Cleveland Launcher XL Halo fairway woods, hybrids

Price: $229.99 each with Project X Cypher shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grips (From $299.99 at carlsgoldland.com and dickssportinggoods.com)
Lofts: 15, 18 and 21 degrees
Available: August 20

While many low-handicap golfers like the look of compact fairway woods, golfers who struggle to hit their fairway woods solid typically prefer shapes that appear large at address, and that’s exactly what you get with the Cleveland Launcher XL Halo fairways. While they have a low profile, from heel to toe and from front to back, they’re big.

The large volume gave plenty of space to Cleveland designers to shift back, away from the hitting area, to increase the MOI up to over 3,300 g-cm² in the 3-wood, which is the highest MOI of any fairway wood Cleveland has ever made.

Rebound Frame activates more of the hitting area at impact to increase ball speed and boost distance on mis-hits. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Like the drivers, the Launcher XL Halo fairway woods feature Rebound Frame, a design that includes a flexible face and a flexible area in the chassis sandwiching a stiff topline. At the moment of impact, the hitting area deflects, then the flexible portion of the body activates before both sections rebound back into shape. According to Cleveland, this process enlarges the ideal hitting area and increases ball speed for more distance.

A Hi-Bore step-down style crown design helps to lower the center of gravity (CG) location while a pair of rails on the sole encourage the Launcher XL Halo fairway woods to skim over and across the turf, instead of digging, to help golfers maintain speed.

Finally, the Launcher XL Halo fairway with a counterbalanced shaft that has an 8-gram weight at the top. Adding weight to the top of the grip, above where a golfer holds the club, shifts the balance point of the club upward and reduces the swingweight, which should help golfers get more clubhead speed with the same amount of effort.