The Cleveland Classic XL fairway extends the Classic brand into fairways for the first time. It retains the same all-black head, face and shaft as the driver with the same alignment dot on the crown, which is a little more style than function.
The rounded head seems a little on the compact size, but that could be the black finish as it actually very forgiving and easy to hit. Like the Cleveland Classic XL Driver, the face is taller than most to offer more forgiveness and plenty of power.
The face is set square at address even though it look fractionally closed at address to the naked eye. It also does seem to have a tiny draw bias but that is not a bad thing as shots went on a mid to high trajectory in a lovely straight arc. It was easy to shape both ways and from the tee and the rough this is an excellent all round performer.
The Matrix XCon-6 shaft is light and very responsive and must be a good shaft to displace the excellent Miyazaki shaft that is usually in Cleveland's clubs as that is owned by their parent company.
The performance and looks, as well as the classy headcover, all come together well in the Classic XL fairway at a competitive price.