- Updated: June 8, 2022
Cleveland Launcher XL Driver Review
Bigger Fun from a Driver
Ryan Heiman
Founder and head author at Independent Golf Reviews
I played 6 rounds of golf with the Cleveland Launcher XL driver in my bag. It is simply a fun driver to hit and for many golfers it will bring some fun to their game too as they hit more fairways. I was also able to hit it on my FlightScope Xi Tour Launch Monitor to collect shot data. I have over 10 years of experience testing and reviewing golf clubs.
Here is my overall experience and thoughts on this driver.
Golf is hard. While it seems like a simple sport, hit a little ball off the ground from one spot to another. The less times you do this, the better you are. If there was a way to make it easier and more fun, wouldn’t most people be on board with that? Cleveland set out to make driving the ball more fun. The Cleveland Launcher XL does what its name says, it gives you a bigger launch.
The Cleveland Launcher XL is in the next evolution in the Launcher family. It is an XL sized head that is designed to easily get the ball in the air and keep it going straight. Mission accomplished! I found this to be one of the most forgiving heads with high launch and straight ball flight. The large head with a deep center weight certainly helps with that. Also the 10.5* helps get the ball in the air quickly.
The Cleveland Launcher XL has a huge face. AS you can see from this picture is a tall and wide face for all kinds of forgiveness. You can hit it all over the face and it still goes high and straight. Anytime you can create that combo driver not only look cool, they also tend to find the fairway. The adjustable hosel offers 12 different setting so you can go higher yet, or tune it down just a little. It actually brought it down to my preferred degree to the 9.5* setting. Even still it is one of the highest launching drivers I’ve hit.
The Cleveland Launcher XL has hidden technology that they call Rebound Frame. It is a dual frame that has both flexible and rigid parts designed to transfers maximum energy to the ball at impact. The sound and feel at impact are very solid and have a slightly metallic crack at impact. I was very happy with the smash factor with this driver, which means energy transfer is getting from the club to the ball.
The Cleveland Launcher XL hides its large footprint very well with the matte black finish on the crown with the white paint “fins” near the back of the crown. While it is a huge head, it doesn’t look abnormally big behind the ball. It sets up nicely behind the ball with alignment aid pointing you in the right direction.
The Cleveland Launcher XL has super lightweight shaft in the Cypher by Project X. It also comes stock with an 8gram counterbalance which is designed to stop “casting”. This will help golfers who slice the ball. They have another option which is called their accuracy version of this club which is 1″ shorter and removes the counterbalance in the grip.
Cleveland Launcher XL Driver Stats
Data from Flightscope Xi Tour Launch Monitor
➜ Spin: 2788 rpms
➜ Launch Angle: 14.7*
➜ Dispersion: 5.2 yds
➜ Club Head Speed: 106.2 mph
➜ Ball Speed: 156.1 mph
➜ Total Distance: 275.8 yds
➜ Carry Distance: 265.1 yds
The Cleveland Launcher XL driver makes hitting fairways easy, which makes golf fun. Sometimes golfers joke about how “boring” golf is if you play from the fairway (usually coming from someone who can’t find a fairway) but the truth is golf is most fun when we hit fairways and hit the least amount of shots. If you are struggling with driver (especially a slice) this might be the club need to have bigger fun on the course. I was impressed every round I played with it by the number of fairways hit.
Summary
The Cleveland Launcher XL isn’t for everyone. But if you simply want bigger drives with less effort and could benefit from launch and forgiveness, then this couple be the best club for you. It isn’t low spin, nor low launch, but this lightweight forgiveness machine will get the ball airborne quickly and straight.
For more information: Cleveland Website
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About The Author
Ryan Heiman – Founder and Head Author of Independent Golf Reviews
Ryan has over 10 years of experience testing and writing golf reviews of nearly every brand out there.
HCP: 3
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