Tested by YOU – Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke drivers

Six regular club golfers put their old drivers up against Callaway’s new Paradym Ai Smoke drivers on a launch monitor at The Belfry… with amazing results

Artificial intelligence plays an increasing role in our everyday lives. AI powers virtual assistants, medical diagnoses, driverless cars and annoying online chatbots. But when it comes to AI-designed golf equipment Callaway is determined to boss the market. So much so, the design behind the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke driver family wouldn’t be possible without it.

The company has put in years of work building knowledge to harness the power of AI to create some of the best golf drivers available, which they say will help golfers hit drivers further and straighter than ever before. And for 2024, the technology has been used to bring us the Paradym Ai Smoke range – each one among the best drivers of 2024.

With 120 people in Callaway’s R&D team and a dedicated Artificial Intelligence team assembled from outside golf, nobody in the game is more focused on writing lines of custom code to harness the power of AI to design better-performing golf products.   

The previous Paradym driver was a massive success. It won countless events in the hands of Jon Rahm, Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele, and Rose Zhang, plus club golfers bought it in their droves. The model represented a huge shift in how the company designs drivers, incorporating a full 360° carbon fiber chassis, hence the ‘Paradym’ name.

However, Callaway’s super-computer-driven AI has got so good, that the company can now claim the Ai Smoke drivers are seven yards longer than their predecessors. And that data’s measured from 21 different spots across the face, not nine like the industry standard, which is staggering gains within a single generation.

How have they done it? Well, it all comes down to the most sophisticated driver face ever made, the super new Ai-Smart Face, and what Callaway call the Swing Code.

The company mapped 250,000 tour pro and consumer swings across the world as real golfers don’t swing like robots. The project has given the company over a million data points to feed into the super-computer. A move that better optimizes each of the four Paradym Ai Smoke drivers for their intended audience.

To prove how the Swing Code works – and see how Callaway AI tech can help club golfers – we staged a fitting day at five-times Ryder Cup venue The Belfry, and invited six TG readers along to put their own driver up against the Ai Smoke model most suited to their swing and strike pattern.

Callaway’s Head Fitter & Product Trainer Chris Courtneidge was also on hand to offer advice and analyze the numbers, especially any distance gains from off-center strikes all over the face, which the Ai Smoke is designed to improve.

Here’s what happened to six ordinary golfers when they put their old drivers up against Callaway’s latest models…

DEAN LANGFORD

Handicap: 13.5

Old driver: TaylorMade M4

New driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond

Distance gained: 21 yards

Dean says: I was looking for something that was going to give me confidence on the tee, and that’s what the Paradym did, moreso than the M4. I wasn’t always hitting it off the center, but it didn’t really make a lot of difference if I’m honest; high toe strikes still went really well, and that’s what helped my confidence.

Bad strikes didn’t seem to go too far left or right significantly. I gained 4mph in ball speed, 20 yards or more, which felt pretty significant. To me, it’s testament to the clubface itself being able to cope with my off-center strikes. It’s so different to the M4, which is now five or six years old.

Chris says: Dean was in a 10.5° loft with his TaylorMade shaft, which he’d put in himself, because it went a bit further. But in doing so he gave up a couple of things.  I lofted him down to a 9° Triple Diamond head to bring the flight and height down.

He does hit it quite high in the face, so with his old driver it was spinning a lot. But with our driver, slightly high in the face, we dropped the spin, it came down from just shy of 3,000 to 2,200 and he gained 20 yards of carry. So, ball speed up, carry up, spin down; a great combination.

GARY CRAWFORD

Handicap: 12.2

Old driver: Ping G425

New driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond

Distance gained: 13 yards

Gary says: In terms of the looks, the Ai Smoke is really, really nice looking; it gives you a lot of confidence. I felt as if there was quite a lot of sweet spots in it, too – not just the middle!  It just felt more forgiving for me. I naturally hit the ball a bit left, but it wasn’t as pronounced. And I certainly felt those straighter ones had a really nice flight.

