Equipment
Cleveland breaks with tradition, aims for more consistency with RTX-3 wedges
- Models: RTX-3 Blade ($129), RTX-3 Cavity Back ($129)
- Availability: September 16, 2016
- Lofts: 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64
- Grinds: 1-Dot (54, 56, 58, 60), 2-Dot (All), 3-Dot (54, 56, 58, 60)
- Stock Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Wedge Flex
- Stock Grip: Cleveland Blue Cap by Lamkin
With its new line of RTX-3 wedges, Cleveland is challenging the notion that its wedges have to look and perform mostly the same to earn the approval of the best players in the world.
“We don’t have a one-sized approach,” says Brian Schielke, Cleveland’s Senior Product Manager for Golf Clubs. “We don’t design a wedge for tour players, and then hope it works for everyone.”
While it’s clear the company’s new RTX-3 wedges were designed with PGA Tour players in mind, it’s the rest of the golfing population that could see the greatest benefits from the clubs.
One reason is the RTX-3’s new Feel-Balancing Technology, which removes 9 grams of weight from the hosel to reposition the center of gravity (CG) closer to the center of the club face. That’s where most golfers aim to make contact, and the closer they contact shots to the CG, the more consistent their results are going to be.
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- Cleveland’s new Black Satin finish is much more durable than previous black finishes.
According to Patrick Ripp, Cleveland’s Senior Research Engineer, the majority of wedges used on the PGA Tour have a CG that’s located closer to the heel of the club – but that’s not much of a problem for them. “The pros naturally find the CG of the wedge, even if it’s a little heel-biased,” Ripp says. Average golfers, on the other hand, tend to contact the majority of their wedge shots on the toe, which leads to inconsistent ball flight, and a twisting of the club head during impact that leads to bad feel.
Moving the CG more toward the center of the club face sounds like a no-brainer, but it wasn’t wasn’t without compromise. On top of creating a “Micro-Cavity” inside the hosels of the RTX-3 wedges – basically hollowing them out — the company was forced to shorten the hosels to achieve the feat, and that changed the way the wedges looked at address.
If you understand how particular golfers can be about the looks of their clubs, you know that even if a club performs better, it might not make it to the first tee of a PGA Tour event, or to the cash register of a golf equipment retailer if it doesn’t look right. To solve the problem, Cleveland designers went to work reshaping the hosels in an attempt to replicate the Cleveland’s signature wedge look at address.
Cleveland’s new Tour Raw finish will be the most popular of the company’s finishes on Tour.
The part of the wedge golfers can’t see at address – the sole – has also changed, and it could make the biggest difference for many golfers. Golf equipment fans might be familiar with Cleveland/Srixon’s Tour V.T. Sole, which is used on Srixon’s Z-Series irons. Cleveland engineers found the technology also had merit in its new wedge line, as the shape of the soles were shown to contribute to reduced turf resistance — a Cleveland study showed 33 percent less club head speed lost.
Cleveland calls its new sole designs “V-Soles,” and they’re used in all three of the RTX-3’s different grinds: 1-Dot, 2-Dot and 3-Dot. The 2-Dot (V-MG Grind) is considered neutral, and most similar to grind used on Srixon’s Z-Series irons. The 1-Dot (V-LG Grind) has a narrower, lower-bounce sole, which is better for golfers who play firmer golf courses or have a shallower angle of attack. The 3-Dot (V-FG Grind) has a wider sole and more effective bounce, which is better for golfers who play golf courses with wetter conditions or have steeper angles of attack.
“The grinds get the sole in and out of the ground faster,” Ripp says. “And because the soles are narrowed, the leading edge still stays low to the turf when you open it up.”
The pursuit of more consistency also extends to the wedge faces of the RTX-3 wedges, which use narrower, deeper grooves that allowed engineers to add two additional grooves to the club face. Like Cleveland’s previous RTX 2.0 wedges, RTX-3 models are made with the company’s two-pass, micro-milling process, but it’s applied slightly differently depending on loft. The 46-52-degree wedges have a circular milling pattern that’s angled toward the leading edge of the wedges. The 54-64-degree wedges use a pattern that’s angled toward the toe, which creates more friction on open-face shots. As in the RTX 2.0, Cleveland also uses laser milling between grooves to reach the USGA’s limit on club face roughness. Together, the technologies helps prevent fliers from the rough, and add more predictability on shots around the green, Ripp says.
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- Cleveland’s RTX-3 Cavity Back wedges offer more forgiveness than Blade models.
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- At address, the RTX-3 Cavity Wedges are larger to improve confidence.
The RTX-3 wedges will be in stores September 16. The RTX-3 Blade wedges are available in three finishes (Tour Satin, Black Satin and Tour Raw finishes). RTX-3 Cavity Back wedges, which have a larger club heads, are offered in the Tour Satin finish only.
With the release of the RTX-3 wedges, Cleveland will update its Wedge Analyzer App, which fits golfers into the correct wedges and sole grinds by calculating angle of attack and pitching wedge loft. Fittings can be done in as few as two swings, and with or without a ball.
See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the new wedges in our forum.
Specs from Cleveland
Neal Shipley was the first to admit that he enjoyed his food while in college. But since his days at Ohio State, he’s slimmed down and earned a PGA Tour Card.
