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Cleveland CG Black Driver Forum Testing Review Thread

SuperStroke
All you Cleveland Black homies are really getting in my head :bulgy-eyes:! Dawg set the hook like a big bass on a June bug the other day. I hit this darn thing near perfect for about 10 holes. I am one who really has never cared for the lighter drivers, yet for some reason, this thing is the real deal.
 
Ole Gray said:
All you Cleveland Black homies are really getting in my head :bulgy-eyes:! Dawg set the hook like a big bass on a June bug the other day. I hit this darn thing near perfect for about 10 holes. I am one who really has never cared for the lighter drivers, yet for some reason, this thing is the real deal.
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I'll try to get over there Friday for round two with the Black, let me know if you can get in a round then.
 
Oregon Golfer said:
What is your driver SS? Is the CG Black a non-fit for someone with a higher SS, (+100)?
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Like everyone else is saying...The shaft really relies on tempo. If you have a very quick tempo the shaft will most likely not work at all...but with a slower tempo it is able to load well. I think that really 100+ is just going to be too much to benefit from the driver shaft (not that the driver wont work for that) but with that fast of a swing the shaft will give a higher ball flight*.

*I had my buddy hit it and he had a pretty high ball flight (115 SS)
 
War Eagle said:
Question for the testers; When the time comes to move on to another driver, will the lighter drivers be high on the list to try out? I know personally, I have really taken to the light drivers as of late, and my ears always perk up when I hear "lighter" when talking about a new driver.
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No doubt WE. Light driver, hybrid, iron....ok, maybe not putter or wedges. But I don't think it only about lighter - the CG Black is very well balanced. Transitioning from the Boccieri Heavy Wood to my CG Black is no big deal because of the "handfeel." But yes, those CG Black irons are on my personal hot list.

DawgDaddy said:
Thanks for the write ups d_i_l and Chunky, loving reading folks thoughts on this bad boy, I find it interesting that everyone really likes the feel of sollid impact with this driver as much as any they have ever hit.
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Amen to that. Just. Love. It.

Oregon Golfer said:
What is your driver SS? Is the CG Black a non-fit for someone with a higher SS, (+100)?
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OG, echoing the others, the CG Black really is about tempo. If you have a fast tempo, I don't know if you'll really get the max out of the shaft. The faster your SS, the more you have to pay attention to tempo. I'm closer to that 100 and no doubt, when I get fast, my swing goes awry quickly - although to be honest that's one of the things the CG Black has taught me (along with the Bocceri fairway wood I tested), my best swings are well measured not 100% swings.

Chunks - man, your writeups always crack me up and they are always filled with good info. Well done, sir.
 
War Eagle said:
Question for the testers; When the time comes to move on to another driver, will the lighter drivers be high on the list to try out? I know personally, I have really taken to the light drivers as of late, and my ears always perk up when I hear "lighter" when talking about a new driver.
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For me absolutely. I really think that after the Black I am going to stick with another driver in the 270-290 range. The extra swing speed is too much to pass up and I really dont mind sacrificing a bit of accuracy if it allows me to use less club to get to the green but so far the lighter drivers really havent had much of an issue with being less accurate.

After using the CG Black I am even realizing that I like lighter clubs all around in my bag. From the Mashie hybrids to putting the C.Kuas in my irons having lighter clubs just seems like a no brainier to me now.
 
DawgDaddy said:
Just an update on my round today. I am not an official tester of the Cleveland Black but in my round today I was 11/13 on the holes that I used the driver. The two misses were both to the left and no more than 10 feet from the fairway. The drives averaged about 230/235 even in 43* weather. My only really mishit drive still was 195 and straight down the middle, my longest was 260 and again straight down the middle. This driver has really been a game changer for me and I recommend that anyone with a slower swing speed (my SS is 92-95) give this bomber a try.
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Wow long and straight. What more can you ask for? Will be interesting to see the distance results once this weather turns warmer
 
Oregon Golfer said:
What is your driver SS? Is the CG Black a non-fit for someone with a higher SS, (+100)?
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My SS is right around the 100 mark. Sometimes a little higher and sometimes a little lower. I would think (this is as non scientific as it gets) over 105 and this driver will be trouble. Over 100 with quick tempo and this driver is in trouble of the high rights. Sub 100 and this driver could be a game changer. Tempo is important if you are at the limits of the swing speed for the shaft
 
War Eagle said:
Question for the testers; When the time comes to move on to another driver, will the lighter drivers be high on the list to try out? I know personally, I have really taken to the light drivers as of late, and my ears always perk up when I hear "lighter" when talking about a new driver.
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I have to say that I will give them consideration but probably not. I tend to get along better with a heavier shaft in my driver for some reason. I can see myself going to a 60 gram shaft though which is lighter than what I've been playing
 
Chunkylover77 said:
Wow long and straight. What more can you ask for? Will be interesting to see the distance results once this weather turns warmer
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Me too Cl, those are good summer distances for me and it is pretty cold for Georgia, may pick up 10-15 yards in the warmer weather, we'll see.
 
Finally going to be able to play again tomorrow. If anyone has any questions/things they want to see let me know

Excited to swing the Black again
 
Great reviews and information so far. Has anybody hit the Kusala white shaft? I'm wondering how it would perform with this head. I have played the C. Kia 43 shaft, and it was a little too light for my liking. That being said, I like, and need, the high launch. Any thoughts?
 
ad1402 said:
Great reviews and information so far. Has anybody hit the Kusala white shaft? I'm wondering how it would perform with this head. I have played the C. Kia 43 shaft, and it was a little too light for my liking. That being said, I like, and need, the high launch. Any thoughts?
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I've hit the White but in a Cleveland Classic head. I liked it quite a bit. Very nice feel to it. I don't see it working well with this driver head though. The head is too light IMO to support that shaft.
 
ad1402 said:
Great reviews and information so far. Has anybody hit the Kusala white shaft? I'm wondering how it would perform with this head. I have played the C. Kia 43 shaft, and it was a little too light for my liking. That being said, I like, and need, the high launch. Any thoughts?
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Well the stock shaft is high launching already, so unless you are trying to cut spin I don't see where the white would be an advantage. Of course the flex profile on the white is a bit stouter so that may be what you are looking for. You could stay in the C. Kua 43 and keep the weight close to the same, just another option. All that being said, weight wise I don't see why it wouldn't work, the tour version has the 59 series shaft in it.
 
