Callaway Paradym Drivers - 2023 Forum Review

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

3 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Ok this happened...

.. + ..

.. = ..

Got a new tip on the GPLB (had been on an 0311XF) and took it to the course yesterday .. ("practice with it first", you say? ..harrumph ) .. so yeah the first few shots were a little shaky but after that, when I slowed down and caught it nicely, started launching it - had a few best for me yet drives on a few holes

So looks like a Kai'Li Blue 50-R may be getting listed in B/S/T ...

 

Dang I keep telling myself to just try the plb but I never pull the trigger. All these good stories inch me closer

[cksurfdude]

4 hours ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Dang I keep telling myself to just try the plb but I never pull the trigger. All these good stories inch me closer

It may not be for everyone, but - at like about $100 with tip & grip it's a reasonable cost (in golf $$ terms imo) experiment!

[azstu324]

5 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

Ok this happened...

.. + ..

.. = ..

Got a new tip on the GPLB (had been on an 0311XF) and took it to the course yesterday .. ("practice with it first", you say? ..harrumph ) .. so yeah the first few shots were a little shaky but after that, when I slowed down and caught it nicely, started launching it - had a few best for me yet drives on a few holes

So looks like a Kai'Li Blue 50-R may be getting listed in B/S/T ...

 

[JohnSmalls]

Great write up fellas! 

[GolfSpy_APH]

I keep finding used rh paradym drivers but no lefties yet!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I keep finding used rh paradym drivers but no lefties yet!

I just saw some heads posted to a lefty buy/sell/trade page on Facebook if you are on there!

[GolfSpy_APH]

4 hours ago, Jnoble89 said:

I just saw some heads posted to a lefty buy/sell/trade page on Facebook if you are on there!

Not sure shipping to Switzerland is an option but thanks! I'll give it a look.

[StrokerAce]

quick update - posted the story in the how'd you play thread but Paradym still performing well for me, especially under pressure.

first playoff hole in league match - win go to the finals, lose and go home.

typically don't hit driver here.

fairway slopes severely R to L, OB on the left with tall overhanging trees on R and is about 30 yards wide.

Figured that it's win or go home so the "safe play" is out the window and just ripped a beauty down the right that rolled to about 60 yards from the pin. 

Funny thing is I think I caught it a bit high and off the toe but still managed to get great results.

[TylorJudd]

1 hour ago, StrokerAce said:

quick update - posted the story in the how'd you play thread but Paradym still performing well for me, especially under pressure.

first playoff hole in league match - win go to the finals, lose and go home.

typically don't hit driver here.

fairway slopes severely R to L, OB on the left with tall overhanging trees on R and is about 30 yards wide.

Figured that it's win or go home so the "safe play" is out the window and just ripped a beauty down the right that rolled to about 60 yards from the pin. 

Funny thing is I think I caught it a bit high and off the toe but still managed to get great results.

I've generally found that a high face hit on the TD is actually a really good miss, depending on how far in the toe but generally I have zero issues with a high hit

[cksurfdude]

Starting too get a little more confident off the tee .. eg. able to start to swing a little more freely (some of the time!) .. and finally starting to see some of the distance potential in this driver ...

[ole gray]

17 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Starting too get a little more confident off the tee .. eg. able to start to swing a little more freely (some of the time!) .. and finally starting to see some of the distance potential in this driver ...

Are gaming it at standard length meaning whatever Callaway delivered it at?   I always play my drivers at 44.5 and feel confident that I can let the big dawg eat. 

[Swood1994]

2 hours ago, ole gray said:

Are gaming it at standard length meaning whatever Callaway delivered it at?   I always play my drivers at 44.5 and feel confident that I can let the big dawg eat. 

This is going to be something I’ll be hyper focused on with the mizuno test coming up. They ship their drivers standard at 45” while my paradym is standard from Callaway at 45.75”. I’ll be curious if I see much distance loss or how my dispersion is compared to the my gamer.

