Check out Golfweek’s list of the best golf wedges available to purchase in 2024.
Wedges are the most confusing and intimidating golf club category because there are so many options to choose from and many players don’t really understand how to properly use wedges to hit chip shots, bunker shots, flop shops and pitch shots. They hear terms like bounce, sole grind, heel and toe relief and camber and nod, but in the back of their minds they are thinking, “What the hell does that mean?”
To make matters worse, iron lofts have become stronger over the last decade, with many game-improvement sets coming with a 9-iron that has a loft of around 38 degrees and a pitching wedge at 42 degrees. If a recreational golfer has a 56-degree sand wedge, which is typical, that’s a 14-degree gap between wedges, which can put you in between clubs on lots of short game shots.
To reduce the intimidation factor and help golfers find the right wedges more easily, many manufacturers have developed online fitting tools. With just a few clicks to tell these systems about your game and the conditions you encounter on the course, they can provide you with club, loft and sole grind recommendations.
Of course, the best way to discover your ideal wedges is to work in-person with a custom fitter who can evaluate your performance with several different wedges.
The list below is intended to act as an educational starting point and help you get familiar with the most popular wedges and the clubs you will likely see in pro shops and golf specialty stores right now.
Cleveland RTX Full-Face 2 wedges combine versatility and spin to help golfers performance better around the greens.
Gear: Cleveland RTX Full-Face 2 wedges Price:$179.99 each (Tour Satin) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Spinner shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips; $199.99 (Tour Rack) Specs: Cast stainless steel heads in even lofts from 50-60 degrees (and 64 degrees) in two sole grinds Available: NOW
Who It’s For: Golfers who want versatility on open-face shots around the green.
The Skinny: The RTX Full-Face 2 wedges have a high-toe design and unique weighting system that combine with sharp grooves and surface-roughening treatments to give players the ability to generate more spin and hit a wider variety of shots around the green.
The Deep Dive: No company has more pedigree in the wedge category or offers more short-game options than Cleveland Golf. From wedges designed specifically for high-handicap golfers who struggle with chipping and bunker play to instruments designed for elite players like Brooks Koepka, Keegan Bradley and Hideki Matsuyama, Cleveland’s stable of wedges has it all.
The addition of ZipCore material in the hosel pulls the center of gravity into the middle of the hitting area. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
When faced with a flop shot over a bunker, an escape from thick rough or a tricky pitch shot from an awkward lie, golfers often open the face of their wedge and swing from out to in, clipping the ball up instead of hitting it solidly from a square stance. With that in mind, Cleveland developed the RTX Full-Face 2 wedges with a higher toe to create extra usable hitting area. Weight was also removed from the hosel area by engineering it with a lighter, low-density material. Cleveland calls it ZipCore, and by reducing the weight of the hosel and making the toe area higher, the ideal hitting area and center of gravity are pulled more into the center of the face for better performance. ZipCore is not new, but the RTX Full-Face 2 has 96 percent more ZipCore material than previously released ZipCore wedges, so the effect is magnified.
To help golfers generate more spin, Cleveland gave the RTX Full-Face 2 grooves over the entire hitting area, along with HydraZip. This new surface roughening treatment combines laser-milled lines between the main grooves and a blasting treatment to increase friction.
The gap wedges (50 and 52 degrees) are designed with an S-shaped sole that has 8 degrees of bounce, making them play more like an extension of a player’s irons and ideally suited for full-swing shots from the fairway and greenside chips. The sand wedges (54 and 56 degrees) have soles with the same shape, but they come standard with 10 degrees of bounce. Lob wedges (56, 60 and 64 degrees) have extra material removed from the heel and toe areas and feature a C-shaped sole that has 8 degrees of bounce.
The CBX Full-Face 2 wedges have special grooves for extra spin, perimeter weighting for forgiveness and a TPU insert to enhance feel.
Gear: Cleveland CBX Full-Face 2 wedges Price: $169.99 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold 115 Spinner Tour Issue steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips. Specs: Cast stainless steel with face-roughening treatment and vibration-absorbing gel backpiece. Even lofts 50 degrees to 60 degrees
Available: Feb. 3
Who It’s For: Golfers who want more forgiveness than traditional wedges without sacrificing spin.
