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Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Irons & Hybrids Review

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SuperStroke
oumagic said:
I have the cypher in my hybrid and the MMT in my irons. I wish I would have went MMT in the hybrid to match the irons.

I don’t hate the Cypher, but prefer the MMT feel by a small margin.
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Well, after a 1/2 bucket today, it’s official.
The Cypher 2.0 ain’t for me.
I called Callaway and will return/exchange for new w/ KBS PGH 65
 
Bryndom said:
Seems like the 425s have a bit of competition! What's next? Getting them on the course?
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Yeah for sure. We've had a boat load of rain though. Doubt any course will be open for a while as there is more rain in the forecast for another week or so. This spring and all the rain just wont end. I do want to get them out though on a cooler day as that is when I feel the graphites in my Ping irons shine. Curious how the light steels in these will feel around 37-40* temps. soggy, with a 6:30-7am tee time. My soon to be 48 yr old body doesn't move like it once did in those conditions lol
 
erock9174 said:
Yeah for sure. We've had a boat load of rain though. Doubt any course will be open for a while as there is more rain in the forecast for another week or so. This spring and all the rain just wont end. I do want to get them out though on a cooler day as that is when I feel the graphites in my Ping irons shine. Curious how the light steels in these will feel around 37-40* temps. soggy, with a 6:30-7am tee time. My soon to be 48 yr old body doesn't move like it once did in those conditions lol
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Same age! Yeah putting a move on the ball is no longer automatic - I’ve found the help I get from the Smokes is so valuable. I’ve always been a GI player but these perform.. differently, in a good way
 
8i Review

What I want

The 8i is the workhorse in my bag usually. When I’m swinging poorly, it has to cover the 130 yd distance of my 9i. When I’m swinging well, I like stretching it out to near 148 or so. It’s the length and club I’m most comfortable with at setup and swing wise so I use it to help fill in the gaps of 9 or 7 (whichever I’m on the struggle bus with that day)!

Ideally, I want 140-145 with this club. I can swing 3/4 to cover 130 or step on it to stretch it out to 148.

What I got

All that and a lot more!!

This club feels like it’s got all the shots in it for me

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After a solid drive, I get a really good approach shot

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Flubbed a hybrid shot but the 8i comes through to get me on the dance floor to save par - so much confidence with this club!

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And sometimes when you step on it the cart path smiles favorably on you and gives you a bit more rollout!
 
Had a chance to use this a couple times today. Very good results on some shaking lies and having to manipulate my swing for the shot I was playing. One thing I did notice today when used off of a tee is how much higher the ball flight is with this club at 22 degrees that some hybrids of this loft I remember in the past. Not a problem but does require me to consider a few things when using it, especially the wind.
 
Always a great surprise to see a shipping notification and get it overnight.

AI Smoke Hybrid incoming.

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Bryndom said:
Today’s the day! Hope you enjoy that beauty
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I can't wait. UPS has been delivering so many golf club sized boxes to my house lately, the UPS driver just texted and asked if I was still married? He knows my wife just shakes her head when they show up.
 
Here. An beautiful. 😍😍😍

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So I was grinding at the range today…I fell in love with my Ai Smoke 4i.

I was grinding on the new move. Had an extended moment of Zen with the 4i. High (really high for me) with about a 5 yard draw. Misses were straight bullets that didn’t turn over.

Center contact with this iron is just perfection. Even range rocks feel good!


How’s yours treating you @Jeff Spicoli ?
 
mtbloco said:
So I was grinding at the range today…I fell in love with my Ai Smoke 4i.

I was grinding on the new move. Had an extended moment of Zen with the 4i. High (really high for me) with about a 5 yard draw. Misses were straight bullets that didn’t turn over.

Center contact with this iron is just perfection. Even range rocks feel good!


How’s yours treating you @Jeff Spicoli ?
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Absolutely loving the Ai Smoke 4i. Hit it twice today. Once off the tee on a the hardest tee shot on the course for me. It’s a tight tee shot with water on the right and lateral hazard on the left. Wind was in the face and I felt super confident pulling the 4i. Hit it right on my target and it landed safely.

The other time I pulled it was from about 235 out on a par 5. Had to carry a creek right in front of the green and it landed and stayed on the green.

I didn’t along this well with the UT. The Smoke does everything that a utility does but with more forgiveness and is easier to hit.
 
Jeff Spicoli said:
Absolutely loving the Ai Smoke 4i. Hit it twice today. Once off the tee on a the hardest tee shot on the course for me. It’s a tight tee shot with water on the right and lateral hazard on the left. Wind was in the face and I felt super confident pulling the 4i. Hit it right on my target and it landed safely.

