Callaway Paradym Irons - 2023 Forum Review

[MattWillGolf]

I just received notification from Callaway that the Paradym X GW I ordered has shipped.

[Golf2Much]

As I’ve mentioned before, my ability to score is tied directly to my short game.  I’m not capable of overpowering even a par 3 course!  So, I wanted to take the Paradym X’s out to get the feel and see how they performed with chip shots around the green. 

My home course has a small practice area dedicated for chipping.  It typically has two pins, one at each end of a narrow green, so you can chip back and forth.   I’d say the area is about 60 ft. long and 15 to 20 ft. wide.   Since my wife was volunteering at the local SPCA near the course, I decided to tag along and use the opportunity to put the Paradym X's to the test.  

As a bit of a background, I generally use three of my four wedges chipping around the green.  I'll choose which wedge depending on how much green I have to work with and the slope of the green from me to the pin.  For some reason, I typically don’t use the 60 degree wedge for chipping.   I rely on my Ping G30 pitching wedge (from my iron set) and my Edison 50 and 55 degree gap and sand wedges.  Given our Rees Jones designed small greens each with false fronts, I tend to give those three wedges a good workout around the green every round. 

Today, I choose the 46-degree Paradym X “A” wedge to evaluate as it was the closest to my 45-degree Ping G30 pitching wedge.  Interestingly enough, it also had the same lie and offset as well as being within one swing weight of each other.  I threw out ten balls and proceeded to chip the ball back and forth to both pins. 

Even though both wedges have very close specifications to one another, it took me one pass back and forth to get used to the feel of the new Paradym X approach wedge.  The forged Paradym X wedge had a more distinct “click” as compared to the cast G30 wedge.  It was even a little more pronounced than my forged Edison wedges.   After the first set of balls, I really didn’t even pay attention to the sound so it wasn’t that distracting. 

Setting the Paradym X behind the ball, the slightly shorter blade length seemed a little more obvious.  I was concerned it might be a little less forgiving than the G30 wedge.  That concern quickly went away as I found myself consistently hitting the center sweet spot of the face. 

Since I play with forged Edison wedges, the overall Paradym X feel wasn’t that foreign to me.   I played with ball position and length of back swing to get a feel of how much I could make the wedge check on the first bounce and how much it would roll after that first bounce.   I found the ball came off the face pretty consistently toward the target, didn’t seem to check up as much as the Ping G30 pitching wedge and tended to roll out a little further.  More important to me, was the consistency I could expect from them.   Overall, I got a bit more consistency moving the ball forward an inch or two from my back foot than I typically hit my existing pitching wedge.  I found that small adjustment yielded a bit more overall consistency. 

I probably went back and forth across this small practice green fifteen to twenty times.  Each pass back and forth proved to yield more consistent results.  Both pins were roughly 40-45 feet from where I was chipping from. 

   

The two pictures above exhibit my chipping results before quitting for the day.  On the first picture, which was about half way through my sessions, you’ll see only nine balls as one was actually in the cup!  The last picture yielded a pretty consistent pattern, all which should have yielded a makeable putt.  I’d take that any day!

Overall, I felt the Paradym X’s had a more audible clicking sound when I chipped the ball, had a feel consistent with my other forged wedges and the slightly shorter blade length really didn’t impact how well I hit the wedge.  With my stroke, I found that the A wedge did not check up as much and ran out a bit farther than my previous pitching wedge with the same loft and other specifications.  Once I got comfortable with the Paradym X approach wedge, I found it to perform slightly better than my Ping G30 wedge.  Also being forged, the Paradym X's wedges have a similar feel to my existing Edison wedges.

I was rained out on Tuesday.  The forecast for tomorrow is for a sunny, hot day in Key West (when isn't it this time of year).  So hopefully I’ll get a chance to put the Callaway Paradym X’s into play and see some results. 

[Matt711]

Having just gotten fit for a Paradym Driver I was interested to read up on the irons and y'all have done a great job so far of providing feedback. Really enjoying the read and look forward to future updates!

[MattWillGolf]

Paradym X Irons - Delivery 2.

I have to sing the praises of Callaway Customs. I ordered a GW in my spec, +1”, 2 degrees upright, on Monday. The club delivered on Friday. That to me is impressive. I was expecting to see a G stamped on the club head. It is instead marked with a 51. I have to admit, these are good looking irons. I just need to instal the Shot Scope tag and it will be ready for the course.

[Matt711]

8 minutes ago, MattWillGolf said:

Paradym X Irons - Delivery 2.

I have to sing the praises of Callaway Customs. I ordered a GW in my spec, +1”, 2 degrees upright, on Monday. The club delivered on Friday. That to me is impressive. I was expecting to see a G stamped on the club head. It is instead marked with a 51. I have to admit, these are good looking irons. I just need to instal the Shot Scope tag and it will be ready for the course.

