EasyPutter

I know this question was directed to Ryan but I will weigh in as many of the other testers have. My answer should be not much longer than this preamble. This is my first experience with a Callaway driver and from the fitting it should revolutionize my game. As testing will soon begin, there should be plenty of my posts to update on what happens with tracked distance, direction, and consistency of my drives which is what will be the focus of my review for those who like me are late to the game and interested in finding fairways with drives.

Posted my Introduction for everyone to read and see who this selected tester is and what he's been doing so far getting ready for all the Smoke and Mirrors for the Magic on the fairways!

That will account for the Max D drivers for the test

The difference between me receiving a product to test previously and me receiving my 6th product to test is (not boasting here mind you - showing maturity or so I'm deluding myself) now it is here, how do I set up an unboxing worthy of the product that is creative, unique and interesting to the membership and public who will access my review Previously it was, "oh I will just do it over there" (somewhere within a few strides) and blah blah blah, click click click, whatever. Experience gives me an understanding that the test will take a while, I get in 4 rounds (9 holes) per week on average, and there is only one unboxing so it is worth doing it right - and I have been thinking of what I want to do for a week so far...

And now it begins, no delivery was expected but a delivery was made. Smoke and mirrors time and not everything is yet to be seen...

Good morning MGSpies from another frosty start to the day in WNY on this awesome Friday (aren't they all?) with coffee hot in the mug, space heater warming the workspace in the basement on this zero commute workday and tossing around options for this afternoon with the options of golf and lawn mowing as the main features because the weekend will be wet and we have a full day away from the house for Saturday and who knows about Sunday and the coming week only gets busier with two PGA HOPE sessions starting for the WNY PGA Section and both are over an hour drive away so (I know I didn't mention finding time to replace the rear wheel bearing assemblies when I finally get the parts delayed in shipping...) hope I don't get into problems with bearing noise slowly changing, like a little bit over hundreds of miles (and yeah I am that kind of driveway mechanic). community call was fabulous and connecting in from the golf course again this week was a 2fer with Justin @just52887 listening in with me, another round in just over 80 minutes is always a good option, just saying, and hope golf is a part of your day 33

Great focus piece for playing on course listening to the details about wedges and the design and finish on them. Great questions and again hearing from a subject matter expert who has forgotten more about his craft than most of us will ever know.

Good morning MGSpies from frosty (it's 25F here) clear and bright WNY on this Community Call Thursday warming up after having to start MyGolfSpouse's vehicle (I am the remote starter) to clear windows of frost more inside than out with the heat though outside was scraping growing frost crystals coffee magic warming me up under my electric lap blanket in the basement workplace for this zero commute workday great to see the new testers wanted notice up, so much going on and glad to have got out in yesterday's rain for another 9 holes with Justin @just52887 at an 80 minute round pace under umbrellas (can you believe we only saw 2 others on the course? private golf course experience indeed!), we will likely be connecting into the call again today from the second 2/3rds of the golf course so those who cannot get out today yourself can do so vicariously hope golf is a part of your day 34

What I will say is the fitting I had was my first ever touching the Ai Smoke Max D - first used my own driver to warm up for some "before" numbers and then the first set of hits with the Smoke and being an ball striking as shown by the pressure tape on the face of the driver and even making my own slight adjustment on address seemed to find that part of the club face even when setting up a half inch to inch in the direction that should have then been a center of face contact. Mental thing I am sure but I am aware of it now so...

We do a lot of sharing in The Good Morning Thread and similar threads like the Good Evening Thread started by ErinB with many times heartfelt things said and limited responses of : so when someone posts about a health whatever and intentions of support is the obvious response, the available selection is missing. What I suggest the making the Dove icon available as it expresses hope, kindness, and any number of similar attributes. It is literally all I respond to on social media when someone announces the passing of a loved one. It is all that seems to capture the thoughts that words are inadequate for. Just saying, would be good to not LIke someone's upcoming procedure or apply any of the other currently available icons .

