With all the new clubs being released, there are some GREAT deals on recent models of irons including Callaway, Ping, Cobra, Srixon and more.
At the start of every year, major equipment companies release their new gear. Last week, we published a list of some of the best older-generation drivers to take advantage of great sales from sites like World Wide Golf Shops and PGA TOUR Superstore.
This time around, we’ve scoured the internet for the best deals on older-generation iron sets from brands like TaylorMade, Callaway, Cobra, Srixon, Mizuno and more.
Even though technology in golf equipment gets better every year, if the piece of gear is a year or two old, it still makes a great option for amateur golfers.
The Cleveland HB Soft 2 putters have classic looks and a budget-friendly price.
Gear: Cleveland HB Soft 2 putters Price:$149.99 Specs: Cast stainless steel heads with grooved faces and counterbalanced shaft Available: January 24, but available via pre-order NOW
Who It’s For: Golfers who want a classic-looking putter with a soft feel at impact and budget-friendly price.
The Skinny: The nine HB Soft 2 putters are designed for players with specific stroke types — straight or arched — and feature speed-normalizing grooves in the face for better distance control.
The Deep Dive: At a time when the golf market is filled with drivers that cost about $600, iron sets that are over $1,000 and putters that will run over $350, Cleveland has updated its HB Soft line of putters and dropped the price $50.
The original HB Soft putters that were released in 2022 were made with classic shapes and retailed for $199, but the nine new HB Soft 2 putters are $149 and still retain the timeless looks. Heel-toe weighted blades, fang-style mallets and compact mid-mallets, they’re all here.
The HB Soft 2 putters are divided into clubs designed for two different stroke types, straight and slight arc. The putters designed for straight-stroke players are face-balanced and come standard with an oversized pistol grip that should help golfers use their hands and wrists less when they putt. Putters made for golfers who have a slight arc in their stroke have some toe hang and come with a standard-size pistol grip.
The Speed Optimized Face Technology (SOFT) helps to normalize ball speed over a large portion of the hitting area. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
All nine HB Soft 2 putters, however, have been given a grooved face that has a tight groove pattern. Cleveland refers to it Speed Optimized Face Technology (SOFT). The pattern is tighter in the center, but in the heel and toe, it is open. As most golfers know, when you mis-hit a putt in the heel or toe, putts lose energy and do not roll out as far as center-struck putts. According to Cleveland, the tight groove pattern in the center slows the ball slightly as it comes off the face, so golfers can expect the ball to roll out to nearly the same distance across a more significant portion of the hitting area.
Cleveland ZipCore XL irons are designed to create more ball speed and more spin consistency.
Gear: Cleveland ZipCore XL irons. Price:$899.88 (7 clubs) with KBS Tour Lite steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips; $999.99 with UST Mamiya Helium Nanocore 60 graphite shafts. Specs: Cavity-back designed stainless steel heads with stainless steel faces. Available 4-iron through sand wedge. Available: January 19, but available via pre-order NOW
Who It’s For: Golfers with a handicap ranging from eight to 18 who want a traditional cavity-back iron designed to deliver more distance and consistency.
The Skinny: A unique face design combined with a surface-roughening treatment that changes throughout the set helps the Cleveland ZipCore XL irons produce more ball speed and more spin consistency through the bag.
The Deep Dive: One of Cleveland Golf’s sister brands under the Dunlop Sports umbrella, Srixon, makes several different cavity-back irons, including last season’s ZX4 Mk II, ZX5 MkII and the ZX7 Mk II, but if you perused Cleveland’s website recently you would not find clubs like those. Instead, the brand focused on hollow-bodied game-improvement irons like the Launcher XL and the Launcher Halo XL that dropped two years ago.
Cleveland used to make several irons for mid-handicap and even low-handicap golfers (Vijay Singh and David Toms won majors using Cleveland irons) and for 2024 Cleveland is re-entering the game-improvement category with the ZipCore XL.
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In the address position, the ZipCore XL displays a long blade length, but moderately-wide topline and offset. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
In the address position, the ZipCore XL showcases a moderately-thin topline. However, the extra length in the blade and the offset hint that this club is made to help golfers overcome shortcomings in their swing and reduce the penalty for mis-hits.
To help golfers generate more ball speed and distance, engineers gave the ZipCore XL irons a MainFrame face. It is a series of channels that are milled into the inner-facing side of the face of the 4-iron through 7-iron. They allow the hitting area to flex more efficiently, while weight pads help to lower the center of gravity location and encourage higher-flying shots.
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The HydraZip face treatment helps normalize spin and increase consistency. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The ZipCore XL irons also feature the same ZipCore design found in many of Cleveland’s popular wedges. Instead of steel, designers fill the lower portion of the hosel area with a lighter material. This is the first time Cleveland is bringing the technology to an iron, and it helps to make the heel area lighter, so the ideal hitting area shifts in the center of the face.
To help players get consistent spin, Cleveland has added a face-blast treatment called HydraZip that changes throughout the set. In the long irons (4-7), the HydraZip face-roughening treatment is rougher to reduce spin and encourage more carry. In the short irons and wedges (8-SW), the HydraZip treatment is less aggressive to help golfers get more spin and stopping power on the greens.