I ordered a custom Driver, 3 wood and 4 Hybrid from them Sunday and 2 of the 3 are getting here today. Callaway's logistics are definitely impressive. Looking forward to seeing the next course update on how the Paradym irons are playing for you!

[Javs]

Feel free to click on my testing post for my update from my first testing. Looking for any feedback and questions. Thank you!

[GolfSpy SAM]

@funkyjudge just posted a great update - hoping he'll share it here for everyone to see.  Sounds like these things are some weapons.

[funkyjudge]

6 minutes ago, GolfSpy_SAM said:

@funkyjudge just posted a great update - hoping he'll share it here for everyone to see.  Sounds like these things are some weapons.

Here it is —

Round 2 (partial) and Round 3 in Myrtle Beach with Paradym Irons

Our second round was interrupted multiple times by thunderstorms, and I injured my hand when my hand slipped off of a club during my downswing, so I only played 8 holes of golf yesterday. I only took 41 strokes for those 8 holes, and played reasonably well in spite of the horrible weather.

The Paradym irons performed well on those holes that I played, and I parred both par-3 holes that I played yesterday, one of which was played in moderate rain and one that was played in a downpour.  I hit my desired distances on all but one iron shot, and accuracy was very good overall.  It is hard to say much more than that, since it was a partial round played in abysmal conditions, with several thunderstorm delays.

Today, on the other hand, was a beautiful day, with the exception of winds that were blowing at a steady 15-25 MPH with 30+ MPH gusts.  I had my best iron striking round in close to a year (actually, I was hitting every club but my putter unusually well today!). I started my round par-birdie-par-birdie and each approach shot on those four holes ended up within 8 feet of the cup. We had five par-3 holes today and I hit the greens with my tee shots on each of those holes. Two of those holes were into the wind, and one was into a crosswind.

I cannot say enough great things about how well these Paradym irons felt, and more importantly performed, throughout my round today. I only shot a round of 84 on a par-71 course, but that was because I had the worst putting round that I can recall EVER having had(43 putts). My iron play was fabulous and I love the way that I am adjusting to the irons.

The prize money is being handed out as I type this, and I just got handed money for one skin and second place overall.  Thank you, Paradym irons!!!

[funkyjudge]

9 minutes ago, GolfSpy_SAM said:

@funkyjudge just posted a great update - hoping he'll share it here for everyone to see.  Sounds like these things are some weapons.

Here it is —

Round 2 (partial) and Round 3 in Myrtle Beach with Paradym Irons

Our second round was interrupted multiple times by thunderstorms, and I injured my hand when my hand slipped off of a club during my downswing, so I only played 8 holes of golf yesterday. I only took 41 strokes for those 8 holes, and played reasonably well in spite of the horrible weather.

The Paradym irons performed well on those holes that I played, and I parred both par-3 holes that I played yesterday, one of which was played in moderate rain and one that was played in a downpour.  I hit my desired distances on all but one iron shot, and accuracy was very good overall.  It is hard to say much more than that, since it was a partial round played in abysmal conditions, with several thunderstorm delays.

Today, on the other hand, was a beautiful day, with the exception of winds that were blowing at a steady 15-25 MPH with 30+ MPH gusts.  I had my best iron striking round in close to a year (actually, I was hitting every club but my putter unusually well today!). I started my round par-birdie-par-birdie and each approach shot on those four holes ended up within 8 feet of the cup. We had five par-3 holes today and I hit the greens with my tee shots on each of those holes. Two of those holes were into the wind, and one was into a crosswind.

I cannot say enough great things about how well these Paradym irons felt, and more importantly performed, throughout my round today. I only shot a round of 84 on a par-71 course, but that was because I had the worst putting round that I can recall EVER having had(43 putts). My iron play was fabulous and I love the way that I am adjusting to the irons.

The prize money is being handed out as I type this, and I just got handed money for one skin and second place overall.  Thank you, Paradym irons!!!

….. and here is my first round report from this Myrtle Beach trip —

First Day of Myrtle Beach Trip with Paradym Irons:

Today’s round in Myrtle Beach was a frustrating one, but not because of the Paradym irons! I was hitting the ball poorly off the tee with my driver and 4-wood, with the exception of three holes where I crushed the driver straight down the middle of the fairway.  I also made some stupid choices and mistakes on recovery shots after getting myself into trouble off the tee.

Now, regarding the Paradym irons — I hit lots of good shots that left me on the greens pin-high or slightly past the pins. I won a closest-to-the-pin prize with my Paradym 8-iron on a 131-yard par three with a tee shot that left a ball mark next to the hole and rolled-out about 8.5 to 9 feet.  Contact feels so beautiful with these irons on well-struck shots and the ball flight is high and straight.  I am still trying to completely dial-in my distances with these irons, and I did hit a handful of iron shots that went well past the pins today, but the percentage where this happens has gotten lower.  One thing that I have noticed is that when using these irons to hit shots into the wind I lose less distance than I expect. There seems to be more of a “boring” ball flight with the Paradyms that loses less distance than I think would be the case.