Good morning MGSpies from wet cool WNY on this community call eve Wednesday with coffee ready to go and work computer up on the network already on this zero commute workday had a good day in the office yesterday buzzing on the announcement for testing the Callaway Smoke Driver and finally able to tell people After work, a few dangerous-crazy drivers on the commute to the golf course had me take an alternate route and arrived safely with them forgotten before I parked the vehicle. Once season pass was in hand, headed out after a 5-some (they happen at Caz when there's few others playing) that were at least a full hole ahead of me when Justin @just52887 caught up to me after his workday and we only waited for the 5-some on the 3rd green to clear, and clear they did leaving the course under threat of rain. We got in the full 9 with rain only beginning to arrive finishing up 8 for another round in the sub-80 minute pace - today might make 3 in a row! Hope golf is a part of your day 35

Discussion in other threads have pointed out that there are a number of testers attending the 2024 MyGolfSpy Forum Meetup at Kingsmill Resort and I think it would be something to add to whatever matrix is being wrangled to keep track of all the characters members who will be attending - adding a column for what product is currently being tested or has already been tested in 2024. It would probably be overload to include all the products that each overachiever member attending has tested since joining the forum, but if the array of new equipment for this year was to just happen to appear and be showcased at one of the inevitable whole group gatherings, that would be a testament to the service and dedication put forth by the lucky fortunate members present at the meetup. Put Ryan @Berg Ryman and me down for the Callaway Smoke Driver just announced today!

As informed forum followers know , tester announcements are now done after the testing pool is committed to the test and requirements are met to start moving forward to having the product ordered. This test required a driver fitting as part of the agreement each tester accepted, as is fitting for something of this level. (see what I did there?) Details will assuredly be forthcoming but what happened at my driver fitting was ... ... just know that I cannot wait for "the unboxing," for "the initial impressions" and for "the real testing" to begin!!!!!!!!!!

Good morning MGSpies from a dark downtown parking spot by the office building for the next opportunity to be all I can be, at least that's what I did for 30 years, and will Télépopmisik's Breathe on Pandora and coffee hot in the mug just getting my mind around the announcement of the Callaway Smoke Driver testers and getting to test the Max D model Played 9 holes yesterday on the now open for the season Cazenovia GC in South Buffalo with regular Justin @just52887 in beautiful cool sunshine needing only 80 minutes to finish. Hope golf is a part of your day 36

Dreams do come true and thankful for the opportunity

Good morning MGSpies from almost frosty but not! WNY on this middle Monday of April and with the outdoors sorted for springtime it looks like a good day for 9 holes after the workday ends work computer going online for the zero commute workday and the basement command post feels warmer today so that to me is proof of Spring has finally arrived in these here parts coffee soon to make its debut and then off to the salt mines, hope golf is a part of your day! 37

