Let me start with a little fact that *could* influence me in this story. I fucking love my CBX wedge. I had it for 3 years and just recently replaced it (new WitB coming soon). This new version incorporates Cleveland’s newest tech, Zipcore

What is the CBX?

The simple answer is a cavity back wedge. The marketing speak that Cleveland puts out there is pretty simple as well. Most people play cavity back irons why would you then play a blade style wedge. I would push back on that a little and say versatillity but as someone who played the wedge for a while I can say its plenty versatille.

“If you play cavity back irons, you should be playing a CBX wedge, plain and simple,”said Jeff Brunski,Vice President of Research and Development at Cleveland Golf. “The sole is more forgiving, the face is more forgiving, and it’s easier to swing.”

The cavity back gives you all the forgiveness that you expect from a full swing club but the sole is ground in a way that it is useful for chipping and pitches. Personally I only use it in the gap wedge because I find myself hitting more full swings with the gap wedge but around the greens I love to use it for longer bump and runs. It glides right through grass and also performs well on some of those tighter Texas lies. In the higher lofts I prefer to open up the club face a little more so its not the best option for me. My model was the original one so the grind was a little sharper and not as open to being…open.

What is Zipcore

Zipcore is Cleveland’s newest innovation that Cleveland put into their wedges this year. To really understand how Zipcore is valuable we need to talk club design a little. One of the hardest aspects of club design is you have to have a place to connect the shaft to the head. That requires a hosel. The hosel is heavy and because of that it pulls the Sweet Spot of the club much closer to the hosel. Its why you often see tungsten placed in the toe of irons. That tungsten pulls the sweet spot away from the heel and towards the toe. Instead of doing that Cleveland has found a new material that they call Zipcore. It is lighter than the steel but is apparently just as strong. That makes it super useful in moving that sweet spot back towards the center. I have had the Zipcore Wedges all year. I think they are fine. They dont blow me away in terms of the feel or forgiveness but they are good. I love the concept and its probably providing a lot more than I notice.

Final Thoughts

If you are playing a cavity back set I would advise you to at least take a look at the CBX in at least your gap wedge. If you struggle chipping and those greenside bunkers its could be a great fit. This is one I’m pretty excited for and hopefully you can get it in your hands and get excited as well! For more information head to clevelandgolf.com