Copper Calling

The allure of the copper-colored club is hard to resist

By Tony Dear

Regular readers will know this page is rather partial to copper-colored clubs, so when Bettinardi Golf recently announced it was releasing a limited-edition Molten Copper version of its HLX 6.0 wedge, we sat up and took notice.

The original HLX 6.0 wedge was released in Chrome and Graphite at the start of last year. The back of the club featured familiar Bettinardi Honeycomb/Hexagon milling and circular milling sections separated by a channel that got wider nearer the heel.

The depth of the channel and the milling in each part of the back flange, together with a thinner, beveled top line, and a hosel that was an eighth of an inch longer than standard, combined to position the Center of Gravity a touch higher up the clubface to affect a lower, flatter trajectory while the grooves, sized differently to those in previous HLX releases (3.0 and 5.0), and with more of them, increased spin. The low-launch/high-spin pairing made it easier for you/us to hit the cool, spinny wedge shots we see Scottie, Rory, et al play.

The HLX 6.0 is forged from 1020 carbon steel, giving it the soft feel and satisfying feedback touch players love. And it’s available in two grinds – ‘C’ with moderate heel/toe relief and lower bounce, making it good for most golfers playing standard full shots with a square face (all lofts), and ‘RJ’ (the company founder’s first two initials), which is available in the higher-lofted clubs (54˚, 56˚, 58˚, 60˚), has more heel. toe, and trailing-edge relief, more bounce, and is great for opening the face up to play more delicate shots.
The lower-lofted clubs have straighter leading edges than on previous models, which makes sense since it’s easier to align a club with a straight leading edge.

Robert Bettinardi’s precision and craftsmanship were evident in the putters he made for Scotty Cameron and Cleveland prior to forming his own brand in 1998. Wedges would get the same treatment beginning in 2014, and the irons (MD and CB) continued the elegantly simple (or simply elegant) approach to club-making in 2024.
The HLX 6.0 is a typically handsome club, and the fact it’s now available in copper (PVD finish that will patina over time, giving it an aged look – in a good way – with a copper-plated hitting face) just makes it that bit more seductive. Consider us smitten.

We can’t leave this page without commenting on Justin Rose’s announcement that he has signed with McLaren Golf and will be playing its new blade clubs at this week’s Cadillac Championship in Miami. This McLaren is the same McLaren that has competed in Formula 1 since the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix and whose two-man driver team now comprises World Champion Lando Norris of England and Australia’s Oscar Piastri.

McLaren revealed it was getting into the golf business last month, and Rose has stated he has been working closely with McLaren Golf’s development team for about two years.

The announcement is intriguing for two reasons – firstly, what can we expect from McLaren Golf’s first PGA Tour event this weekend, and will the blades Rose is playing be available to the public? And secondly, this isn’t the first time Rose has announced a surprising equipment deal, of course. You’ll probably recall he left TaylorMade after 20 years to sign with Honma in 2019. The relationship began well with Rose winning at Torrey Pines in his second start with his new clubs, but deteriorated quickly thereafter, coming to an “amicable” end about 18 months later.

At a Cadillac Championship press conference on Tuesday morning, Rose said he hadn’t been using clubs he was entirely happy with while a free agent, adding he was now looking forward to enjoying the remainder of the season with clubs he had a significant hand in designing. Rose, who lives 20 minutes from the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England, says a lot of his preferences have been incorporated into the new irons.

$250
Lofts – 48˚, 50˚. 52˚, 54˚,56˚, 58˚, 60˚
Shafts – KBS Hi-REV 2.0, True Temper DG S200, True Temper DG S400
Right-hand only
The club became available on April 17^th, but on Monday we had it confirmed it is still available.
bettinardi.com