Should We ALL Be Using More Forgiving Wedges?

This wedge honestly surprised me — in today’s video I’m testing the brand new Cleveland CBZ wedge to see if more forgiving wedges could actually help all of us play better around the greens.

I’ve always used more traditional, blade-style wedges… but the Cleveland CBZ promises extra forgiveness and consistency thanks to its cavity-back design. So, is this a total game-changer for your short game? Let’s find out!

⛳ In this video:

Cleveland CBZ wedge review & performance test
Who should be using cavity-back wedges
Real-world short game testing

📸 Clubs tested: Cleveland CBX (full face)
📍 Filmed at: Dunbarnie Links

👇 Watch next:

The 3 Bounce Rule – Never Chip Badly Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbieEkkXerM&t=312s

💬 What wedges are you currently using? Drop your setup in the comments — I love hearing what’s in your bags!

#ClevelandGolf #CBXWedge #GolfReview #ShortGame #HannahHoldenGolf

About the channel:

Hello I’m Hannah Holden a +2 golfer from Yorkshire, England and this is my brand new YouTube channel Hannah Holden Golf.

Make sure you hit subscribe so I can keep you up to date on all the latest golf gear with my golf equipment reviews.

I’ll also be bringing you tips on how to sharpen up your game with my experience playing in big amateur events and working as a performance coach for England Golf!

If that wasn’t enough I’ll make sure you’re on top of the latest rules of golf.

