Callaway Ai-Smoke Drivers: 2024 Forum Review

[EasyPutter]

Following the release of the review, I kept playing the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D driver and results have been mixed owing to the end of the club where the golfer holds it.  One of my conditions for it displacing my former driver was hitting consistently longer than my fairway hybrid. 

At the end of the testing, I knew I was doing something different because at the beginning of the testing period I was hitting driver farther than I had hit before, and that was off a simulator mat and tee.  A great deal of my problems with golf happen from trying to do something instead of just relaxing and doing the well practiced routine that INCLUDES the swing and ball contact.  The mental intensity of paying attention to every Smoke detail, and every Smoke result actually interfered with the testing because it prevented me from making consistent swings to quantitatively as well as qualitatively assess the Smoke and Mirrors driver.

At the range on Wednesday's PGA HOPE night, when there was an open bay because of lower numbers of participating Veterans present, I teed up the range balls and started paying close attention to what I was doing and realized I was not keeping left arm straight and when I concentrated on ensuring I keep the left leading arm straight suddenly my drive from last year began to emerge once again, straighter and longer ball flight.

So that's an update on where things stand - consideration for taking the Smoke and Mirrors driver out of the bag is greatly exaggerated and the focus again returns to the golfer. 

[EasyPutter]

16 hours ago, EasyPutter said:

At the range on Wednesday's PGA HOPE night, when there was an open bay because of lower numbers of participating Veterans present, I teed up the range balls and started paying close attention to what I was doing and realized I was not keeping left arm straight and when I concentrated on ensuring I keep the left leading arm straight suddenly my drive from last year began to emerge once again, straighter and longer ball flight.

And today I came across this video that presents a slightly different take on how to set up with the driver and it's effect on how the ball flies.  Something new to try that actually doesn't suggest changing anything else about the swing, just setup ball position and concept of where the actual arc of the swing is for each shot.

Another clue 

Edited July 5 by EasyPutter

[TylorJudd]

On 7/4/2024 at 10:05 PM, EasyPutter said:

Following the release of the review, I kept playing the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D driver and results have been mixed owing to the end of the club where the golfer holds it.  One of my conditions for it displacing my former driver was hitting consistently longer than my fairway hybrid. 

At the end of the testing, I knew I was doing something different because at the beginning of the testing period I was hitting driver farther than I had hit before, and that was off a simulator mat and tee.  A great deal of my problems with golf happen from trying to do something instead of just relaxing and doing the well practiced routine that INCLUDES the swing and ball contact.  The mental intensity of paying attention to every Smoke detail, and every Smoke result actually interfered with the testing because it prevented me from making consistent swings to quantitatively as well as qualitatively assess the Smoke and Mirrors driver.

At the range on Wednesday's PGA HOPE night, when there was an open bay because of lower numbers of participating Veterans present, I teed up the range balls and started paying close attention to what I was doing and realized I was not keeping left arm straight and when I concentrated on ensuring I keep the left leading arm straight suddenly my drive from last year began to emerge once again, straighter and longer ball flight.

So that's an update on where things stand - consideration for taking the Smoke and Mirrors driver out of the bag is greatly exaggerated and the focus again returns to the golfer. 

I’m in the same boat now too, ball flight has changed itself and I’ve gotten too intimate to find out why. I’ve actually pulled it out until I can see what’s going on. Still solid contact, and very solid distance but it’s accuracy has diminished enough that it needs to be very strategically used when it can be

[Berg Ryman]

Played Friday, shot an 80 making no putts and with two lost balls. The smoke continues to rule and for me continues to be a real weapon.

[RickM71]

I played today and drove very well.  That was about the only thing good I can say about today.  Oh - and the weather was nice.

Aside from one drive that I pulled into water (tightest hole on the course), every other drive was long and in play.  I wasn't hitting any approach shots clean, which was extra disappointing after such good drives.  I was in a lot of sand and did a lot of greenside chipping - poorly.  I think I had only one up and down, and I only made 1 out of 7 putts between 3-6 feet.  While I've never been a great putter, this was particularly bad.  

