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What’s new? How much does it cost? And how does it perform? Hannah Holden brings you the low down on Callaway’s new Paradym driver
The Paradym driver is the main model in the new Callaway driver family. So how does it perform? Find out in our Callaway Paradym driver review.
This has to be one of the best-looking drivers on the market this year, and it has a great performance to match too.
The dispersion is second to none, and I think this could be really hard to beat in terms of forgiveness this season.
PROS
CONS
The Callaway Paradym drivers have to take the award for some of the most attractive on the market. I love the new blue and gold colour theme.
The big new technology is the 360° Carbon Chassis. This essentially means the whole main body of the driver is made from carbon.
How is the relevant to the appearance? The sole of the driver is made from a new forged carbon. This is chopped-up carbon fibres forged into the sole shape. This technology creates a cool textured pattern on the driver’s sole that is unique in each club head as the pattern is randomised during the forging process.
Callaway have really changed how their drivers look in address position compared to last year’s Rogue ST. The first big change is that the crown now has a gloss finish. I love this change and think a dark glossy crown looks great behind the golf ball. The shaping is much more compact which I massively prefer, and I also like the new matt alignment feature on the front of the crown.
Generally, I like to do all my testing with a custom-fit model. Due to supply issues, that wasn’t possible for this launch. I did manage to get a custom Hzrdus Black 60gm 6.0 shaft, but I was using a 10.5° driver head rather than the 9° head I would usually opt to use. I used the adjustable hosel to knock the loft down to the lowest option of 9.5° but this did open the face up slightly.
I tested these on a pretty cold English winter day, the temperatures were cold, and I had lots of layers on, which wasn’t exactly conducive to fast club head speeds. Having said that, I was still very pleased with the carry distances I was getting out of this model.
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My longest shot carried 233.5 yards which is great, and my average carry distance was 228.4 yards which I think is very good given the conditions. I do think I would get this number up with a 9° head where the face wasn’t opened up.
Overall the thing I was most impressed with was the dispersion. On both the practice ground and the golf course, my dispersion was only just over 30 yards with ten balls which is very impressive. This is down to the AI-designed club face which has been designed to optimise downrange dispersion. It certainly seems to be working.
The thing I found most interesting was that I felt I could swing full out and my shots were still just as consistent as if I was reigning it in.
So how does it perform compared to last years Rogue ST Max?
These drivers are only a year apart in terms of technology, so you would be mad to expect dramatic upgrades, but there were certainly some notable changes.
The ball speed was up a grand total of 0.5mph, which delivered 5 extra yards of carry distance on average. I actually thought I might gain more club head speed, given the Paradym head looked and felt a lot smaller. Maybe this would increase over time as I got more comfortable with the new shaping.
My best shots with each club were pretty close. The longest shot with the Paradym carried 236.5 yards compared to 233.2 yards with the Rogue ST Max. The biggest difference was in terms of carry distance on my best shots. The Rogue ST Max was down at 214.5 yards compared to 221.2 yards with the Paradym which was pleasing.
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The spin was reduced by nearly 200 rpm, which was definitely more optimal. You can see the launch was slightly higher but I tested the Rogue ST in a 9° head and the Paradym in a 10.5° set to 9.5° so that likely accounts for that difference.
The biggest difference here is clearly in the left-to-right dispersion. The Paradym grouping is much tighter and I found even on bad shots it was pretty hard to hit off-line.
If you are someone who likes a draw bias driver, the Callaway Rogue ST Max was better for this. You can clearly see in the dispersion my bias was much more left-sided with this. If however, you prefer to hit a fade or more neutral shot the Paradym would definitely suit you better. Having said that I did have the 10.5° head set down to 9.5° on the hosel, which would make the club face sit slightly more open.
If you did want something that draws more you can use the adjustable rear weight track on the back of the club head to add draw or fade bias. This is probably best dialled in during a custom fitting so you can match it with the right loft and shaft.
Overall I loved testing this driver, all the data was super impressive, even from a non-custom fit model. I think Callaway are going to be in the running for Best Driver again this year.
Available: Now
RRP: £599 / $599
Lofts: 9°, 10.5°, 12°
Stock shafts: MCA Aldila Ascent PL Blue, Project X Hzrdus Silver, True Temper Elevate MPH 95
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 or WMS Lamkin ST Soft Undersized
More information: Callaway UK / Callaway US
To test this product we travelled to Peterborough Milton at the start of January 2023.
We gathered data on a Trackman 4. We used Titleist Pro V1 for this and all other tests. The sample was not custom fitted but we did use a custom shaft in my spec. I did optimise performance by reducing the loft.
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As well as gathering data the product was tested on course in a comparative environment with other product from the same category. We recognise that no testing process is perfect and just aim to be fair in our treatment, transparent in our process and candid in our feedback.
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