I am certainly happy with these irons, and I am sure that I will get the distance issues resolved with continued use.

Time to get ready for bed now; I am in the first group tomorrow, and we have early morning tee times.

[Matt711]

7 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

Here it is —

Round 2 (partial) and Round 3 in Myrtle Beach with Paradym Irons

Our second round was interrupted multiple times by thunderstorms, and I injured my hand when my hand slipped off of a club during my downswing, so I only played 8 holes of golf yesterday. I only took 41 strokes for those 8 holes, and played reasonably well in spite of the horrible weather.

The Paradym irons performed well on those holes that I played, and I parred both par-3 holes that I played yesterday, one of which was played in moderate rain and one that was played in a downpour.  I hit my desired distances on all but one iron shot, and accuracy was very good overall.  It is hard to say much more than that, since it was a partial round played in abysmal conditions, with several thunderstorm delays.

Today, on the other hand, was a beautiful day, with the exception of winds that were blowing at a steady 15-25 MPH with 30+ MPH gusts.  I had my best iron striking round in close to a year (actually, I was hitting every club but my putter unusually well today!). I started my round par-birdie-par-birdie and each approach shot on those four holes ended up within 8 feet of the cup. We had five par-3 holes today and I hit the greens with my tee shots on each of those holes. Two of those holes were into the wind, and one was into a crosswind.

I cannot say enough great things about how well these Paradym irons felt, and more importantly performed, throughout my round today. I only shot a round of 84 on a par-71 course, but that was because I had the worst putting round that I can recall EVER having had(43 putts). My iron play was fabulous and I love the way that I am adjusting to the irons.

The prize money is being handed out as I type this, and I just got handed money for one skin and second place overall.  Thank you, Paradym irons!!!

….. and here is my first round report from this Myrtle Beach trip —

First Day of Myrtle Beach Trip with Paradym Irons:

Today’s round in Myrtle Beach was a frustrating one, but not because of the Paradym irons! I was hitting the ball poorly off the tee with my driver and 4-wood, with the exception of three holes where I crushed the driver straight down the middle of the fairway.  I also made some stupid choices and mistakes on recovery shots after getting myself into trouble off the tee.

Now, regarding the Paradym irons — I hit lots of good shots that left me on the greens pin-high or slightly past the pins. I won a closest-to-the-pin prize with my Paradym 8-iron on a 131-yard par three with a tee shot that left a ball mark next to the hole and rolled-out about 8.5 to 9 feet.  Contact feels so beautiful with these irons on well-struck shots and the ball flight is high and straight.  I am still trying to completely dial-in my distances with these irons, and I did hit a handful of iron shots that went well past the pins today, but the percentage where this happens has gotten lower.  One thing that I have noticed is that when using these irons to hit shots into the wind I lose less distance than I expect. There seems to be more of a “boring” ball flight with the Paradyms that loses less distance than I think would be the case.

I am certainly happy with these irons, and I am sure that I will get the distance issues resolved with continued use.

Time to get ready for bed now; I am in the first group tomorrow, and we have early morning tee times.

Way to go @funkyjudge! sounds like a great time and like you and the Paradym irons are getting along well. Looking forward to hearing how you do tomorrow.

[sirchunksalot]

9 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

Here it is —

Round 2 (partial) and Round 3 in Myrtle Beach with Paradym Irons

Our second round was interrupted multiple times by thunderstorms, and I injured my hand when my hand slipped off of a club during my downswing, so I only played 8 holes of golf yesterday. I only took 41 strokes for those 8 holes, and played reasonably well in spite of the horrible weather.

The Paradym irons performed well on those holes that I played, and I parred both par-3 holes that I played yesterday, one of which was played in moderate rain and one that was played in a downpour.  I hit my desired distances on all but one iron shot, and accuracy was very good overall.  It is hard to say much more than that, since it was a partial round played in abysmal conditions, with several thunderstorm delays.

Today, on the other hand, was a beautiful day, with the exception of winds that were blowing at a steady 15-25 MPH with 30+ MPH gusts.  I had my best iron striking round in close to a year (actually, I was hitting every club but my putter unusually well today!). I started my round par-birdie-par-birdie and each approach shot on those four holes ended up within 8 feet of the cup. We had five par-3 holes today and I hit the greens with my tee shots on each of those holes. Two of those holes were into the wind, and one was into a crosswind.

I cannot say enough great things about how well these Paradym irons felt, and more importantly performed, throughout my round today. I only shot a round of 84 on a par-71 course, but that was because I had the worst putting round that I can recall EVER having had(43 putts). My iron play was fabulous and I love the way that I am adjusting to the irons.