The Skinny: The CBX Full-Face 2 has the largest face of any Cleveland wedge, and combined with perimeter weighting, tour-level grooves, surface-roughening treatments and a water-repellant treatment, it blends forgiveness and control.
The Deep Dive: Most golfers don’t consider wedges to be the kind of clubs where you will find a lot of technology. Drivers have moveable weights, irons often have exotic materials and putters can be milled and shaped into wild creations, while wedges have looked roughly the same for decades. The Cleveland CBX Full-Face 2 wedges, however, have a lot of technologies designed into them to make them more playable and forgiving while also helping golfers get better, more-consistent results around the greens.
The CBX Full-Face 2 wedges have the largest hitting area of any Cleveland wedge. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The CBX Full-Face 2 wedges have a high-toe design and the largest hitting area of any Cleveland wedge. It’s 13 percent larger than the RTX Full-Face, and unlike that wedge, the CBX Full-Face 2 has perimeter weighting.
Instead of being made entirely from stainless steel, the heel area and hosel of the CBX Full-Face 2 have a vibration-damping material Cleveland calls ZipCore that is less dense. That shifts more weight toward the toe side and, along with the added mass high in the toe area, pulls the center of gravity more to the middle of the hitting zone.
The CBX Full Face 2 has a hitting surface covered with grooves and a surfacing roughening treatment between the grooves. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
To help golfers create more spin on chips, pitches and approach shots, Cleveland designers gave the CBX Full-Face 2 wedges UltiZip grooves. They are sharper, deeper and packed more closely together than the ZipGrooves in Cleveland’s CBX Full Face wedge, which allowed designers to add two more grooves to the hitting area.
To help golfers maintain spin on shots hit from wet turf and rough, Cleveland gave the CBX Full-Face 2 wedges HydraZip, a laser-milling pattern added between the main grooves. The design is more open in the 50- and 52-degree models to make those clubs behave more like extensions of a golfer’s irons, and the HydraZip pattern is denser in the 54-, 56-, 58- and 60-degree wedges to allow for more spin on shots hit around the greens.
Cleveland added a vibration-dampening thermoplastic polyurethane insert to the back of each club to enhance the feel.
The grooves in the Cleveland CBX Full-Face 2 wedges vary by loft. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Finally, the CBX Full-Face 2 has been made with loft-specific sole designs. The 50- and 52-degree wedges have full soles with extra bounce behind the leading edge, so the club works through the turf and maintains speed on approach shots. The 54- to 60-degree wedges have a C-shaped sole design with material removed from the heel and toe areas, so golfers can open the face and add loft while still getting the leading edge under the ball.
Cleveland’s RTX 6 ZipCore wedges aim to increase spin in wet and dry conditions thanks to surface roughening treatments and new grooves.
Gear: Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore wedges Price: $169.99 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Spinner shaft and Lamkin Crossline 360 grip. Specs: Cast stainless steel. Available in four sole grinds and even lofts from 46 to 60 degrees. Available: Jan. 20
Who It’s For: Golfers who want to maximize spin around the green from a variety of lies.
The Skinny: With different surface-roughening treatments and groove configurations based on each wedge’s loft, Cleveland’s RTX 6 ZipCore wedges aim to increase spin in wet and dry conditions.
The Deep Dive: Developing a solid short game is challenging because there are so many different shots and situations around greens. Most golfers are comfortable with the basics, but what about chips from tight lies, bunker shots from wet sand or flop shots from thick rough, to name just a few awkward shots?
With the release of the RTX 6 ZipCore wedges, Cleveland is trying to offer a family of wedges that can handle a more comprehensive range of shots and deliver more spin and consistency in both wet and dry conditions.
From the back and in the address position, the RTX 6 ZipCore wedges look like the classic Cleveland “588-inspired” clubs golfers have loved for decades. The most significant difference between the new RTX 6 ZipCore wedges and previous Cleveland wedges is in the hitting area, thanks to a technology the company calls HydraZip.
