50 Words or Less
By: Dylan Thaemert
The Cleveland CBX 2 wedge is purposefully designed to fit the needs of golfers who play cavity back irons. Performance, feel, and forgiveness for the every man golfer.
Introduction
The paradox of the golf equipment world is that everybody has the ability to go out and purchase the same clubs their favorite pros game week in and week out on the PGA Tour, but should they? The fact is that most golfers struggle to break 90 on a regular basis. That’s why Cleveland introduced its line of CBX wedges. They are wedges with all the functionality golfers want with the forgiveness that the vast majority of them need.
Learn about the latest CBX wedge, the CBX ZipCore HERE
Looks
Pardon the terrible pun, but these wedges look Tour-ific. At address, the CBX 2 has a look that is not far off of what you would expect from a blade-style wedge.
Side by side with Cleveland’s blade-style RTX offering, the face on the CBX 2 is noticeably larger. The sole is also significantly wider.
I think when it comes to golf equipment, most golfers are susceptible to a bit of vanity, whether they are eager to admit it or not. By that token, it’s a breath of fresh air that these wedges don’t have a bunch of design elements that scream “CHECK OUT MY TECH FEATURES!” The clubs have a clean, classic, and razor-sharp look.
Sound & Feel
The sound of impact is a crisp ‘tock.’ The feel is excellent. Though not as buttery soft as a forged blade-style wedge, the feedback on strike location is evident in the way the ball comes off the club and rolls out on the green, and also in the hands to a greater degree than I expected from a cavity back wedge.
Performance
One of my favorite parts about playing golf is being creative around the greens. Deciding what route the ball ought to take to the hole is often a much more nuanced process from 10 yards than it is from 100. I was able to open up the blade and pop it up in the air or hood the face and get it running quickly with equal ease.
On full shots, the CBX 2 gets the ball in the air in a hurry. From the rough or from the fairway, well-struck shots launch very high. A ball struck with less than total precision will get a couple more yards of carry than one struck with a blade-style wedge.
I also noticed that while the turf conditions at some courses are more conducive to creating high spinning wedge shots than others, these wedges stuck or spun back just as much if not more than my gamers. Fresh grooves always help with that, too, and the CBX 2 has a particularly beautiful, zippy-looking milling pattern.
Finally, Cleveland has simplified their grind offerings with the CBX 2. In the RTX-4, there are three sole options. In the CBX 2, there is one sole per loft, optimized for the way that loft is predominantly used.
If you want to dig a little deeper into the performance metrics behind cavity back vs. blade wedge performance, check out the edition of Golf Myths Unplugged that Matt did with the folks at Club Champion earlier this year.
Conclusion
The games of regular golfers look nothing like those of Tour pros, so why should the clubs in our bags look the same?
From my perspective, there’s no reason that a golfer who games cavity back irons should be playing blade-style wedges when Cleveland has a product like the CBX 2 available.
Cleveland CBX2 Wedge Price & Specs
Dylan Thaemert
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I bought the 48* to fill a gap in my back up set which got pressed into duty recently for a few rounds. I knew it would be easy to hit but was surprised at how versatile and well balanced it was. I plan to try a higher lofted model and if it performs well from green side bunkers these could knock my gamers out of the bag.
I have the CBX 1st series wedges, 48, 52, 56, and 60.
Love them.
How are the new CBX2’s different from what I have??
Can someone chime in on how these are compared to the Edison wedges? Just from a price standpoint, i may go CBX2 but keep hearing amazing things about Edison.
Randall,
In case you haven’t seen it, we have a full review of the Edison wedges here: https://pluggedingolf.com/edison-wedge-review/
-Matt