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Gillon Fabbroni brings you the low down on the 2024 Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fairway Wood – now available at some great discounted prices
Callaway’s Ai Smoke Max is their 2024 fairway wood with most golfers in mind – now available at some great discounted prices. NCG put it to the test.
This fairway wood combines great looks with great technology.
Callaway, it seems to me, is describing this as the go-to three-wood, and I agree. It should appeal to most golfers and will be in the fairway discussion for a wide handicap range.
The head is a modern, classic shape. It has an adjustable hosel and therefore should give options for many golfers. I think this is definitely a great three-wood.
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As with most clubs these days, these look fantastic. The mix of carbon and metal gives a high-tech and attractive appearance. Callaway is utilising their Ai technology, which this year uses data from real-world golfers. They use advanced machine learning to produce sweet spots around the face and claim the max produces a consistent and neutral ball flight.
It sits nicely behind the ball. It does not look super low-profile but is still confidence-inspiring. I tested the 15-degree 3 wood with a Mitsubishi Chemical AV series 65 S-Flex shaft.
I tested this using a Foresight GC3 launch monitor at the Worksop Indoor Golf Centre. I also compared this to my current 15-degree 3 wood.
Jumping straight to the data, my carry and overall distance was a little behind my current 3 wood but this was almost certainly shaft-dependent as I was testing this with the supplied stock stiff shaft. Off the deck, it was confidence-inspiring and relatively consistent. Off the tee, being easier to launch it became more consistent and distance wise was pretty much equal to my current 3-wood. The flight was decent, if somewhat lowish. With a different shaft, it would have been higher.
Off-centre hits were, as expected, forgiven fairly generously. Even some of the real stinkers that I hit were not too bad distance-wise, which was definitely nice to see.
Callaway, it seems to me, is describing this as the go-to three-wood, and I would agree with this. It will appeal to a wide range of handicaps. The head is a modern, classic shape. It has an adjustable hosel and therefore should give options for many golfers. I think this is definitely a great three-wood.
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Three woods are not the easiest clubs to hit, and I would highly recommend a proper fitting to get the correct loft and shaft.
RRP: £379 / $349.99
Shafts: Project X Cypher 2.0 40 G (LGT) D2 & 50G (LGT, REG) D2
MCA Tensei AV Blue 60 G (REG STF) D3 & 70 G (STF, X-STF ) D4
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 50G
Right-handed Lofts: 15°, 16.5°, 18°, 21°, 24°, 27° & 20°
Left-handed Lofts: 15°, 18° & 21°
Length: 43.25″, 43.25″, 42.75″, 42.25″, 43″
Lie: 56°adj, 56°adj, 56.5°, 57°, 58°, 59°, 57°
Volume: cc-171, 171, 153,144, 133, 128,165
More information: Callaway UK / Callaway US
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