Should we all be using more forgiving wedges? Today I’m testing Cleveland’s new game improvement wedges to find out. So today I’m testing Cleveland CBZ wedges, which are actually a game improvement offering in the wedge category, which is not something I’ve tested before, but actually when we look into the data, 87% of golfers are using an iron that is forgiveness focused, which totally makes sense. Golf is hard and we want something that’s going to help us out on the golf course. But I think it’s easy to think about forgiveness in a driver or irons. But I think generally when it comes to wedges, we’re maybe thinking more about finesse and control when actually we still hit quite a lot of full shots with these. And I would definitely say for myself, I do notice if I’m using my 54 or my 48 for full shots. They’re definitely not as forgiving as say my pitching wedges. And that comes down to the difference in size and construction. So with this, this is a cavity back design. And we can see it’s a much bigger sole. So there going to be more mass to help us out here. So hopefully it’s going to deliver more forgiveness and consistency in those pitch shots. And also that extra bounce and weight down low could help us with consistency and forgiveness around the greens. So I’m really interested to see if this helps, but also how that affects those finesse shots and if we can hit all those chips that we want to. If we can, this could be a game changer because so many people struggle with their chipping and having something that could help us out a little bit more would definitely be a game changer. Okay, first up, let’s hit some full shots with the 50 degree because I’m interested to see how much forgiveness and kind of consistency we gain in this area. I think when we get to like full pitch shots with a 50°, it’s definitely somewhere where I can feel I have less forgiveness than I would say in my pitching wedge. And that can definitely affect consistency, specifically in terms of strike and distance control. Now, I really like the fact that even though this is more forgiving, it still sits great behind the golf ball. The shaping is great. There’s not loads of offset or anything like that. And to be honest, if you put this down behind the ball and I hadn’t seen the back of it, I wouldn’t know any different that there’s more technology packed into here, which I think is a great thing. 101.2 yards there. I really like how solid these feel off the face. They feel a lot kind of stronger coming off the face than a lot of times you get with a traditional wedge. I think that’s going to help with a little bit of ball speed a little bit consistency which is something you definitely want in those kind of stronger lofted wedges which you’re using more for full shots. Now I am using a range ball here so the spin data is not going to be accurate but we are going to go into the short game and hit some pitch shots with proper golf balls after this. just feel like they’re so consistently coming in the same flight window. 99 dead. Now, what’s nice is these feel solid, but they’re also soft off the face. So, Cleveland have got a new Z alloy this year. That’s a new steel formula that’s designed to be lighter and also to feel softer, which I think sometimes you think if you’re going to get more forgiving, more technology, maybe it doesn’t feel as good, but this actually feels really nice on the face. Those last few shots are all on top of each other. I mean, the last one was 99.0, Z Gary and that’s 99.7. You can’t get much more consistent than that. I mean, these are just super consistently coming out in the same flight window, which I really like. Kind of looking at pretty much 100 yards currently in terms of carry distance, which is probably about right at this time of year, given the temperature. I’d maybe want it just over 100 with a 50 degree, but we are using a rainfall and it’s dropping cold in the evening, so probably about right. Okay, I think the 50° past there in terms of consistency and stability. Let’s go hit some pitch shots with proper golf balls and see what the spin’s like. A quick second to hit that subscribe button. Go on, it’s right there. You might as well. And while you’re there, you might as well drop this video a like and drop us a comment about what else you want to see on the channel. Okay, we have 57 to that middle pin. It’s pretty good for like a little half pitch shot. Test what our spin’s like. Now, these wedges share loads of technology with the RTZ wedges from Cleveland that we see mainly used a lot on tour. And that technology is specifically used to drive up spin. So, hopefully we’re going to see some good control here. Now, quite interestingly, all of these wedges have 12 degrees of bounce, which is actually really helpful on pitch shots because more bounce brings your ball flight down, which improves the launch, but also drives up spin. So, really good for control. See how good my 50 yard pitch is now? Felt like a lovely strike. Right next to the pin, too. Gosh, these greens are firm. Nearly 6,000 spin there on a half shot. Pretty pleased with that. Carry 53.6. Not bad. Not bad for my first attempt at a 50 yard shot. Better keep the grooves clean. Consider I’m measuring spin. Keep your wedges clean if you want your pit shots to spin cuz they won’t if there’s loads of rubbish on the golf club face. I love the feel of that. I can see that spin on the green as well. 6,73 spin off a 51 yard carry shot. Very nice. I could definitely use these wedges if they give me this consistency and pitch shots. My 50 yard pitch shots out on the course recently have not been the best. Caught that a tad bottom groovy. So, it’s not quite spun as much, but still 4,300. And I did see a check up on the green and it’s finished right next. Sometimes you don’t have to obsess over numbers and just have to look where the ball is because it’s eight foot from the pin. Now what’s quite fun is you can actually get these in full face groove as well. So this is the 56 that I’ve got which you can see has got the full face grooves on. I actually really love the visual of it and I feel like it gives you a bit more like comfort over the ball. There’s a lot of club face to hit. I know they’re not for everyone, but I do like the fact that they’ve got both options in here so you can kind of pick what you visually prefer. Some brands do like one model of wedges in full face, one model in non fullface, but I kind of like the fact this is all the same technology, but you can just pick which club face you prefer. I think I would go full face, you know. I just I really like how seamless it looks behind the ball. I hit that a bit harder. Yeah, flew it six yards further, but again, stopped up really nicely. Really enjoyed the consistency of that. Ticking the box for forgiveness with the 50 degree. Ticking the box for spin and control and like half pitch shots with my 58. Let’s go do some chipping. Now, I’m going to really interested to see the performance here because I think when you think of higher bounce, you think of something that would be good and forgiving in the bunker cuz as it’s kind of in the name, it’s going to hit the sand and then bounce off. So, let’s see what the performance is like here. I do typically like to open the club face up a lot in bunker shots. And you would think like because the sole is a bit deeper than some wedges that that would feel uncomfortable, but actually it sits down really nicely. That was decent, wasn’t it? That bit of sand was quite firm, so I could feel the club bounce a little bit. Still good performance. I want to see how soft I can kind of get it to stop and go with this. I mean, that’s pretty damn good. I don’t know if you can see the flag from here. That’s literally just missed. Let me show you. Okay, back to the review. Okay, it feels very easy to open up. Definitely gets through the sand. I do think if you maybe in really firm sand or hitting a real finesse shot, you maybe wouldn’t be able to open this up quite as much as a more like traditional sized wedge. But I do think if you’re moving into like this game improvement category, that might not necessarily be a shot you feel comfortable hitting anyway. So, I wouldn’t overly worry about it. This is a fairly deep bunker for what most people would get at their golf club. And I’m easily getting high to get out of it. So, I think this kind of ticks the box there for us golfers. That’s literally hanging out the edge of the hole. I mean, look at that. How is that missed? That’s crazy. I think it’s passed on the bunker test. Okay, we’re actually at Dani Links today, which means we’ve got some perfect links to to do some chip shop testing off. I’m excited about this. Going to do a few different distances, different flights, see how we get on. Be nice to myself and start with just like a longer kind of knockdown shot. I feel like I almost need to hit that first pin to get to that back one. God, that cross was severe. Perfect distance control though. The question for me with this sole and this amount of bounce would be, can I hit like a high soft one? So, I guess we’re about to find out. Not bad. Came a little fast off the face. A little fast, but I think that was just my hands were a bit faster the shot. probably comes off a tad faster than maybe my club with a bounce does. But actually the sole interacting really nice with the ground and they’re pretty nice shots. And you could see the check that was on that too. Just need to hit it a tad softer. See how spinny that was. So, what’s nice is I feel like I can really open the face up as well. Although there’s a lot of bounce on here, it’s really well cambered. I really like the shaping that they’ve done on the sole. We’ve got a shamfer on the front and the back here. And just means it sits really nicely when you open it up. Just kind of feel like I can hit all the shots with this. I wasn’t meant to hit that pin. I told you I was going to do that. Trying to go to that other flag. Listen, I’m hitting it where I’m aiming. Caught that a tad heavy. You know, I really can’t think of many downsides to using this at all. We’ve gained more forgiveness in the long shots. I was still spinning them really nicely into the green on my mid- pitch shots. And I can hit nearly every shot around the green. I would say there’s maybe like one to two% of shots that you’re probably just not going to hit. Like I’m not going to completely open the face up and try hit a massive flop, but like how often do people do that? Like I probably have to do that maybe maximum five times a year. And I play a lot of golf. So for the majority of golfers, you’re gaining a lot in terms of forgiveness and help and consistency. You’re not really losing anything. These look great as well. I just don’t think you would think these are game improvement wedges when you picked them up. And you definitely wouldn’t if you saw them in someone’s bag. 10 out of 10 work from Cleveland here. Should try hit one of the swap shots. We all know I want to know what that strike sounds so good. And it does sit really tight to the ground like that. All right, come on. Trust it. I take it back. You can literally hit every shot with these. How have they done that? Cuz I cannot normally do that unless it’s really low bounce. Might have to reassess what wedges I’m using here. That was so good. [Laughter]