The biggest thing for me was when I hit it off-centre; I was still gaining distance, which in my old driver I wasn’t. That extra forgiveness was quite obvious. I play quite a tight links course, so the straighter I can hit it, the better!

Chris says: The G425 is a good driver, usually a tough one to beat in the fitting bay. But straight away we gained two or three miles an hour, and then it was a case of just fine-tuning. His Ping had a 55g stiff shaft and 10.5° of loft. I put him in a 9, lofted him up to 10 and then just put a slightly heavier shaft in to help Gary hit it straighter and a lot higher.

Like a few guys today, Gary hits a strong draw, but his current driver can overdo things bit. So I wanted to take that left side out of play a bit, and a heavier shaft and Triple Diamond head helped. Gary started hitting it higher and shaping it less, gaining 13 yards in the process.

PHIL MURPHY

Handicap: 10.5

Old driver: Callaway Rogue

New driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke MAX

Distance gained: Seven yards

Phil says… When I came here I was hoping to get a driver that suited my swing a little more, so the ball would come out with more of a penetrating flight, and I think I’ve got that. I’ve had Callaway drivers for many years now, and the feel off the face is always fantastic.

Chris said the Rogue is a hard driver to beat, but he’s managed to put on another few yards, nearly 10, which surprised me. But more importantly, the Ai Smoke was definitely more forgiving. I hit quite a few out of the middle, but when I didn’t (high on the face was my bad shot), it still gained yardage, and that’s key for us as amateurs.

Chris says… Phil had the Callaway’s original Rogue driver, which is a stubborn driver! Around the industry, it’s known as one of those drivers that is quite hard to improve upon, so I was pleased to see 2mph gains immediately from the Ai Smoke.

Phil was surprised to learn he hits it quite straight, out of the middle a lot. He thought he was more inconsistent, but when we actually showed him his strike pattern, he was pleasantly surprised. So for me, it was just a case of dialing in the right loft.

His Rogue didn’t spin much, so we just upped the loft a little – that increased the spin and increased his hang time. He already hits it nice and straight, so it was a really easy fitting for me. We made the Tensei shaft just a little bit firmer as well just to keep it even straighter off the face.

STEVE PATTERSON

Handicap: 6

Old driver: Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic

New driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond

Distance gained: 12 yards

Steve says… My favorite head was the Triple Diamond. It was like my old Epic driver, with a deeper face, but the difference in feel was night and day. The biggest takeaway was the forgiveness on off-center strikes; I hit it off the heel and it was eight yards further!

The shaft was half-an-inch shorter because I tend to hit lots of drives left, so that will help with dispersion. It’s a totally different feel to the old Epic. That’s obviously got Jail Break behind the face, which is different too the new AI face, but it feels unbelievable.

Chris says… Steve’s Epic was at 9°, lofted up a little bit, but it was quite a low-spinning driver, low height, so the ball was dipping out of the air a little, and giving up a little bit of speed in the center. We shortened the shaft and put in more loft, which added 6mph ball speed immediately, and a little more height.

He’s gone into an Ai Smoke Triple Diamond head at 10.5°, with a more stable Denali Black shaft. He has the ability to turn the face over a little bit, so that shaft is going to fight him a little, and protect against that left-side miss.  

JAMIE DAY

Handicap: 8

Old driver: Titleist 910

New driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke MAX

Distance gained: 21 yards

Jamie says: The big difference from the Ai Smoke was the consistency from those off-centred strikes. They’re not as punishing, so I’m getting away with it and still adding yardage if I hit it off the heel or toe. I just wasn’t getting that from my old driver.

Also, the ball flight is much more consistent as well, which I quite liked. It looks nice at address, it feels nice and the sound is brilliant. I was hopeful there would be a big jump, but you don’t know until you actually get into the numbers and it’s more about the consistency of those jumps.

I felt I was getting away with those off-center strikes, and the ball stayed pretty straight. Wonderful.

