Callaway Paradym Drivers - 2023 Forum Review

[StrokerAce]

quick update - after multiple rounds of errant driving I've come to the tough conclusion that the Paradym and I just aren't a match. It's a great driver when you tag it but I just couldn't get consistent enough with it to be confident when stepping up on the tee box.

I've passed along the driver with a bonus shaft to @GolfSpy BOS who has plans for moving it along to @GolfSpy SAM for a mini test. 

I enjoyed the test and if you're also testing equipment it's okay to admit that it may not suit you and your game. #PlayWhatWorks

Cheers!

[TylorJudd]

4 minutes ago, StrokerAce said:

quick update - after multiple rounds of errant driving I've come to the tough conclusion that the Paradym and I just aren't a match. It's a great driver when you tag it but I just couldn't get consistent enough with it to be confident when stepping up on the tee box.

I've passed along the driver with a bonus shaft to @GolfSpy BOS who has plans for moving it along to @GolfSpy SAM for a mini test. 

I enjoyed the test and if you're also testing equipment it's okay to admit that it may not suit you and your game. #PlayWhatWorks

Cheers!

That’s a hard decision to make but applaud you for it. I hope you find a great fit!

[Irish-Assassin]

Very honest of you to say this. I’ve said it many times to friends, all heads on drivers are amazing due to tech. 
But the most important thing’s for myself are, grip composition and size, shaft flex, weight, length and does it give you confidence every time you hit it. 
If you get these three things right you’ve hit the jackpot, but that’s the journey, the Excalibur and Holy Grail. 

[GolfSpy BOS]

11 minutes ago, StrokerAce said:

quick update - after multiple rounds of errant driving I've come to the tough conclusion that the Paradym and I just aren't a match. It's a great driver when you tag it but I just couldn't get consistent enough with it to be confident when stepping up on the tee box.

I've passed along the driver with a bonus shaft to @GolfSpy BOS who has plans for moving it along to @GolfSpy SAM for a mini test. 

I enjoyed the test and if you're also testing equipment it's okay to admit that it may not suit you and your game. #PlayWhatWorks

Cheers!

I had it long enough to give it a good workout on the Rapsodo, and while it was cold and I was slow, I know enough that it's good I passed it along to @GolfSpy SAM before getting too attached... its clearly a significant upgrade in terms of sound and feel over the epic max LS, even if it pains me to say that! 

[ejgaudette]

7 minutes ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

I had it long enough to give it a good workout on the Rapsodo, and while it was cold and I was slow, I know enough that it's good I passed it along to @GolfSpy SAM before getting too attached... its clearly a significant upgrade in terms of sound and feel over the epic max LS, even if it pains me to say that! 

Don't say things like that last thing I need is a new driver

[GolfSpy BOS]

4 minutes ago, ejgaudette said:

Don't say things like that last thing I need is a new driver

sorry man.... but the unforgiving sound box known as "my garage" tends to amplify those sound differences and makes it very clear that the Paradym is much more muted sounding. 

[ejgaudette]

3 minutes ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

sorry man.... but the unforgiving sound box known as "my garage" tends to amplify those sound differences and makes it very clear that the Paradym is much more muted sounding. 

I bet, the Epic Max L S can get a bit loud, good thing you have not hit a G425 in there.

[GolfSpy BOS]

Just now, ejgaudette said:

I bet, the Epic Max L S can get a bit loud, good thing you have not hit a G425 in there.

yeah my wife already says I don't listen to her... 

 

But I blame that on my 2 years with a Cleveland Hi-bore XLS.

[GolfSpy SAM]

So, first of all, apologies for not having posted here yet - it's been a rough week and I haven't even had time to swing the driver yet.  It arrived on Monday, I've had a nasty cold, we got hit with a wind storm (no joke), and I'm still fighting this GD cough.  

