I want 'lighter' wedges

I'm playing Cleveland CG15 wedges.
I just switched my irons over to those old Tommy Armour's I ho'd a while back.  When Playing them, I definately notice they are 'lighter' in the swing.  Statically, they seem to be the same weight as my newfangled Adams. You know, hold them by the butt end and compare....like we did with baseball bats. But they seem to feel and play like they are much lighter.
My Clevelands, on the other hand, feel like they are made out of lead. When I play them.

Can someone guide me here?
Mongrel?

If you brought those clubs over to my place, the first thing I would do is fire up my ultra chic digital scale up ($21 at Bed, Bath & Beyond) and weigh those wedges and your other irons that feel much lighter to you. Then I would get out the other two components of my swingweight machine-- the aluminum 48" ruler and the felt tip pen with fine point. I'd measure the balance points of the irons, subtract 14 from each measurement, then multiply their weights in grams times each balance point. The products would then be compared with the table published on Dave Tutelman's website and the swingweights of each would be noted. Odds are that the Cleveland wedges probably weigh within a couple of grams what the pitching wedge of your iron set weighs. However, the Clevelands may have slightly heavier shafts and maybe a bit lighter grips which would make their balance points lower, their swingweights higher, and feel "much heavier" to you.


There are several fixes to make your Clevelands feel lighter. The most complex and expensive is to reshaft them with lighter shafts. A shop might charge you $40 or so a club to do that including a new grip. A cheaper way to go is to add weights to the butt ends of the Cleveland wedges to raise their balance points. Or install heavier grips and maybe have some lead tape put under the grips. With a club properly counter-balanced, you could swing just as well with the club having a total weight 30-60 grams heavier than stock.

I would bet a dozen new Pro V's that if you disassembled one of those Cleveland wedges and weighed each of the component parts-- head, shaft, and grip-- that the head would be within a gram or two of almost every other wedge of its loft manufactured. The shaft might be within 2 or 3 grams of every standard True Temper "wedge flex" shaft that comes stock in many maker's wedges. And the Cleveland grip may be a bit lighter than the standard 50 gram grip. Of course there might be some sort of tip weight inside the tip end of the shaft. I've found these in iron shafts I've pulled ranging from 2 to 10 grams. I hate tip weights and never install them when I am reshafting my irons.

Another factor could be the actual size of the grips. Perhaps those Clevelands have slightly small grips which will make a club feel head-heavy. By just regripping with an oversized grip- 1/16 or 1/8", the club will feel lighter. Another benefit of a thicker grip is that it helps to keep the hands out of the shot for those whose problems come from being handsy through the swing. I've cured myself of the "pulls" just by installing slightly oversized grips on my driver and several other clubs that I've had problems pulling left under pressure.

I have always found cleveland wedge heads to be on the lighter side, havn't hit the newer stuff though, im going back a few years.  Mongrel offers fine suggestions, I would also say that you can have your wedges drilled out, or ported by a club builder. It will take some weight off the head and raise the center of gravity of the club a bit.  Another option, is buy new ones.  Roger cleveland now designs the wedges for callaway, when he was running the show for cleveland I found their wedges to be light, perhaps his influence at callaway would provide you something you'd like.

Hmmmm......

Ok, I re gripped the wedge with a Golfpride Tour Velvet Jumbo the day I bought the wedge. I hated the stock grip (bought it used). It's a big fat one and yes, I immediately felt it helped with 'the pulls'. My bud who does this told me it would help keep my hands from turning over too soon. Anyway, I like the grip so much, I did it to all my wedges on my other set (X20's).

How do I add weight to the butt end?  Seen that add for Bettinardi where they show some sort of pop on weight for the end of the grip.
Lighter shaft?  Reccomendations?

Going to buy one of those scales. I'm betting the TA's are lighter. The heads are definately much smaller than what I was using. Maybe that's contributing too.

Crap!!!  Now I can see why youse guys can get crazy over this stuff!  And all I thought was, playing golf would be easy. Get a set of clubs, bang the little white ball across the nicely mowed grass.....Hahahahahahaha!!!!  I'm turning towards the dark side.

Wait till I start asking Q's when I attempt to change a shaft!  AAAAAhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Hubijerk wrote:I have always found cleveland wedge heads to be on the lighter side, havn't hit the newer stuff though, im going back a few years.  Mongrel offers fine suggestions, I would also say that you can have your wedges drilled out, or ported by a club builder. It will take some weight off the head and raise the center of gravity of the club a bit.  Another option, is buy new ones.  Roger cleveland now designs the wedges for callaway, when he was running the show for cleveland I found their wedges to be light, perhaps his influence at callaway would provide you something you'd like.

I've been a Cleveland wedge guy for several years, and you're right.  Most of their wedges have been light, but the CG15's are very head-heavy.  Which I actually like.  Up until last year, I had a 52 and 56 in CG15 and a 60 in CG10 and I had to take the CG10 out of the bag because it was so different.  Not I've got a 588 RTX 60 that is somewhat middle weight.