The V-shaped sole helps the Cleveland ZipCore XL irons get in and out of the turf quickly. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The V-shaped sole should help golfers who have a steep angle of attack work the ZipCore XL irons through the turf more efficiently. Golfers will also benefit from an 8-gram weight Cleveland adds under the top of the grip. Referred to as Action Mass CB, the weight counterbalances the head of the club and makes it feel lighter when you swing.
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These massive hollow-bodied irons were designed to help high-handicap golfers.
Gear: Cleveland Halo XL Full Face irons. Price:$899.88 (7 clubs) with KBS Tour Lite steel shafts and Lamkin Crossline 360 grips; $999.99 with UST Mamiya Helium Nanocore 60 graphite shafts. Specs: Hollow-bodied stainless steel heads with stainless steel faces. Available 4-iron through sand wedge. Available: January 19, but available via pre-order NOW
Who It’s For: High-handicap and moderate clubhead speed players who want an easy-to-hit iron loaded with forgiveness.
The Skinny: These massive hollow-bodied irons have railed soles in the long irons, a low center of gravity and were designed to help high-handicap golfers get more distance, more height and more enjoyment on the course.
The Deep Dive: Grab a better-player’s iron, like a Srixon Z-Forged II or a ZX7 MkII, sole it behind a ball and then look down. What you will see is a super-compact blade length, a narrow topline and almost no offset. At this point, experienced golfers who routinely shoot in the 70s might be drooling, while golfers who are new to the game or who struggle to make consistent contact might be thinking about giving Pickleball a try. Those irons can be intimidating and offer almost no features to compensate for mis-hits or slow swings.
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The Halo XL Full Face irons look like miniature hybrids in the address position. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Cleveland, which is one of Srixon’s sister brands under the Dunlop Sports umbrella, specializes in clubs that are made to be easy to hit, fun and affordable, and for 2024, it has a new super game-improvement iron, the Halo XL Full Face.
The Halo XL Full Face irons are enormous, which should immediately give confidence to players who routinely shoot in the 90s and 100s. They are designed like small hybrids, so each club is hollow and made to allow the faces to flex easily at the moment of impact for increased ball speed. As the name implies, the entire hitting area is also covered by the groove pattern, which also features two white grooves on the bottom. The lowest, shortest white groove is there to help position the ball in the center of the face, while the wider groove can help players align more easily with their target.
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The hollow-body construction allows the Halo XL Full Face iron’s face to flex more efficiently. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The large head size and sloped HiBore crown design helped Cleveland designers shift the center of gravity location down and back, away from the hitting area, to encourage a higher launch angle.
Many golfers who struggle with inconsistent contact also have trouble working the club through the strike without hitting the ground first. To help golfers who tend to hit the ball fat, Cleveland gave the Halo XL Full Face long irons (4-7) rails to help the sole skim over the turf. The short irons (8-9) have been designed with a V-sole that adds extra bounce in the center of the sole.
The railed sole in the long irons make the Halo XL Full Face irons easier to hit. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
To help players get consistent results, Cleveland has added a face-blast treatment called HydraZip. In the long irons (4-7), it is rougher to slightly reduce spin and encourage more carry, but in the short irons and wedges (8-SW), it is somewhat smoother to help golfers get more spin and stopping power on the greens.
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Cleveland Launcher XL 2 drivers are for recreational golfers who want to maximize forgiveness and forgiveness.
Gear: Cleveland Launcher XL 2, Launcher XL 2 Draw drivers Price:$449.99 with Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue or Aldila Ascent PL shaft and Lamkin Crossline 360 grip Specs: Titanium face and body with adjustable hosel. Lofts: 9, 105. and 12 degrees Available: Jan. 19, but available NOW via pre-sale
Who It’s For: Recreational golfers who want to maximize forgiveness and forgiveness.
The Skinny: The Cleveland Launcher XL 2 drivers were made with faces and a weight system designed to counteract many recreational golfers’ most common problems and to help them hit more fairways.
The Deep Dive:Cleveland’s newest generation of Launcher drivers will not be spotted on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour or the LPGA. Srixon, Cleveland’s sister brand under the Dunlop Sports umbrella, offers plenty of driver options for elite players, so Cleveland designers are free to focus on woods that will specifically help recreational golfers and weekend players. As a result, different aspects of performance are emphasized when they sit at the virtual drawing boards, and in the Launcher XL 2 family, that means extra forgiveness.
Cleveland has invested in computing power and it helped designers engineer the hitting area of the Launcher XL 2 drivers. The system developed new variable thickness titanium faces that deliver better ball speed protection on mis-hit drives, which should be especially helpful in a driver designed for weekend players and recreational golfers, not tour pros.
The MainFrame XL faces are designed with the help of supercomputers. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The MainFrame XL faces are complemented by the addition of second-generation Rebound Frame, a technology that debuted in 2020 in Srixon’s ZX driver family. Cleveland designers made a more-flexible area behind the stiff area behind the leading edge, where the face meets the chassis. Behind the flexible area, the body of the club gets stiff again. This system acts like a spring at impact, allowing the entire face to flex back before rebounding forward. The resulting trampoline effect helps the Launcher XL 2 drivers generate more ball speed over an even larger area.