That being said, I'm VERY curious to see how this performs.  I've been hitting my PXG (gen 5 XF) REALLY well the last month or so, so the Paradym has its work cut out for it.  I'm super curious how the XStiff shafts (one about 1.5" shorter than the other, which is interesting) will perform, considering I've always been in a Stiff shaft in all my fittings.  If neither of the stiff shafts work, I'm going to find an Oban Devotion (what I have in my PXG and love, and what I was fitted into in a fitting last January) on Ebay with the Cally tip to really make it an apples-to-apples comparison.  

Really excited to put this thing through its paces, especially with a buddies trip to Palm Springs planned for the first week of January - perfect timing!

Big thanks to @StrokerAce for passing this along, and to @GolfSpy BOS for getting it out to me (relatively) unharmed.  I can still see the sky marks you put on it, Bryan. 

[GolfSpy BOS]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

So, first of all, apologies for not having posted here yet - it's been a rough week and I haven't even had time to swing the driver yet.  It arrived on Monday, I've had a nasty cold, we got hit with a wind storm (no joke), and I'm still fighting this GD cough.  

That being said, I'm VERY curious to see how this performs.  I've been hitting my PXG (gen 5 XF) REALLY well the last month or so, so the Paradym has its work cut out for it.  I'm super curious how the XStiff shafts (one about 1.5" shorter than the other, which is interesting) will perform, considering I've always been in a Stiff shaft in all my fittings.  If neither of the stiff shafts work, I'm going to find an Oban Devotion (what I have in my PXG and love, and what I was fitted into in a fitting last January) on Ebay with the Cally tip to really make it an apples-to-apples comparison.  

Really excited to put this thing through its paces, especially with a buddies trip to Palm Springs planned for the first week of January - perfect timing!

Big thanks to @StrokerAce for passing this along, and to @GolfSpy BOS for getting it out to me (relatively) unharmed.  I can still see the sky marks you put on it, Bryan. 

Rude! Haha no sky marks from me. There would be evidence in my garage ceiling if that was the case. And if that was the case I’d be in strict probation from my better half. 

[Javs]

2 hours ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

yeah my wife already says I don't listen to her... 

 

But I blame that on my 2 years with a Cleveland Hi-bore XLS.

Does anyone listen to their wife when it comes to golf? Asking for a friend….

[TylorJudd]

1 hour ago, Javs said:

Does anyone listen to their wife when it comes to golf? Asking for a friend….

Mine found out she needs to ask me questions on the course and now joins me!!! Even went our first simi session together hahahaha

[GolfSpy SAM]

Just swung it into the net for the first time, alongside my PXG.  Man - even though the shaft is heavier (70 vs 65(? or 60?)) and stiffer (x vs. stiff), this thing swings really, really smooth.  Sound is fantastic - slightly duller and more muted than the PXG (I quite like the sound of the PXG, to be fair).  Average swing speed was about 2mph slower than the PXG, but since it was into a net and the PRGR was giving some slightly odd numbers (clocked one at 113, and another over 120, so...unlikely, lol), I'll wait until I can get it out on a range/course to determine if there's ACTUALLY any difference. 

I tried the shorter shaft first, since that's what was installed when it arrived, but it was like swinging a 3 wood (it was kind of hilarious how quickly I noticed the difference when addressing a ball), and the swing speed was about 6mph less.  I'll still definitely be trying it out to see if it's a fairway finder, which could be super useful on a few of the courses I play regularly, but as an everyday thing, I'll be going with the standard length shaft for sure. 

Given the heavier and stiffer shaft, I was pretty surprised at how easy it was to move.  My top speed with the Oban/PXG combo was 103, and with the Paradym was 100.  

Really excited to see this thing in action - I'm playing Monday, so I'll have it with me, and plan on doing a pretty extensive warm up before the round with it to see how it feels.  If my playing partners are game, I may try and hit "best ball" drives on a few holes to get some actual distances.

Overall, though, for swinging in pretty heavy winds (the net almost fell over multiple times), this thing feels pretty spectacular.