The prize money is being handed out as I type this, and I just got handed money for one skin and second place overall.  Thank you, Paradym irons!!!

….. and here is my first round report from this Myrtle Beach trip —

First Day of Myrtle Beach Trip with Paradym Irons:

Today’s round in Myrtle Beach was a frustrating one, but not because of the Paradym irons! I was hitting the ball poorly off the tee with my driver and 4-wood, with the exception of three holes where I crushed the driver straight down the middle of the fairway.  I also made some stupid choices and mistakes on recovery shots after getting myself into trouble off the tee.

Now, regarding the Paradym irons — I hit lots of good shots that left me on the greens pin-high or slightly past the pins. I won a closest-to-the-pin prize with my Paradym 8-iron on a 131-yard par three with a tee shot that left a ball mark next to the hole and rolled-out about 8.5 to 9 feet.  Contact feels so beautiful with these irons on well-struck shots and the ball flight is high and straight.  I am still trying to completely dial-in my distances with these irons, and I did hit a handful of iron shots that went well past the pins today, but the percentage where this happens has gotten lower.  One thing that I have noticed is that when using these irons to hit shots into the wind I lose less distance than I expect. There seems to be more of a “boring” ball flight with the Paradyms that loses less distance than I think would be the case.

I am certainly happy with these irons, and I am sure that I will get the distance issues resolved with continued use.

Time to get ready for bed now; I am in the first group tomorrow, and we have early morning tee times.

Great update @funkyjudge! It's good to hear these irons have been living up to the hype. 

[Javs]

My Round two with the Paradym irons. Played blue tees at Cowen Creek and my course handicap was 6. I shot 3 over. The Paradym irons were amazing. On average I hit the Paradym irons 10 to 12 yards longer than my PXG Gen 5 P’s. First hole hit a GW   128 to 5 feet. Missed the putt. Second hole was 159 into the wind and hit a half 8I fat to the front fringe. Touched it with my putter 3 times. Number 3 was a par 5 driver, 3 wood and pitch shot. Missed the darn putt. See today’s theme…..Number 4 driver and a 1/4 GW to 6 feet. Yes missed it. Number 5 hit GW 128 into the wind and it flew right over the stick. Unfortunately, caught the ridge and rolled to 25 feet. Made the putt for birdie! Finally life!! Number 6 had 178 into the wind and hit a hard 7i. Medium height tight draw right into the middle of the green. Made par and was really pleased with that iron shot. Number 7 hit PW and it flew 5 yards farther than I expected over the flag and plugged in the bunker. Made bogey. However, the iron was well struck. These clubs are hot! Number 8 had 165 and hit a chocked down 8i off a side hill lie to 17 feet. Again the ball flew nicely with a tight draw. Number 9 made par on the par5. On 10 had 168 and hit an 8i over the green. Didn’t get up and down. Number 11 hit a PW from 138 and it flew the green. Again failed to get up and down. These were good shots, just took off. Number 12 made   par on the par 5. Number 13 had 178 and hit 7i to 22 feet. Once again a tight draw. Made a good par on a hard hole. Number 14 drove it over the green on the par 4 by cutting the corner. Made birdie. Number 15 had 118 into a stiff wind. Hit GW to 19 feet. Made par. Number 16 had 167 to a back right pin that was a sucker pin. Hit a cut 8i that started middle and worked towards the flag to 8 feet. So, proved I could work the ball both ways with these weapons. Missed the putt. On 17 made par on the par 5. On 18 had 165 and hit 8i straight over the stick about 6 feet too long and into the bunker. Made bogey. Takeaways: these clubs are long and hot. They don’t make much sound. Off center hits still fly out and don’t loose much distance or accuracy. They can’t be hit both ways and are easy to work. They seem to prefer providing a tight draw. Very  pleased so far. Just need to dial in the distances. Stay tuned for more updates!

[Matt711]

4 minutes ago, Javs said:

