Callaway Paradym, Paradym X, Paradym Triple Diamond Fairway Woods Review

Callaway’s tech-packed and forgiving Paradym fairway woods perfectly complement the revolutionary drivers.

Jump to: The tech | How the models differ | First hit review

The Paradym family sees a consistent idea flowing through the entire range with Callaway promising unparalleled distance and forgiveness, making these some of the best fairway woods available.

Carbon is the big story in Callaway’s Paradym drivers, and it continues into the fairway woods. With a new forged carbon sole allowing weight to be redistributed and a ‘Batwing’ evolution of Jailbreak increasing stability, Callaway say this is the most advanced and forgiving fairway wood they have ever made.

“The driver always gets a lot of attention but these fairway woods should not be overshadowed,” Evan Gibbs, Callaway’s Director of R&D for Wood, says. “They’re outstanding. We’re building on the foundation we laid with Rogue Max and bringing in new materials and adjustability to make these outstanding fairway woods from top to bottom.

“We wanted to capture a lot of the characteristics that we believed made Rogue so successful – easy-to-launch, versatile, forgiving, long – but bring in elements of the Paradym driver to take these to the next level.”

A new tungsten speed cartridge has pushed the center of gravity low and forward, but it hasn’t created poor MOI. In fact, Paradym has the highest MOI Callaway have ever achieved in a fairway wood and even more adjustability.

In robot testing against the Rogue ST Max fairway, shots from low on the Paradym face produced 531rpm less spin and 7.4 yards more distance.

Callaway’s motto has always been been “Demonstrably Superior and Pleasingly Different” and it’s a phrase CEO Chip Brewer is known to use regularly, so do they believe Paradym has achieved “DSPD”?

“There’s no doubt,” Gibbs adds. “We’re extremely proud of these products internally, they have a distinct performance advantage, they have a unique visible differentiation, use of materials, and use of advancements in face technology unlike any other, so we are excited to get these out in the market.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the Paradym fairway woods, including the tech, how each model differs, and more detailed insight from Callaway.

Callaway Paradym Fairway Woods

As with the new Paradym drivers, Callaway have completely reimagined the family’s three fairway woods in a bid to create breakthrough distance and forgiveness.

What they have created is a construction that eliminates weight from the body and repositions it for unprecedented gains in speed and MOI.

Each of the three models – Paradym, Paradym X, and Paradym Triple Diamond – has been designed with different players in mind, and all will feature in our test of the year’s best fairway woods, but there’s a lot of the same tech that flows throughout.

Jailbreak with Batwing Technology 

Callaway have used their Artificial Intelligence software to create a new Jailbreak Batwing structure, which is pushed to the perimeter of the club, helping to stiffen the body and allowing the face to flex for high ball speeds. As with the drivers, this means players no longer have to give up forgiveness for distance or vice-versa.

“(We have) the evolution of Jailbreak in fairway woods and it looks quite different from the driver,” Gibbs says. “The adjustable hosel on the heel side creates a lot of stiffness on that end of the club and the batwing creates a lot of stiffness on the toe side, so we’re trying to stabilize the club, minimize the amount of deflection in the body and the sides on impact and really focus that energy into the face cup and the ball. It’s really allowed us to develop a much hotter club and much fast club.”

Tungsten Speed Cartridge 

The center of gravity has been pushed low and forward with the use of high-density tungsten. There are 23 grams in the standard model, 25 grams in the X, and 21 grams in the Triple Diamond, creating the optimal launch and spin and maximizing speed for more distance.

“A lot of the weight that came out of the centre of the club went into the Tungsten Speed Cartridge, which is about as low and forward as you can get,” Gibbs says.

“This pulls the CG low and close to the face and that gives us several performance advantages. It keeps the spin rate down, it helps improve the speed from low on the face and it creates better spin robustness, so better consistency up and down the face.”

High-Strength Face Cup 

Callaway’s AI has also been used to create an all-new face to get the best speed, launch, and spin numbers. Each model has its own customized face and the tech could be used in the future to take custom-fitting to new levels with faces perfectly mapped for individual players.

Paired with Callaway’s high-strength C300 maraging steel face cup, you can expect impressive speed and consistency across the face.

