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 X driver
The Paradym X driver is the most forgiving model in the new Callaway driver family. So how does it perform? You can find out in our Callaway Paradym X driver review.
Callaway Paradym X driver review: NCG Summary
NCG SUMMARY
This is a really easy-to-hit driver which is perfect for golfers who need to get more height on their shots.
PROS
- Great dispersion
- Very consistent carry distances
- Forgiving on off centre strikes
CONS
- Ball flight may be too high for some
- Bigger head than other Paradym options
First Impressions
As with the rest of the Paradym range, this is a great-looking driver. Looking at this at address, the club head is more elongated than the rest of the family. This is to allow Callaway to get more weight low and back so this club is easier to launch and is more forgiving.
The big new technology in this range 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.
NCG Review
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. My club head speed was 2.5mph slower with this than with the main Paradym model which makes sense given this has a more elongated shaping.
My average carry distance with this model was 224.7 yards which is slightly on the short side but not terrible given the conditions. The distance was extremely consistent, with my front-to-back dispersion down at just 12 yards.
I loved how easy-to-hit this model felt, and I think this would really suit mid to high-handicap golfers, but personally for my game, it launched too high and spun too much to put in play. I do think this could be dialled in with a proper custom fitting though.
So how does this perform compared to the rest of the Paradym range?
It definitely launched the highest. My highest shot launched at 121.4ft with the average of just over 100ft which was 14ft higher than the Paradym and 18ft higher than the Triple Diamond. If you struggle to get enough height on your driver, this would be a great option to launch the ball higher. It also spun the most, which was to be expected given the CG location is further back.
The left-to-right dispersion was good with 41 yards between my furthest right and left shot. This was better than I saw with the Triple Diamond but slightly worse than I saw with the Paradym model.
- RELATED: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver review
- RELATED: Callaway Paradym driver review
Callaway Paradym X driver review: The Details
Available: 24th February
RRP: £599
Lofts: 9°, 10.5°, 12°
Stock shafts: MCA Aldila Ascent PL Blue, Project X Hzrdus Silver
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 or WMS Lamkin ST Soft Undersized
More information: Callaway website
How do we test golf clubs?
To test this product we travelled to Peterborough Milton Golf Club.
We gathered data on a Trackman 4 or FlightScope. We used Titleist Pro V1 for all tests. Our samples are either fully fitted for our testers or ordered in our assumed specs. We can then optimise performance by swapping shafts and playing with the adjustability.
As well as that dry testing all of 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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