My Round two with the Paradym irons. Played blue tees at Cowen Creek and my course handicap was 6. I shot 3 over. The Paradym irons were amazing. On average I hit the Paradym irons 10 to 12 yards longer than my PXG Gen 5 P’s. First hole hit a GW   128 to 5 feet. Missed the putt. Second hole was 159 into the wind and hit a half 8I fat to the front fringe. Touched it with my putter 3 times. Number 3 was a par 5 driver, 3 wood and pitch shot. Missed the darn putt. See today’s theme…..Number 4 driver and a 1/4 GW to 6 feet. Yes missed it. Number 5 hit GW 128 into the wind and it flew right over the stick. Unfortunately, caught the ridge and rolled to 25 feet. Made the putt for birdie! Finally life!! Number 6 had 178 into the wind and hit a hard 7i. Medium height tight draw right into the middle of the green. Made par and was really pleased with that iron shot. Number 7 hit PW and it flew 5 yards farther than I expected over the flag and plugged in the bunker. Made bogey. However, the iron was well struck. These clubs are hot! Number 8 had 165 and hit a chocked down 8i off a side hill lie to 17 feet. Again the ball flew nicely with a tight draw. Number 9 made par on the par5. On 10 had 168 and hit an 8i over the green. Didn’t get up and down. Number 11 hit a PW from 138 and it flew the green. Again failed to get up and down. These were good shots, just took off. Number 12 made   par on the par 5. Number 13 had 178 and hit 7i to 22 feet. Once again a tight draw. Made a good par on a hard hole. Number 14 drove it over the green on the par 4 by cutting the corner. Made birdie. Number 15 had 118 into a stiff wind. Hit GW to 19 feet. Made par. Number 16 had 167 to a back right pin that was a sucker pin. Hit a cut 8i that started middle and worked towards the flag to 8 feet. So, proved I could work the ball both ways with these weapons. Missed the putt. On 17 made par on the par 5. On 18 had 165 and hit 8i straight over the stick about 6 feet too long and into the bunker. Made bogey. Takeaways: these clubs are long and hot. They don’t make much sound. Off center hits still fly out and don’t loose much distance or accuracy. They can’t be hit both ways and are easy to work. They seem to prefer providing a tight draw. Very  pleased so far. Just need to dial in the distances. Stay tuned for more updates!

Sounds like an exciting round! On average do you feel like you're hitting these irons closer to the pin than your old irons and if so by what sort of margin?

[Javs]

4 minutes ago, Matt711 said:

Sounds like an exciting round! On average do you feel like you're hitting these irons closer to the pin than your old irons and if so by what sort of margin?

I must say that I feel very confident hitting these irons. That said, I love my PXG’s. So, the bar for these to take a place in my bag is high. However, in the two rounds I can see that I am gaining about 10 to 12 yards. I would not yet say that they are more accurate. However, the argument can be made that hitting a club and a half less into every green does seem to make it appear easier. I will say the turf interaction is great. They made the clubs to my specs perfectly. So, I know when it is hit on the button it will go where I am looking. Even the miss hits have been acceptable. Hope that helps.

[MattWillGolf]

I was able to get out this morning for 9 holes. I played the back 9 for the first time this season and it tends to be the soggier than the front 9. Since receiving the irons, the weather seems to have never gotten above 50 degrees. Today was no exception. It was 46 degrees at tee off. Then the rain started followed by a brief bit of hail and finally a tad bit of drizzle, but the sun made an appearance every now and again. Given that I was able to play, these trifling's can be ignored. Today I discovered just how forgiving these irons are even in soggy conditions, no carts allowed on course today. I struggled to get the long irons up in the air today. But given that they still went remarkably straight which is an improvement over my regular gamers which in wet conditions tended to grab and have the face open up. I did not have that problem with the Paradym X irons. At the shorter end of the bag though 9i, PW, AW and the GW I recently purchased to add to the set, simply launch the ball. Given the conditions the distance suffered but they got up in the air and on line as aimed. Their interaction with the soggy turf was excellent. Much better than my PXG 0211 irons. Normally this early in the season because the wet conditions, I play with my Ping G25 irons as their wider soles seem to work better for me when the course is this soggy. 

My 10 cent take on these irons is they are more forgiving and offer better distance than either of the sets of irons I have and their turf interaction in soggy conditions is quite a bit better as well. I am looking forward to trying these out in warmer and drier conditions. 

[sirchunksalot]

5 hours ago, MattWillGolf said:

I was able to get out this morning for 9 holes. I played the back 9 for the first time this season and it tends to be the soggier than the front 9. Since receiving the irons, the weather seems to have never gotten above 50 degrees. Today was no exception. It was 46 degrees at tee off. Then the rain started followed by a brief bit of hail and finally a tad bit of drizzle, but the sun made an appearance every now and again. Given that I was able to play, these trifling's can be ignored. Today I discovered just how forgiving these irons are even in soggy conditions, no carts allowed on course today. I struggled to get the long irons up in the air today. But given that they still went remarkably straight which is an improvement over my regular gamers which in wet conditions tended to grab and have the face open up. I did not have that problem with the Paradym X irons. At the shorter end of the bag though 9i, PW, AW and the GW I recently purchased to add to the set, simply launch the ball. Given the conditions the distance suffered but they got up in the air and on line as aimed. Their interaction with the soggy turf was excellent. Much better than my PXG 0211 irons. Normally this early in the season because the wet conditions, I play with my Ping G25 irons as their wider soles seem to work better for me when the course is this soggy. 

My 10 cent take on these irons is they are more forgiving and offer better distance than either of sets of irons I have and their turf interaction in soggy conditions is quite a bit better as well. I am looking forward to trying these out in warmer and drier conditions. 