More to come

[Josh Parker]

4 minutes ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

Just swung it into the net for the first time, alongside my PXG.  Man - even though the shaft is heavier (70 vs 65(? or 60?)) and stiffer (x vs. stiff), this thing swings really, really smooth.  Sound is fantastic - slightly duller and more muted than the PXG (I quite like the sound of the PXG, to be fair).  Average swing speed was about 2mph slower than the PXG, but since it was into a net and the PRGR was giving some slightly odd numbers (clocked one at 113, and another over 120, so...unlikely, lol), I'll wait until I can get it out on a range/course to determine if there's ACTUALLY any difference. 

I tried the shorter shaft first, since that's what was installed when it arrived, but it was like swinging a 3 wood (it was kind of hilarious how quickly I noticed the difference when addressing a ball), and the swing speed was about 6mph less.  I'll still definitely be trying it out to see if it's a fairway finder, which could be super useful on a few of the courses I play regularly, but as an everyday thing, I'll be going with the standard length shaft for sure. 

Given the heavier and stiffer shaft, I was pretty surprised at how easy it was to move.  My top speed with the Oban/PXG combo was 103, and with the Paradym was 100.  

Really excited to see this thing in action - I'm playing Monday, so I'll have it with me, and plan on doing a pretty extensive warm up before the round with it to see how it feels.  If my playing partners are game, I may try and hit "best ball" drives on a few holes to get some actual distances.

Overall, though, for swinging in pretty heavy winds (the net almost fell over multiple times), this thing feels pretty spectacular.

More to come

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.  I just switched to the Paradym from PXG gen5

[GolfSpy SAM]

Just now, jdparker said:

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.  I just switched to the Paradym from PXG gen5

Similar shaft or did you go with something else?  This is my first time swinging an x-stiff (on purpose, anyway: had the Hzrds Smoke in stiff that swung at 2x stiff, and HATED it), so I'm curious what it will look like on-course.  Really, really getting along well with the Oban I have in the PXG, so may end up looking for one on EBay to fully flesh out the comparison. But man I like the shape of the Paradym at address - surprising to me, because I don't normally LOVE a more triangular head, but something about this just looks like I can wail on it.  

[Josh Parker]

4 minutes ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

Similar shaft or did you go with something else?  This is my first time swinging an x-stiff (on purpose, anyway: had the Hzrds Smoke in stiff that swung at 2x stiff, and HATED it), so I'm curious what it will look like on-course.  Really, really getting along well with the Oban I have in the PXG, so may end up looking for one on EBay to fully flesh out the comparison. But man I like the shape of the Paradym at address - surprising to me, because I don't normally LOVE a more triangular head, but something about this just looks like I can wail on it.  

So, I found a too good to pass deal with a guy that had a staff model Paradym with Ventus Black Velocore 6x and traded in the PXG and a couple hundred on top.  I don't know if I like the 6x and have been looking at shafts to try out.

I had the HZDRUS Black 60 in stiff and it worked pretty well but I also have a love/hate relationship with driver as it is.  I have been having issues really releasing the club and I can kill a drive or slice it.

[TylorJudd]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

Similar shaft or did you go with something else?  This is my first time swinging an x-stiff (on purpose, anyway: had the Hzrds Smoke in stiff that swung at 2x stiff, and HATED it), so I'm curious what it will look like on-course.  Really, really getting along well with the Oban I have in the PXG, so may end up looking for one on EBay to fully flesh out the comparison. But man I like the shape of the Paradym at address - surprising to me, because I don't normally LOVE a more triangular head, but something about this just looks like I can wail on it.  

I had the HZRDUS smoke black in my paradym when I first got it, and it was a match made in heaven. That shaft broke and it was replaced by Callaway with a HZRDUS Black Gen 4 and it hasn’t been the same since. Not as much feel in this shaft to me

[Javs]

13 minutes ago, TylorJudd said:

I had the HZRDUS smoke black in my paradym when I first got it, and it was a match made in heaven. That shaft broke and it was replaced by Callaway with a HZRDUS Black Gen 4 and it hasn’t been the same since. Not as much feel in this shaft to me

Time to get that HZRDUS Smoke Black from the local golf shop! Most the companies no longer offer the HZRDUS Smoke Yellow counter balanced shaft. I love that shaft. Well fortunately my local golf shop has them and can place any adapter on them. So, I get the stock shaft and then change it out locally. 

