's more in my shoulders and coming right up out of the shot before it's completed.

Sounds like you were hammering it better this time, especially on the good swings. Good stuff, Hawk. Keep at it.


Tappin from my iPad
 
As I had mentioned earlier, I missed the FedEx guy yesterday and thankfully I was able to sign the door slip knowing he would drop off the new Classic Driver at my front door today.

Even with the busy day, I could not keep my thoughts off the driver that was waiting for me when I got home from work. Sure enough, there was a box sitting at the door and I could not wait to get it open.

Just knowing that this came built exactly to my specs is such a thrill. Cleveland has been spot on with their builds and it's a real tribute to their attention to detail.

Here are a few pics I shot tonight as well as some thoughts on why I went with the specs I did:

I went with the Kusala Black 72X shaft. This is very similar to a weight I am comfortable with and it seems to be perfect for my swing tempo. I have never hit this particular shaft, but I did a lot of due diligence and read a lot on THP as well as got some advice from some fellow THPers to help with the shaft decision. I am beyond excited to see the ball flight it gives me. I also felt it would give me a good combination of feel going with a stiffer tip and softer butt. I tried a Kusala Blue last year that had an almost opposite Flex Code and I just couldn't get the feel I was looking for in the shaft.

Length on the shaft is 45.25", which is 1/2" longer than some of the other staffers. I did this for a couple of reasons. My last 3 drivers have ended up being this length, so there should be no learning curve there. One of the adjustments, if need be, is I could trim the butt of the shaft pretty easily.

4c650e3a-b936-efb0.jpg


It's hard to describe the artistry that goes into a Miyazaki shaft and pictures never seem to do them justice. Best way I can describe them is they are true works of art. I actually didn't realize there was blue mixed in with the shaft. Black and blue, a true bruiser! I like it, Miyazaki!

4c650e3a-ba38-ff62.jpg


4c650e3a-ba8d-6228.jpg


Flex Code on the shaft:

4c650e3a-bbdd-0ea7.jpg


I went with the 310 head due to a little extra weight as well as it's a tour head and a little open. It's something I am comfortable with and have had a great deal of success with them. Why I went away from it is beyond me. I've been missing it.

4c650e3a-bbe7-fe61.jpg


4c650e3a-bbf1-f5fa.jpg


Just a random thought. I love how easily the headcover fits the club, but also how easily it comes on and off.

I'll get some more pics and feedback tomorrow and hopefully a video as well.

I really can't wait to hit it. Thanks again Cleveland Golf for stepping up and sponsoring this wonderful event. I feel very honored and privileged to represent your brand at the Morgan Cup in a few short months. You have supplied some wonderful tools thus far and thank you for that from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks to THP for making it all possible. Your painstaking dedication and unwavering support make it all possible. Thank you for all you do.

john


Tappin from my iPad
 
drivers are looking great gentlemen...and sounds to me like a lot of early success.
 
Let's see, I have a R9, and a G20. I had the R11 and the RazrFit, so I can kind of comment on those. I'm like a unicorn in that I haven't hit the Titleist offering. Truthfully, I've only had the CLassic for 1 round of golf, so I can't really comment, but I will say this, it's the only driver of the lot that comes with a premium shaft in it. That's kind of cool. I found it to be very straight for me. Much straighter than the others in a neutral position. I have my R9 dialed in pretty good, but I've had it for a while.

I'll come back to comment often in here as I get more Classic experience under my belt. I won't say that it's longer than the G20, but I'm straighter with it. It's also not shorter. They seem to be around the same distance for me.

TC, I tried it out today and I agree with you 100%. It comes off the face STRAIGHT. The part that's crazy for me is that this is obviously set in a neutral and I'm hitting straight. My current driver, I have it open .75 and I draw. So the Classic wins in that department.
Oh and the confidence level on the Classic. As soon as I set it down to the ball, I knew I can really go for it and comes of the face hot.
Stats wise... as you can see from my latest comment, I didn't see a whole lot of difference BUT GolfSmith only had Stiff shafts on the CC and I'm a Regular flex kind of guy so is it safe to assume that when I do hit the CC with a regular flex, my specs will be better?
 
TC, I tried it out today and I agree with you 100%. It comes off the face STRAIGHT. The part that's crazy for me is that this is obviously set in a neutral and I'm hitting straight. My current driver, I have it open .75 and I draw. So the Classic wins in that department.
Oh and the confidence level on the Classic. As soon as I set it down to the ball, I knew I can really go for it and comes of the face hot.
Stats wise... as you can see from my latest comment, I didn't see a whole lot of difference BUT GolfSmith only had Stiff shafts on the CC and I'm a Regular flex kind of guy so is it safe to assume that when I do hit the CC with a regular flex, my specs will be better?
Basing it on your SS alone, I'd say yes. I had the opposite problem, every golf shop in my area has an over-abundance of A and R shafts.
 
Looks nice, biggsy. Good luck with it!

I can't get this thing out of my head right now. I want to go hit it again tonight. I was really happy to just see one type of miss that wasn't a hole killer and the good shots were as good as anything I've ever hit.
 
Ok, it's official, I am waiting on a mid-launching shaft to arrive here so I can experiment with it in my Classic. It was too good of a deal to pass up. I'm curious as to how it will effect the performance for a high ball hitter like me.
 
Miyazaki Kusala Blue 72S.
 
Right on, dude. That thing should be really smooth. Looking forward to hearing the difference you see in ball flight.
 
Right on, dude. That thing should be really smooth. Looking forward to hearing the difference you see in ball flight.

I can't wait, dude. I've been really pondering a Kusala and this popped up. Thanks, h0ss!
 
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