Sign up Closed: 2023 MGS Forum Test: Callaway Paradym Irons

Jacked and pumped and ready to get at it. 

Only 8800 applications?

well lessee here,,,… that means I have a 1 in about 2200 chance…

so, you’re saying I have a chance!!!

All my life I've played Callaway love em

Even us lefty players

Awesome to not only have “big OEM” kick off the test season, but with 4 sets of irons at that! Nice work guys! Look forward to following along. 

As a reminder we will announce the Testers Tuesday April 4th, but we have a few more surprised for the community between now and then!

7 hours ago, Sluggo42 said:

Only 8800 applications?

well lessee here,,,… that means I have a 1 in about 2200 chance…

so, you’re saying I have a chance!!!

Always a chance.

15 hours ago, NickStAubin said:

If anyone has hit the paradyms, what do you think about them?

Have not hit them yet but hope to soon.

 

On 3/23/2023 at 7:50 PM, Mr. Mushball said:

Nice opportunity here!  I've heard that these give 15 yards over their older clubs for someone with a swing speed closer to mine.  I'd love to put that to the test and let everyone know about it.   My last upgrade gave me an extra club in distance and is almost getting me to hitting greens in reg during winter play.  

It was fun to hear about how this came about, other upcoming tests that should be a ton of fun, and more about the testing and forum in general during today's community call!

 

22 hours ago, Swood1994 said:

Todays the day! Good luck to everyone who signed up. I Just recommended these to a friend to try during his fitting so I’ll be following this closely to see the results!

 

Looks like we are.

11 hours ago, CFreddie said:

Just a bit

Yup!!!!

Do the runner ups who almost get chosen as a tester, but not quite, get a 2018 Odyssey putter as a consolation?

 

Not sure if there are many Golf YouTube fanatics on here, but whoever is fortunate enough to test these needs to post a video hitting them with an eccentric, over the top hypeman type friend in the background yelling, "OH, PEREZZZZ"

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqr4sONkmFEOPc3rfoVLEvg

This is a great opportunity for testers. These irons seem like a great addition for the golfers looking in this category of iron.

Great response for a testing pool... good luck all!

Didn't quite crack 9 K... but maybe this next test will!

Oh mannnnn I can hardly wait to see who gets to test these bad chads here soon. I don't understand the knock on the looks and love most of Callaway's products

45 minutes ago, Navart said:

Oh mannnnn I can hardly wait to see who gets to test these bad chads here soon. I don't understand the knock on the looks and love most of Callaway's products

I can understand some of the early reactions from leaked photos and such... but once I saw the line in person.... man do they look nice! 

1 minute ago, GolfSpy_BOS said:

I can understand some of the early reactions from leaked photos and such... but once I saw the line in person.... man do they look nice! 

I don't think the seconds could tick by any slower to get to Tuesday. Anxious for this one to get underway! 

Already playing the paradym x driver and hybrid.  Outstanding club well worth the money.  Currently playing PXG irons but had Callaway Rouge Pro prior.  Could go back to Callaway Irons as they always have great products. 

48 minutes ago, golfer34 said:

Already playing the paradym x driver and hybrid.  Outstanding club well worth the money.  Currently playing PXG irons but had Callaway Rouge Pro prior.  Could go back to Callaway Irons as they always have great products. 

I also play PXG’s and have never played Callaway. Very interested to see how these irons would compare.

On 3/23/2023 at 4:24 AM, 70445 said:

I’d would really like evaluate the Cally, as being a higher handicap player, those clubs might fit the bill!

Same here! 22 handicap looking to for any edge I can get to beat some buddies on the weekends.

Had the opportunity to swing a 4i during a round and ball felt DIFFERENT coming off the face and flight was a little more “penetrating” than my rogue st max irons. 

 

On 3/31/2023 at 11:33 AM, Jnoble89 said:

I don't think the seconds could tick by any slower to get to Tuesday. Anxious for this one to get underway! 

I agree these are a very nice looking set of irons.  

Anyone else feel like it’s Christmas Eve or is it just me?! Such a big test to start out the year.

Good luck to all looking forward to an on course assessment 

Tick - Tock, under 6 hours remaining.   