[GolfSpy SAM]

Apparently the Black that I had in my Cobra was stock from 2019/2020, and from what I've heard, it was a VERY different profile than the newest generation. "Boardy" is how I've heard it described, which tracks with what I experienced - it was almost impossible to feel the head load, which is what led me to the Otto Phlex experiment. The Oban I've got now (Devotion 6 TR) is the best of both worlds for me. Super stable, I can still feel the head load, and just feels awesome. 

Definitely open to being surprised by the Aldila X-stiff, though

[Shrek74]

1 hour ago, Javs said:

Time to get that HZRDUS Smoke Black from the local golf shop! Most the companies no longer offer the HZRDUS Smoke Yellow counter balanced shaft. I love that shaft. Well fortunately my local golf shop has them and can place any adapter on them. So, I get the stock shaft and then change it out locally. 

Tons of these on eBay, both uncut and with adapters on them. I got one there for a Rogue ST Max LS head that had the optifit adapter already on.

There were HZRDUS Smoke Black shafts too. New or already cut with adapters.

[Javs]

1 minute ago, Shrek74 said:

Tons of these on eBay, both uncut and with adapters on them. I got one there for a Rogue ST Max LS head that had the optifit adapter already on.

There were HZRDUS Smoke Black shafts too. New or already cut with adapters.

Yes they are out there. I like the local shop because they are fair and do great work. Plus I can drive 15 mins and have the shaft and I know what I am getting. 

[Shrek74]

3 minutes ago, Javs said:

Yes they are out there. I like the local shop because they are fair and do great work. Plus I can drive 15 mins and have the shaft and I know what I am getting. 

Totally understand. I’ve purchased many shafts and clubs on eBay, as well as sold many. I stick to actual golf shops with 10,000’s of sales and over 99% positive ratings. Never been disappointed to date. But everyone does their thing for their reasons. If your place doesn’t overcharge and does high quality work, consider yourself lucky. Sadly, that’s rare these days.

[Javs]

4 minutes ago, Javs said:

Yes they are out there. I like the local shop because they are fair and do great work. Plus I can drive 15 mins and have the shaft and I know what I am getting. 

I forgot to add that I am loyal to this shop because they are extremely honest. I went for a putter fitting and he told me I didn’t need a new putter. My current putter (at the time) was not the lie I thought. He bent it for me and I started making putts. Instead of paying 250 us for a putter I paid 10 dollars and he didn’t even charge me for the fitting. Now they always have my business!

1 minute ago, Shrek74 said:

Totally understand. I’ve purchased many shafts and clubs on eBay, as well as sold many. I stick to actual golf shops with 10,000’s of sales and over 99% positive ratings. Never been disappointed to date. But everyone does their thing for their reasons. If your place doesn’t overcharge and does high quality work, consider yourself lucky. Sadly, that’s rare these days.

Agree with you!

[Shrek74]

13 minutes ago, Javs said:

I forgot to add that I am loyal to this shop because they are extremely honest. I went for a putter fitting and he told me I didn’t need a new putter. My current putter (at the time) was not the lie I thought. He bent it for me and I started making putts. Instead of paying 250 us for a putter I paid 10 dollars and he didn’t even charge me for the fitting. Now they always have my business!

Agree with you!

Love that. Need more shops/people like that!

[TylorJudd]

1 hour ago, Javs said:

Time to get that HZRDUS Smoke Black from the local golf shop! Most the companies no longer offer the HZRDUS Smoke Yellow counter balanced shaft. I love that shaft. Well fortunately my local golf shop has them and can place any adapter on them. So, I get the stock shaft and then change it out locally. 