Hopefully you'll get some warmer, dryer conditions soon. I can imagine if they're performing well in the conditions you're playing in now, you'll have to watch out about flying greens. 

You are all doing a great job on this review, I haven't commented much but I'm really enjoying reading about y'all playing these irons. 

[Golf2Much]

As I started breaking down my game at my home course, I realized that given my short distance off the tee I tend to hit more fairway wood positional or approach shots.  This often leaves me with wedge pitch and chip shots.  I was lamenting this to @GolfSpy_APH on the reviewers message thread and his comment was "Try an irons only round!!"  I thought about it and replied that was not a bad idea.  

This morning I played our back nine with just the Paradym X irons and my Edison 50 and 55 degree wedges.  On the par 4's and our only par 5, I teed off with the 5 iron.  It was the least lofted iron in my Paradym X set.  Plus, in the past several years I've struggled hitting anything more than a 6 iron.  My intention was not to score, but to put myself in situations where I could hit each iron at least once.  After teeing off, I'd check the distance to the pin and then look to distances where I could effectively hit full shots.  For example, if I was 200 yards out, I'd purposely hit a 9 irons and AW to the green instead of a 5 iron and one of my Edison wedges to chip on.  Finally, I also gave myself a rule not to hit the same club on back-to-back shots.  To assess the overall performance, I'd compare today's distances to my 2022 Ping G30 iron distances.

Truth be told, I've been struggling with my iron play recently.   Today I decided to try a few things to nudge my way to better overall iron play.  The good news is that the one or two tweaks I made yielded a more solid iron shots.  I still struggled a little, but nowhere near as bad as I was the last few weeks.   With the exception of my Edison irons, I've only played forged clubs in the past.  So, the Paradym X forged blades are a new and different feeling club for me.  

Here are some of my initial observations.  First, is the lack of feedback is feedback in itself.  By that I mean when I know I hit the Paradym X's well, I don't feel a thing.  There's no vibration and very little of the "clicking" sound they make at impact.  The converse is also true.  If I'm off, I can feel it before even looking up.  Though my previous Ping G30 performed somewhat like that, the Paradym X's tend to make it more obvious.  On a couple of occasions during the round waiting for someone to clear the green, I'd drop another ball or two.  Inevitably, the shot would come off the club feeling a little worse or better.  As I rode up the fairway, I noticed that there wasn't a significant difference in distance and/or dispersion between the two or three shots.  Good and fair shots all seemed to travel similar distances.   Hitting the Paradym X's today and over the last few rounds, I get the feeling that the overall trajectory is lower when compared with my Ping G30's.  If you look below at the tables, I get a feeling I know why.  For some reason, I tend to hit these irons straight or on occasion come over the top a little with a pull hook.  From my previous threads, I've mentioned that I've always been 2 degrees upright lie and with my Paradym X fitting, I ended up being standard lie.  So, I'm still working on getting comfortable with the flatter lie.

With the round over, I pulled the Shot Scope data to see how I did.  I was happy to see that all of my five iron "tee shots" were in the fairway.  You would expect that, but for me hitting a forge smaller profile five iron with any consistency is a win!  Next I focused on the distances.  Below is a chart off my distances for each iron.  The Ping G30 numbers are my 2022 results and the Callaway Paradym X's are from today.

  

The data on the charts are the same, just shown in two different types of charts (some people react better to some versus others).  With the exception of the one 7 iron I didn't hit very well, it shows I consistently hit the Callaway Paradym X's farther than my previous Ping G30's.  If you dive into a little more, one could attribute that to the stronger lofts on the Callaways.   Below is a table looking at the same data, but this time adding the lofts for both sets of irons.

 

As it showed in the graphs, for comparable irons, the Callaway Paradym X's were 4 to 9 yards longer than the Ping G30's.  However, if you look at the lofts of each iron, the distance difference was not much different.

For example, my Ping G30 has a loft of 30.5 degrees and yielded 124 yards total distance.  The Callaway Paradym X 8 iron has a loft within a degree of the G30 (at 31.5 degrees) and it yielded a total distance of 126 degrees, I know it's only one data set for the Paradym X's, but it looks like in general if I look at actual loft versus iron number, I hit both irons roughly the same distance.  More time with the Paradym X's will tell if this overall performance holds.

I'm travelling this week to a meeting and will be playing golf one day.  I have a free day that I plan on hitting a practice facility (as we don't have one in Key West) to see if I can build on the above data.

[ejgaudette]

31 minutes ago, Golf2Much said:

As I started breaking down my game at my home course, I realized that given my short distance off the tee I tend to hit more fairway wood positional or approach shots.  This often leaves me with wedge pitch and chip shots.  I was lamenting this to @GolfSpy_APH on the reviewers message thread and his comment was "Try an irons only round!!"  I thought about it and replied that was not a bad idea.  