Edited July 8 by RickM71

[HikingMike]

On 7/5/2024 at 12:31 PM, EasyPutter said:

And today I came across this video that presents a slightly different take on how to set up with the driver and it's effect on how the ball flies.  Something new to try that actually doesn't suggest changing anything else about the swing, just setup ball position and concept of where the actual arc of the swing is for each shot.

Another clue 

Good video, thanks. It's another piece of the puzzle there. I hadn't been considering ball position relative to lead shoulder much.

[Berg Ryman]

Another round on the weekend, another good day of driving.

Rolled out and anded an 81 from the tips at the home course. Again, not a great day of putting and my scrambling game was off as well. I think that's just from the lack of consistency in play.

Smoke was great thought, the pull cut was rolling and we're hitting some bombs at times. I'm still continually impressed.

In talking to some folks about next steps in bag development, the Smoke is locked in for the future. No complaints, no concerns... Unless a purple haze variant shows up.

Edited July 14 by Berg Ryman

[TylorJudd]

Sooo, the AI smoke is too long for Cabot Cliffs. It’s just not a course, well links in general, don’t suit well for this driver. Tried playing a short, 6100yds, course but very tight parks layout. The driver just isn’t made for courses like that either, coupled with I’m not a +3 handicap to keep it on a rope each and everytime. It is long enough to get into real trouble and am starting to find it is a serious weapon to be treated as such on a serious course management approach. The “smoke” is the aftermath of the fire it can create in your round from time to time

[HikingMike]

3 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

Tried playing a short, 6100yds, course but very tight parks layout. The driver just isn’t made for courses like that either, coupled with I’m not a +3 handicap to keep it on a rope each and everytime. It is long enough to get into real trouble

As someone that hits fairly long, but sprays way more than a 3 handicap, I know the feeling! Live by the sword, die by the sword, and sometimes the sword stays in the scabbard for a few holes.

[JAYER38]

Got back from vacation yesterday and decided to jump on the sim as I was rather stiff from the 13hr ride home...

Have been trying to adjust my swing for a effortless power as I feel I'm way to tense/stiff and its causing me to become tired by the end of a round in the summer.

Still the AI Smoke MAX D is crazy consistent and has very responsive feedback. It tells me everything I want to know by feel which my PING G425 did not do and if I pay attention enough the sound is a dead giveaway on strike location. Thud on the heel, crisp center, and higher pitched toe side. 

[JAYER38]

Wanted to update this with some more testing I decided to do

Ended up buying a new shaft for the Ai Smoke MAX D... Still a Mitsubishi TENSEI AV Blue 65 but Regular flex vs Stiff flex. Hoping the R flex would help with timing, giving me that millisecond more to square the face up.  

Results ended up being not a major difference but I can feel the regular flex shaft load a little more on the start of the down swing which is a feeling I enjoy without it being to whippy or springy messing with my dispersion (that's bad enough haha). I more or less hit straighter or a smaller fade with the R flex now after getting use to the way it loads/feels.

Changing between the 2 flex is noticeable in feel and well struck shot dispersion/data but it is not "game changing" just fine tuning. 

[TylorJudd]

52 minutes ago, JAYER38 said:

Wanted to update this with some more testing I decided to do

Ended up buying a new shaft for the Ai Smoke MAX D... Still a Mitsubishi TENSEI AV Blue 65 but Regular flex vs Stiff flex. Hoping the R flex would help with timing, giving me that millisecond more to square the face up.  

Results ended up being not a major difference but I can feel the regular flex shaft load a little more on the start of the down swing which is a feeling I enjoy without it being to whippy or springy messing with my dispersion (that's bad enough haha). I more or less hit straighter or a smaller fade with the R flex now after getting use to the way it loads/feels.

Changing between the 2 flex is noticeable in feel and well struck shot dispersion/data but it is not "game changing" just fine tuning. 

Funny enough I’m starting some shaft testing too, and found the Tensei to be tough to load with timing also!!

