Cleveland is a legendary name among golf aficionados and the good news for our readers is that “weekend players” (just kidding, don't throw golf balls at us) can now find more distance with the company's new HB Turbo Driver.

Yes, as usual, we'll begin with the driver, as the brand spanking new for 2020 Cleveland Launcher driver just hit the stores at some point last month, on October 4th to be more precise. And starting with the good news, the Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo driver is relatively affordable, retailing for just $349.99 MSRP, arriving with Miyazaki C. Kua shaft and Lamkin Crossline 360 grip. As per tech specs, the Launcher HB Turbo driver features a 460 cubic centimeters titanium-made head, with a counterbalanced shaft.

Now, if you're wondering what's all the hubbub with the newest driver in Cleveland's portfolio, stick with us because you're in for a real treat today: the pompously dubbed Launcher HT Turbo comes with all the names and technologies available in the company's portfolio, which means it's easily recognizable by the brand's fans. However, if you're a PGA Tour aficionado, the Launcher HT Turbo may not be very appealing, i.e. it's improbable you'll see Tour Pros swinging a Cleveland Launcher HT Turbo, because after all, that's not the target audience for it.

To make it real simple for our readers, this drivers was developed and refined to help amateur/recreational golfers, as well as weekend players (see, we were not kidding after all) achieve better accuracy and more distance off the tea, i.e. this is basically a glorified game improvement driver after all's said and done. More precisely, the new “turbo charged” Cleveland Launcher driver has been engineered to hit the ball straighter and higher, due to a redesigned cup-face, as well as a faster and higher balance point shaft.

Now, if you pay attention to the Cleveland Launcher thing, it becomes obvious that this driver has been designed for distance, and various versions of Cleveland's flagship driver were all over the place into players bags, dating way back to pre 400 cubic centimeters drivers, via Cleveland Comp's composite products. This club fundamentally transformed the company's metal wood segment, and you can take this to the bank.

After a long absence, the Launcher brand was relaunched 2 years ago, to positive player feedback and glowing reviews, then, Cleveland's Research and Development team decided to meet 2020 with a new turbocharged Cleveland driver, so, here we are folks. As per Vice President of Research and Development at Cleveland Golf Jeff Brunski's own words:

“(With the Launcher HB Turbo) We've squeezed discretionary weight out of every corner of the head in order to produce one of the most forgiving drivers we've ever made.”

Every single gram matters when it comes to discretionary mass, hence since we're dealing with a 200 grams head, 2 grams saved makes for 1 percent more mass to play with. Now, since we're talking about collisions with the ball that takes place at over one hundred miles per hour, even the tiniest percentage point is kind of important. It must be noted that the hosel is one of the most wasteful components of a clubhead, whether we're talking about companies using regular glue in a non-adjustable head, or, exactly because of the head's adjustability options.

The first-gen (Cleveland Launcher HB respectively) didn't feature fancy adjustability options, i.e. it was already saving some mass due to its simplicity, yet the new HB Turbo was taken a step further by the company's engineers, who implemented a number of patented technologies beyond the hosel, thus making sure the latest-gen Cleveland driver is faster than ever.

The first thing that comes to mind when looking at the Cleveland Launcher HB driver is the ultra-light hosel. The new hosel was basically redesigned inside-out of the head, and extra mass was redistributed low and further away from the face, in order to improve forgiveness. Then, there's the turbocharged CupFace, which comes with a new variable face thickness, aimed at providing a higher characteristic time or CT over a bigger area for more ball speed and distance. The thing is, nobody hits the sweet spot every time, and since OEM's are forbidden to make the center faster, they can speed up more of the face, according to the rules of the game.

Finally, we have the HiBore Crown, which makes for a redesigned crown which lowers the center of gravity by 2.2 millimeters compared to the “non turbo” Launcher HB. It may not sound like much for the average Joe Sixpack, but 2.2 mm play a big role in improving overall forgiveness, not to mention a better optimization of the launching parameters for shots hit all over the face. However, the improvements do not stop with the clubhead in the new Launcher HB Turbo, as this baby boasts the latest/ patented Miyazaki C. Kua shaft, which helps to raise the CoG closer to the grip end of the club, offering golfers the ability to swing faster than usual, even if more mass has been added to the club's head to provide a moment-of-inertia boost for the Launcher HB Turbo. This innovation emphasizes the professionalism of club designers, who looked at the big picture instead of just the driver's head, and thus they analyzed the club in a Gestalt manner, i.e. as a whole system. The philosophy is that you'll hit the ball better if the whole system works better together. It's also worth mentioning that Cleveland Golf benefits from the SRI Sports Umbrella, which includes high quality/proprietary products from both Miyazaki and Srixon, and we're obviously hinting at Miyazaki shafts here.

Driver aside, let's take a look at the new Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo irons, which are already available for purchase for $799/set with True Temper Dynamic Gold DST 98 steel shafts and Lamkin 360 grips; or, if that's not enough for your money, you can go for the $899.99 version, which arrives with Miyazaki C. Kua 60 graphite shafts. In terms of tech specs, the Launcher HB Turbo irons feature a hollow-bodied design with HT1770M stainless steel face insert, and they've hit the stores on October 4th.

