Cleveland Halo XL Hy-Wood Review

Cleveland Halo XL Hy-Wood: Key Features

• GlideRail technology: helps deliver a cleaner interaction through the turf while maintaining a square face through impact
• AI-designed MainFrame XL: shapes and expands the sweet spot to boost distance and reposition weight low and deep in the clubhead for added forgiveness and consistency
• Unique head size and shaft length: falls directly between a fairway wood and hybrid for ideal gapping

When it comes to the top end of your bag, finding the right gapping can sometimes be difficult. Do you need a fairway wood, a hybrid or a utility iron? Well, Cleveland has come up with a very effective answer to that question, and it's the new Halo XL Hy-Wood.

As you've probably guessed from the name, the Hy-Wood is neither a wood nor a hybrid but sits somewhere slap-bang in between the two. 

It's designed to offer versatility, forgiveness and distance that can help you fill that tricky spot in your lineup. 

Combining a unique head size and shaft length with GlideRail technology and an AI-designed MainFrame, this club is somewhat of a Swiss army knife, and to find out how well it could perform in a variety of different situations, we took it out on the course before digging deep on the numbers at Custom Golf Works in Woking.

Let's get into it. 

Player Level

Sat behind the ball, this club has quite a unique profile. In terms of size and shape, it lands right between a fairway wood and a hybrid.

It has more offset than a traditional fairway wood, which will undoubtedly suit the eye of the improving golfer, and the inviting head shape also provided us with a great deal of confidence that we would be able to get the ball up in the air very easily. 

In terms of design, the crown has a gloss finish that almost looks a little bit glittery when the sun catches it right. 

While it's perhaps not our favourite design of the year, it's a pretty solid effort from Cleveland.

The crown also features some discreet graphic detailing near the rear end of the head and a small step down from the front to the body. 

Another thing we also noticed was just how square the face lines up behind the ball. If you're someone who worries about hitting a dramatic slice or a hook, then this position will be very reassuring. 

Flip the club over, and we think Cleveland has absolutely nailed the sole design. Sticking with a simple but sleek black, silver, and white colour palette, the designers have also utilised a variety of matte metallic finishes to add a lovely level of contrast. 

The three Glide Rails that run through the sole also make for a unique point of difference that we particularly liked. 

In terms of feel, this club is very springy. You can really feel the club pop off the face, which is reflected in the high ball flight we experienced during testing. 

It's also worth noting the Glide Rails also allow the clubhead to move effortlessly over the turf allowing for a very smooth striking sensation. 

Cleveland Halo XL Hy-Wood: Performance and Forgiveness

The first thing to note when looking at the numbers the Hy-Wood produced for us is that this club is not ideally suited to our swing speed. 

As you can see, the spin levels were higher than we would typically like to see from a three-wood/hybrid, and this resulted in a very high ball flight, which knocked our overall carry distance down quite a bit when compared to what we would typically expect from a club of this loft and length. 

With that being said, the high-spinning nature of this club will be a very handy trait for players whose swings are nearer the 80-90 mph range. 

Due to the high launching nature of this club, it also allows you to get the ball up in the air very easily, which will allow slower swinging players to eke out as much distance as they can.

This club is designed to help players get the ball up and easily, and it certainly does that. 

In terms of forgiveness, we found this club retained ball speed and spin rates well across the face. While the added spin did mean our poor strikes were punished in terms of accuracy, that was more due to the non-optimal setup than anything else. 

The one thing we really love about this club is how versatile it is. 

From the tee, fairway or even the rough, the Hy-Wood is incredibly easy to hit, which allowed us to get out of some rather sticky situations out on the course. 

Sometimes, you need a tool in the bag that you feel like you can hit with ease from any lie, and that's precisely what the Hy-Wood offers. 

Is this a club we would put in our bag? Probably not. However, it is one that could be almost indispensable to beginner or high-handicap players who need a tool that provides forgiveness and ease of launch from almost anywhere on the course.  

Should you buy the Cleveland Halo XL Hy-Wood?

This club could be an absolute game-changer in the hands of the right player. It's no secret that Fairway Woods and Hybrids are some of the harder clubs in the bag to hit for high handicappers, and the Hy-Wood offers up a fantastic solution to that problem. 

Offering ease of launch, high trajectory, spin and outstanding versatility, the Hy-Wood would be a fantastic tool for slow to medium-swing-speed players looking for a friend at the top end of their bag. 

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