[JAYER38]

43 minutes ago, TylorJudd said:

Funny enough I’m starting some shaft testing too, and found the Tensei to be tough to load with timing also!!

I really like the way it feels stability wise but think we both agree the loading with timing is tough. See how it works out  in a few rounds before I go in and try other shafts at a store. For the sake of keeping up with this test I want to stay with stock shafts

[RickM71]

3 hours ago, JAYER38 said:

I really like the way it feels stability wise but think we both agree the loading with timing is tough. See how it works out  in a few rounds before I go in and try other shafts at a store. For the sake of keeping up with this test I want to stay with stock shafts

I don't have a ton of experience trying different shafts, but I've been happy with the stock stiff Denali black shaft. I think it is similar to a hzrdus but with a softer butt section. I have a slightly quick tempo and my course swing speed is probably around 100ish. It does not have any particular satisfying "kick" feel, but also is not overly boardy. 

I played a 6 hole scramble / lesson with friends on Wednesday and I continue to have driving as the strongest part of my game. 

[Berg Ryman]

I guess I'll jump in here to say I have played a couple of rounds with Left Dash... I think I have the ball issue solved. This combo is a bomb 

[JAYER38]

SOOO The Ai Smoke MAX D is still in play here! After working hard on my swing the last few weeks & trying different settings shafts we fall on a Mitsubishi Tensei AV 65 R with the same head settings D/+1...  The new swing is tiring so about hole 15 I struggled and from a feeling point it probably looks odd but it works and creates consistent distance/dispersion. When I missed a fairway it was just off into the first cut. Finally feel like I'm allowing the club to work again!

 

[Berg Ryman]

On 8/2/2024 at 2:33 PM, Berg Ryman said:

I guess I'll jump in here to say I have played a couple of rounds with Left Dash... I think I have the ball issue solved. This combo is a bomb 

Bar Association scramble yesterday, felt really good about something, figured I'd share. SMOKE BOMB

[sirchunksalot]

3 hours ago, Berg Ryman said:

Bar Association scramble yesterday, felt really good about something, figured I'd share. SMOKE BOMB

That's awesome Ryan! I see you had a #back9bomb. 

[Berg Ryman]

3 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

That's awesome Ryan! I see you had a #back9bomb. 

Hell yeah. We shot 3 under on that back side and I don't want to say it was mostly me... But it kinda was mostly me

[EasyPutter]

It's back in the bag and back better than before.  As expected it was me all along and not the club.

9 days ago got a spot on my driver by PGA Teaching Pro and Glen Oak GC owner Tim Fries who got me swinging the baseball bat swing, slowly transferred to an angle off horizontal plane, adjusted my set-up and put the ball on a higher tee than I think I ever used (felt like T-ball but nothing of that height lol) and voila, a long drive on the last hole of the tournament we were playing together in our foursome.  

All the others in the foursome were PGA Pros and one was last year's WNY PGA Professional Champion of the Year (and #2 this year) and it took them 17 holes to ask me why I was not using my driver... hahaha the respect going both ways in the Section for Veterans and Pros is really awesome and they had not wanted to ask until that point.   I told them it was in time-out, or maybe it was me in time-out as the draw bias of the club face wasn't stopping my slight to strong fade.

Today's practice round was just put the ball on the tall tee, relax and swing.  3 drives today captured with SwingU app club tracking were better than anything during testing:
1st tee - 158 yards = wide right and no surprise pretty much why it's/I'm in driver time-out.
2nd tee - 169 yards = fairway and hello.
3rd tee - 154 yards = got underneath it and not too far right.
5th tee - 116 yards = into the wind and provisional with first lost off tree into the lake.
6th tee - 227 yards = newest longest shot (tracked average of 150 yards).
8th tee - 193 yards = slightly left but straight.
9th tee - 177 yards = longest hit on the 9th hole ever.

