Equipment
Cleveland CG Black and CG Black CB irons
Like Cleveland’s CG Black drivers, the company’s new CG Black and CG Black CB irons are designed for golfers who don’t have pro-caliber swing speeds and don’t hit the center of the face on every shot.
CG Black CB irons
Cleveland’s CG Black CB irons, which replace the company’s 588 MT irons, are designed for golfers who swing between 85-to-105 mph and want more workability than the CG Black irons can provide.
The 588 MT irons were long, forgiving and quite attractive at address, which is why they could be spotted in the bags of Keegan Bradley, Graeme McDowell and many other Cleveland/Srixon Staff players as long irons replacements.
Cleveland says the CG Black CB irons are even longer and more forgiving. They use high-strength HT 1770 steel faces in the long and mid irons to create a wider and hotter COR (coefficient of restitution) area.
The COR area of the CG Black CB irons is 20 percent larger and as much as 0.2 percent higher than the 588 MT irons.
CG Clack CG sets (4-SW) available on retail for $699.99 with a Nippon N.S. Pro 1050 GH steel shaft, or $799.99 with a UST Recoil 660/760 graphite shaft.
CG Black irons
The CG Black irons are game-improvement irons aimed at golfers who swing less than 90 mph with the driver and are looking for higher launch and more carry.
They’re designed with lower, more rearward CG (center of gravity) for golfers that need maximum speed and forgiveness.
The irons use a progressive design, with a hollow hybrid chassis in the 4 and 5 irons for a higher launch and a thinner face on the 6 and 7 irons to drop CG and raise launch angles.
Cleveland’s CG Black irons (4-PW) sell for $699.99 at retail.
This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.
Joel Thelen
Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.
First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.
Mitchell Meissner
Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.
Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX
7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX
Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.
@Lamosteve began:
Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine
Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6
Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
- JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
- jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”
Justin Rose WITB 2026 (April): Full WITB breakdown with new McLaren irons
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Russell Henley’s winning WITB: 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
Kristoffer Reitan’s winning WITB: 2026 Truist Championship
Aaron Rai’s winning WITB: 2026 PGA Championship
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2026 Cadillac Championship
J.T. Poston’s winning WITB: 2026 Memorial Tournament
Best irons 2026: Best irons overall, most forgiving irons, and more
Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament. Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura...
Hannah Green WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Titleist GTS3 (10 degrees, D4 SureFit setting) Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana RB 53 S 3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees,...
Asterisk Talley WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 S 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (16.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue...
Brianna Do WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (9 degrees) Shaft: KBS PGW 3-wood: Callaway Elyte Titanium (15 degrees) Shaft: KBS PGW 5-wood:...
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Mariano
May 1, 2019 at 7:34 am
Estoy interesado en comprar un set de Cleveland CG Black grafito regular, nuevos o usados.
Bob V.
Feb 9, 2015 at 6:24 pm
Loft gaps are stupid. Only 2* difference between 4 and 5 irons, yet 6* gap between PW and DW. There is absolutely no sound scientific justification for that.
Carl Spackler
Feb 15, 2015 at 8:02 pm
From article:The irons use a progressive design, with a hollow hybrid chassis in the 4 and 5 irons for a higher launch and a thinner face on the 6 and 7 irons to drop CG and raise launch angles.
So different club designs throughout the same set need different loft spacing to achieve consistent distance gaping.
A muscle back(blade) set uses identical club head design so lofting would be equally spaced.
leftright
Feb 9, 2015 at 2:31 pm
It’s every manufacturer, not just Cleveland. I hear they might get out of the iron business. They make great clubs it’s just people are brand crazy, the people who are left that are actually golfers or play golf. Except at some of the high end clubs, golf has taken a beating and retailers are going out of business. In Tampa Florida of all places, there are 2 retail golf stores in the whole area, Edwin Watts and Golfsmith, actually, make that the whole county. If you play golf and voted for the current bunch then I hope you get the yips.
4pillars
Feb 8, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Hope the black stands up better than my CG16’s Black Pearl’s which look like they have leprosy.
No resale value
leftright
Feb 9, 2015 at 2:33 pm
I experimented with the black irons like I did the yellow golf ball and went back to standard colors. I do like the satin irons better than chrome though, especially on the wedges.
j.a.
Feb 8, 2015 at 6:25 am
Comparing the lofts to my old CG clubs, shorter clubs have more loft while longer had less. Anyway, I look forward to trying those CBs.
frendy
Feb 6, 2015 at 12:06 pm
What a sad replacement for the MT’s.
Tom
Feb 6, 2015 at 11:26 am
For the CG irons the 7 iron has a stronger loft than my 6 iron!
I’m sure they are designed to get the ball up in the air, but for most amateurs with a driver speed under 90mph as they say they are aimed at, I would think with lofts that strong they’re going to struggle to hit anything under a 7 iron consistently. A 24* 5iron they’re gonna have no chance regardless of how hollow the clubhead is!
Eli Yates
Feb 8, 2015 at 6:22 am
exactly… so theyll have to take the irons they cant hit out of the bag and replace them with hybrids. its kind of important for golf club companies to do this so they can wring every little cent out of their customers.