It's gotta be Smoke and Mirrors on the Magic fairway flight! First up a big thank you to MyGolfSpy Forum for selecting me as tester and to Callaway for providing this Driver for testing. My aim is to knock this review down the fairway so far that not even Bryson can resist a whistle and explicative utterance. My driving distance however would not elicit such a reaction, and this writing exercise will have to suffice. Driver has never been a strength of my game. My swing speed apparently generated a ball speed of almost 100 mph and for many years my slice off the tee was analyzed to design Ginsu knives. It was training pros of the PGA HOPE program who turned my slice into a straight with a fade preference drive. Playing partners in team format play always made up for my distance off the tee. Golf as a sport is my peaceful place. A serenity away from life’s pressures and nothing is allowed to infringe on golf as my peaceful place. My wife is MyGolfSpouse who encourages me to play, “as long as you are home on weekends” which was the original deal that still holds today, and an occasional weekend round is never dissuaded. She talks up my game to whomever she is talking to, while supportive she’s obviously not a golfer herself. We have two Corgis at home and two grown offspring now nearly out of the house ensuring I have plenty of solitude for time on course. Gambling is not for me so money stays in my pocket and my chance of a hole in one ensures it will stay there too. We live in Western NY, just east and south of Buffalo in the traditional snow belts south of the city where winter can dump 80 inches of snow in a week like it did this January. Within a month usually it is all gone even in the depths of winter sometimes to be replaced by another snow. Golf here is a half year for outdoor play and the growing options for indoor golf is a good thing. I started golf in 2011 and have tried to increase annual play ever since. Even playing as much as possible, I am still the optimist, friendly, positive duffer who looks at extra swings over par as good exercise - if score is important for someone then that is what a handicap is for and I do track mine using the SwingU app every round. The Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D product test My intention is to test this driver to a degree of analysis that would be useful to a golfer like me, simply because I don’t believe it is possible to be any other kind of golfer and maintain authenticity. To do that, I am going to leverage friends and resources that may not have been included in similar tests in the past. I have a wealth of data for my current driver, the FirstStrike Rattlesnake driver. It is part of a FirstStrike hybrid irons set gifted to me by a generous donor to the Western NY PGA Section HOPE program. One PGA Teaching Pro in particular is responsible for making me a golfer who can hit a straight drive, and the Rattlesnake is the first driver I have had success with hitting a ball straight. This will be my “before the Smoke” driver. Callaway has always been a premier brand of golf equipment in my mind. I have a golf umbrella, golf towel, tees, balls, and other items, but never a club until now. I chose the options I did for the Max D from the results of a fitting I did at Dick’s Sporting Goods which was my first exposure to the Paradym driver and after the fitter made a few adjustments based on the simulator results, I feel confident that the club setup is correct for my swing. I saw an instant increase in ball flight distance, ball flight consistency and ball flight direction. The fitting experience has me excited for the test. And just like that, the driver arrived today at lunchtime on the doorstep so now I get to finalize my thoughts for a proper unboxing for the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D driver - I think it is going to be Smoke and Mirrors because I am expecting nothing less than Magic from this club. To be the driver that commands its place in my bag, it will perform similarly or better at a remarkable distance greater than the current driver has been doing. Which means, if it launches the ball farther than my 3 Hybrid, then the Rattlesnake will find its place in the spares bag.

What I know as fact: if you read and understand what is written in this thread: I have no doubt that you will be chosen as a tester with all the testing that is going on this year. Just get yourself in a position to be one of the preferred forum members to be chosen. Testing is not just getting free equipment because you can get it. We do have people with low post counts who get chosen for testing and on occasion someone will receive the whateveritis and we never hear from them again. That behavior hurts the community and shows that disreputable "anonymous" people will volunteer to be a tester who then renege on their responsibility and violate the trust placed on them taking what was given, making their action theft of the product. I have been chosen for 5 tests, completed all requirements that were expected of being a tester for all 5 products, and with the need for testers this year can expect to be chosen again. I have a photo on my profile, I post regularly and respond to others that proves involvement in the forum community, and by writing as much as I do, it is well understood what kind of test review will be provided when the testing of the product is complete. So quick comparison: how does your presence in the forum compare to mine? Or to others who have been chosen to test more than once? Try this: Follow the guidelines and see what happens, I'm looking forward to seeing the posts you make and recommend looking at The Good Morning Thread which is perhaps the most popular thread now on the Forum. Here's a link to the just posted latest message there: Great question and thanks for the opportunity to respond. We are as diverse a community as any but you will find the forum participants are the kind of people you would want to associate with because we keep it real without getting rude or obnoxious.

Good morning MGSpies from a still chilly but the sun is threatening to break through WNY where this was what was outside just 3 years ago. Today is getting the winter critter fencing in the yard stowed for the summer and getting the first cut of the lawn as yesterday ended up not just showery but some of that white stuff was in the air too, thank goodness the surfaces were too warm for it to stick. All the concern of cold and white stuff is suddenly tempered by @Rob Person's comment about blood sucking vermin that I share the aversion of @Dead Solid Bogey and @sirchunksalot and you know what? I'm good with putting on hat, gloves and heavy jacket to do the yardwork today Hope golf is a part of your day and it's now only 38