The last 3 tracked shots were the longest since the beginning of testing earlier in 2024.  Which leads me to believe that "intention" and "result" are linked with this and every club.  This was part of an actual conversation I had with Ryan when we shared a cart on The River Course on Saturday at Kingsmill almost 89 days ago today.  My recognition of this is at this point there is no "testing" going on so I am perceiving no pressure to perform and just swinging to make contact.  The correct term for the play today is, wow does it make contact.

I've recognized my driver is a good performer and it's back to having its place in my golf bag.  @TylorJudd hope you have found the same thing now the pressure is off from what you had said before top of this page!

Edited August 27 by EasyPutter
corrected error

[TylorJudd]

3 hours ago, EasyPutter said:

It's back in the bag and back better than before.  As expected it was me all along and not the club.

9 days ago got a spot on my driver by PGA Teaching Pro and Glen Oak GC owner Tim Fries who got me swinging the baseball bat swing, slowly transferred to an angle off horizontal plane, adjusted my set-up and put the ball on a higher tee than I think I ever used (felt like T-ball but nothing of that height lol) and voila, a long drive on the last hole of the tournament we were playing together in our foursome.  

All the others in the foursome were PGA Pros and one was last year's WNY PGA Professional Champion of the Year (and #2 this year) and it took them 17 holes to ask me why I was not using my driver... hahaha the respect going both ways in the Section for Veterans and Pros is really awesome and they had not wanted to ask until that point.   I told them it was in time-out, or maybe it was me in time-out as the draw bias of the club face wasn't stopping my slight to strong fade.

Today's practice round was just put the ball on the tall tee, relax and swing.  3 drives today captured with SwingU app club tracking were better than anything during testing:
1st tee - 158 yards = wide right and no surprise pretty much why it's/I'm in driver time-out.
2nd tee - 169 yards = fairway and hello.
3rd tee - 154 yards = got underneath it and not too far right.
5th tee - 116 yards = into the wind and provisional with first lost off tree into the lake.
6th tee - 227 yards = newest longest shot (tracked average of 150 yards).
8th tee - 193 yards = slightly left but straight.
9th tee - 177 yards = longest hit on the 9th hole ever.

The last 3 tracked shots were the longest since the beginning of testing earlier in 2024.  Which leads me to believe that "intention" and "result" are linked with this and every club.  This was part of an actual conversation I had with Ryan when we shared a cart on The River Course on Saturday at Kingsmill almost 89 days ago today.  My recognition of this is at this point there is no "testing" going on so I am perceiving no pressure to perform and just swinging to make contact.  The correct term for the play today is, wow does it make contact.

I've recognized my driver is a good performer and it's back to having its place in my golf bag.  @TylorJudd hope you have found the same thing now the pressure is off from what you had said before top of this page!

It’s still an experiment now. Maybe it’s the temperature of the summer and the materials or my body but I have my Paradym Triple Diamond back in the bag and they’re competing for viability. The tour AD-MJ 6x is a perfect fit for the Paradym but not quite what the AI Smoke is looking for. Still doing lots of tinkering to find out why and what the AI smoke needs to get some more out of it in terms of accuracy. Getting it to turn over is the biggest struggle. They really did create a right bias monster 

[JAYER38]

6 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

It’s still an experiment now. Maybe it’s the temperature of the summer and the materials or my body but I have my Paradym Triple Diamond back in the bag and they’re competing for viability. The tour AD-MJ 6x is a perfect fit for the Paradym but not quite what the AI Smoke is looking for. Still doing lots of tinkering to find out why and what the AI smoke needs to get some more out of it in terms of accuracy. Getting it to turn over is the biggest struggle. They really did create a right bias monster 

@TylorJudd I think we did some back and forth with mentioning I was looking for a new shaft and tinkering some with my Ai Smoke MAX D. I was struggling a good bit with it a few months after results let loose here. Basically ended up sticking with what I had just down 1 flex on the shaft.

Have you tried playing with head weights to see if they change the way the club turns over or feels?