The RTX 6 ZipCore wedges have different grooves and face-roughening treatments based on loft. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
For several generations of wedges, Cleveland has added surface-roughening treatments in the form of laser-etched microgrooves. Now designers are combining a face-blasting treatment and different laser-etching patterns based on each club’s loft to help create more friction. Between the main grooves in the 46- and 48-degree wedges is an open pattern of lines because these clubs are usually hit from the fairway on full-swing approach shots.
In the 54-, 56-, 58- and 60-degree wedges, the design is tighter to maximize the effect because sand wedges and lob wedges are golfers’ go-to clubs when they need extra spin around the greens.
The gap wedge lofts, with lofts of 50 and 52 degrees, have surface-roughening patterns that are moderately packed for versatility.
Cleveland also updated the main grooves, which it calls UltiZip grooves. There are numerically more grooves on each wedge to get more edges on the ball for increased bite and spin.
Cleveland said the combination of the new HydraZip treatment and UltiZip grooves produces slightly more spin on dry shots, while in wet conditions the new RTX 6 ZipCore wedges can create up to 43 percent more spin for added control.
Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore wedges have a lighter material inside the center of the heads and extra weight in the heel. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Control is also enhanced by an update to the ZipCore technology that debuted in 2021 in the RTX5 wedges. Instead of making each wedge using the same stainless steel, Cleveland uses a lightweight material that soaks up excessive vibrations. That enhances the feel and shifts more weight to the perimeter for extra stability. The weight saved using the alternative material is redistributed to the heel area in the form of a piece that extends through the hosel and into the lower portion of the head. The bar helps offset the weight in the toe area and allows designers to shift the center of gravity to the center of the hitting zone.
Finally, the Cleveland RTX 6 ZipCore wedges are made in four sole configurations, with three different grinds available, to help golfers deal with various turf conditions.
The RTX 6 ZipCore wedges are available in three different sole grinds. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The Mid grind is available in lofts from 46 to 60 degrees and has 10 degrees of bounce. With moderate relief in the heel and toe areas, it was designed to be a good option in a wide variety of conditions.
The Full grind is available in lofts from 54 to 60 degrees and has 12 degrees of bounce. It has a wider design and excels in softer conditions, and should be a good choice for golfers with a steep attack angle.
The Low grind is only available as a 58- and 60-degree option and has 6 degrees of bounce. It has significant heel and toe relief, allowing it to be opened while allowing golfers to get the leading edge under the ball. It is intended for golfers with a shallow attack angle and those who play in firm, hard conditions. The Low+, which is the fourth configuration, is a new offering for the 54- and 56-degree clubs with the same general shape as the Low but with 8 degrees of bounce.
As a brand, Cleveland is best known for making some of the most iconic wedges in golf history. Since 1988, many of the game’s best players have loved the 588 Series and the wedges it inspired, including today’s RTX 4 Series. However, starting in the mid-2000s, Cleveland has offered unique clubs for players who struggle with consistency around the greens. Putter-length chipping clubs and sand wedges with exceptionally wide soles and high bounce angles have proved helpful for golfers who don’t have much time to practice but still want to get better.
The latest version of these clubs, the Smart Sole 4 wedges, was released in 2020, and now Cleveland is making them available in a glare-reducing black finish.
For golfers who shoot in the 60s, 70s and even 80s, the idea of taking a club out of their bag to make room for another club designed to help with a specific shortcoming might not make sense. That’s fine, but Cleveland has made the Smart Sole 4 C, G and S models for players with chipping yips, who often need two or three shots to escape a bunker and who dread hitting pitch shots. For those players, yanking a traditional pitching wedge, gap wedge or sand wedge (or all three) and replacing it with one of these clubs could instantly create confidence and lower scores.
To encourage solid contact, each Smart Sole 4 Black Satin wedge has an extra-wide, three-tiered sole and significant leading-edge bounce to reduce digging. The CNC-milled grooves remove water and sand from the hitting surface more effectively and maximize spin.