[ole gray]

12 hours ago, Swood1994 said:

This is going to be something I’ll be hyper focused on with the mizuno test coming up. They ship their drivers standard at 45” while my paradym is standard from Callaway at 45.75”. I’ll be curious if I see much distance loss or how my dispersion is compared to the my gamer.

Yea, keep us posted on how this shakes out for ya.

[StrokerAce]

16 hours ago, ole gray said:

Are gaming it at standard length meaning whatever Callaway delivered it at?   I always play my drivers at 44.5 and feel confident that I can let the big dawg eat. 

I had mine cut down to that length OG. I've always had my drivers shorter than standard and it's helped keep it in play a lot.

[ole gray]

2 hours ago, StrokerAce said:

I had mine cut down to that length OG. I've always had my drivers shorter than standard and it's helped keep it in play a lot.

No doubt in my mind that shorter can be better.  That's not what she said last night however from a control point with a driver it helps me with more center strikes.  I remember back when my brother hooked ole Monroe Davis through the lip with a reg wiggler hanging off his jaw.  If my brother hadn't been using a cane pole longer than a Southern Bell telephone pole, ole Monroe may have been spared a hook in the mouth. 

[cksurfdude]

19 hours ago, ole gray said:

Are gaming it at standard length meaning whatever Callaway delivered it at?   I always play my drivers at 44.5 and feel confident that I can let the big dawg eat. 

The new Paradym is at 45.75" which is way too long for this just under 5' 7" old dude! So mine's -½" at 45.25 ... plus on occasion I'll grip down ¼ or ½ inch on the handle.

[StrokerAce]

in case you're interested - just caught this on the main site: https://mygolfspy.com/news-opinion/first-look/callaway-introduces-paradym-star/

The new Paradym Star driver...

Quote

Despite the new Callaway Paradym Star driver being 31 grams lighter than the Paradym X driver, it still retains the bulk of the technology. It uses the 360-degree carbon chassis that saved so much weight for Callaway’s engineers to move around the head. It features Jailbreak A.I. and a Forged Ti face. It’s also more draw-biased than the Paradym X. And while they have reduced the mass in the head, Callaway claims their engineers have been able to retain a high MOI.

[StrokerAce]

Made one minor adjustment.

I tried the JumboMax STR8 Tech® Non-Tapered JMX Ultralite / X-Small (+3/16").
I was all set to cut it off and get my money back within 30 days but I got to say - THIS IS LEGIT.

For context:
I wear a M/L glove and I purchased the XSmall.
As you can see it fills my hand nicely and doesn't feel extraordinarily large.

I really like the way it takes my wristy/flippy action out of the swing and I feel confident in swinging really hard.

[cksurfdude]

Late Summer update:

Continuing to make some nice improvement hitting the driver .. there are more "good" tee shots happening, including the occasional for-me bomb straight down the middle!

Still pushing/slicing a few out to the right but like yesterday, for example, had 3 of those yet 2 were playable from the rough and didn't really cost me a stroke .. ie. was able to make a second shot to get into a good position (one on a long Par 4 the other a Par 5). The other right miss ended up in a fairway bunker on the adjoining fairway...

...

Said it before but want to reiterate: thank you again MGS and forum mods and fellow testers and also other forum members - focusing in on this one aspect of my game .. that had been so weak before .. during the course of the review really allowed me to make some real progress in my golf game!!

 

[StrokerAce]

Hey all... coming towards the end of our season here in the northeast and wanted to update everyone on the ParaDYM...

There have been some good ones and not so good ones. I've experimented with different grips and settings. It's not a miracle club. 

But, to make sure it's still 'good' I brought my Mavrik out to compare. Since both are Callaway I can swap the heads with the shaft tips being the same. This is helpful because it's more of a 'true' comparison of head to head.

I hit a lot with each and the sweet spot on the Paradym seems so much larger. I don't have a launch monitor so I can't give you exact numbers but misses with the Paradym seem to travel farther than misses with the Mavrik. Now according to the miss this might be a good or bad thing 

Anyhow - from an aesthetic perspective everything is holding up. The sole has a few scratches but not a lot and I may have added some with 'aggressive' cleaning. 
The crown is still great with no sky marks. The face is holding up really well and I like the design a lot. I do clean it on a regular basis but it cleans pretty easily.