 

[RickM71]

4 hours ago, JAYER38 said:

@TylorJudd I think we did some back and forth with mentioning I was looking for a new shaft and tinkering some with my Ai Smoke MAX D. I was struggling a good bit with it a few months after results let loose here. Basically ended up sticking with what I had just down 1 flex on the shaft.

Have you tried playing with head weights to see if they change the way the club turns over or feels?

 

The weights on the Triple Diamond are along the center line of the club so shifting the weights there shouldn't make too much difference. It isn't like the draw biased drivers with weight options close to the hozzle. 

The general rule is adding weight near the hozzle makes the club more draw biased and adding weight towards the toe makes it more fade biased. By moving the center of gravity closer or further from the hozzle, you change the amount of force you need to rotate the face around the hozzle. This is the concept behind the moveable weights that slide from heel to toe on some drivers.  

If I really wanted to tinker and make my head less fade biased while keeping the same swing weight, I would try to get a hold of lighter screw in weights for the front and back, and add lead tape to the heel area of the club. Ideally, I'd have the full collection of weights to gradually dial in the correct amount of weight shifted to the heel. 

I would probably start by just adding lead tape to the heel area and see if it makes much difference. Maybe I'd also try removing the back screw weight and add that amount of weight to the heel area to see how it feels, as that'd at least be the same swing weight and same club weight. 

Edited August 27 by RickM71

[TylorJudd]

6 hours ago, JAYER38 said:

@TylorJudd I think we did some back and forth with mentioning I was looking for a new shaft and tinkering some with my Ai Smoke MAX D. I was struggling a good bit with it a few months after results let loose here. Basically ended up sticking with what I had just down 1 flex on the shaft.

Have you tried playing with head weights to see if they change the way the club turns over or feels?

 

First thing I did was move the 14 to the back. I have to work to get my AOA at a decent number so I use all the help I can get there. It could be the TX flex but it’s in my swing speed range and weird how it worked and then struggled. I may turn the loft way up to 11 and screw around with that next

[JAYER38]

19 hours ago, RickM71 said:

The weights on the Triple Diamond are along the center line of the club so shifting the weights there shouldn't make too much difference. It isn't like the draw biased drivers with weight options close to the hozzle. 

The general rule is adding weight near the hozzle makes the club more draw biased and adding weight towards the toe makes it more fade biased. By moving the center of gravity closer or further from the hozzle, you change the amount of force you need to rotate the face around the hozzle. This is the concept behind the moveable weights that slide from heel to toe on some drivers.  

If I really wanted to tinker and make my head less fade biased while keeping the same swing weight, I would try to get a hold of lighter screw in weights for the front and back, and add lead tape to the heel area of the club. Ideally, I'd have the full collection of weights to gradually dial in the correct amount of weight shifted to the heel. 

I would probably start by just adding lead tape to the heel area and see if it makes much difference. Maybe I'd also try removing the back screw weight and add that amount of weight to the heel area to see how it feels, as that'd at least be the same swing weight and same club weight. 

I get that. I just wasn't sure if the weight was in the same location as the MAX D even tho that head is a completely different shape. I would also think rear weight would help turn the head over more than toe weight.

 

14 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

First thing I did was move the 14 to the back. I have to work to get my AOA at a decent number so I use all the help I can get there. It could be the TX flex but it’s in my swing speed range and weird how it worked and then struggled. I may turn the loft way up to 11 and screw around with that next

Could try the X flex and maybe it gives the head a little more time to rotate like the R flex did for me? From my trial and error testing I've learned that swing speed is considered in the shaft flex for a starting point and that's about it. Obviously there is a honeymoon phase I believe with anything new and maybe somehow you've adjusted yourself out of it like I did trying to get it to act like the Paradym did? 

[Berg Ryman]

Think I've got one more round left in my season... and it's a special one coming up, so jumping back in here after my Labor Day excursion.

Ball situation might not be solved. Left Dash is awesome off the driver, feels like a cue ball everywhere else. Maxfli Tour S and Vice Pro Air will get some real consideration, as may the 2025 ProV1 in Yellow, and maybe some stuff with visual tech. 