Chris says: Jamie’s come from a 10.5° Titleist driver from 2010, and it shows the performance gains you get when you upgrade yold clubs. Modern drivers launch a bit higher and spin a little bit less these days, so we’ve gone into an 11.5° in the Ai Smoke Max.

We’ve gone into the Project X Denali shaft, which is one of the stock shafts, it’s a big improvement on what he had in his old Titleist. As quite a hard hitter he was seeing immediate gains of 35, 36 yards, but the average is 21, because we don’t just go “right, there’s your best shot with the new one” as you’d be expecting 35 yards every time!

It’s interesting comparing the Paradym to such an old driver. Jamie went for a fitting six or eight weeks ago and they found no gains, which I was quite surprised by, because the longer you leave it, you should see those gains if your fitter is looking at the right things. I used to play that driver, so I know how far it goes versus new drivers. This Callaway driver is making my job easier today.

BILL McGLOIN

Handicap: 6.3

Old driver: TaylorMade SIM Max D

New driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke MAX D

Distance gained: 23 yards

Bill says: The first difference I found was distance. The ball certainly went further on a good flight path. I play with a fade, but when we dialed in the right shaft and head and combination, I was hitting it straighter, longer and on a better flight path.

I found the Max D was easier to square up for me and that affected my flight path. Very happy with the feel and the sound; I knew on the face where I was hitting it, which is always a good thing for me. The outcome for me was extra distance, a better flight and a straighter flight.

Chris says: Bill’s current driver was a little on the long side, so everything was a bit inconsistent on the face. When we went into the Pardaym Ai Smoke, I made the shaft shorter straight away, and made it a little heavier to help some swingpath issues.

A little extra weight quietened everything down, it worked straight away, ball speed wise; he gained around 7mph, which was over 20 yards. Even out of the high toe impact zone – a popular spot for Bill’s swingpath ­– he was dropping a load of spin, and picking up carry distance. He was launching the ball very low with loads of spin, and I wanted to reverse that.

We went after a high launch with low spin and added 26 yards onto his average carry. He’s gone to a Max D 10.5 with a 65g stiff Denali blue shaft. On paper the performance shouldn’t be too different to what he was using before, but it works way better in a Callaway head at a slightly shorter length.

Which Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke driver is best for you?

Callaway hasn’t just studied the impact point of where different types of golfers impact shots on the face, they’ve considered attack angle, club path, and speed too. Here’s how to break down where your driver game fits.

Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke MAX D and MAX Fast driver

These golfers typically, but not always, swing driver between 75 and 90 mph, which is slow to average. Shots are likely to be sprayed from low-heel to high-toe and the attack angle will be down onto the back of the ball, with an out-to-in swing path. Those needing the most help with fighting a slice should gravitate toward the Max D, whereas those needing additional speed should explore the Max Fast.

Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke MAX driver

The Max is Callaway’s core driver model, it’s aimed at the majority of golfers. Those best suited to this set-up are likely to have an impact location a little higher on the face than Max D and Max Fast players.

Shots are likely to be grouped a little more tightly on the face too. Attack angles are likely to be a fraction down to a little up and the target player will generate mid-speed (90 – 100 mph). Possibly they’ll also have a fade rather than a slice as a stock shot.

Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond driver

Triple Diamond golfers are likely to have a higher swing speed of 105 – 120+ mph. Shots will likely be much more tightly grouped around center face. The attack angle should be up onto the back of the ball and players will generally have a much more neutral path. 

About the Author

Will Shreeve-Peacock – Golf Equipment Writer

Will is an expert in golf shoes, GPS watches, rangefinders, and training aids.

He has a degree in journalism from Sheffield Hallam University and four years’ experience working in golf retail with American Golf where he was trained by a host of the big-name manufacturers.

A six-handicapper, Will has played golf for more than a decade and is a member at Burghley Park Golf Club in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

Will Shreeve-Peacock

Golf Equipment Writer

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