The price on these should come down some and if you're in the market for a new stick I would give it a try. Make sure you check out the other 2 heads also.

[StrokerAce]

8 minutes ago, StrokerAce said:

Hey all... coming towards the end of our season here in the northeast and wanted to update everyone on the ParaDYM...

There have been some good ones and not so good ones. I've experimented with different grips and settings. It's not a miracle club. 

But, to make sure it's still 'good' I brought my Mavrik out to compare. Since both are Callaway I can swap the heads with the shaft tips being the same. This is helpful because it's more of a 'true' comparison of head to head.

I hit a lot with each and the sweet spot on the Paradym seems so much larger. I don't have a launch monitor so I can't give you exact numbers but misses with the Paradym seem to travel farther than misses with the Mavrik. Now according to the miss this might be a good or bad thing 

Anyhow - from an aesthetic perspective everything is holding up. The sole has a few scratches but not a lot and I may have added some with 'aggressive' cleaning. 
The crown is still great with no sky marks. The face is holding up really well and I like the design a lot. I do clean it on a regular basis but it cleans pretty easily.

The price on these should come down some and if you're in the market for a new stick I would give it a try. Make sure you check out the other 2 heads also.

...trying to add photos but something wrong with the server right now and getting errors. I'll upload as soon as they fix it.

 

[cksurfdude]

Final update on the X ...

After what turned into a great season with it - ie. after years of struggling with driver, I really started getting off the tee nicely (most of the time ) - with the help of the forgiveness of the X head.

However...

Turns out that despite the flat cog adapter (lowers the lie angle -0.75°) and the settings at +1/N, plus an improving swing after lessons and practice, my misses were predominantly going left .. which is, of course, the exact opposite of where I started the season with a lot of slices right...

So my "assumption" was there's still too much draw bias in the head to match my new swing.

And so I started trying other drivers, including a Mizuno ST-X (with a Fujikura shaft that I found really cheap .. had to grab it! .. and now keep in the practice bag) and the regular Paradym.

First trial at the range it showed promise ... and after a little more testing and changing shafts and tweaking settings - it's now in the gamer bag!!

* Please note: this is -not- a knock on the utility of the X head! 

But rather for me and where my swing has evolved to this season I no longer need as much shot shape correction. Still recommend the X to anyone who struggles of the tee or fights a slice.

[GolfSpy BOS]

8 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Final update on the X ...

After what turned into a great season with it - ie. after years of struggling with driver, I really started getting off the tee nicely (most of the time ) - with the help of the forgiveness of the X head.

However...

Turns out that despite the flat cog adapter (lowers the lie angle -0.75°) and the settings at +1/N, plus an improving swing after lessons and practice, my misses were predominantly going left .. which is, of course, the exact opposite of where I started the season with a lot of slices right...

So my "assumption" was there's still too much draw bias in the head to match my new swing.

And so I started trying other drivers, including a Mizuno ST-X (with a Fujikura shaft that I found really cheap .. had to grab it! .. and now keep in the practice bag) and the regular Paradym.

First trial at the range it showed promise ... and after a little more testing and changing shafts and tweaking settings - it's now in the gamer bag!!

* Please note: this is -not- a knock on the utility of the X head! 

But rather for me and where my swing has evolved to this season I no longer need as much shot shape correction. Still recommend the X to anyone who struggles of the tee or fights a slice.

awesome to hear the progress throughout the year!  Just a thought... -1/N would be the most "fade biased" setting, not +1 on the loft which would, in theory anyway, promote more of a closed clubface.

I think that's how it works anyway.  + is more closed, - is more open, all other things equal.

 

[ZackS]

7 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Final update on the X ...

After what turned into a great season with it - ie. after years of struggling with driver, I really started getting off the tee nicely (most of the time ) - with the help of the forgiveness of the X head.

