Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face Irons Review

Cleveland’s Halo XL Full-Face Irons have become a favorite of high handicappers and senior golfers looking to increase their launch and improve their overall distance.

Shaped like a hybrid, the Halo XL Full-Face Irons are lightweight with a big body to help golfers get under the ball, helping them hit fuller, higher shots with spin instead of line drives with no control.

For this Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face Irons review, we took these uniquely designed irons for a test drive over several range sessions and a handful of rounds at our favorite local golf club.

So, how did these Halo XL Full-Face play? Our thoughts may surprise you as we were more than pleased with the iron set’s overall performance.

Our In-Depth Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face Irons Review

How do the Halo XL Full-Face Irons look and feel?

Shaped like hybrids, these irons have an extra-large oversized head that helps push the CG lower and deeper.

The design also provides an incredibly high MOI, stabilizing the face through the impact zone. That stability is a huge help for high handicappers and beginning golfers.

At address, these golf irons look very thick with a broad topline. We must admit the heads have a mallet-like quality that can be offputting and distracting to experienced golfers.

But there’s a method to the madness, and once golfers see the results, I don’t think they’ll care too much about the shape and style of these super-game improvement irons.

One little detail that we really loved about these Cleveland irons is how the grooves extend almost to the edge of the face.

Having that broad groove pattern that stretches across the face helps with spin and control and adds additional forgiveness to keep shots on target.

On the range, we loved how pure the contact feels off the face.

The golf ball goes high and straight with a healthy amount of spin. There’s not much vibration, even on off-center strikes. We enjoyed how consistent the feel remains with these Full-Face Irons over time.

What handicap is best for the Halo XL Full-Face Irons?

We feel that beginning golfers, high handicappers, and senior golfers will benefit the most from playing with these Cleveland irons.

Junior and women golfers could also find these Full-Face sets deliver a more pleasing all-around experience on the links.

The wide face also reduces side spin and improves shot quality, two characteristics high handicappers need for their game.

We also saw an increase in spin and distance on the TrackMan when we tested these irons with older players.

These irons qualify for the super-game improvement category, meaning their sole purpose is to get the golf ball up into the air and traveling in a straight line.

If that qualification would improve your game, then the Halo XL Full-Face Irons are well worth your time and consideration.

How does the Halo XL Full-Face Irons perform?

If you are looking for golf irons that simply improve your enjoyment of the game, these Cleveland irons should be at the top of your list.

Everything in the Full-Face model is designed to enhance your performance, and after a few hundred swings with these clubs, we can vouch for their ability to increase distance and improve accuracy.

Cleveland designed the Full-Face Irons with different sole designs for the long, middle, and scoring irons. The soles carry three ridges, much like a hybrid, to enhance overall turf interaction.

By making the clubhead smoother through impact, Cleveland has dramatically improved feel and responsiveness with these new irons.

The wide sole design also helps amateurs make important ball-first contact.

By creating better contact, inexperienced players can gain more distance, spin, and steepen their landing angle to help them hold greens on entry shots.

If you are looking for an iron set that creates repeatable flight that you can count upon, the Halo XL Full-Face irons are well worth the money.

How do the Halo XL Full-Face Irons compare to the Zipcore XL Irons?

If you were to compare the Halo XL Full-Face and the Zipcore XL Irons from Cleveland, I’d suggest that mid-handicappers look to the latter for the best performance.

The Zipcore XL Irons are game-improvement irons that look traditional compared to the Full-Face model’s hybrid-like shaping.

The Zipcore XL is more workable since it is slimmer and shaped to create more flexibility in your shots on the course.

The same is not true for the Full-Face set due to its bulky design. These irons only hit the ball high and straight, and that’s by design.

We found that the Zipcore XL delivers a more consistent ball flight for experienced golfers compared to the Full-Face Irons.

If you have a higher swing speed, the XLs can produce that high, steep landing angle with the scoring irons that golfers crave for their mid-range game.

Other Cleveland Halo XL Full-Face Iron Model

Our Verdict

We really enjoyed playing with the Halo XL Full-Face Irons from Cleveland.

While they don’t offer much workability, they do get the ball into the air with speed, something that high handicappers need for their fairway game.

Everything with the Full-Face design works extremely well.

From the wide sole providing clean turf interaction to the broad, full-grooved face that offers forgiveness, all the features with these irons are made to help you hit the ball high and straight.

Cleveland has also equipped these irons with high-grade graphite shafts to lighten the weight and improve overall swing speed.

The UST Helium Nanocore 60 shafts are durable and provide stability, producing incredibly tall entry shots with spin.