Where designers at Cleveland went traditional with the Launcher, they’ve completely thrown tradition out the window with the HiBORE XLi irons. Truthfully, if you find yourself in the Cleveland booth at the PGA Show next year, you may have a hard time believing the two clubs came out of the same design shop — of course, while the appearances may differ, the shift towards increased control and playability, higher MOI and faster ball speeds make the Launcher and XLi lines more like fraternal twins than distant cousins. Designed specifically for the higher handicapper, the HiBORE XLi is without a doubt Cleveland’s most forgiving iron line — hybrid or otherwise — to date. Certainly, when holding one the differences between the XLi and other hybrid offerings are immediately noticeable — the XLi’s hollow construction and thinner face make the club among the lightest we’ve swung, while helping shift the center of gravity six times deeper than a traditional iron to create a larger sweet spot and help snap the club through the target zone with greater consistency. In addition, the XLi’s progressive offset maximizes the distance and launch angle for every iron in the set, allowing the high handicapper to benefit from the power and accuracy advantages of hybrid clubs while not sacrificing the creativity or versatility allowed by more traditional irons. Already having generated its fair share of buzz after its late fall release, we’re certain the XLi will be on every critic’s list — and in many of their bags — come 2009.