This morning I played our back nine with just the Paradym X irons and my Edison 50 and 55 degree wedges.  On the par 4's and our only par 5, I teed off with the 5 iron.  It was the least lofted iron in my Paradym X set.  Plus, in the past several years I've struggled hitting anything more than a 6 iron.  My intention was not to score, but to put myself in situations where I could hit each iron at least once.  After teeing off, I'd check the distance to the pin and then look to distances where I could effectively hit full shots.  For example, if I was 200 yards out, I'd purposely hit a 9 irons and AW to the green instead of a 5 iron and one of my Edison wedges to chip on.  Finally, I also gave myself a rule not to hit the same club on back-to-back shots.  To assess the overall performance, I'd compare today's distances to my 2022 Ping G30 iron distances.

Truth be told, I've been struggling with my iron play recently.   Today I decided to try a few things to nudge my way to better overall iron play.  The good news is that the one or two tweaks I made yielded a more solid iron shots.  I still struggled a little, but nowhere near as bad as I was the last few weeks.   With the exception of my Edison irons, I've only played forged clubs in the past.  So, the Paradym X forged blades are a new and different feeling club for me.  

Here are some of my initial observations.  First, is the lack of feedback is feedback in itself.  By that I mean when I know I hit the Paradym X's well, I don't feel a thing.  There's no vibration and very little of the "clicking" sound they make at impact.  The converse is also true.  If I'm off, I can feel it before even looking up.  Though my previous Ping G30 performed somewhat like that, the Paradym X's tend to make it more obvious.  On a couple of occasions during the round waiting for someone to clear the green, I'd drop another ball or two.  Inevitably, the shot would come off the club feeling a little worse or better.  As I rode up the fairway, I noticed that there wasn't a significant difference in distance and/or dispersion between the two or three shots.  Good and fair shots all seemed to travel similar distances.   Hitting the Paradym X's today and over the last few rounds, I get the feeling that the overall trajectory is lower when compared with my Ping G30's.  If you look below at the tables, I get a feeling I know why.  For some reason, I tend to hit these irons straight or on occasion come over the top a little with a pull hook.  From my previous threads, I've mentioned that I've always been 2 degrees upright lie and with my Paradym X fitting, I ended up being standard lie.  So, I'm still working on getting comfortable with the flatter lie.

With the round over, I pulled the Shot Scope data to see how I did.  I was happy to see that all of my five iron "tee shots" were in the fairway.  You would expect that, but for me hitting a forge smaller profile five iron with any consistency is a win!  Next I focused on the distances.  Below is a chart off my distances for each iron.  The Ping G30 numbers are my 2022 results and the Callaway Paradym X's are from today.

  

The data on the charts are the same, just shown in two different types of charts (some people react better to some versus others).  With the exception of the one 7 iron I didn't hit very well, it shows I consistently hit the Callaway Paradym X's farther than my previous Ping G30's.  If you dive into a little more, one could attribute that to the stronger lofts on the Callaways.   Below is a table looking at the same data, but this time adding the lofts for both sets of irons.

 

As it showed in the graphs, for comparable irons, the Callaway Paradym X's were 4 to 9 yards longer than the Ping G30's.  However, if you look at the lofts of each iron, the distance difference was not much different.

For example, my Ping G30 has a loft of 30.5 degrees and yielded 124 yards total distance.  The Callaway Paradym X 8 iron has a loft within a degree of the G30 (at 31.5 degrees) and it yielded a total distance of 126 degrees, I know it's only one data set for the Paradym X's, but it looks like in general if I look at actual loft versus iron number, I hit both irons roughly the same distance.  More time with the Paradym X's will tell if this overall performance holds.

I'm travelling this week to a meeting and will be playing golf one day.  I have a free day that I plan on hitting a practice facility (as we don't have one in Key West) to see if I can build on the above data.

Great comparisons of the data here and comparing the lofts. I know the claim is though that they strengthen the lofts so they go the same height, are you seeing similar heights even with the stronger lofts?

[JerBooth]

@funkyjudge  Im so glad you included the build list for your clubs.

That is such a nice touch to start this test!!

[Beakbryce]

1 hour ago, Golf2Much said:

As I started breaking down my game at my home course, I realized that given my short distance off the tee I tend to hit more fairway wood positional or approach shots.  This often leaves me with wedge pitch and chip shots.  I was lamenting this to @GolfSpy_APH on the reviewers message thread and his comment was "Try an irons only round!!"  I thought about it and replied that was not a bad idea.  

This morning I played our back nine with just the Paradym X irons and my Edison 50 and 55 degree wedges.  On the par 4's and our only par 5, I teed off with the 5 iron.  It was the least lofted iron in my Paradym X set.  Plus, in the past several years I've struggled hitting anything more than a 6 iron.  My intention was not to score, but to put myself in situations where I could hit each iron at least once.  After teeing off, I'd check the distance to the pin and then look to distances where I could effectively hit full shots.  For example, if I was 200 yards out, I'd purposely hit a 9 irons and AW to the green instead of a 5 iron and one of my Edison wedges to chip on.  Finally, I also gave myself a rule not to hit the same club on back-to-back shots.  To assess the overall performance, I'd compare today's distances to my 2022 Ping G30 iron distances.

