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Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Drivers

SuperStroke
Mmaynard11 said:
So as I’m about a 1/4 of the year in with the Ai Smoke Max in play, I thought it would be cool to see where I sat in FIR since putting it in play versus the Rogue ST I had in play. The comparison is drastic and it all points back to the forgiveness in the Ai Smoke.

For those who have the Ai Smoke in play what % FIR are you seeing over your previous gamer?

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That's a huge increase for you, 16% improvement is awesome!

I'm seeing about a 2% increase in FIR with the Ai Smoke over Paradym X (63% with the Smoke Max so far this year vs. 61% with the Paradym X last year), but more important is that a much higher percentage of my misses are closer to the fairway and completely playable with little/no penalty. It's almost hard to call it a "missed" fairway when it's 2-3 feet off into light/non-existent rough and I have maybe even a slightly better than fairway lie with the ball perched up on a little cushion.

Maybe even more important is the ball speed retention on off-center hits. I don't use anything like Shot Scope to track my distances, but just by eyeballing it I can say without a doubt that my P-Avg is noticeably higher with the Smoke Max.

The Paradym X was a great driver. I don't have one bad thing to say about it, and as I've said before, I wondered many times how Callaway could improve upon it - but they did, and any improvement on what was already excellent is a plus.
 
BigMac said:
That's a huge increase for you, 16% improvement is awesome!

I'm seeing about a 2% increase in FIR with the Ai Smoke over Paradym X (63% with the Smoke Max so far this year vs. 61% with the Paradym X last year), but more important is that a much higher percentage of my misses are closer to the fairway and completely playable with little/no penalty. It's almost hard to call it a "missed" fairway when it's 2-3 feet off into light/non-existent rough and I have maybe even a slightly better than fairway lie with the ball perched up on a little cushion.

Maybe even more important is the ball speed retention on off-center hits. I don't use anything like Shot Scope to track my distances, but just by eyeballing it I can say without a doubt that my P-Avg is noticeably higher with the Smoke Max.

The Paradym X was a great driver. I don't have one bad thing to say about it, and as I've said before, I wondered many times how Callaway could improve upon it - but they did, and any improvement on what was already excellent is a plus.
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It really is. For me it’s confidence knowing that the tech and all those sweet spots over the face will keep me in the short stuff. Now that I have the shaft pairing figured out it’s going to get really good.

Single digits here we come!!!
 
Mmaynard11 said:
It really is. For me it’s confidence knowing that the tech and all those sweet spots over the face will keep me in the short stuff. Now that I have the shaft pairing figured out it’s going to get really good.

Single digits here we come!!!
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Let's go!!!! Hoping it happens for you!
 
Well the tinkerer in me sometimes is annoying lol.

I’ve been hitting the standard paradym head 10.5 degrees w/44.5 inch Ventus blue 6s incredibly well. Essentially eliminated my left sides miss and have been hitting a lot of fairways

Tomorrow I’m going to get fit for the ai smoke max most likely but will try all the heads.

Hoping the 6s blue is still a good fit so I can just change it over but we will see.

All the raving praise about smoke max has me eager to try it out
 
TheBuffmuffin said:
Well the tinkerer in me sometimes is annoying lol.

I’ve been hitting the standard paradym head 10.5 degrees w/44.5 inch Ventus blue 6s incredibly well. Essentially eliminated my left sides miss and have been hitting a lot of fairways

Tomorrow I’m going to get fit for the ai smoke max most likely but will try all the heads.

Hoping the 6s blue is still a good fit so I can just change it over but we will see.

All the raving praise about smoke max has me eager to try it out
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Excited to see what you are for into! The praise is real!!!
 
TheBuffmuffin said:
Well the tinkerer in me sometimes is annoying lol.

I’ve been hitting the standard paradym head 10.5 degrees w/44.5 inch Ventus blue 6s incredibly well. Essentially eliminated my left sides miss and have been hitting a lot of fairways

Tomorrow I’m going to get fit for the ai smoke max most likely but will try all the heads.

Hoping the 6s blue is still a good fit so I can just change it over but we will see.

All the raving praise about smoke max has me eager to try it out
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Looking forward to hearing your observations. I was fit into the Max D. The raving praise is real and deserved.
 
TheBuffmuffin said:
Well the tinkerer in me sometimes is annoying lol.

I’ve been hitting the standard paradym head 10.5 degrees w/44.5 inch Ventus blue 6s incredibly well. Essentially eliminated my left sides miss and have been hitting a lot of fairways

Tomorrow I’m going to get fit for the ai smoke max most likely but will try all the heads.

Hoping the 6s blue is still a good fit so I can just change it over but we will see.

All the raving praise about smoke max has me eager to try it out
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This is great! Cannot wait to hear what you get fit into.
 
@Kmench finally got the driver with the new Cog out to play!

I think I will absolutely love it.. I didn’t pull the ball once today and saw a slight fade as my miss which was absolutely fantastic
 
Briton G said:
@Kmench finally got the driver with the new Cog out to play!