However...

Turns out that despite the flat cog adapter (lowers the lie angle -0.75°) and the settings at +1/N, plus an improving swing after lessons and practice, my misses were predominantly going left .. which is, of course, the exact opposite of where I started the season with a lot of slices right...

So my "assumption" was there's still too much draw bias in the head to match my new swing.

And so I started trying other drivers, including a Mizuno ST-X (with a Fujikura shaft that I found really cheap .. had to grab it! .. and now keep in the practice bag) and the regular Paradym.

First trial at the range it showed promise ... and after a little more testing and changing shafts and tweaking settings - it's now in the gamer bag!!

* Please note: this is -not- a knock on the utility of the X head! 

But rather for me and where my swing has evolved to this season I no longer need as much shot shape correction. Still recommend the X to anyone who struggles of the tee or fights a slice.

Do you know where your launch and spin is currently with the X? If not to low you might try going to stated loft or even -1 as it will open the face compared to the +1. 

[ZackS]

23 minutes ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

awesome to hear the progress throughout the year!  Just a thought... -1/N would be the most "fade biased" setting, not +1 on the loft which would, in theory anyway, promote more of a closed clubface.

I think that's how it works anyway.  + is more closed, - is more open, all other things equal.

 

haha, guess we both were typing similar things at the same time. 

[Duffer60]

Hey Gang. Welcome to "Testworld". Hope you enjoy the testing. It is a load of fun. The reps from Callaway should give you very goid feedback on your feedback. Tom and Scott are very good and fun to work with.

[TylorJudd]

2 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

Final update on the X ...

After what turned into a great season with it - ie. after years of struggling with driver, I really started getting off the tee nicely (most of the time ) - with the help of the forgiveness of the X head.

However...

Turns out that despite the flat cog adapter (lowers the lie angle -0.75°) and the settings at +1/N, plus an improving swing after lessons and practice, my misses were predominantly going left .. which is, of course, the exact opposite of where I started the season with a lot of slices right...

So my "assumption" was there's still too much draw bias in the head to match my new swing.

And so I started trying other drivers, including a Mizuno ST-X (with a Fujikura shaft that I found really cheap .. had to grab it! .. and now keep in the practice bag) and the regular Paradym.

First trial at the range it showed promise ... and after a little more testing and changing shafts and tweaking settings - it's now in the gamer bag!!

* Please note: this is -not- a knock on the utility of the X head! 

But rather for me and where my swing has evolved to this season I no longer need as much shot shape correction. Still recommend the X to anyone who struggles of the tee or fights a slice.

Despite the claims of the triple diamond, it is a very right biased head, and a ton more forgiving than claimed. I have found very large carries on right misses, even near the crown where your photos show. I'm not sure if there is a chance to swap and try but I would give that a go. The TD is a really awesome driver

[GolfSpy_APH]

2 minutes ago, TylorJudd said:

Despite the claims of the triple diamond, it is a very right biased head, and a ton more forgiving than claimed. I have found very large carries on right misses, even near the crown where your photos show. I'm not sure if there is a chance to swap and try but I would give that a go. The TD is a really awesome driver

I can without question agree with the TD being a lot more forgiving then I had originally thought.

Can't wait to get the new shaft and then get it really dialed in!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

14 minutes ago, TylorJudd said:

Despite the claims of the triple diamond, it is a very right biased head, and a ton more forgiving than claimed. I have found very large carries on right misses, even near the crown where your photos show. I'm not sure if there is a chance to swap and try but I would give that a go. The TD is a really awesome driver

 

11 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I can without question agree with the TD being a lot more forgiving then I had originally thought.

Can't wait to get the new shaft and then get it really dialed in!

These comments are reigniting my desire to bag a Paradym, even though my Aerojet Max AND TSi3 are both very good performers

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

7 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

 

These comments are reigniting my desire to bag a Paradym, even though my Aerojet Max AND TSi3 are both very good performers

*my driver is fine, my driver is fine, my driver is fine*