Testers Announced!

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/58484-testers-announced-callaway-paradym-irons/

During my Paradym X fitting for my review, I found out I’ve been living a lie for almost 40 years!  Here’s what happened.

After being informed I was one of the lucky testers for the Callaway Paradym irons I decided it best to get fitted so I could pass along an accurate set of build specifications.  One disadvantage of living at “the end of US1” in Key West, is that we have to travel to “America” for exotic shopping, like Target, and to get fitted for golf clubs.   Thankfully, Golftec in Miramar, Florida was happy to work with me on this one.

The drive was four hours up and back, with carefully timed departure and fitting times to cheat the Miami area rush hour(s).  When I arrived, I went right into a studio, warmed up a bit and was anxious to start the process.  We started with creating a baseline with my current seven iron.  My current gamer irons are yellow dot (1.5 degrees upright) Ping G30 with graphite Fujikura EXS 60i R2-Flex shafts.  I hit about a dozen balls.  Then it was time to launch into the Paradym X irons.

Given my normally slow swing speed, we tended to focus on Callaway’s offering of a light flex Aldila Ascent PL 50 graphite shaft offering.  My fitter assembled a standard lie/standard length Paradym X seven iron and had me give it a try.  We started with a few practice swings with the face sprayed with foot powder to see where on the face I was hitting the ball.  It was likely the excitement, but my swing speed was a little faster than normal and many impacts were toe hits.   

Next, we focused on the club lie.  He placed a sticker on the club face that looked like a protractor and placed a thick green line on the back of a ball.  He explained that if I were a standard lie, the green line would transfer a line straight up and down on the sticker.  If it were tilted to the toe or heel, the lie needed to be flattened or made more upright.  To my surprise, it was perfectly up and down!  I’ve always been anywhere between 1.5 to 4 degrees upright in my irons, but not now!  I had him run it again and we got the same result.  Relying on the saying, “once is an accident, twice is a coincidence and three times is a trend” we got a 2 degrees up head and repeated the test.  To my surprise, the line was tilted towards the toe meaning I had to flatten the lie.  I shook my head and came to the realization I have been living a lie about my club lie for the last 45 years!  I’m standard, I’m really standard!  Well, at least with the Paradym X's.  

Next, we played with iron length.  I’m 6’2” (at least I used to be and what my license says) with somewhat long arms.  The fitter measured me from the floor to my wrist and said again, I was standard.  I had him humor me and he build a Paradym X version that was ½” longer for me to try.  The resulting marks on the powdered spayed face seemed to suggest I hit it less on the toe and more on the sweet spot.  The fitter didn’t seem to share my perception and concluded that the standard lie and length were right for me.  I thanked him, settled up and I was off for my return home.

Here are the performance numbers summary that I got for my current and Paradym X seven irons.

I got five more mph on my swing speed.   That could just be just adrenaline as I caught myself overswinging a couple of time.  So realistically I'd take those swing speed numbers with a grain of salt.  The stronger lofted Paradym X irons launched lower with less spin.   The good news is that I less offline with the Paradyms and got about 10 more yards.  If I could carry that from the studio to the course, I’d be happy.

The problem with four hours of drive time alone in a car is that it gives you too much time to think.  In this case, it gave me too much time to recap the fitting.   I got over “living the lie” of now being standard lie but I just felt that I hit the ½” longer seven iron more in the sweet spot that the standard length. 

After reading the excellent introductions of my fellow Paradym reviewers, I reached out to the seasoned club fitter @funkyjudge to share my experience and asked for his expert opinion on what I should do.  He confirmed the standard lie was probably right and suggested I could go either way, standard or +1/2” in length but only in the 7-AW.  He felt lengthening the 5 and 6 irons would make them more difficult to hit for me.  I thanked him and revised my specifications to lengthening the shorter irons. 

Doubt can sometimes be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  We overthink something we think may not be right, it interferes with our normal mental and physical preparation and voila, we hit a bad shot.  “Living my lie” doubt about my club lie was overcome by evidence.  My length doubt was eased by my fellow reviewer and moderators’ comments.  Thank you all for your help in easing my doubt and I’m looking forward to the unboxing and first impressions.