Gear: Cleveland ZipCore wedges
Price: $149.99 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Spinner shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips.
Specs: Cast 8620 carbon steel. Even lofts from 46 to 62 degrees.
Available: Aug. 14
Cleveland Golf has been synonymous with well-made wedges for decades, with the venerable 588 wedges having been among the most famous golf equipment ever produced. Those wedges influenced Cleveland’s wedge development for years, especially in the RTX family, with the company aggressively working to refine the clubs to add more spin and help golfers hit a wider variety of shots with each passing iteration.
Today, it is releasing its newest wedges, the RTX ZipCore wedges, and as the name implies, they have been designed to help you generate more green-grabbing spin and control.
When you pick up a new RTX ZipCore wedge, the overall shape will appear familiar, but it’s what you don’t see, what is on the inside, that separates from every other previously-made Cleveland wedge.
Instead of being made from a single material, the inner portion of the ZipCore wedges have been made with a low-density material. That allowed designers to shift more of each head’s overall weight in different directions, and in so doing, shift the center of gravity (CG) location to different spots.
According to Cleveland, the new ZipCore wedges have a nine percent greater vertical moment of inertia (MOI) than the previous generation. That should help golfers flight shots down, for added control, more easily. The sweet spot is also closer to the center of the hitting area, which should enhance feel.
To increase spin, Cleveland has given the RTX ZipCore wedges a new groove design called Ultizip grooves. The company claims these grooves are over seven percent deeper, with 11 percent sharper edges. At the same time, Ultizip grooves are packed in the hitting area slightly closer together, with edge wedge now having two more grooves. That should allow golfers to get more edges on the ball for greater spin.
As in previous generations of RTX wedges, there is a milled, circular pattern that covers the entire hitting area, including the spaces between the grooves. It helps to increase friction, and along with the microgrooves between each Ultizip groove, they aid in spin generation.
Cleveland subjects each wedge to a heat treatment that extends the durability of the grooves, so spin deterioration will be slowed.
The RTX ZipCore wedges come in three different sole styles. The Low Sole is ideally suited for golfers who play in firm conditions and who make shallow, sweeping swings. It is a low-bounce offering that has plenty of heel and toe relief. The Mid Sole offering has a V-shaped sole with moderate trailing edge relief for versatility, while the Full Sole has the broadest sole ideal for golfers who want more help in bunkers and who steeper swings.
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