Cleveland HB Soft 2 Retreve Putter

Mallet Putter

Most putters ask you to bend over and fish the ball out of the cup. The Cleveland HB Soft 2 Retreve does not. The head is shaped to grip the ball and lift it straight out, so a round with 30 putts becomes a round with zero squats. If your back barks at you by the 12th hole, that alone is worth the price of admission.

Underneath the party trick is a real putter. Retreve sits on the same HB Soft 2 platform Cleveland rolled out across the line, which means a milled face with variable depth grooves cut deeper in the center and shallower toward the edges. The idea is speed control on strikes you did not center, and in practice it does soften the difference between a pure one and a slight toe hit. The face feel is genuinely soft for a milled insert-free design, hence the name.

Where this 2026 mallet gets interesting is the balance. It has mid toe hang, not the face balanced setup you get from most mallets this size. That is a deliberate choice for players with an arcing stroke who want mallet stability without fighting the head open on the way back. There is also no alignment aid on the crown, which will bother some people and free up others.

Design

The mallet head is wide enough to push weight back and out to the perimeter, which is what keeps the ball rolling on off center hits. The retrieval feature lives in the sole, so it does nothing to the strike itself and nothing to how the putter sits behind the ball at address. You only notice it when you walk up to the hole. Cleveland's SOFT milled face carries over from the rest of the HB Soft 2 family, with the variable depth groove pattern doing the work on distance control. Mid toe hang on a mallet this size is the unusual part. Face balanced mallets want to stay square through the stroke, which suits a straight back straight through motion. Mid toe hang lets the face rotate naturally, so if you have a moderate arc this head will not feel like it is resisting you. The bare crown is the other decision worth knowing about. With no sight line or dot, you aim the whole head shape instead of a painted line. Players who trust their eyes over a line tend to prefer this. Players who set up to a line will miss it immediately.

Who It's For

• Anyone with a bad back, a bad knee, or a recent hip replacement who wants to stop bending 30 times a round.
• A moderate arc stroke that gets uncomfortable on face balanced mallets but still wants perimeter weighted forgiveness.
• Players who aim with the shape of the head rather than a sight line, since there is nothing painted on the crown to work with.
• Casual and recreational rounds where pace of play matters and nobody wants to watch you dig the ball out of the cup.
• Feel players who like a soft, quiet strike off a milled face and dislike the click of an insert.

Technology

About Cleveland

Cleveland brings their wedge expertise to putters, focusing on feel and short-game scoring. Their Speed Optimized Face Technology creates consistent ball speed across the face.

Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the ball retrieval on the HB Soft 2 Retreve actually work?

Yes, once you get the angle right. You set the head over the ball in the cup and lift, and the ball comes with it. There is a short learning curve where you will stab at it a couple of times on the first hole, and it works best when the ball is sitting flat rather than wedged against the liner. After a few holes it becomes automatic.

Is the Retreve legal for tournament play?

Cleveland builds it as a conforming putter, and the retrieval feature is a sole shape rather than a moving part or an attachment, so it does not change how the club strikes the ball. If you are playing a competition with a strict committee, confirm the model appears on the current conforming list before you tee off.

Why does a mallet this size have toe hang instead of being face balanced?

Because plenty of arcing putters want mallet forgiveness without a head that fights the natural rotation of their stroke. Mid toe hang means the face opens and closes a bit through the swing, matching a moderate arc. If your stroke is dead straight back and through, a face balanced mallet from the HB Soft 2 line will suit you better.

How do I aim it without an alignment line?

You use the outline of the head and the leading edge of the face as your reference. Set the putter down first, pick your line, then square the whole shape to it. Some players aim better this way because a painted line can pull your eyes into fiddling with it. If you have always needed a line, this is the wrong putter for you and Cleveland makes other HB Soft 2 heads with sight lines.

What is the difference between the HB Soft 2 face and the original HB Soft?

The second generation face uses variable depth milling, with grooves cut deeper toward the center and progressively shallower as you move out to the heel and toe. Deeper grooves take a little speed off the center strike, shallower grooves preserve it on mishits, and the result is that a putt struck off center comes out closer to the same speed as a pure one. Feel is also slightly softer than the first HB Soft.

Alternatives to the Cleveland HB Soft 2 Retreve

Other mallet putter models from different brands, closest to its model year.

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