Wedge Master Roger Cleveland RETURNS to Cleveland Golf

Wedge Master Roger Cleveland RETURNS to Cleveland Golf

We have a lot of different uh grinds for these guys. They needed a sole with a lot of bounce and that’s what I learned from them and that’s what I gave them. It is like a I mean it’s the classic looking wedge. Ryan Brad here for Scratch. I’m the gear editor and I am very lucky to be talking with Roger Cleveland of Cleveland. I’m lucky. I wouldn’t go that far. Obviously being back at Cleveland now. Um what does it mean to you to be back at a company that you help found? Well, means a lot to me. Yeah, it’s great. And to have a the invitation to come back, that’s terrific. And see some old friends. There are like 12 people that when they left, they’re still there. And that’s fun. And the new crew is amazing. So, I was going to say we are on the uh the tour truck. How has how is the tour truck evolved from when you were first time on tour? We didn’t have a tour truck. You know, this is amazing. This goes to uh all events and you have uh every product we have here and every shaft grip. Um we service the players, you know, amazingly well uh much better than what I did to start. And uh when I uh started, I would take product out. I’d give it to them the next week after I did it at home. So you can do it right here. It’s terrific. C can you talk about some players that really helped provide a lot of valuable feedback as you were constantly evolving product? I’ve had a lot of help. I mean, David Graham was huge, uh, Lee Tino, um, a lot of players and I I could go on and on, but they encouraged people to help them get a tool that they could do better with. It’s it is so interesting to like see that evolution because of the way um wedges changed so much when you know 400 series came out. Obviously the 588 like wedges didn’t look like that. They needed a soul with a lot of bounce and that’s what I learned from them and that’s what I gave them. There’s a misconception out there with the the average player that I want low bounce. Now, this is the shortest club in the bag, and you have to you hit so many different types of shots with it, but you have a a tightest arc because it’s the shortest club. So, you’re going to be naturally a little steeper and you have to have a sole plate that skids. So, speaking speaking of soles. Yeah. You want to see? Let’s go take Let’s go take a look at a few options you guys have. Let me introduce you to a few of the wedges. What loft do you like? These are all high lofts. Here you are. Yeah. So you can see all the grooves that we put and the micro features and we have a lot of different uh grinds for these guys and and that’s like the skid plate there that you talk about, right? But now the shaft at 90° you can see the angle of the sole is tilted. That’s the bounce angle right here. And that bounce angle on this is a 60 is probably, you know, 15 14 15°. And that’s what you need. If you look at the 588s, the old ones, they are they have a lower CG and the ball goes up for it. Yeah. The the 588 when people think about that name, it’s like was it like was it name or player with this? Like what was it that actually like created the name of the 588 wedge? The numbering system came out because if you if you actually name something uh you’d really have to register it around the world and it was expensive to do that. So I started doing numbering. So the wedge before that was a four four. So it was a fourth wedge, fourth iteration of of irons and introduced in 1985. The next iteration was five. Okay. Really simple and in ‘ 88. So that’s where the 588 come. I love that story. I was going to say speaking of sole design, I think it’s so interesting how we talked so much about bounce and relief and you look at these and what you were designing in like the original 588 and you look at the modern tricks on irons and they are renowned for the BT soul. So you get all of this bounce that’s helping players, stronger players hit those shots without having the club. The bounce that that bounce goes right through the set. Okay, it’s important. And then changes with the length of the club because of based on your attack angle. You don’t need less bounce and longer club or less loft. Okay. Because you have a shallower attack angle. The steeper you get, you need more bounce. Yeah. And that’s why the sixon irons are were so good. The thing that I really like is how the the kind of the way the heel pinches on it. So like it looks really compact. You get that teardrop shape. Um, it is like a I mean it’s the classic looking wedge because it works. Yeah. Yeah. It looks great. You want you want something to exude confidence when you look down at it. You have all the performance features, but it’s got to look like really nice. Roger, thanks so much. Thanks so much for the talk and thanks for showing us around. Thank you.

Chatting with a true wedge legend (AKA a wedgend). THE Roger Cleveland of @ClevelandGolfCompany talks Ryan Barath through his timeless designs, his return, and what’s to come with @SrixonGolfUS.

The intersection of golf and culture.

Behind every drained putt or hosel rocket into the stands is a human being with complex emotions—among them, an insatiable appetite for golf. That’s what we’re after. Golf’s humanity is what makes it so special to us. There have never been more reasons to love this game, and we’re endeavoring to explore them all.

Subscribe to Skratch on YouTube and don’t miss out on the most entertaining golf content online.

Check out our website: https://skratch.golf/
Hit us up on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skratch
Check us out on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skratch
Follow us on Twitter/X: https://www.twitter.com/Skratch
Say ‘hey’ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skratch