I should maybe get 2 lol, honestly never thought about eBay. Only place around me that had them was golf town but A) I hate golf town and B) they charge an absolute fortune for them. I bought a velocore Ventus black with grip and tip for my stealth 2 3w for less than golf town charged for the HZRDUS smoke black shaft alone. I’m searching now

[Javs]

Just now, TylorJudd said:

I should maybe get 2 lol, honestly never thought about eBay. Only place around me that had them was golf town but A) I hate golf town and B) they charge an absolute fortune for them. I bought a velocore Ventus black with grip and tip for my stealth 2 3w for less than golf town charged for the HZRDUS smoke black shaft alone. I’m searching now

Yea my local shop gave me the shaft, cut down a 1/4 inch like I like and the adapter and Golf Pride MCC grip for 76 dollars. I was good with that.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Hoping to get to the range today. Miss golfing and really want to get some more numbers on the TD. Performs great on course so far!

[cksurfdude]

18 hours ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

the Otto Phlex experiment

Ya mon!!

For an older, scrawny slow swinging kinda guy that was very literally a game changer for me.

 

[GolfSpy SAM]

Alright, so here's my latest update

  Took the driver to the range yesterday with my little man (we usually "split" a bucket, meaning I give him about 20 balls and he hits them as fast as he can and then says "I'm all done - can we putt now?" and then I have to answer that for the next 40 balls I'm hitting ), and after a good warmup, hit my driver (again, for those just catching up, a PXG XF Gen 5 with an Oban Devotion 6 04 (stiff) shaft) and then the Paradym back to back, with some irons in between so I wasn't just bashing drivers.

  I'm not sure how I missed this the first time, but the 'longer' shaft choice I was given is (eyeballing) about 1.5" shorter than my Oban.  I didn't notice it at home, and I'll measure it officially later today, but it was VERY apparent on the range as I was standing significantly closer than with mine.  

  I'm not sure that's a deal breaker in and of itself, to be honest, as I've heard a lot about the advantages of hitting a shorter shafted driver (often leading to more solid contact, more center-faced hits, etc.), but for me, it was almost impossible to get what I would consider a quality strike.  Hit it thin, hit it high on the face, directly out of the tow, off the heel, etc.  I just couldn't seem to hit the center of the face. 

  Towards the end of the session, I stopped *trying* to swing it the same as my PXG, and did manage a few that felt solid, but the distance loss was HUGELY apparent.  

  So.  I came home, and was reminded of the all-fit adapter by @GolfSpy_BNG, and after a brief q&a session, I found one on Amazon that should be here either today or tomorrow, along with a heat gun.

  I'll be able to remove the PXG adapter from my (beloved) Oban, slap on the all-fit, and then I'll be able to (relatively easily) swap out the PXG head for the Paradym head to truly give an apples-to-apples comparison of the heads.  This is a MUCH more economical ($65 all in) choice than trying to find a similarly-spec'd Oban shaft on Ebay (was looking at $150 including shipping), and not only that, but I'll be able to pretty effectively test any head in the upcoming years without having to worry too much about shaft options, which is awesome.  

  I'm even planning on throwing my Cobra Speedzone head into the mix, as I always LOVED the look of that head at address, but the Hzrdus Smoke shaft was just too stiff for my taste.

  Anyway, if it comes today (please oh please!), I'll be attempting to swap it out tonight so that it cures in time for tomorrow's round, and then that way I'll be able to get some compare/contrast on the range before the round, which is awesome.  I may even just game the Paradym for the round tomorrow to see how it acts on course.  

  So that's it for now, and I'll update when I have some more info!

[GolfSpy SAM]

Okay! So I was able to heat up the PXG adapter on the Oban and pull it cleanly (after a surprising amount of heat to get it off), and after a little prep (sanding off epoxy and and drilling out the epoxy that had hardened inside), I was able to get the All-Fit adapter on and it's curing right now. I've got a round set for Friday - planning on gaming the Paradym to see how it feels on-course. 

I'll probably hit into the net tomorrow to see if there's a marked difference in feel between the PXG and Paradym, and I'll most likely hit both at the range pre-round on Friday. 

Excited to see what this thing can do - especially as I've had some AWESOME drives with the PXG last few rounds.