MyGolfSpouse learned to drive stick when she fell in love with a 1982 silver and black Dodge Charger 2.2 and it only took her a few minutes to discover the joy of manual transmission. That vehicle was driven into the ground and literally died arriving at a dealership to take possession of a1995 green 4-door Suzuki Sidekick stick with 4WD manual locking front hubs. That vehicle lasted just over a year and was t-boned in a hazardous intersection but it saved my wife who was carrying our daughter born 6 months later, the Suzuki replaced by a 1997 white 2-door Ford Explorer V6 with overdrive stick and selectable low range with auto locking hubs. The Ford suffered rustbelt rot over the 10 years we had it replaced by a Ford Fusion she tolerated because it did not have a stick and neither did the leased Chevy's, Equinox and Trax that replaced it when the Fusion became my son's car. When son was looking to buy his own Ford Bronco Sport, and his sister was already liking the Chevy Trax, he easily swayed his mom to look at the Subaru Crosstrek available in a manual transmission and full time 4WD as all Subarus are. That is her current vehicle that took very little time for her to get used to the clutch pedal again. And she only forgot once to shift into gear after turning off the motor and found it in the street minutes later - claims she just doesn't have the arm strength to put the hand brake on hard enough to stop it rolling but truth is if she does pull it on that hard, she can't release it again. My bane to driving stick: I learned to drive standard transmission as it was called then, in Driver's Ed in a brand new 1978 Dodge Aspen 2-door, owned a '85 Plymouth Volare station wagon with 318 V8 with 4spd OD stick, for years drove all manner of US Army vehicles, and then there was the '97 Explorer. I had driven the Volare towing my Catalina 22 sailboat on it's trailer to Mt Desert Island, ME (before I ever met my wife) for vacation - launched and sailed out of Southwest Harbor - and on the way home got into stop and go traffic on I-95 heading towards NH clutching in and out of 1st gear. My knee was on fire with the effort and I had to get off the interstate and used the Mohawk Trail to keep from blowing my knee out. The clutch pedal range on the Explorer was so similar to the Volare's that I could only clutch about 20 times before I could no longer push the clutch to shift. It became the vehicle I could not drive for most of the years we owned it. The Crosstrek thankfully gives me no such discomfort. I have always loved the direct control of power to the drive wheels with a stick and I know it is not supposed to be done but knocking it out of gear on a downhill is an amazing way to get great gas mileage though a policeman friend of mine once observed me doing it and I got a lecture for the next many miles lol

Good morning MGSpies from the suburbs of Rochester enjoying a brunch with my son doing a drop off and pickup for things needed at his RIT apartment and our house. Had a great fitting yesterday and learned facts about my swing and ball striking that was pleasantly surprising and the only thing that would have been better was a tee at the in between "gap" height apparently that I use. Should be getting outside when I get home to start taming the grass back into the appearance of a lawn, and hope golf is a part of your day 39

I think this is an option to moving your garage door opener unit.

Good morning MGSpies from the calm before the rains start again early on this Friday in WNY where the coffee is almost ready and work computer is going onto the network from the zero commute to underground central where I'm having the same kind of start Jason @sirchunksalot had and I don't know why the delay in getting started either, but community call was awesome yesterday with holes 3 through 9 shared from my phone camera (just not so good on keeping up with all of the discussion but I manage) and today I'm going to have a new experience getting a club fitting, heard lots about them but my first so hold me down!! Hope golf is a part of your day too! 40

Oh what a feeling to be on the Community Call again from a golf course! seems like forever since I last joined a call from last year's regular course Elma Meadows GC along Buffalo Creek. Today was from my old regular course Cazenovia GC along Cazenovia Creek in South Buffalo bordering my town of West Seneca. That "stream" in the UK would be called a "river" and that ball under the tree was 2 feet from escaping like @Yellow Ball off for a swim down a 20 foot high and steep embankment. And you got it right I am trying to get back to my 20 handicap before Kingsmill AND trying to train the clubs and balls to miss the unplayable parts of the course! Thanks Jason! I'm always thinking of you when I connect in from a golf course to give you at least one vicarious round a week to be out there with me and 40 days tomorrow until we get to do it for real at Kingsmill

Good morning MGSpies on Community Call Thursday from the wet springtime April showers of WNY eagerly awaiting the announcement of whateveritis Jamie @GolfSpy_APH has whetted the appetite for, as if Matt's @GolfSpy SAM birthday isn't reason enough to be thrilled, wait that is a trifecta Looking forward to seeing many of you friends on the call later on and possibly from the "fairways" as it is still a transformation process from park to golf course where I usually play, hope golf is a part of your day! 41