Round yesterday was an 85, but that was in no way due to the Smoke. Iron play was trash on the back nine as was short game in spots. Putting well to keep the score down and considering we were in a match I pushed in spots to just try and get an advantage. In all, great day off the tee, average everywhere else. The Smoke continues to perform exactly how I wish it to

[TylorJudd]

On 8/28/2024 at 4:11 AM, JAYER38 said:

I get that. I just wasn't sure if the weight was in the same location as the MAX D even tho that head is a completely different shape. I would also think rear weight would help turn the head over more than toe weight.

 

Could try the X flex and maybe it gives the head a little more time to rotate like the R flex did for me? From my trial and error testing I've learned that swing speed is considered in the shaft flex for a starting point and that's about it. Obviously there is a honeymoon phase I believe with anything new and maybe somehow you've adjusted yourself out of it like I did trying to get it to act like the Paradym did? 

I think it needs to be a mother fitting. Callaways fitting wasn’t obviously a good one when they came down, and I play a 6x AD-MJ in the Paradym and have swapped that into the AI smoke, but it’s just not great either. Just more tinkering needed

[JAYER38]

Seems I've been on 1 heck of a trend here recently... Play a crappy 9 and then play a great 9. There are limits to just how great the Callaway Ai Smoke MAX D is haha. It cant correct but so much USER ERROR haha

Played Sunday and shot 1 of the best 9's of my golf carrier hitting 5 out of 7 fairways and even the missed ones were just off. Followed that up on the back with a loss of swing control haha. Still went far and mostly straight just started way right or way left sadly.

Played Monday and it was 1 of the worst Front 9's ever! I could not get the ball off the tee box more than 100yds... It was all on me and I honestly felt bad for even putting the  Callaway Ai Smoke MAX D thru that haha. BUTTTT we go to the back 9 and BAM it was game on. Drives where consistent and flying without even being bothered by the wind. a consistent 240-250 carry everytime! 

SITLL LOVE THIS DRIVER!

[JAYER38]

After cleaning my club from practicing I came across something very unsettling and got worried!! I thought the lower portion where the composite connects to the metal face had cracked in a diagonal fashion on both sides evenly into the "shaped" portions. I DID NOT remember these being there nor do I remember being able to feel them and could not find any previous pictures that showed them on my driver head. Pictures to show what I mean

   

Did a quick google search which on popped up with a small reddit post(we know how helped that can be sometimes haha). So I decided to message @EasyPutter and see if his driver was the same... Well thankfully it was which leads me to believe this is a mold/design flaw that each of the MAX D's will have(unsure if any other model of the Ai Smoke will have this). Some may be more pronounced than other depending on molds, stickers, coatings used on the heads and quality control. 

So at this point this is something I'm not happy with in Callaway's craftsmanship & QC so wanted to note this in the thread for future buyers of this club. 

THIS IN NO WAY HAS AFFECTED THE PERFORMANCE!

[TylorJudd]

54 minutes ago, JAYER38 said:

After cleaning my club from practicing I came across something very unsettling and got worried!! I thought the lower portion where the composite connects to the metal face had cracked in a diagonal fashion on both sides evenly into the "shaped" portions. I DID NOT remember these being there nor do I remember being able to feel them and could not find any previous pictures that showed them on my driver head. Pictures to show what I mean

   

Did a quick google search which on popped up with a small reddit post(we know how helped that can be sometimes haha). So I decided to message @EasyPutter and see if his driver was the same... Well thankfully it was which leads me to believe this is a mold/design flaw that each of the MAX D's will have(unsure if any other model of the Ai Smoke will have this). Some may be more pronounced than other depending on molds, stickers, coatings used on the heads and quality control. 

So at this point this is something I'm not happy with in Callaway's craftsmanship & QC so wanted to note this in the thread for future buyers of this club. 

THIS IN NO WAY HAS AFFECTED THE PERFORMANCE!

OG Paradym has the same feature. Can confirm on both drivers