Why have I bought a new driver and has it been a success? Well, the purchase is partly due to recent fittings proving that I can get more out of my driver and partly due to this being a bit of a "unicorn" club (see below). At this time of year, with all the new models coming out, there are definite bargains to be had with the run-off clubs. So, despite being due to test and review all of the new driver offerings in the spring, I just couldn't resist buying this club when I saw it so heavily reduced.
What's so special about it?
If you read the post about my Callaway Tour Truck experience last year (link here) you may remember that this particular head was a "tour only" model at the time and the rep took delight in teasing people with it, claiming that "numerous" tour players had demanded it and were using it. The only data I can find to back that up is that it was the 12th most-used driver on tour in 2024 (link). Callaway eventually released it to retail late in the season as a strictly limited edition club. As a result, there is little information about it online and very few reviews. I believe it got lost in the hype surrounding the launch of the new Titleist GT and was just missed. The theory behind the club is that it should provide the forgiveness of the Max head combined with the lower spin of the Triple Diamond head. Having been fitted for and briefly played an original Paradym TD, I know it was long when you caught it right, but it would punish anything that wasn't perfect. Fortunately, mine had a manufacturing flaw which resulted in me replacing it with my current Ping G430 LST.
Why did I buy it and what are my initial impressions?
It's a head that has intrigued me since my Tour Van visit, so when I saw it reduced to £349 in the end-of-year sales, I thought it was worth a gamble. Especially given it's a limited edition club and second-hand ones were selling for more on eBay. There seemed to be little downside in experimenting.
I've also been thinking about a driver change for a while. Although my current one has been a good fairway finder, the late-season experiences at the Titleist GT launch and the PXG fitting proved I was missing out on some easy performance gains. I'll generally take the fairway over 10 yards further into the rough, but it's an itch I needed to scratch.
While the sole is busy and not the most attractive, I find the crown more appealing than the Ping and prefer its clean look. While the "turbulators" on the Ping have helped me with alignment, I don't particularly like them. My Ping is a 10.5° head, lofted down to 9.5° and in the flat setting. The Paradym is a 9° head and in the standard setting. I went with the 9° head as I've always felt I hit the Ping a bit high and the recent Titleist and PXG fittings also put me into 9° heads. In fact, the Titleist fitter even reduced the loft to 8.25°. I actually think I ended up in this Ping spec because the fitter didn't have a 9° head to try at the time! The Paradym has a stock Denali Blue shaft and the Ping has a stock Kaili White shaft, both stiff flex and both 60g. The Denali is supposed to be a mid-launch, mid-spin shaft and the Kaili is low-launch, low-spin. The Titleist GT fitting saw good results with the Tensei Blue, which is close to the Denali Blue and also the higher-spinning Denali Red. I like the smooth "feel" of the Denali shafts.
From the very first swing with the new club, I immediately preferred how it sounded and felt. It has a lower-pitched thud and seems softer off the face than the Ping, which can often feel quite hard/harsh. It was also considerably easier to swing and, to my eyes, at least, looked to be longer than my Ping. It was certainly straighter! I like the range at The Duke's because it is open air and you have more control over tee height (as you use your own) than the St Andrews Academy range (rubber orange, black etc), but it has no launch monitors to measure performance. Unfortunately, the academy range uses TopTracer which doesn't provide spin data, so I took the club to the indoor "Centre of Golf Excellence, St Andrews" (link) to get Trackman data.
What did the numbers tell me?
First, some static specification data. From the Ping website, it should weigh 208g, be 45.25" long and swingweight at D6. Mine weighs 212g, is 45.25" and the swingweight is D7. Unfortunately, the Callaway website only provides the shaft length at 45.75", but I measured the head at exactly 200g and the swingweight at D3.5. Despite the 0.5" difference in shaft length and different grips on the two clubs, they both weighed the same, at 130g. The Ping has always "felt" heavy to swing and these numbers back up my unscientific "waggle test".
The Trackman data was interesting. I used a ProV1x ball for the testing. Like the session at the Titleist GT launch (here), there was little difference between the best shots with each, which isn't surprising given driver heads have been maxed out for years. But, on average, the Callaway just edged ahead and was less punishing on the bad shots, which is exactly the same as I found with the GT2. If anything, the data from the GT2 was better than either of these, but that testing was done outside on a nice warm day.
Club Speed | Ball Speed | Spin | Distance | |
Callaway | 96.0 | 138.9 | 2386 | 247.2 |
Ping | 95.6 | 138.1 | 2616 | 241.7 |
I'm not a huge fan of hitting driver indoors as I always feel a bit constrained. Which is odd, as I have no issue hitting irons! As soon as the weather permits, I'll get both clubs onto the course and do a proper head-to-head test there.
Conclusion
Given this driver has already been replaced by the new Elyte line, the only way I could test it was if I bought it. That may have been a bit rash, but I didn't see a huge downside given the price I paid for it. Especially as the new Elyte TD comes with an eye-watering RRP of £599 and the price quoted by Titleist for the GT2 was equally expensive at £591. If I sell either of the two clubs, I should recoup most of what I paid for the Callaway.
From the testing I've done so far, the Callaway has the edge over the Ping, especially when considering how it feels to swing and hit. However, if I had been able to do this testing prior to purchasing, I'm not sure it would have been enough to justify the change. A full custom fitting session with the Callaway would have been interesting though as I wonder if a different shaft could have produced even better results?
For the moment, I'll keep both clubs until I get more course time with the Callaway. I'll also take both along to any further fitting sessions I attend once all the new product ranges are available. Then I'll make a final decision.
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