Roger Cleveland’s influence is once again making an impact at the Masters.
Cleveland returned to the company he founded last year and his designs have started to infiltrate not only the bags of Srixon/Cleveland staffers, but non-staffers too.
Take J.J. Spaun, who earned his third PGA Tour win last week at the Valero Texas Open and first since his breakthrough at the U.S. Open. While Spaun still uses a previous generation RTX 6 Zipcore lob wedge platform, his lobber features a unique wide sole grind with both leading and trail edge relief.
The wide sole starts with the original shaping from Cleveland’s 588 Wide wedge design from the late 1990s, which is one of the most famous in clubmaking.
“We were doing a lot of grinding to get to what he wanted,” Srixon Tour Rep Michael Jolly told GOLF. “That’s just a lot of trial and error of him hitting different shots and trying to find the right combination of open face, bunker [versatility], and all of those things.”
But Spaun’s wedge is not the only Cleveland wedge prototype inspired by the original 588 shape.
Several pros this year, including Gary Woodland who won with it two weeks ago in Houston, are using a prototype offset lob wedge built on Cleveland’s updated RTZ platform with the 588 Wide sole.
“It started with the sole,” Jolly said. “More and more players are seeing the benefits of a wide sole. The 588 Wide goes back to 1998; it’s something we’ve always had. We wanted to reintroduce it with the new RTZ material. That has gone really really well.
“With Roger being back, Roger has talked a lot about offset and the benefits of offset. It’s not something that the young players are used to seeing it, but there a lot of benefits to offset.”
Offset, when the leading edge of the club is set behind the hosel, often scares good players away because it makes the face easier to square and gives the club a left bias.
But on wedges, offset can help give the feeling of trapping the ball. Though it naturally adds a little dynamic loft, most players will instinctively add shaft lean, which lowers flight and adds spin.
In addition to Woodland, Rickie Fowler is using an offset RTZ wedge this season, while Justin Rose just added an RTZ with the 588 Wide sole to the bag for the Masters specifically.
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Jolly added that players like Spaun prefer the grind with leading and trailing edge relief because they like to manipulate the face, while players who like the full sole usually keep things more square.
Srixon ZXi irons show remarkable consistency
Srixon irons had a tremendous year last season, racking up eight victories, including Spaun’s U.S. Open and they’ve already collected two more this season from their 15 staff players.
Eight of Srixon’s 10 staff players at the Masters this week are using the company’s latest platform, ZXi, with all eight employing some sort of combo between the ZXi5 and ZXi7.
Jolly also noted that the staff had an unbelievable stat for the entirety of last season.
“After the first event of the year, we had zero iron shaft changes across the whole staff,” Jolly said. “That speaks to the consistency the guys see with our irons week in and week out. It just performs the way they want it to and there’s not really a reason to go fishing down that stream.”
What irons and wedges Cleveland/Srixon’s staff is using at the Masters
Keegan Bradley
Irons: Srixon ZXi5 (4-5), ZXi7 (6-9), Z-Forged II (PW)
Lofts: 25/27/31/36/39/43/47
Lies: 62/62/62.5/63/64/65/65
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold X100
Length: 37.25″ 7-iron
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ
Lofts/Grinds: 52 Mid, 56 Mid, 58 Low (C)
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold S400
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Nico Echavarria
Irons: Srixon ZXi5 (4-5), ZXi7 (6-PW)
Lofts: 24/26/31/35/39/43/47
Lies: 62/62.25/62/61.5/62.25/62.5/63.5
Shafts: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 X (4-5), Nippon Modus3 Tour 125 X (6-PW)
Length: 37″ 7-iron
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ
Lofts/Grinds: 50 Mid, 54 Mid, 60 Low
Shafts: Nippon Modus3 Tour 125 X (50), True Temper Dyanmic Gold S400 (54, 60)
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Ryan Fox
Irons: Srixon ZXi (2), ZXi5 (4), ZXi7 (5-PW)
Lofts: 19/24/26/31/35/39/43/47
Lies: 60/60.5/61/61.5/62/62.5/63/63.5
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Blue+ HB 10-X (2), True Temper Dyanmic Gold X100
Length: 36.75″ 7-iron
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 6
Lofts/Grinds: 50 Mid, 56 Mid, 60 Full LB
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold X100 (50, 56), True Temper Dyanmic Gold S400 (60)
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
Naoyuki Kataoka
Irons: Srixon ZXi5 (4-5), ZXi7 (6-7), Z-Forged II (8-9)
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ
Lofts/Grinds: 52 Mid, 58 Mid
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
Brooks Koepka
Irons: ZX7 Mk II (4-PW)
Lofts: 23.5/26.5/31/45/38.5/42/46
Lies: 60.5/61/61.5/62/62.5/63/63.5/64
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold X100
Length: 36.75″ 7-iron
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ
Lofts/Grinds: 50 Mid, 56 Mid, 60 Full C
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold S400
Shane Lowry
Irons: Srixon ZXi (3), ZXi5 (4-5), ZXi7 (6-PW)
Lofts: 21/24/27/30/34/38/43/47
Lies: 61.5/63/64/64.5/65/65.5/66.5/66.5
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Blue HB 9-X (3), Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 X (4), KBS Tour X (5-PW)
Length: 37″ 7-iron
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ
Lofts/Grinds: 50 Mid, 56 Mid, 60 Low C
Shafts: KBS Tour X
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
Hideki Matsuyama
Irons: Srixon Z-Forged II (4-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400
Wedges: Cleveland RTX4
Lofts/Grinds: 48, 52, 56, 60
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
Andrew Novak
Irons: ZXi5 (4), ZXi7 (5-PW)
Lofts: 23/26/30/34/38/42/46
Lies: 61.5/62/62.5/63/64/65/65
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold X100
Length: 37″ 7-iron
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ
Lofts/Grinds: 50 Mid, 54 High, 60 Full LB
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold S400
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
J.J. Spaun
Irons: Sirxon ZXi5 (4), ZXi7 (5-PW)
Lofts: 23/26/30/34/38/42/46
Lies: 60/60.5/61/62/63/63.5/64
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Length: 37″ 7-iron
Wedges: Cleveland RTX Zipcore Tour Rack (50), RTZ Tour Rack (54), RTX 6 Tour Rack (60)
Lofts/Grinds: 50 Mid, 54 Full, 60 Low C
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold S400
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Sepp Straka
Irons: Sirxon ZXi5 (4-5), ZXi7 (6-PW)
Lofts: 24/27/30/34/38/42/47
Lies: 61/61.5/62/63/64/65/65
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Length: 37″ 7-iron
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ
Lofts/Grinds: 52 Mid, 56 Full, 60 Full HB
Shafts: True Temper Dyanmic Gold S400
Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
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