“We wanted to capture a lot of the characteristics that we believed made Rogue so successful – easy-to-launch, versatile, forgiving, long – but bring in elements of the Paradym driver to take these to the next level.

“The focus on the AI optimization on the fairway woods this year was really an emphasis on performance low on the face,” Gibbs tells us. “Something like 75-80 per cent of shots are hit low on the face, especially for mid-to-high handicap players, so we really wanted to improve the performance low on the face because that’s really where a lot of the loss of distance comes from.

“You hit it low on the face and you generate too much spin and lose a bunch of ball speed, so this AI routine was really focused on making the low-center behaviour much more in line with what you get out of the center of the face, so you’re going to see a lot more consistent speed and a lot more consistent spin.”

Adjustability

Historically use of an adjustable hosel puts a lot of weight high and towards the heel, so it moves the center of gravity higher and towards the heel, which generates more spin and, in some cases, more draw bias as well.

Callaway have offset that with the forged carbon sole and by redistributing the weight internally to allow for an adjustable hosel and all the functionality that comes with that. And despite adjustable hosel, Paradym actually has a spin rate that’s lower than Rogue ST Max.”

So how do the three models differ?

Callaway Paradym fairway wood

RRP £379 / $379.99 | VIEW UK OFFER | VIEW US OFFER
Lofts 3W –15º, 3HL – 16.5º, 5W – 18º, 7W – 21º, 9W – 24º, 11W – 27º, HVN – 20º | Lengths 3W & 3HL – 43.25″, 5W – 42.75″, 7W – 42.25″, 9W – 41.75″, 11W – 41.25″, HVN – 43º | Lies 3W & 3HL – 56º, 5W – 56.5º, 7W – 57º, 9W – 58º, 11W – 59º, HVN – 57º | Clubhead Volume 3W & 3HL – 171cc, 5W – 154cc, 7W – 145cc, 9W – 138cc, 11W – 133cc, HVN – 165cc | Adjustable Hosel Yes (3W and 3HL) | Swingweight D3 – 60/70g (Men’s), C7 (Women’s) | Availability Right Hand (All models), Left Hand (3W, 5W, 7W) | Stock Shafts MCA Aldila Ascent PL Blue (40g – Women’s, Light), Project X Hzrdus Silver (50g – Regular Stiff, 60g Stiff), Project X Hzrdus Black (60g – Stiff, X-Stiff) | Stock Grips Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (50g), Women’s Lamkin ST Soft Undersized (44g)

The Paradym Fairway Wood is Callaway’s most robust fairway wood and will fit a wide range of players. It features progressive shaping throughout the seven lofts and is ideal for golfers who want an easy and high-launching, low-spinning fairway wood with a neutral ball flight.

The forged carbon sole has allowed the R&D team to redistribute weight in a totally new way, increasing Paradym’s MOI over last year’s Rogue ST and making it Callaway’s longest fairway wood ever.

A mid-sized fairway wood with a shallow face, it’s more forgiving than the Triple Diamond model but less so than the X.

“The standard model has the most amount of forged carbon,” Gibbs says. “It’s our primary model and aligns with the driver in that it fits the broader segment of player. It’s got the most lofts available.

“We’ve incorporated the forged carbon under the sole and added in some more adjustability.

“The forged carbon takes on a different construction on the fairway wood because it’s not the full 360º chassis, but it does replace almost an entirely steel sole so it’s significantly lighter which allows us to take weight out of the middle of the clubhead where it’s not very effective for performance and reposition it more to the perimeter. It’s a massive saving of weight and gives us some distinct performance advantages.”

Is it right for you? Use our guide to selecting the perfect fairway wood for your game to help.

Callaway Paradym X fairway wood

RRP £379/$379.99 | VIEW UK OFFER | VIEW US OFFER
Lofts 3W –15º, 3HL – 16.5º, 5W – 18º, 7W – 21º | Lengths 3W & 3HL – 43.25″, 5W – 42.75″, 7W – 42.25″, Women’s 44.5″ | Lies 3W & 3HL – 58º, 5W – 58.5º, 7W – 59º | Clubhead Volume 3W & 3HL – 177cc, 5W – 154cc, 7W – 140cc | Adjustable Hosel Yes (3W) | Swingweight D3 – 60/70g (Men’s), C8 – 40g (Women’s) | Availability Right Hand (All models), Left Hand (3W, 5W) | Stock Shafts MCA Aldila Ascent PL Blue (40g – Women’s, Light), Project X Hzrdus Silver (60g – Regular Stiff, 70g Stiff) | Stock Grips Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (50g), Women’s Lamkin ST Soft Undersized (44g)

The Paradym X fairway wood will fit players looking for our most forgiving shape. It has the highest launch of the three models and a slight draw bias to aid players who have a tendency to lose the ball to the right.

