Cleveland RTX ZipCore Wedge Review

Rarely do we care to much about the inside of a wedge.

They are chunk of metal shaped into a wedge which is then ground to a shape we like and has some grooves that will spin the ball.

Most of what we look for in a wedge is on the outside; does the headshape fit my eye, does it have a grind that interacts with the turf the way I like, do the grooves grab the ball just the right amount and do the loft and bounce angles work for my attack angles?

Cleveland decided to tear down their wedge and create a new one from the inside out; thus the creation of Cleveland RTX ZipCore Wedge.

This wedge is really all about the consistency gained from moving the CG by changing the core of the club.

They did this with new material and a new design, all while maintaining a great looking club.

The Cleveland RTX ZipCore Wedge is a hollow core wedge filled with ZipCore which is a lightweight material that allows them to move weight around in the wedge head to adjust the CG, raise the MOI and create an even better feeling head.

This concept has been popular in irons now for a few years as hollow polymer filled heads are a part of most companies lines of irons.

But in a wedge, this is new territory, especially given the clean, compact looks of this wedge.

The Cleveland RTX ZipCore Wedge also has “more better” grooves.

This is their term for the improvements they made with UltiZip grooves.

They were able to add more micro grooves to the space between the main grooves and they improved the cut of the main grooves to still conform to the rules, but create just a little extra spin.

I am really impressed by the on-course spin that these wedges have from any lie.

From the fairways most wedges have plenty of spin, but it is the rough, the junk, the sand, and anything else that really matters.

This is where the RTX ZipCore wedges shine.

They grip the greens with half shots, flop shots, touch shots, and escape shots.

They are more better around the green from any lie.

Cleveland continues to offer 3 bounce options, low, mid and full grinds in the RTX ZipCore Wedge to accommodate various turf conditions as well as different swing styles.

I went with the mid in a 54* wedge and full in a 58* wedge.

This fits my needs and typical playing conditions.

I most often hit the 54* wedge from about 100 yards with a full swing.

While the AZ desert courses sometimes have firm conditions, they often has softer turf than you’d expect due to heavy watering just to keep the grass alive.

The mid grind is verstatile for both the baked hard ground and the lush watered turf.

The full grind on the 58* works well for both full shots and everything else inside of 80*.

Sometimes I’ll open it up because of the ample heel relief and other times I need to close to down to lower the flight out of a tight lie.

Either which way, this grind performs beautifully.

The Cleveland RTX ZipCore Wedge is designed from the inside out and one of the great accomplishments of this design is the outside.

I’m impressed with how good and clean this wedge looks, even though it has a slightly unconventional thick toe.

Cleveland moved weight to the high toe of the club to reposition CG for more consistent and solid contact.

They needed a little extra “beef” in that area so they cleverly created a band in the muscle of the wedge.

It isn’t visible while looking down, and even if you look at the cavity it is barely visible, it is only when you take a side angle from the toe can you see it.

I really like this clean shape from every angle, especially the clean look at address.

I like the fairly straight line down the hosel into the leading edge.  This shape really works for me.

The Cleveland RTX ZipCore Wedge is designed to squeeze every last ounce of spin and consistency out of this head by pairing it with a TT Dynamic Golf Tour Spinner shaft.

This shaft creates additional spin by design, but consistently the same amount shot after shot.

This is just another commitment by Cleveland to make a great wedge from the inside out.

Flightscope Xi Tour Launch Monitor

Cleveland RTX ZipCore 58* Wedge

• Spin: 10,506 rpms
• Launch Angle: 51.6*
• Dispersion: 2.2 yds
• Club Head Speed: 74.2 mph
• Ball Speed: 79.1 mph
• Total Distance:  85.9 yds
• Carry Distance:  84.7 yds

Wedges are the one club in the bag that needs upgrading the most often due to wear and tear.

Consider the Cleveland RTX ZipCore Wedge because they redesigned their wedges from the inside out.

These wedge have a better core, which can lead to a better short game.

The more better grooves, great looks, excellent feel and more consistent results will see your scores going lower too.

For more information:  https://us.dunlopsports.com/cleveland-golf