Callaway Paradym Irons - 2023 Forum Review

[Beakbryce]

Congrats guys. Please wring these clubs out. Really curious how they play. I have Steelheads and they are getting long in the tooth. 

[Mr. Mushball]

Awesome guys, hope to hear more about your adventures with these new irons.  If either of the Paradym X testers decide they aren't the right clubs for them, let me know and I'll help you clear garage space. 

[Dweed]

Way to go Testers. The easy part is over, now to the work. Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

[Bang60]

Nice pickup guys, fwd to your opinion congrats  

[Tom the Golf Nut]

Congrats guys. Looking forward to reading about your journey with these clubs. 

[Paul Hedrick]

Congratulations to the testers!  I am looking forward to reading your reviews.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Great to see all the support for these testers. 

Nearly all the fittings are done and we will try to get the clubs in hand asap for them to get started.

Also great to see some introductions up as well! If you haven't already and are interested in this test be sure to give this thread a follow so you will get notified of new updates from the testers or Follow the testers!!

[Tristen79]

Congrats and have fun! 

[kyleagrant]

Congrats testers! Looking forward to your reviews what an exciting start to the golf season!

[Jnoble89]

6 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Great to see all the support for these testers. 

Nearly all the fittings are done and we will try to get the clubs in hand asap for them to get started.

Also great to see some introductions up as well! If you haven't already and are interested in this test be sure to give this thread a follow so you will get notified of new updates from the testers or Follow the testers!!

Wow, awesome job in getting those fittings done ASAP, testers! Can't wait for the clubs to get in hand and see some unboxing and initial testing. I think this is going to be a really fun one to follow!

[BFitz]

Congrats guys!  I really like the Apex ‘19 irons that I am currently playing and am anxious to read your stories on the Paradym irons.

Cheers, BFitz

[Javs]

My introduction is posted along with some background and testing expectations. Send me your feedback or questions along this journey!

Edited April 5 by Javs

[MattWillGolf]

To start the testing process, I had my iron fitting yesterday. I posted about my experience, and it appears below my introduction. I'm really looking forward to getting them out on the course. 

[funkyjudge]

Updated personal data and additional information added last night to my introductory post.  Please see Introduction at the beginning of this thread.

[funkyjudge]

On 4/4/2023 at 1:07 AM, Javs said:

Introduction (4/5/23):

First off, I would like to thank My Golf Spy and Callaway Golf for the opportunity to be a tester for the Paradym Irons. This is a great opportunity and I hope to provide some helpful testing results to all my fellow forum members.

I am known as Javs on the site. I selected this because my last active duty assignment overseas was Task Force Javelins. My professional life was 42 years combined service in the military. Of that, 27 years were active duty. My active duty career ended when I was wounded in action in Iraq. However, I was extremely lucky and was offered a government civilian position as a Deputy Operations Officer for a training command. After spending 15 years in that very rewarding position I decided to fully retire. My professional life provided the opportunity to travel around the globe and experience things one only dreams of as a kid. Those years were some of the best and at times some of the worst, but almost always exciting and new. 

Currently my wife and I reside in Georgetown, Texas. We live in a 55 plus retirement community. This place is an adult candy-land! We are a golf cart friendly community. Soon this resort will be sporting its 4th gym and each of them has an indoor and outdoor pool. Additionally, there are walking trails, more clubs and activities that prevent even the most active person from ever getting bored. However, my personal favorite part is the three golf courses and all the new golfing friends! 

Golf Background:
My first exposure to this great game of golf was as a young 8 year old. I started as a caddie for my Dad. He is the one who taught me the game and all the rules coupled with proper etiquette. At 13, I started caddying at a local country club and making decent money for a kid. In high school, I played on the golf team and we won our conference championship. I started on varsity all 4 years. I played decent competitive junior golf. Had the opportunity for a few golf scholarships, but chose to enlist in the military. When I joined the military playing golf was often placed on the shelf. I did have an opportunity a few times of playing in the all armed forces tournaments. While I would make the cut, I never could beat those Air Force guys that seemed to play for a living!

After retiring last May, golf is a higher priority and the love for the game has returned. Due to lack of play my handicap index was a 12 when we first moved here. Now I am a 5 index; however, (depending on the tees we play) my course handicap is lower. I have played on the VGA, our Men’s Club Events and play at least four times a week here. I am very competitive and really enjoy our local group money games. My goal for the next few years is to get my handicap to a plus and win the club championship.

As someone pretty serious about their game, I can also be labeled a golf and equipment junkie. A caveat here is: I have been loyal and attached to PXG since their beginning. The main reason I was attracted to PXG was the Hero’s Program. I can get all their clubs, balls, clothes and accessories at very reasonable prices. A look at my current irons:

Testing and Fitting:

While researching and testing the Callaway Paradym my approach is a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions. Let’s call it a possible paradigm shift in my equipment. I am approaching this testing with a complete open mind. If these perform as advertised they can make it into the bag. That said, the bar will be high to replace my PXG irons. So, my testing parameters are going to compare and contrast the Callaway Paradym’s against my PXG Gen 5 P’s.

For the fitting, I submitted my fitting specs from my most recent PXG iron fitting. I am requesting 2 degrees flat cut down 1/4 inch. True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 shafts in stiff. Topped off with Golf Pride Multi-compound grips.

I am extremely excited to conduct this test. The Callaway site states: “Paradym Irons combine our A.I. Designed Forged 455 Face with the all-new Speed Frame. They’re designed for golfers who are looking for a players’ distance iron with a refined shape and premium forging”. Hey, that’s me! Their other claim: “Industry-leading A.I. face technology is applied to a high-strength Forged 455 face, creating our most powerful forged iron face ever. Each face is uniquely optimized for more speed, higher launch, and increased spin consistency”. Well that is a big claim! However, I did notice that the lofts in these irons are crazy strong! 
#5 23°, 6 26°, 7 29°, 8 33°, 9 37°, PW 42°, AW 47°, GW 52°. How can they not be longer? But can they be more accurate?

So, to sum this up we have huge expectations for these Callaway Paradym player’s distance irons. Will they meet the hype???? Stay tuned sports fans because we are going to find out!

When you played in those armed forces golf tournaments, did you ever happen to encounter a Coast Guard Petty Officer (later a Warrant Officer and Corpsman) who was no bigger than Gary Player and who played as if he was born with a golf club in his hands?  That would have been my younger brother, also named Gary like Mr. Player. He started playing golf at about 7 years old, almost 30 years younger than I was when I started playing the game, and played to a very low single digit handicap for more than 30 years.  He did very well in the armed forces tournaments between about 1971-1990.

[DawgDaddy]

Congratulations to all of the testers............now time's a wasting, get busy with the testing.  lol

[fixyurdivot]

Missed this announcement.  Congratulations to our fellow spies on being selected .  I'm looking forward to your reviews and in particular should any of you choose a composite shaft option.  Have a blast running these through the paces.  My quick evaluation at a demo day has me thinking you'll like them and leave you in a "who to play and who to bench" conundrum . 

[KC Golf]

Congratulations!  Looking forward to the reviews!

[Golf2Much]

For those interested, I posted my review introduction this afternoon.  Here's the link:  

It will likely take a week or two before we get the irons to test, so I'll take the idle time to comment on my fitting process and a little bit more of my existing G30 iron Shot Scope performance data that will serve as the baseline for my assessment.

I'm honored to join three other prolific MyGolfSpy contributors in reviewing the Paradym irons.  This should be a blast!

 

[scotter032]

Congrats!!! Super jealous for sure

Can't wait for the reviews!