WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Designed using an all-new Z-Alloy material, Cleveland’s RTZ wedge is unlike anything in the marketplace. The specialized soft stainless steel offers an abundance of benefits for golfers who prefer a blade profile but want to reap the off-center performance of a cavity-back offering. Additional features include a loft-specific Hydrazip face roughness, low-density Zipcore technology and sharper Ultizip grooves.

AVAILABILITY/PRICING: $169 (RTZ Tour Satin, RTZ Black Satin), $189 (RTZ Tour Rack). RTZ Tour Satin: 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64 degrees; RTZ Black Satin: 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 degrees; RTZ Tour Rack: 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 degrees. Available at retail Jan. 17.

3 Cool Things

1. One-of-a-kind. For over three decades, 8620 carbon steel has been the material of choice for many wedges in the marketplace. Think about that for a second. Plenty has changed in the equipment space during that time, but the go-to head material has remained static. For most equipment manufacturers, 8620 was reliable and offered more than enough feel and performance.

But there comes a time when you have to ask: What’s next?

For Cleveland, the answer is a proprietary Z-Alloy that was created for the all-new RTZ wedge to exceed 8620 in four categories: density, material hardness, durability and surface consistency.

“When we first started working with Z-Alloy, we learned quickly it was going to allow us more flexibility in our wedge design and we wouldn’t be limited on what we wanted to create,” said Patrick Ripp, Cleveland’s tour engineering manager. “The enhancements this new material offers shows up in every area that matters.”

Z-Alloy offers several important benefits, beginning with the overall density. A noticeably higher concentration of chromium and carbon than 8620 netted an impressive 6 grams of discretionary weight that was returned to the RTZ head to increase overall wedge performance.

Feel is subjective but RTZ has a confirmed hardness of 180 HV (Vickers Hardness) while RTX6, which was made from 8620, has a hardness of 225 HV. Not only does Z-Alloy make RTZ softer, but it also has a more consistent hardness and microstructure throughout the clubhead.

Another benefit of Z-Alloy? As a soft stainless steel, it’s designed to not rust over time when exposed to normal conditions in its raw state. Compared to a standard raw wedge, the one-of-a-kind Z-Alloy resists wear at a rate not seen by non-plated products in the past, preserving groove geometry, spin retention and surface consistency across the board.

To put those superlatives into perspective, the rusted grooves on an RTX 6 ZipCore Tour Race deteriorated, on average, 87 percent faster than a raw, RTZ Z-Alloy wedge.

2. Moving mass. Cleveland able to net 6 grams of discretionary mass with the introduction of Z-Alloy, and another 21 grams with the use of an aluminum-silicate compound in the low heel portion of the head. For those keeping track at home, that’s a whopping 27 grams of discretionary mass in a blade wedge profile.

The ZipCore material has been used in previous Cleveland wedges and possesses a significantly lower density than steel.

According to Cleveland’s R&D team, the area where ZipCore is added “is better hidden and much less functional than other regions of the wedge, including the face, sole, and topline. The solid feel of the wedge is preserved by keeping the ZipCore heel side of impact.”

Compared to RTX6, RTZ’s heel-toe MOI improved by 1 percent while shifting the center of gravity 1.1 mm close to face center. The result is an overall better feel and consistency as the CG moves closer to the center of the expanded sweet spot.

3. Dynamic finish. The Hydrazip face finish found on RZT is designed to increase friction at impact. The ultimate goal is to improve spin and carry consistency regardless of the lie or course conditions.

Achieving such a feat can be tricky with only one face finish, so Cleveland designed loft-specific finishes. Multiple blast media and laser patterns create an ideal amount of friction at impact, especially in wet conditions.

The lower lofts require less surface roughness to achieve consistent spin performance, when compared to the higher lofts, which is why the finish process differs slightly going from the 46- to the 60-degree. The ultimate goal is balancing spin across lofts.

While this might sound like a reheat of the previous face finish found on RTX 6, the new generation offers a face milling on the lower lofts that was modified to match dry and wet spin, leading to more predictability and carry consistency in all conditions.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com