Justin Rose returns to Augusta National for his 21st Masters Tournament. He arrives a year after his best attempt to win the green jacket, ending last year’s tournament as runner-up after a heartbreaking defeat to Rory McIlroy in a playoff.

A blast from the past aided Rose’s near success at Augusta National in 2025. He returned to what he knows best, playing a wedge designed off a head that he played for much of his early career.

“It is basically from the mold of the 588 Wide Sole from back in the day, but just current material and legal grooves,” Robert Waters, Tour manager for Srixon/Cleveland Golf, told GolfWRX.

The wider sole was perfect for Rose for the added forgiveness needed on the tighter lies around the greens at Augusta. The higher bounce and flatter overall sole of the wedge also helped with versatility, especially in the bunkers, which feature a different sand compared to other courses on the PGA Tour.

Now the sole isn’t completely flat. There is some camber to it, creating some leading- and trailing-edge relief to the club head from digging into the turf at impact, and it also allows Rose to open the face slightly if needed.

But there was one issue Rose couldn’t get past for the wedge to remain a permanent member of his bag setup.

“He played with it one or two weeks afterwards (the Masters), and he just said he couldn’t get used to the weight,” Waters said.

Two months before the 2026 Masters, Rose was back again, looking for options with the 588 Wide Sole head, and Waters was ready. A newly designed head was prepared, but additional weight savings were still needed.

“Yeah, we had to drill some weight out, and basically now that we’ve got the target weight, we can just mill it out to wherever, whatever we need,” Waters said. “… it looks like there might be a lot of weight taken out, but it’s like it’s only like 5 grams.”

“So there’s three drill holes that we had to drill out. But now we’re working on just getting the head weight proper and being able to get it to where there’s not any mass taken out.”

Despite the somewhat Frankensteined look of the wedge, with three milled holes in the rear of the head, Rose was pleased.

“He’s been playing it since The Players Championship, really likes the performance of the wedge and what it’s doing,” Waters said. “…He stopped me on Monday and said, look, ‘You know what, you’re correct about the feel of the material.’”

The feel can be attributed to Cleveland’s one-of-a-kind Z-Alloy, which boasts a lower density than 8620 Carbon Steel – a material used mainly across the wedge industry. After extensive testing by Cleveland’s R&D team, the material was found to be about 10-percent softer, leading to a better feel.

This isn’t the first time the team at Cleveland has dived into archives and used previously successful head styles to help players on Tour.

“This project that we started a year ago,” Waters added. “I started with Rickie Fowler. We basically took the wedge that Rickie had been playing for years, and scanned it, put it in the CAD file, and then milled it out with this Z-Alloy material, and Rickie’s been playing it, it was a year last, last week.

“… We can really do some really cool customization now. Randy Smith and Roger (Cleveland) got together and kind of collaborated on this one wedge that Gary (Woodland’s) is using.”

Both Fowler and Woodland have been using a newer version of the Cleveland Tour Action 485 wedge, which features a scary amount of offset.

“We’re able to really create some really unique product, and knowing it’s consistent from club head to club head, it’s really neat, “Waters added. “It’s been a fun project.”