I think I will absolutely love it.. I didn’t pull the ball once today and saw a slight fade as my miss which was absolutely fantastic
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That's awesome, now we just need to meet up and get @jlew out for a practice round or two
 
oumagic said:
I don’t hit hooks with the MaxD. But at some point during the round, I seem to lose my fade and it starts going straight. Which is a problem if I am expecting a fade.

I don’t know what is happening, but next round after the first straight drive that I hit, I am trusting that the next one will be straight. I seem to go 3/4 holes left before I can “see/expect” a straight ball flight.
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Just getting warmed up and getting backnon the proper path maybe?
 
Kmench said:
That's awesome, now we just need to meet up and get @jlew out for a practice round or two
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Homer Simpson Hello GIF by FOX TV
 
Can’t get over the feel and sound of the TD …it’s addicting
 
Added 2 more rounds into my data. On Sunday I didn't go after the ball as much because I was tired and I was liking the shot I was seeing with a smoother swing. I will figure out the speed part of this driver but I started to see it straighten out for me.

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Today was the day, time with my instructor to look at driver, and attempt to get on the right path.

The first two balls I hit, after implementing what he wanted me to do, sounded unlike any shot I had made with the driver before.
That strike when you just know you nuked one.
Two shots. Two personal bests for carry/total.
And to top it off, dead straight down the middle.

Attendant at the practice facility laughed at me, after I had hoped we might get things fixed so I could see a 200 yd carry again lol.

It wasn't all perfect after that, there was still a lot of bad, trying to implement stuff, but those two shots hooked me again.
 
My weight experiment was short lived. It was fun to mess with, and I definitely saw some interesting ball flights moving the two 8g weights around in the slider, but after going back to the 6/14 setup I think I'm set.
 
Been hitting the TD the past week as I work on a review for the new Aretera shafts and I’ve found a little stride with it. Some of the comfort that had the Paradym TD end up in the bag last year.

Still not the fastest for me (it’s 1B), but the face tech is just wild.
 
Wasn't going to hit driver today... just gonna let it rest. Hit some absolute MONSTERS that couldn't have had more than 5 yards of movement either way. I don't know if I can carry it to the course but I believe we are back on our way to some lower scores. Funny what happens when you "swing hard" like Danny told me in my fitting.
 
Did my driver fitting, a few thoughts

Current SS is anywhere from 105-108 give or take a few MPH

Currently play Ventus 6s blue 44.5 playing length with paradym 10.5 standard head, I was not fit to this but what I settled on tinkering. The his setup has been my most consistent driver but of course we’d like more performance whenever we can.

During the fitting I tried the Ventus TR Blue 6x and my dispersion got even tighter, ball speed was also up 3mph to low 160’s. With TR 6x blue I could swing hard and be more aggressive a more preferred feel for me.

Tried both Ai max head and paradym standard head at 10.5

I think the shaft was even more important than the heads for me personally. Hit really nice shots with both I’d say moderately better with Ai Smoke Max

Here’s the plan, I’m going to find a used TR blue 6x and put it in my paradym and probably wait to buy a certified pre owned Ai smoke max in a few months or keep a look out on eBay for a Ai smoke max 10.5 only

I love golf and it’s my favorite hobby but I’m not driving the ball bad with current setup and willing to wait a bit to save hundreds

Club fitter was $350 for shaft and $600 for driver

I’m thinking I could get the TR blue 6x used for $200ish and the ai smoke max head on eBay for around $400 at the moment, I think the patience will pay off
 
hedley_lamarr08 said:
Wasn't going to hit driver today... just gonna let it rest. Hit some absolute MONSTERS that couldn't have had more than 5 yards of movement either way. I don't know if I can carry it to the course but I believe we are back on our way to some lower scores. Funny what happens when you "swing hard" like Danny told me in my fitting.
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Very nice! What shaft did you have in the driver?
 
TheBuffmuffin said:
Did my driver fitting, a few thoughts

Current SS is anywhere from 105-108 give or take a few MPH

Currently play Ventus 6s blue 44.5 playing length with paradym 10.5 standard head, I was not fit to this but what I settled on tinkering. The his setup has been my most consistent driver but of course we’d like more performance whenever we can.

During the fitting I tried the Ventus TR Blue 6x and my dispersion got even tighter, ball speed was also up 3mph to low 160’s. With TR 6x blue I could swing hard and be more aggressive a more preferred feel for me.

Tried both Ai max head and paradym standard head at 10.5

I think the shaft was even more important than the heads for me personally. Hit really nice shots with both I’d say moderately better with Ai Smoke Max

Here’s the plan, I’m going to find a used TR blue 6x and put it in my paradym and probably wait to buy a certified pre owned Ai smoke max in a few months or keep a look out on eBay for a Ai smoke max 10.5 only

I love golf and it’s my favorite hobby but I’m not driving the ball bad with current setup and willing to wait a bit to save hundreds

Club fitter was $350 for shaft and $600 for driver

I’m thinking I could get the TR blue 6x used for $200ish and the ai smoke max head on eBay for around $400 at the moment, I think the patience will pay off
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150% trade in bonus right now on the Callaway site. If you've got some trade bait it could work out the same for the diver head, but I totally understand. $850 is a lot of coin to drop on one club and CPO is a great option.
 
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