Cleveland

Wedges are the whole point here. Roger Cleveland started out recreating Bobby Jones' Calamity Jane putter and making persimmon woods, founded the company that became Cleveland Golf in 1979, and by 1988 had put out the 588, the wedge that set the brand's course for the next several decades. It used U-shaped grooves and a sole that narrowed toward the heel, and the teardrop head shape most wedges now borrow is credited to him. These days the company is part of Dunlop Sports, alongside Srixon and XXIO, and runs a wedge selector on its site for anyone who'd rather not guess at bounce.

The range splits cleanly: a tour blade family, RTX and now RTZ, for anyone who opens the face and leans on the bounce, and a cavity-back family, CBX and CBZ, for golfers whose wedges should behave more like their irons. Smart Sole covers the wide-sole end for anyone who can't get out of sand cleanly. Named technologies do specific jobs: ZipCore pulls mass from the hosel, UltiZip sharpens and tightens the grooves, HydraZip mills the face for wet conditions. Putters take the Huntington Beach name from the California town the company works out of. Roger Cleveland's back with the company as an advisor these days, which is a neat piece of symmetry.