Review: Cleveland 588 Custom Driver
Cleveland went with the 588 name for 2014 instead of the Classic name. I’m not sure every club they make has to be named 588 like the wedge line, but I guess unifying the names makes it easier to remember instead of 4 different families of clubs like other manufactures. The 588 Custom is an adjustable hosel driver with a rear adjustable weight. The head comes at 9* or 10.5* and then can go up and down/left and right a couple degrees or so. This allows you to tune it to your liking. The head itself doesn’t have as deep of a face as previous models, but is deeper front to back, which coupled together, I think gives it better feel and looks, yet still very forgiving.
The all black head with touches of gold and white looks very nice too. The gloss has good shine and the face lines contrast nicely when lining up the tee shot. The custom painted black Matrix “Red Tie” shaft is another good look for this club so that from top to bottom it is a classic black/gold/white Cleveland package.
While the Classic XL was a very forgiving head, for some the deep face was too much. While I’ve always been a fan of deep faces, I think the 588 Custom is better. It is still deep, but not as deep and also a little wider heal to toe. For most golfers the 588 is probably even more forgiving than the XL. I found the 588 Custom to be even straighter off the tee.
Another improvement is the sound/feel. It feels like it has more pop in the head. The rebound of the face feels more responsive. I am impressed by how solid the 588 Custom Head feels. The head shape and the rear weight are tuned to really feel and sound good. The metallic crack is pleasing to the ear. I think the heavier swing weight/head helps with that solid feel too. The Swingweight is D5 which makes it one of the heavier stock combos.
The “real deal” Matrix 6Q3 or “Red Tie” shaft is a great stock shaft since it is really smooth, very accurate and has good launch with mid/low spin. I think this pairing is a real winner. Because of the smooth feeling shaft, paired with a solid feeling head, many people are going to like this driver right off the rack.
Cleveland is billing this as their longest driver yet. I found it to be plenty long. Maybe not the longest driver I’ve ever hit, but certainly the straightest and most forgiving. I have to admit I was more impressed by the accuracy and forgiveness than the length. That isn’t to say it is short by any means. In the scramble we used my drives 70% of the time because they were the longest and in my other rounds I was past a number of the guys I was golfing with even playing a tee back from them. I haven’t hit it on my home courses yet so I can’t compare to my normal distances on those courses, but Flightscope testing shows it holds up nicely with everyone else. Really close in distance, but straighter than everything else in 2014.
While all the other companies are making a lot of noise about their new driver, their new technology, their new color or whatever else they are promoting, Cleveland is making an incredible fairway finder. Rather than chasing 5 yards, maybe finding almost every ball in the middle of the fairway is the better route to lower scores. I feel like the Cleveland 588 Custom Driver has hit 588 fairways and counting.
For more information: www.clevelandgolf.com
Quick Hits
+Super straight
+Very forigiving
+Excellent feel
+Long enough
+Great stock package