The Smart Sole 4 C wedge lets golfers use a putting stroke to hit chip shots. (Cleveland Golf)
If chipping is your issue, you will want the Smart Sole 4 C wedge. It has the loft of a 9-iron, 42 degrees, but the length of a traditional putter, 34 inches. Using this club and making a putting stroke, the ball easily jumps into the air, bounces and rolls out like a well-struck chip shot.
With 58 degrees of loft and a massive curved sole, the Cleveland Smart Sole 4 Black Satin S wedge is at home in bunkers. (Cleveland Golf)
Golfers who fear the sand will want the 58-degree Smart Sole 4 S wedge. It has an exceptionally wide sole with significant camber (curvature), so even when golfers play bunker shots from a square position, the club can work through the sand easily and help get the ball up into the air fast.
The Smart Sole 4 G wedge can be used from a variety of spots. (Cleveland Golf)
The Smart Sole 4 G has 50 degrees of loft, equivalent to a modern gap wedge. Cleveland designed it to be easy to hit from a variety of places. With the leading edge elevated and a wide, curved sole, it can help golfers who tend to hit fat pitch shots. It can be used to hit chip shots, escape from fairway rough and be used in fairway bunkers.
With practice and some lessons, these are clubs you might grow out of. Still, for new golfers who struggle with some specific short game shots or long-time players who are just tired and frustrated of seeing their scores balloon because of one shortcoming, the dark-finished Cleveland Smart Sole 4 Black Satin wedges might bring a smile to their faces.
Cleveland’s new wedges are intended to help recreational golfers dial in their approach and short games.
Gear: Cleveland CBX ZipCore wedge Price: $149 each with True Temper Dynamic Gold Spinner Wedge shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips. $159 each with Project X Catalyst 80 Spinner graphite shaft. Specs: Multi-material steel wedges with polymer back pieces. Even lofts of 44 to 60 degrees Available: Feb. 18
When it comes to irons, only the most consistent, accomplished golfers use muscleback blades because despite their outstanding feel, blades are the least forgiving style of clubs. Yet most wedges could be classified as musclebacks.
Cleveland’s wedge designers think that is a mistake and that any golfer who typically shoots in the 80s or higher should play a wedge that matches his or her irons. That means a wedge with perimeter weighting and game-improvement features such as those found on the new CBX ZipCore wedges.
Cleveland’s newest wedges have a high-toe design and the entire hitting area is covered in grooves to help golfers generate more spin.
Gear: Cleveland RTX Full-Face wedges Price: $159.99 each (Tour Satin) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Spinner shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip. $179.99 each in Tour Rack raw-steel finish Specs: Cast 8620 carbon steel heads with surface-roughening treatment. Lofts: 50-60 degrees and 64 degrees (Tour Satin); 56-60 and 64 degrees (Tour Rack) Available: June 11
With the release of its newest series of wedges, the RTX Full-Face, Cleveland Golf – a company synonymous with high-quality wedges – is bringing several technologies and hot trends together in one club.
For the past few seasons, wedges designed with a high-toe area, like the RTX Full-Face, have grown in popularity among both professionals and amateurs. When you open the face on tricky shots around the green, they present a larger hitting area to the ball.
The RTX Full-Face has a higher toe area and the surface is covered in spin-generating grooves. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
But as the name implies, the higher toe area is not the only thing that makes these wedges look unique. The entire hitting surface is covered in Cleveland’s UltiZip grooves from the leading edge to the topline. Like the grooves in the original ZipCore wedges released last year, these grooves are deeper with sharper edges, and designers have packed them more tightly in the hitting area. This should ensure that more groove edges grab the ball on chips and pitch shots to help generate more spin. There are also microgrooves between the main grooves to increase surface roughness and friction to help golfers create more spin.
The wedges also undergo a heat treatment that Cleveland said will help prolong the grooves’ sharpness.
A less-dense material inside the heads helped designers increase the RTX Full-Face’s stability. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
From a construction standpoint, the RTX Full-Face has a low-density material inside each head that allowed Cleveland engineers to shift weight to other parts of the head and manipulate the center of gravity. Doing that helped increase the RTX Full-Face’s stability.
