Paradym Triple Diamond Driver

[TylerC31]

Intro: 

I will be reviewing the Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver. I received this driver in 8* loft with the Kai'li white 80 TX shaft. My previous gamer was a 9* Cobra LTDx LS with a 75g TX Trono shaft. The Cobra was a rocket launcher but the club was too low-spinning for me, making mishits more penalizing than I would like. After testing many of the new models  at my local PGA Tour Superstore, I settled on the Paradym as my next driver. 

My Game: 

I started playing golf around two and a half years ago with my father-in-law. I had a background in multiple sports, including baseball, making the transition a little easier. My strengths are distance and wedge play, but my big miss comes when I don't shut down the clubface and lose balls high and right. My swing speed sits in the low 120s and can get to the upper 120s if needed. I am typically a high-ball hitter, but I generate extremely low spin numbers (1400-1700), making the right driver fit difficult. When my game is good, my ball flight is around 150 ft apex with a fade. Mishits tend to be heel side with an open club face (not good). My ball is a Z-star diamond in normal conditions and a Chrome Soft X when it is windy. Every shot I hit for this review was with the Chrome Soft X. 

 

First Impressions: 

I wasn't sure how I would feel about the blue crown, but it looks nice in outside lighting. It is a subtle point of differentiation without being loud. The club appears much smaller than its 450 cc head size would suggest. The sole can look a little glue-y, but this is expected with the club head construction. The face is deep, making me feel a little better about teeing it up higher when needed. Of note, the driver I received had 4g and 9g weights, different than the standard 12g and 3g weights in the triple diamonds. I'm not sure how this happened, but the fit works for me so I rolled with it. 

 

On the Course: 

The first thing that stood out to me was the muted sound and feel of the driver. The feeling of the face could almost be described as dull. It was much different than the sharp crack I felt with the Cobra. That said, I was very pleased with the ball speed and performance. The Paradym was around 1-2 mph slower than the LTDx LS, but I was able to generate around 400 more RPMs of spin on average, helping me to straighten my ball flight and create more consistency in results. Whereas with the Cobra a minor heel or toe bias on the strike would lead to wide dispersion patterns and loss of ball speed, I felt as if the Paradym was very stable and consistent around the middle third of the face. Like any driver, an extreme heel or toe strike will still cause gearing, but the average strike felt great. The head is not overly heavy, but still feels easy to locate during the swing. I felt as if I was able to work the ball a little bit easier without worrying about excessive slicing or hooking with small mistakes. The weights also create noticeable differences. With the 9g weight back, the ball flew around 145 ft with 1900 rpm of backspin. With the heavy weight moved forward, the peak height lowered around 15 feet with around 1600 rpm of backspin. As I stated earlier, the weights in my driver have a less dramatic weight difference than the standard offering, so that difference may be even more exaggerated for others. This was useful for me as I set the weight back at my home course (University of Georgia) for accuracy and increased carry, but was able to flatten my ball flight and better fight the wind when I took my driver to the Ocean Course. I also found the hosel adjustments useful. While I did not feel the need to adjust my loft because I was happy with my launch angles, I did set the hosel to the draw setting. Doing so took the edge off of my fade to transform the drive into more of a gentle cut. I am looking forward to working with the weight and loft settings in future rounds to see if I find another setting I prefer for windy conditions. 

Final Impressions: 

I was very pleased with this driver. I felt as if it provided me with an option that is fast off the face and  "low spin" without being excessively so. Whereas the LTDx LS made me feel as if I had to strike the ball precisely to avoid bad outcomes, the Paradym makes me feel as if I can go after the ball a little bit more without it blowing up in my face. In this sense, I think the Paradym will fit a lot more high-speed players than my cobra did. I am interested in the durability of the construction of the club head, but Callaway offers a standard warranty in the event that anything happens in the course of normal play.