Cleveland CG15, DSG, Oil can

[granters]

I thought i'd jot down a few notes about the wedge i have just been trying out for the first time- The Cleveland CG15, 52* DSG , Oil Can. I spent an hour hitting shots from
15 yards in, i will post an additional review on full shots.

First impressions are excellent. Looks great behind the ball, nice and neat and a major plus point for me is that it's fairly heavy. I always think this is important in a wedge as it really helps with accelleration through the ball on the wee fidgety shots.

I went for the Tour conforming zip grooves, rather than the standard zip grooves. The tour version grooves are slightly less aggressive, and i think it was the correct decision. From 10 yards the ball bounces once and bites- most impressive. I tried out a variety of balls and every one had some element of bite on the second bounce. The prov1 stopped dead, and even a DDH checked up. The face is laser milled, and you can really feel the ball gripping the face. The very fact you can see the white laser milling inspires confidence that the ball will stop quickly. A very aggressive club. I've never seen spin like that off a wedge, particularly on such short shots.

More interestingly for me is the Dynamic Sole Grind. Basically the bounce is stated at 8* on all the DSG series. The idea behind DSG is that the face can be opened to varying degrees and the bounce will remain constant to reduce the risk of thinnig. This is due to the fact that the back of the club and the toe have been ground away to allow clearance when the face is opened. As you can see here..

This appealed to me as i will be playing a lot of shots from tight links fairways. Already i'm seriously impressed. It's night and day compared to my old wedge. I played off the tightest, hardest lie i could find and nipped the ball of the surface beautifully with a fully opened face. The added bonus being that every time the ball stopped almost dead, and even came back a few inches a few times. Seriously impressive from 15 yards. Admittedly this is from shots i wouldn't usually play when it mattered, ie face wide opened and the ball belted hard, but impressive still.

So the drawbacks? I don't expect this club to last forever. The face is already showing signs of wear after an hour. It is designed to do this, but i can already see the laser milling fading on a few parts. It's definitely susceptible to scratching from grit etc. it's a balance though, i don't mind this at all if the performance is there. I'd probabaly guestimate it'll need replaced at the end of next season but i'm comfortable with that

So to sum up my initial thoughts-

Positive-

Beatiful looking club
Confidence inspiring grooves and milling help with shot commitment
Extremely versatile due to DSG

Negatives-

Definitely a players club due to smallish head
Durability not excellent

All in all i'm absolutely delighted with it so far, there is more to life than Vokeys. I definitely prefer the swing weight and looks of the CG15

I hope this is of some use to someone, i'll add another post on full shots later in the week.

Cheers

 

[Imurg]

I had one of these, a 58 degree with the old Zip Grooves. Got silly spin from it, waaaay too much and found it really difficult to control. Great club but watch the spin.

Oh and the finish will last about a round and a half - by then it looks about 20 years old...

 

[granters]

Imurg,

The spin factor is why i went with the less aggressive tour grooves. I'm playing on hard links greens and believe me you need to generate spin to hold them, particularly when you miss the green as a lot of them are severely elevated. Interesting points though

 

[granters]

Thought i'd post a follow up on my initial review of this wedge in June.

I've been using this wedge for 2 months now and quite honestly wouldn't be without it now. It's so versatile i use it for most shots 100 yards in (barring bump and runs etc). I only use my sand wedge from bunkers now it's that good. The Dynamic sole grind lets you open the face and go for it without the fear of thinning.

The oil can finish has degraded slightly , but nowhere near as much as i thought it would.

I'd definitely reccomend the "Tour Groove" version rather than the standard zip grooves. This gives me the ideal amount of control without the silliness of ripping the ball off the green etc. There is still the option of really going after the shot and generating a lot of spin if required though.

The most impressive feature for me is the feedback from the shaft. You can really feel it ripping through the ball when you go for it, and it's equally responsive on knock down shots. It really keeps you in control of the clubhead beautifully, without it being too soft.

I'd highly, highly recommend this series if wedges, so much so that i'm adding a 56* to my armory. From 100 yards in i have so much confidence in this club, even on our rock hard greens. It's so consistent i can rely on one bounce and stop. For my game, the CG15 is miles ahead of the Vokey range feel wise.

Hope this is of some use to someone!