Truth be told, I've been struggling with my iron play recently.   Today I decided to try a few things to nudge my way to better overall iron play.  The good news is that the one or two tweaks I made yielded a more solid iron shots.  I still struggled a little, but nowhere near as bad as I was the last few weeks.   With the exception of my Edison irons, I've only played forged clubs in the past.  So, the Paradym X forged blades are a new and different feeling club for me.  

Here are some of my initial observations.  First, is the lack of feedback is feedback in itself.  By that I mean when I know I hit the Paradym X's well, I don't feel a thing.  There's no vibration and very little of the "clicking" sound they make at impact.  The converse is also true.  If I'm off, I can feel it before even looking up.  Though my previous Ping G30 performed somewhat like that, the Paradym X's tend to make it more obvious.  On a couple of occasions during the round waiting for someone to clear the green, I'd drop another ball or two.  Inevitably, the shot would come off the club feeling a little worse or better.  As I rode up the fairway, I noticed that there wasn't a significant difference in distance and/or dispersion between the two or three shots.  Good and fair shots all seemed to travel similar distances.   Hitting the Paradym X's today and over the last few rounds, I get the feeling that the overall trajectory is lower when compared with my Ping G30's.  If you look below at the tables, I get a feeling I know why.  For some reason, I tend to hit these irons straight or on occasion come over the top a little with a pull hook.  From my previous threads, I've mentioned that I've always been 2 degrees upright lie and with my Paradym X fitting, I ended up being standard lie.  So, I'm still working on getting comfortable with the flatter lie.

With the round over, I pulled the Shot Scope data to see how I did.  I was happy to see that all of my five iron "tee shots" were in the fairway.  You would expect that, but for me hitting a forge smaller profile five iron with any consistency is a win!  Next I focused on the distances.  Below is a chart off my distances for each iron.  The Ping G30 numbers are my 2022 results and the Callaway Paradym X's are from today.

  

The data on the charts are the same, just shown in two different types of charts (some people react better to some versus others).  With the exception of the one 7 iron I didn't hit very well, it shows I consistently hit the Callaway Paradym X's farther than my previous Ping G30's.  If you dive into a little more, one could attribute that to the stronger lofts on the Callaways.   Below is a table looking at the same data, but this time adding the lofts for both sets of irons.

 

As it showed in the graphs, for comparable irons, the Callaway Paradym X's were 4 to 9 yards longer than the Ping G30's.  However, if you look at the lofts of each iron, the distance difference was not much different.

For example, my Ping G30 has a loft of 30.5 degrees and yielded 124 yards total distance.  The Callaway Paradym X 8 iron has a loft within a degree of the G30 (at 31.5 degrees) and it yielded a total distance of 126 degrees, I know it's only one data set for the Paradym X's, but it looks like in general if I look at actual loft versus iron number, I hit both irons roughly the same distance.  More time with the Paradym X's will tell if this overall performance holds.

I'm travelling this week to a meeting and will be playing golf one day.  I have a free day that I plan on hitting a practice facility (as we don't have one in Key West) to see if I can build on the above data.

This is a great analysis. Thorough. I have a question. Since the distance for each loft is relatively the same, what did you feel the dispersion was?

There are basically 2 reasons to buy new clubs, significant distance increase or tighter dispersion. For me at this point, dispersion is more important. I feel I hit each iron a specific distance so new irons would need to cover full swing for me 120 to 180 yards. Sounds like I can do that with the Paradigms by not ordering by club number but by loft. If I replaced the 6 clubs I use from 120 to 180, I would like each club to be 8-12 yards gap regardless of the number on the club. I am really more concerned with lofts. 

From each tester I am getting the feeling that these clubs have a medium trajectory. While I don't play around a lot of trees, I still like irons to flight high with a normal hit because I can always knock them down. There is one hole that requires me to hit over a tree and I want confidence the ball will get over.

If I were to add new irons, they would have to fly high and have improved dispersion built in. The Paradigms don't sound like the club for height but there hasn't been a lot of discussion from the testers regarding dispersion.

Please continue to post if you discover more quality info like you posted here.

BTW, maybe move up a tee or 2 once in awhile so you can hit irons into the pins. I tend to play 2 of the 4 tees at each of the 4 courses I play because I am in the same boat, the further back tee requires a lot of wood and hybrid approaches and the shorter a lot of irons. I still break 80 from both, but enjoy hitting a ton of greens from the shorter tee and the lower scores without stress. Playing both tees helps me keep a complete game.

Have fun with the new irons.

Beak