In addition to using computer simulations to design the hitting areas, Cleveland harnessed computing power to test thousands of different internal weight pads. After identifying the most common mis-hit locations for recreational golfers, Cleveland instructed the system to study how changes in weight distribution could improve performance. This exercise allowed designers to fine-tune the spin and launch characteristics and suit how weekend players, not tour pros, tend to hit their drives.
Cleveland added a network of internal ribs to improve the acoustics of the head and make the sound of impact more pleasing.
The Rebound Frame chassis design broadens the sweet spot and allows more of the hitting area to flex at the moment of impact. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The Launcher XL 2 drivers come standard with an 8-gram weight inside the top portion of the shaft. It acts as a counterbalance and should make the clubs feel easier to swing, especially on the takeaway.
The Launcher XL 2 drivers look big and reassuring in the address position. Hideki Matsuyama and Brooks Koepka will not play these drivers, so Cleveland engineers could make the clubs larger from front to back and appear easier to hit.
There are two versions of the Launcher XL 2, a standard model and a Draw version. While the standard XL 2 has a slight draw bias, the Draw model has a face that appears more-closed in the address position, which should help to provide more slice-fitting assistance. The Draw version also produces more spin and a higher ball flight, with a more considerable draw bias.
Shave strokes off your score while keeping some extra cash in your wallet with our list of best affordable putters.
Your putter is the only club you use on every hole — unless you hole a chip or approach shot, and in that case, good for you. But because it’s used so much, the retail prices of premium flat sticks can be outrageously high. And since no one wants to pay an arm and a leg for a putter, many amateur golfers hold onto old putters for way too long.
Technology gets better over the years and modern putters are better designed to help the average golfer make more putts. If you’re still using a putter from 10, 20, or 30 years ago, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage.
So, we thought it’d be a good idea to put together a list of some of the best affordable putters we could find from brands like Ping, TaylorMade, Odyssey and more.
The importance of nice wedges in amateur golf flies under the radar a bit. Many weekend warriors complain about not getting enough spin around the greens, hopelessly watching their chip shots run 10, 20, or 30 feet beyond the hole.
To be honest, the bad result may not be your fault.
If your wedges are starting to get wear marks, or if they’re approaching 5, 6, or 7 years old, it’s time to get some new wedges in your bag.
And because they can be expensive — new releases can get close to $200 per club — we’ve searched the internet for the best deals you can find on wedges from brands like Cleveland, Callaway, TaylorMade and more.
If you’re interested in saving more money throughout your bag, check out our recently released affordable drivers list.
Add some distance and save some $$$ with our list of best affordable drivers in 2023.
When big-name brands like TaylorMade, Titleist, Callaway and Ping release new drivers, the prices can be astronomical. You could be a die-hard golfer playing 2-3 times a week, and it’d still be hard to justify spending that much money on a golf club.
So we thought it’d be a good idea to scour the internet for the best deals on name-brand drivers to save the average golfer some coin on their next big stick. Be sure to look out for deals on last year’s releases at major retailers like PGA TOUR Superstore, GlobalGolf, DICK’S Sporting Goods and more.
The Philadelphia Eagles (0-1) return to action on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field against the Cleveland Browns (1-1) following their joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Philadelphia Eagles (0-1) return to action on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field against the Cleveland Browns (1-1) following their joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Eagles are experimenting with the talent on both sides of the ball, with last week’s highlights including D’Andre Swift’s breakaway run and Jalen Carter’s pressure in his second snap with the team.
The Browns, on the other hand, enter the game with one preseason win under their belt already. They beat the Jets in the Hall of Fame Game, 21-16. Cleveland also almost beat the Washington Commanders losing by two points, 17-15.
Sirianni noted that he would rotate the running back room, with Rashaad Penny and Swift likely sitting the home game out.
Here’s how you can watch, stream and listen to the preseason game.
Game Information
Cleveland Browns at Philadelphia Eagles
7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 17
Lincoln Financial Field – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
How to watch
Announcers Scott Graham and Ross Tucker return for the second game of the Eagles preseason.
Fans that live in the Philadelphia area can tune in to NBC 10 to hear their call of the game. If you are in the Cleveland area, you can view it on WEWS News 5.
Philadelphia: For Eagles fans, you can listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick calling the game on SportsRadio 94WIP. The desktop version of PhiladelphiaEagles.com/LiveRadio will provide a live feed of the SportsRadio 94WIP broadcast feed that is available nationwide. Fans can also listen on the Eagles app as well in the Philadelphia market.
Cleveland: For Browns fans or those in the Cleveland market, you can listen to Jim Donovan, Nathan Zegura and Jerod Cherry on the broadcast on 92.3 The Fan WKRK and 98.5 WNCX. Fans can also listen on Browns.com for desktop or in-market mobile users and the Browns Mobile app for in-market users only.