A forged carbon toe patch in the 3W and 3HL models saves weight and allows it to be redistributed to the heel to make the club easy to turn over and help add distance.

The X has a larger clubhead volume than the standard Paradym fairway wood, but the same shallow face and mid-sized footprint.

You’ll find a more upright lie angle and a neutral face at address, while the adjustable 3-wood allows even more ability to dial in your perfect launch.

“With the X model the forged carbon is only on the toe side,” Gibbs says. “We’re trying to create more draw bias on this model so we actually want some weight on the heel side of the club.”

Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond fairway wood

RRP £379/$379.99 | VIEW UK OFFER | VIEW US OFFER
Lofts 3+ – 13.5º, 3W – 15º, 5W – 18º | Lengths 3+ & 3W – 43.25″, 5W – 42.75″ | Lies 3+ & 3W – 58º, 5W – 58.5º | Clubhead Volume 3+ & 3W – 174cc, 5W – 154cc | Adjustable Hosel Yes (All models) | Swingweight D4 – 70g | Availability Right Hand (All models), Left Hand (3W, 5W) | Stock Shafts Project X Hzrdus Black (70g – Regular), Mitsubishi Chemical Kai’li White (70g – Stiff, X-Stiff; 80g Stiff, X-Stiff) | Stock Grips Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (50g)

Callaway’s most compact fairway wood shape with a deeper face and compact shape at address. It is best suited for stronger players with the Triaxial Carbon crown helping to create a low and forward CG for a penetrating ball flight with lower spin.

“The Triple Diamond is a lot smaller head and we added the screw in the middle and there’s actually no forged carbon on that model,” Gibbs says.

It offers forgiveness, but nothing like the amount you’ll find in the standard and X models. All three Triple Diamond models are adjustable, making it even easier to dial in the perfect trajectory.

Callaway Paradym Fairway Woods: How they perform

TG’s digital editor and nine-handicapper Rob Jerram was among the first people in the world to hit the Paradym family during Callaway’s big reveal in Dubai in November.

You’ll find out how the Paradym models rank among the best fairway woods of 2023 after our head-to-head test, but our initial first-hit testing proved extremely positive.

Callaway Paradym Fairway Woods: First Hit Review

I mentioned that the blue color scheme may divide the crowd in my initial review of the drivers, and that remains the case with the fairway wood, but I loved it. It looks classy and it’s not at all imposing or distracting.

I’m inconsistent and can go through spells where lack confidence in my driver, which means I hit a lot of fairway woods during a round and have played my Ping G 3-wood and TaylorMade M2 5-wood from new. Nothing I had tried or tested in the years since their launch had even tempted me to switch them… until now.

As well as testing on the range at Emirates Golf Club I put Paradym in play for our round on the Faldo Course and at Yas Links and it was a genuine struggle to hand it back to Callaway at the end of the trip.

The standard Paradym 3-wood blew me away. While distance will always be king for a lot of golfers (and Paradym has that), my priorities are ease of launch from the tee and turf, a confidence-inspiring look, and forgiveness on off-center hits. Paradym ticked every box.

It looks fantastic – the blue crown contrasts perfectly with the black topline and makes alignment really easy. It is among the easiest-to-launch fairway woods I’ve ever used – it feels effortless and the clubhead is so stable, which further boosts your confidence.

Paradym’s distance would actually prove an issue for me unless I also upgraded my driver because the carry yardage placed it too close to my current big stick and created a gapping issue, but its distance is impressive and brought several par 5 greens into play for approach shots when I would have been laying up or having to really push myself with my usual model. Sweeping the ball off the turf felt effortless.

