Unfortunately, it’s also smaller, so finding a useful home for that weight can be a challenge. Hybrids, however, are heavier, so there’s weight to be found. The perimeter weighting makes this club very forgiving and easier to hit.”ĭriver design is all about finding discretionary weight where you can, and moving it where you need it. “But if you sell that club to a 15 handicap who says he hits hybrids because he can’t hit long irons, you’ve just given them a long iron with a bigger head. The key, says Brekke, is to make sure the rails, leading-edge, and sole geometries are optimized to work in all conditions. Cleveland used its own artificial intelligence machine – a turf interaction 3D simulator – to test over 30 different sole designs.

The new Halo features three Gliderails on the sole for better turf interaction and, hopefully, cleaner strikes. “They can’t be skipping off or digging in.” “When a player hits the turf, are they going to be maintaining head speed?” says Cleveland Engineering and R&D chief Dustin Brekke. So, is Cleveland copying Cobra? I’m not sure there’s an exclusive on putting rails on the sole, but no matter, it’s a pretty good idea. One Sole, Three RailsĪs Cobra has shown, sole rails are pure gold for getting out of the rough. It features tech on the crown, sole, and back end to help the likes of you and me to get out of trouble and onto the green. The Halo, like the rest of the Launcher metalwoods and irons lineup, is a game improvement club designed for the masses. Testing will determine just how well Cleveland has pulled that off. “You’d want to target the majority of shots where it’s hardest to hit the green to help golfers score the best.” “With that info, if you’re going to design a hybrid, how would you design it?” asks Schielke. There are more shots hit from the rough, bunkers or other places from those distances.” “From hybrid distances, fairway shots are actually in the minority. “We have lots of data from golfers of all levels on where they hit it from,” says Schielke. The new Halo features tech on the top, bottom, and back end that Cleveland says makes it a weapon no matter where you’re hitting it. Halo, in fact, stands for High Angle Lift Off. The original Halo was Cleveland’s very first inverted crown club a design allowing for more mass to be moved lower and deeper for more forgiveness and a higher launch. “But it does have distinctive technology.

“The Launcher Halo still falls into the Launcher metalwoods family for the type of player we’re going after,” says Cleveland Marketing Director Brian Schielke. Hybrids? They’re usually the red-headed step-children of the roster, often getting little more than a couple of paragraphs at the end of the driver story. When OEMs unveil a new metalwoods lineup, the driver is always the star of the show with fairway woods serving as supporting actors.

Cleveland launcher sl290 driver review