The other time I pulled it was from about 235 out on a par 5. Had to carry a creek right in front of the green and it landed and stayed on the green.

I didn’t along this well with the UT. The Smoke does everything that a utility does but with more forgiveness and is easier to hit.
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Wow. That’s amazing!
 
I'll have more thoughts tomorrow but I hit my AI Smoke 3 Hybrid twice tonight. Paired with the Recoil Dart Blue 75s and ummm.....

Andy Samberg Yes GIF by The Lonely Island
 
My Ai Smoke 5H has been doing a lot of double duty lately. In addition to being a great club off the tee or off the deck, it's also a really useful option for "chutting" when I'm too far off the green to use a putter. Grip down, stand tall and use a simple putting stroke, it's almost 100% chunk-proof. I've come close to holing a few, and left a lot of them in easy tap-in range. My regular buddies I golf with are pretty fascinated by it. :LOL:
 
Gonna jump to hybrids here for a review

I have been incredibly impressed with the Smoke hybrids. I think Callaway cracked the code for amazing hybrids some time ago.

What I want

My 3h is my bomber. It pulls double duty on days when my fairway swing is crap as an off the tee option when I would otherwise hit a fairway. It is my go to club for approaches, long bombing needs and I use it to crush par 5s.

I want to see around 200 yds from my 3h (190-200) for gapping purposes.

What I got

Long, filthy bombs!

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Birdie! That 3H rolls up close to the green and I am in attack mode

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And… another one. Bombs for days!

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A little shorter, but still in position for a par
 
Only hit it once at my tour event but my 3 hybrid came up big on a ridiculous tee shot water flanking both sides of the fairway. Ball landed right in the middle with a 100 yard pitch shot. Birdie narrowly missed but par was a fantastic score on this hole. It was very clutch at that moment.
 
BigMac said:
My Ai Smoke 5H has been doing a lot of double duty lately. In addition to being a great club off the tee or off the deck, it's also a really useful option for "chutting" when I'm too far off the green to use a putter. Grip down, stand tall and use a simple putting stroke, it's almost 100% chunk-proof. I've come close to holing a few, and left a lot of them in easy tap-in range. My regular buddies I golf with are pretty fascinated by it. :LOL:
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I have a 5H coming, looking forward to the Chutting option.
 
I wish I had some positives. My swing is so wonky that only one good shot happened with this yesterday. I hit a mid height flippy scoop shot onto a green from about 190. Didn't expect it to get there just didn't want to experience the two way miss and it worked out
 
The work this week was trying to log yardages for the start of the season, to get my carry yardages nailed down.

Loving the consistency with the irons so far, especially in the 8/9/PW, and seeing things like a variance +/- on carry in the area of 3 yards over the course of a session. Hopefully that leads to some more informed choices out on the course, for what club to pull.
 
First round in the books with these irons. Wasn't my best day but did hit some good shots. I feel like the low irons just want to go. The 5I I hit from a couple of less than stellar lies and while I didn't hit the green on either of them, I was far closer than I had any business being given the lie and the swing I was able to put on it. Distance wise I'm still working things out, but feel like I should be in a good place pretty quickly. Smooth swings with these reward you with some great distances.

On the 11 par 3 I scoped the pin at 161, and didn't want to overshoot the green since I had a tail wind. Pulled the 8I, which used to be 150 club. Put a good smooth swing on it and landed just past pin hit that bounced once and sat in the rough. Almost jarred a PW into the wind on 18 from the rough. Landed 6 inches from the hole and rolled out a bit for a makable 2 putt.

I think I'm gaining more as I progress through the set, with the wedges being close-ish to what I normally expect, but need some more time to get them completely dialed in. Planning on getting these back out this week for some range time and hopefully a round before the weekend.
 
I was just in the basement taking some practice swings between calls and had one more thing that I forgot to mention. These irons look great for how much tech is packed into them. Sitting behind the ball they look just as good to me as my Apex 21 irons profile wise. At my fitting we moved around between some smaller/player profiles and these didn't stick out negatively to me at all in comparison (there were definitely others that did). I don't know what the exact offset difference is to my previous irons but there was no issue there when I put them in play.

They also look great in the bag. I wasn't sold on the badging when these first came out but in hand it looks sharp. I'd have zero issues recommending these irons to anyone. I think they could fit a ton of different skill levels while still being aesthetically pleasing.
 
The AI Smoke 3 Hybrid is just silly. Absolutely silly. Easy to hit. And. Go. Far.

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