That hasn’t stopped him from having fun with his wedge stampings, though it’s led to some misunderstandings.
On the 54 (degree), we have ‘Big Fudge,'” Shipley told GolfWRX. “It was supposed to be ‘Big Fridge,’ so this happened a little while ago. ‘Big Fridge’ was a nickname between my college teammates and I, with ‘fridge’ meaning stomach, a big stomach.
“We told the Ping guys to put … ‘Big Fridge’ on it, and I think maybe some bad cell service or something, and they thought I said ‘fudge,’ so they put fudge on it.”
On Shipley’s 50-degree he also continues the food theme, this time with his go-to order at the “Golden Arches,” and his stamping “DONS 7.”
“The number 7 meal, the two cheeseburger meal, that was my McDonald’s order, back when I would have McDonald’s frequently,” Shipley shared.
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @raw10628 has a L.A.B. DF3 putter and Masters putter cover up for grabs.
From the listing: “Some great items here today, time to thin out and make room for next set of gear. All prices include shipping.
LAB DF3 Purple 33.5” 68° lie with TPT – $725. LAB Masters release DF3 cover – $150.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
5-wood: Ping G440 Max (19 degrees @18)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
Hybrid: Ping G440 (23 degrees)
Shaft: Oban Isawa Red Hybrid Shaft 04 Flex 70 Gms
Irons: Srixon ZXi7 (5-P)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i80
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (50-MID, 54-FULL, 58-MID)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i105
Putter: L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i
Shaft: ACCRA Putter Shaft
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
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Bert
Jul 26, 2016 at 5:57 pm
Wasn’t there another Cleveland wedge that was supposed to be introduced shortly in another Golf WRX article? I seem to remember a really awesome looking wedge I was waiting on and I don’t think this is it.
Mmmm
Jul 27, 2016 at 2:28 am
I think you’re thinking of the CG17 Forged, which was a JDM release
Brandon
Jul 26, 2016 at 9:33 am
I’m wondering if Terry Koehler’s patent on his V-sole expired, if Cleveland found a way around his patent????
Matt Mitchell
Jul 25, 2016 at 7:34 pm
Cleveland makes the worse wegdes
HL
Jul 25, 2016 at 3:34 pm
Bad Amateurs tend to hit their clubs on the toe because they stand up in the shot so why not just bend the lie 1/2 to 1 degree more upright and leave the hosel length alone
kn
Jul 25, 2016 at 3:23 pm
Apparently, it has been deemed that the “Tour Raw” edition is just too raw for left-handers. #screwedagain
MBU
Jul 25, 2016 at 2:07 pm
The cavity backs look fantastic.
Tom
Jul 25, 2016 at 1:15 pm
Looks like some thing I’ll have to try. I’ve Been looking for a sole that has less turf interaction (on hard surfaces) than what I’m playing now.
Dustdevil
Jul 25, 2016 at 1:02 pm
I wonder how bendable those hosels are with the “micro-cavities”?
Dave C
Jul 25, 2016 at 12:52 pm
I have been a Cleveland wedge guy almost my entire golfing life. As a left-handed golfer, When Cleveland stopped making the RTG wedges I bought two extra 58 one dot, as they worked awesome for me. They continue to totally discount left handed golfers with this new release. I guess I will be forced to look else where, probably Titleist Vokey wedges. They seem happy to make an adequate left handed line-up.
Rev G
Jul 25, 2016 at 12:45 pm
The secret to hitting v-soles out of bunkers is to not open the blade way open – lay it square. There very easy to hit out of bunkers then, especially on shots with green to work with. If you need to get it up quickly and stop it quickly, you need a traditional sand/log wedge.
Mark
Jul 25, 2016 at 12:16 pm
No thanks on the v-soles. They don’t work well out of bunkers or off harder surfaces. I want traditional sand irons with a back edge LOWER than the front.
desmond
Jul 25, 2016 at 10:44 am
So they copied the grind of the Edel (or others) to keep the leading edge closer to the ground for more versatility – good for them to take off on a great idea.
Bob
Jul 25, 2016 at 2:17 pm
Uh No,
They basically brought back a sole design they used in the 588DSG from back in 2006.
Manufacturer:
Cleveland
Year of Introduction:
2006
MSRP (new):
$108.00
Head Material:
Steel
Features & Benefits
• The Tour Action 588 DSG wedge is the latest addition to the Tour Action 588 series of wedges
• Featuring a Dynamic Sole Grind that allows the leading edge to remain closer to the ground when opening the clubface at address
• Constructed of 8620 soft carbon steel and featuring a milled face and grooves for maximum spin and soft feel
cody
Jul 25, 2016 at 9:53 am
so in other words copy the benhogan wedge and call it something different. Good on ya’ guys hope it works.
James Bond
Jul 25, 2016 at 9:46 am
Tour Raw looks amazing! Vokey should take notes and bring back the oil can.
Rev G
Jul 25, 2016 at 9:37 am
Sweet looking wedges. Interesting to see V-soles coming out from one of the big wedge makers. Eidolon/Hogan company must not be able to enforce that patent?
Smitty
Jul 25, 2016 at 9:24 am
Love the new wedges but those CB’s are butt ugly.