Forgiveness levels are impressive. Shots out of the heel and toe that didn’t really deserve a decent result still ended up in good positions with a barely noticeable distance drop-off – we’re talking a handful of yards behind a well-struck effort and occasionally finding the first cut instead of the fairway. And, while it does everything it can to produce a pretty neutral shape, you can shape it left or right without too much effort.

I love the array of lofts available and it’ll come as no surprise if we see even more Tour pros carrying more woods in higher lofts in 2023.

I spent limited time using Paradym X and the Triple Diamond because the standard model was producing such impressive results. The X is clearly the most forgiving model but the 3-wood launched too high for me and the head shape didn’t suit my eye as well as Paradym. The draw bias, coupled with my right-to-left tendency with a fairway wood, saw me battling not to lose the ball left, but it would prove ideal for players who are looking for that assistance or want some help straightening up a left-to-right flight.

The Triple Diamond will undoubtedly be the perfect model for better players. I found it harder to launch and saw a significant distance drop-off on off-center shots, but it did produce my longest shot of the day, I just couldn’t repeat it consistently.

The smaller head shape didn’t inspire the same levels of confidence as the standard model, although it was by far the easiest of the three to shape.

READ NEXT
– Callaway Paradym Hybrids Reviewed

BECOME A TODAY’S GOLFER MEMBER: Unlimited access to premium content and exclusive rewards!

Callaway Paradym fairway wood

RRP £379/$379.99 | VIEW UK OFFER | VIEW US OFFER | Released February 3rd, 2023
Lofts 3W –15º, 3HL – 16.5º, 5W – 18º, 7W – 21º, 9W – 24º, 11W – 27º, HVN – 20º | Lengths 3W & 3HL – 43.25", 5W – 42.75", 7W – 42.25", 9W – 41.75", 11W – 41.25", HVN – 43º | Lies 3W & 3HL – 56º, 5W – 56.5º, 7W – 57º, 9W – 58º, 11W – 59º, HVN – 57º | Clubhead Volume 3W & 3HL – 171cc, 5W – 154cc, 7W – 145cc, 9W – 138cc, 11W – 133cc, HVN – 165cc | Adjustable Hosel Yes (3W and 3HL) | Swingweight D3 – 60/70g (Men's), C7 (Women's) | Availability Right Hand (All models), Left Hand (3W, 5W, 7W) | Stock Shafts MCA Aldila Ascent PL Blue (40g – Women's, Light), Project X Hzrdus Silver (50g – Regular Stiff, 60g Stiff), Project X Hzrdus Black (60g – Stiff, X-Stiff) | Stock Grips Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (50g), Women's Lamkin ST Soft Undersized (44g)

Callaway Paradym X fairway wood

RRP £379/$379.99 | Released February 3rd, 2023

Lofts 3W –15º, 3HL – 16.5º, 5W – 18º, 7W – 21º | Lengths 3W & 3HL – 43.25", 5W – 42.75", 7W – 42.25", Women's 44.5" | Lies 3W & 3HL – 58º, 5W – 58.5º, 7W – 59º | Clubhead Volume 3W & 3HL – 177cc, 5W – 154cc, 7W – 140cc | Adjustable Hosel Yes (3W) | Swingweight D3 – 60/70g (Men's), C8 – 40g (Women's) | Availability Right Hand (All models), Left Hand (3W, 5W) | Stock Shafts MCA Aldila Ascent PL Blue (40g – Women's, Light), Project X Hzrdus Silver (60g – Regular Stiff, 70g Stiff) | Stock Grips Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (50g), Women's Lamkin ST Soft Undersized (44g)

Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond fairway wood

RRP £379/$379.99 | VIEW UK OFFER | VIEW US OFFER | Released February 3rd, 2023
Lofts 3+ – 13.5º, 3W – 15º, 5W – 18º | Lengths 3+ & 3W – 43.25", 5W – 42.75" | Lies 3+ & 3W – 58º, 5W – 58.5º | Clubhead Volume 3+ & 3W – 174cc, 5W – 154cc | Adjustable Hosel Yes (All models) | Swingweight D4 – 70g | Availability Right Hand (All models), Left Hand (3W, 5W) | Stock Shafts Project X Hzrdus Black (70g – Regular), Mitsubishi Chemical Kai'li White (70g – Stiff, X-Stiff; 80g Stiff, X-Stiff) | Stock Grips Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 (50g)