Played 9 this afternoon using the Black driver and had some very good success. Found 6/7 fairways with the one miss being a nasty top that was just a boneheaded user error. It happens.

Tried to focus on swinging about 75% today, in other words swinging easy and letting the club do the work. Not focusing on trying to move the ball one way or the other, this allowed me to aim down the middle and get an idea of what my predominate ball flight was. Still the higher ball I've seen all along, very consistent over the past few months. Mostly a small fade, but one that put me safely in the fairway. Playable and reliable are two words that come to mind about this driver.

Distance today was again about the same I've been seeing but on a few occasions I was taking one less club into the greens. Tees were back today so that tells me I was seeing some increased yardages but not enough to count on everytime. The wind was swirling today so that could also explain this some.
 
SW said:
Played 9 this afternoon using the Black driver and had some very good success. Found 6/7 fairways with the one miss being a nasty top that was just a boneheaded user error. It happens.

Tried to focus on swinging about 75% today, in other words swinging easy and letting the club do the work. Not focusing on trying to move the ball one way or the other, this allowed me to aim down the middle and get an idea of what my predominate ball flight was. Still the higher ball I've seen all along, very consistent over the past few months. Mostly a small fade, but one that put me safely in the fairway. Playable and reliable are two words that come to mind about this driver.

Distance today was again about the same I've been seeing but on a few occasions I was taking one less club into the greens. Tees were back today so that tells me I was seeing some increased yardages but not enough to count on everytime. The wind was swirling today so that could also explain this some.
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Nice work on 6/7 FWs, impressive #s. Great way to sum up the Cleveland Black, "Playable and Reliable."
 
Thanks for the info. As always, I just need to get out and hit 'em!
 
Bad day today but the black showed a bit of its forgiveness. 1/7 FIRs :( pulling the club through hard because of my shoulder so pretty much every shot was right and way right at that.

Most drives were left with enough distance to get to the green but a few gave me no chance. Going to work on my swing a bit tonight and see if I can go out and fix things tomorrow on the course.

Very mentally draining day because I wasn't expecting this bad of a round but I still am confident that tomorrow I'll be back to the right mechanics.

I'm starting to feel the tip flex more as I've been getting my strength back and I'm not sure how that is going to affect the shot shape.

All in all I'm still loving how light the club is and I pulled my R9ST out on number 9 today just to see the difference and while I like the shaft in it the Black just has a much better feel from start to finish.
 
Got 9 in before the sun set and ... well, loving this club. Hit 4.5 out of 6 fairways. on the .5 I nestled up to the first cut and was half in - half out. The miss was a horrible horrible slice. Eww. The other four were stunners. Shortest was 240, longest 260. Was pretty thrilled with the quick 9 ... if you don't count my acid-trip-like-putting game today.
 
I went to the range after work (get to play both Sat and Sun this weekend!) and after warming up I hit five of my new CG Black driver. Each one was solid, high, with a baby draw. They were all "wow, did you see that?" type shots. I am so looking forward to my two rounds this weekend with this driver.
 
I played today with Ole Gray over at his course and had a so/so day with the driver, nothing was working too well for me and it carried over to the Black. I did hit a lot of really good shots with it, but also had some of the worse misses I have had with it to date. On our last hole I choked up a half inch and put the ball squarely in the middle of the fairway, we decided to play one extra hole and I did the same thing, seems to be something to the choking up on the club. Ole Gray hit the driver several times today too and he did not have the success he had had before, but the ones he hit smoothly were the best drives he hit today. He too tried choking up a half inch on his last shot with the driver and hit a bomb, it was slightly right on the fairway but he agreed that choking up slightly is probably the way to go with this driver. I know this has been mentioned by several people in this thread and I am just putting it out there again for anyone who might have missed this point.
 
DD since the day I received the Black I've been choking up on it, thanks for bringing that back up for some of those newer readers. When I don't choke down I see the side to side dispersion increase dramatically.

I'm headed back out tomorrow so I'll post up my thoughts again afterwards. Updated my handicap again today, and once again it has dropped since putting this driver in my bag.

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Good deal Danny, I will bolo for your thoughts tomorrow night.
 
SW said:
DD since the day I received the Black I've been choking up on it, thanks for bringing that back up for some of those newer readers. When I don't choke down I see the side to side dispersion increase dramatically.

I'm headed back out tomorrow so I'll post up my thoughts again afterwards. Updated my handicap again today, and once again it has dropped since putting this driver in my bag.

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Im going to try that next round. I still cant seem to fight myself from leaving the face open and pulling at the same time right now.
 
c0ncept said:
Im going to try that next round. I still cant seem to fight myself from leaving the face open and pulling at the same time right now.
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I know that swing well. I played it for a while, perfected it, and now I'm trying to get rid of it. Are you setting the club down and then taking your grip or vice-versa?

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SW said:
I know that swing well. I played it for a while, perfected it, and now I'm trying to get rid of it. Are you setting the club down and then taking your grip or vice-versa?

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I have my grip before its grounded. I am pretty sure I have the face open at address too...just being a bonehead right now lol.
 
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