As we already told you, the recently revealed Launcher HB Turbo driver is aimed first and foremost at recreational golf players who are trying to get more distance, i.e. the Launcher HB line is not meant to be a gift from the heavens for Pros and elite amateurs. The same concept applies to the Launcher HB Turbo irons, i.e. these babies are designed for players who try to improve consistency and to hit the ball farther and higher. Because, after all, that's what the Launcher particle stands for. The irons are very similar to scaled-down hybrids, as they feature a thick topline, a wide sole, and a hollow-body design. This particular design allows for the ultra-thin T1170M stainless steel made face to be more flexible and efficient at ball impact, and thus to improve ball speed. The hollow design of the Launcher HB Turbo irons allowed Cleveland's engineers to implement the HiBore crown design, i.e. the crown is diving down quickly, featuring a concave built, as opposed to a straight/sloping forward toward the back of the head. If you combine all these design features with the additional weight located in the sole, you'll end up with an iron that promotes higher flying shots and launch angle due to a lowered center of gravity which is also located farther from the hitting area. Finally, the new Launcher HB Turbo irons are more forgiving than ever before as they're crafted with a progressive size and blade lengths, with the shorter irons being more compact, while the long irons having a shorter face top to bottom and a confidence-inspiring profile.

Last but not least, we have the 2020 Cleveland Launcher HB turbo fairway woods, which are built for speed and distance, featuring an improved crown design, a lighter hosel, and deeper weighting. The new fairway woods boast a Turbocharged Cup Face that stretches across the sole/crown, and features a variable thickness pattern, which is aimed at delivering improved speed all across the face. The face is also very flexible at ball impact, and due to its clever design and technology, it manages to reflect that energy more efficiently back into the ball, resulting in faster ball speed shot after shot.

Cleveland Golf also used a redesigned HiBore Crown in their new fairway woods with a prominent step for lowering the CoG (center of gravity). At the same time, the Ultralight Hosel is orders of magnitude lighter compared to previous generations, as Cleveland's engineers did everything they could to remove mass from a poor position. Due to high-tech weight savings, the new Launcher HB Turbo fairway woods boast a deep weighting sole pad, which has a CoG that is 4.4 millimeters deeper and 2.2 millimeters lower compared to its predecessors. Everything is aimed at delivering maximum distance off the tee, as well as better launch at impact plus amazing forgiveness. After all's said and done, the new Launcher HB Turbo family is playing (and winning) in the game-improvement category, and that's alright with us. Brian Schielke, Marketing Director at Cleveland Golf was quoted as saying:

“Reintroducing Cleveland Golf Woods and Irons two years ago has been very successful. However, the new Launcher HB Turbo woods represent a huge step up from the previous generation. They're sleeker, faster, and more forgiving–exactly what all of us avid golfers are looking for off the tee.

And here's Cleveland's director of engineering Dustin Brekke

“There are a lot of players who just want easier to hit irons. They're not working on their games with top instructors. They just want a design that will help them hit better iron shots, which admittedly are difficult to hit even for the better players. They are radically different from traditional cavity back game improvement irons out there and most of that is going to be seen in terms of CG depth.

You can see from the cross-section how much that allows you to move the CG deeper. CG height is a big part of it, as well. This player needs to be able to hit below the center of the golf ball without chunking or hitting it thin so the lower we can get that CG the more opportunity there will be for impact to be above it.

We don't have a specific philosophy to keep it the same height through the set, but I think we're trying to keep it low, to get it under the ball to help get it in the air so the player that has struggled gets some help.”

“Progressive shaping is really a key feature to control in this product to give a player comfort throughout the set. Transition in sole widths, CG depths, topline thicknesses help us maintain a set that when a player is looking at it and he's going to switch from a 7-iron to an 8-iron to a 6-iron that there's not some kind of mental or physical gap between those clubs.”

“We know that effect diminishes with loft, that the 9-iron and wedges are going to benefit more, but we think there is a benefit in terms of more consistent launch conditions. More consistent launch conditions mean more consistent performance downrange.”

The new fairway woods come equipped with a state of the art Miyazaki C. Kua shaft, that offers more speed and increased momentum on each swing. And if you are wondering about the pricing, well, it's $299,99 each: 3-wood (15-degree) and 5-wood (18-degree). Let's close with Jeff Brunski, Vice President of Research and Development at Cleveland Golf:

“The Launcher HB Turbo is engineered to help you hit long, straight drives. We've squeezed discretionary weight out of every corner of the clubhead in order to produce one of the most forgiving drivers we've ever made. We've paired it with a high-balance point shaft that's easier to swing fast. Authentic technologies such as the Turbocharged Cup Face, the Ultralight Hosel, and a more aerodynamic crown help the Launcher HB Turbo earn its name.”