The RTX Full-Face is available in a Tour Satin finish in gap wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge lofts. Cleveland also includes the RTX Full-Face in its Tour Rack program for players who want to customize the grind of the wedges. The Tour Rack version features a raw steel finish, and golfers can select from the Relief Edge grind, the Heel grind, Heel and Toe grind, S-Shaped grind or Standard Sole grind. The Tour Rack wedges all have a “T” on the hosel, signifying that they were initially intended for the Tour.
The maker of some of the most popular wedges ever made has designed its latest offering in a way and given then newer, sharper grooves.
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.
By make the inner portion of the RTX ZipCore wedges less dense, Cleveland designers could shift the CG location and down more easily. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
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.
Cleveland RTX ZipCore wedges have two extra grooves and friction-enhancing elements to increase spin. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
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.
Cleveland’s newest specialty wedges are for players who struggle with the basics or who want to maximize versatility around the green.
Gear: Cleveland Smart Sole 4 and CBX Full-Face wedges Price: $119.99 steel, $129.99, graphite (Smart Sole 4); $149.00 (CBX Full-Face) Available: Feb. 7 (Smart Sole 4), Feb. 28, CBX Full-Face
Pros make awkward shots around the green look easy because they practice for hours every week and understand how to use their wedges to get balls out of sand and tight lies. Many weekend players rarely practice, so when they face challenging shortgame situations, they struggle.
For years, Cleveland Golf has offered unique wedges designed to make shortgame shots easier for the masses, and for 2020 the company has updated one and released an all-new model as well.
The three new Cleveland Golf Smart Sole 4 wedges are the latest iteration of clubs designed to help golfers who struggle with the fundamentals of chipping, pitching and bunker play.
Each of the three Smart Sole 4 wedges has a wider sole and more leading edge bounce than a typical wedge. (Cleveland Golf)
Each wedge features an extra-wide sole and lots of leading-edge bounce to reduce the chance of digging and encourage a clean strike. There are also CNC milled grooves in each wedge designed to get water and sand off the hitting surface more effectively and maximize spin as well.
Cleveland Smart Sole 4 C, G and S wedges (Cleveland Golf)
The Smart Sole 4 C wedge is designed with chipping in mind. It comes standard with 42 degrees of loft, like a traditional 9-iron, and at 34 inches in length. That’s about as long as many golfers’ putters, and when players make a putting stroke with it, the loft and upright lie angle help to naturally create bump-and-run style chip shots.
The 58-degree Smart Sole 4 S wedge is for sand play. It has the widest sole and the most bounce, so it can work through bunkers more smoothly and help golfers escape more easily.
The Smart Sole 4 G comes standard at 50 degrees and can be used from a wide variety of lies and situations. Its loft is the same as a modern gap wedge, so it is especially useful on approach shots because it can get the ball up quickly, but the Smart Sole 4 G still presents a large hitting area that will inspire confidence.
The Cleveland CBX Full-Face wedge has a high-toe shape with a hitting area covered by grooves. (Cleveland Golf)
For golfers looking to maximize versatility, Cleveland is also offering a new wedge, the CBX Full-Face. It has been designed with a high-toe shape, so when golfers open the face on flop shots, bunker shots and in other tricky situations around the green, there is more hitting area presented to the ball.
Cleveland’s Tour Zip grooves cover the entire face, but between each groove, Cleveland has added four laser milled grooves to complement the circular Rotex milling pattern that is applied to the whole face. The combination of these technologies dramatically increases surface roughness and friction, which should help golfers generate more spin.
Cleveland CBX Full-Face wedge. (Cleveland Golf)
The back of the CBX Full-Face has a new half-cavity design that features a muscleback shape in the toe section and a cavity-back design low in the heel. It is designed to shift the center of gravity away from the hosel and more into the center of the hitting area. Cleveland claims this will enhance feel and consistency.
The CBX Full-Face wedge is available in 56, 58, 60 and 64-degree loft options.
