Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face Irons Review

Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face Irons Key Features:

• XL Head design: moves weight to the perimeter to increase forgiveness and MOI
• Full face grooves: ensure consistent spin control from across the face
• Three-sole system: designed to fit long, mid, and short- Iron swings, providing optimised turf interaction throughout the set

Designed to cater to the needs of beginner golfers and high-handicap players, Cleveland's new Halo Xl Full-Face irons are geared up to provide serious forgiveness and ease of launch. 

Utilising an XL head design, the engineers at Cleveland have moved as much weight as possible to the perimeter of the clubhead to improve forgiveness and MOI. 

The face of these irons also features grooves across the entirety of the surface, allowing for spin rates to be retained from strikes from anywhere on the face. 

A three-sole system has also been designed to optimise turf interaction throughout the set, with a Glide rail in the long irons to promote solid contact, a V-shaped sole in the mid irons to help cut through the turf, and a three-tiered sole in the shorter irons and wedges, to help increase forgiveness. 

With game improvement tech packed into every inch of these irons, we put them to the test at Walton Heath Golf Course before digging a little deeper into the numbers at Custom Golf Works in Surrey.

Let's get into it.

Player Level

Cleveland Halo XL Full Face Irons Looks and Feel:

As can often be the case with super game improvement irons, the Cleveland Halo XL set is very much on the bulky side, offering more of an iron/hybrid profile than that of a pure iron. 

The thick topline is married to a very deep matte black body that almost resembles your clubhead's shadow when sitting behind the ball. 

While this head shape will perhaps not appeal to more accomplished golfers, it's incredibly confidence-inspiring, which will undoubtedly suit the eye of players looking for as much help as possible from their irons. 

The XL head shape and additional offset may not be the best-looking, but as we will come onto later, it certainly serves a purpose. 

In terms of sole design, Cleveland has opted for a mixture of matte and chrome silver paired with black detailing. To be honest, we have no strong feelings either way when it comes to this design. It won't win beauty pageants, but it's certainly not offensive. 

One issue we did have, however, was how quickly the chrome panels on the sole got marked up. Having only been in the bag for a matter of hours, we began to instantly see scuffing and marking, which was quite disappointing. 

In terms of feel, these irons are as hot and bouncy as you would expect from their appearance. Striking the ball from across the face, you get a real trampoline sensation that remains consistent throughout the set. 

It's fair to say the feel we got from these irons was quite hollow, but in fairness, that's always the case with irons of this design. 

Likewise, the sound was also hollow, but again, that was no surprise. 

Cleveland Halo XL Full Face Irons Performance and Forgiveness:

As soon as we took a look at these irons, we knew they were going to be easy to hit, and they certainly didn't disappoint. The huge sweet spot and wide sole made them incredibly easy to launch from various lies, allowing us to send the ball high into the air time and time again. 

While perhaps not best suited to our swing speed, we did find that these irons were incredibly easy to use, providing outstanding levels of forgiveness from across the face. 

As you can see from the data above, thanks to the increased head size, we could generate excellent ball speeds, which resulted in long carry distances that tended to land softly due to how high the head could launch the ball. 

If you struggle to generate speed with your irons, then this set could be the answer to your prayers. 

During our testing on the course, we also wanted to see how these irons would perform from various lies, with high-handicap golfers not renowned for their ability to hit fairways consistently. 

We found that with every club in the set, we could make clean and clear contact with the ball, with turf interaction from every level of the set, providing excellent turf interaction from the rough or even slick muddy patches. 

We honestly struggled to find an area of the course that these clubs couldn't tackle. 

Back in the studio, we were eager to see how well these clubs would perform from off-centre strikes, so we intentionally hit some horror toe strikes to fully test out how stable the head could remain through impact. 

While there was understandably a fall-off in distance and direction when struck from the heel or toe, compared to other irons on the market, the Cleveland Halo XLs did an incredible job of keeping the face as square as possible to keep our ball straight and in the air. 

All in all, these irons were incredibly fun to hit. Thanks to all of the game improvement tech that is packed into each head, it feels like you have a helping hand with every single shot. 

The club never stops working for you, which is exactly what high-handicap players need.

Should you buy the Cleveland Halo XL Full Face Irons?

If you struggle to strike your irons cleanly and constantly find yourself chasing distance, these irons could be the perfect medicine for your ailment. 

Providing bags of forgiveness, a super high launch, and excellent distance numbers, these irons are a beginner golfer's dream. 

While they may not stun in the looks department, when it comes to performance, these irons are right up there with the best on the market for high-handicap golfers. 

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