Callaway Ai-Smoke Drivers: 2024 Forum Review

[EasyPutter]

Yesterday, golf life began after the end of the workday.  It looked to me as I approached the OnCore Headquarters in downtown Buffalo, like the ground level clouds provided an aqueous induced smoke day (see what I did there with Ai Smoke?), "a sign from the Golf gods" according to playing partner Justin @just52887

I reacquainted with the OnCore crew and talked about the company, Veteran golf experiences, and MyGolfSpy testing.  One of each OnCore ball was brought out for the ball fitting and test experience on one of their simulators I was hitting on and Full Swing was playing on the second sim screen, which for me was great because I am not a fan of being the center of attention hitting a golf ball.

  

5 shots for each OnCore ball; Vero X2, Vero X1, ELIXR, and AVANT first with the Rattlesnake and then with the Paradym Ai Smoke Max D.  Some great shots with each club, some not so great but nearly all were fairway and only one sky shot rang off the rafters.  Oops.

Stats photographed from the main screen, total of 42 shots, lost track of numbers of hits so ensured minimum 5 for each ball.  Review of results surprised us as I had always preferred ELIXR after being an AVANT user initially.  The Vero X1 came up as the best ball response off both clubs.

The software did not specify which ball was hit but knowing when it each ball was hit by which club the numbers tells a story.  Top secret, these are not the stats you are looking for - move along.

Today I went on the OnCore site to do a ball order and decided to give their online ball fitter feature a try.  Entered my preferences for things like feel of the ball (firm or soft), swing speed and average carry distance.  Half expecting ELIXR to pop up the fitter algorithm said my best ball fit was Vero X1.  

Best part of the experience was hitting the first golf balls that the Max D had ever hit and in the doing had captured visual evidence of an overhead camera with slow motion clubhead travel relative to the direct line to the cup seeing ball flight start and tee cone parting from the display, seeing analytics for direction of club face at impact, trajectory of ball, and immediate feedback of ball flight on the virtual driving range.

Also good was video of my swing from good friend and OnCore co-founder that had my club doing things I did not imagine I was doing, thinking my swing was not as over the top as it obviously was, though the slower backswing does an amazing job and reducing the effect of the off plane swing and no doubt in my mind the Max D is effective at reducing the induced fade.

We closed the place for the day and headed out making plans for our next round of golf.  Gratitude for the support and encouragement can never be adequately said for the OnCore leadership who is committed to support to Veterans professionally and with personal investment of time and talent, and the generosity of actions over words.  This is my hometown and true to the spirit of our region, generous outreach goes well beyond anything expected.

Next play for the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D is today in about an hour.  More to follow!

Edited May 2 by EasyPutter
corrected error

[EasyPutter]

First on course drives were captured on the SwingU club tracker this afternoon. 

The first drive off the tee was in front of the clubhouse with other players gathering for their rounds.  

My playing partner Justin @just52887 was a witness to the first ever drive off a tee on real grass for the Max D and it could not have been a better strike. 

Straight and long into a Buffalo Blue sky, and visibly farther down the center of the fairway than I have ever hit a drive.  I think it is safe to say that Justin was caught by surprise. 

The only disappointment was the immediate realization that no video was taken to capture the moment.

At the end of the round, the SwingU app recorded the longest drive of the day at 172 yards with an average drive distance for 3 drives of 170 yards.  For a comparison, the gamer driver Rattlesnake's average drive is 153 yards.

[BreakfastBall15]

6 hours ago, EasyPutter said:

Yesterday, golf life began after the end of the workday.  It looked to me as I approached the OnCore Headquarters in downtown Buffalo, like the ground level clouds provided an aqueous induced smoke day (see what I did there with Ai Smoke?), "a sign from the Golf gods" according to playing partner Justin @just52887

I reacquainted with the OnCore crew and talked about the company, Veteran golf experiences, and MyGolfSpy testing.  One of each OnCore ball was brought out for the ball fitting and test experience on one of their simulators I was hitting on and Full Swing was playing on the second sim screen, which for me was great because I am not a fan of being the center of attention hitting a golf ball.

  

5 shots for each OnCore ball; Vero X2, Vero X1, ELIXR, and AVANT first with the Rattlesnake and then with the Paradym Ai Smoke Max D.  Some great shots with each club, some not so great but nearly all were fairway and only one sky shot rang off the rafters.  Oops.

Stats photographed from the main screen, total of 42 shots, lost track of numbers of hits so ensured minimum 5 for each ball.  Review of results surprised us as I had always preferred ELIXR after being an AVANT user initially.  The Vero X1 came up as the best ball response off both clubs.

The software did not specify which ball was hit but knowing when it each ball was hit by which club the numbers tells a story.  Top secret, these are not the stats you are looking for - move along.

Today I went on the OnCore site to do a ball order and decided to give their online ball fitter feature a try.  Entered my preferences for things like feel of the ball (firm or soft), swing speed and average carry distance.  Half expecting ELIXR to pop up the fitter algorithm said my best ball fit was Vero X1.  

Best part of the experience was hitting the first golf balls that the Max D had ever hit and in the doing had captured visual evidence of an overhead camera with slow motion clubhead travel relative to the direct line to the cup seeing ball flight start and tee cone parting from the display, seeing analytics for direction of club face at impact, trajectory of ball, and immediate feedback of ball flight on the virtual driving range.

Also good was video of my swing from good friend and OnCore co-founder that had my club doing things I did not imagine I was doing, thinking my swing was not as over the top as it obviously was, though the slower backswing does an amazing job and reducing the effect of the off plane swing and no doubt in my mind the Max D is effective at reducing the induced fade.

We closed the place for the day and headed out making plans for our next round of golf.  Gratitude for the support and encouragement can never be adequately said for the OnCore leadership who is committed to support to Veterans professionally and with personal investment of time and talent, and the generosity of actions over words.  This is my hometown and true to the spirit of our region, generous outreach goes well beyond anything expected.

Next play for the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D is today in about an hour.  More to follow!

Still have some Elixr balls laying around. They’re great for the price. Been meaning to try out the Vero series. Being a former upstate resident and Bills fan I try to support NY companies when I can

[EasyPutter]

10 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

Still have some Elixr balls laying around. They’re great for the price. Been meaning to try out the Vero series. Being a former upstate resident and Bills fan I try to support NY companies when I can

The Vero X1 and X2 are perimeter weighted and the big difference is the compression value, essentially the X1 is better for my duffing as the X2 is more sensitive to club inducing a greater spin and my club control is likely to do some strange unexpected things with the X2, probably why the X1 worked better for me on the sim per the data the computer captured.  The OnCore site is really good for information on all their ball choices. 

Go Bills!!!  (I'm sure there are Bills Mafia in Oklahoma, we tend to show up everywhere.) 

[Shrek74]

12 hours ago, EasyPutter said:

The Vero X1 and X2 are perimeter weighted and the big difference is the compression value, essentially the X1 is better for my duffing as the X2 is more sensitive to club inducing a greater spin and my club control is likely to do some strange unexpected things with the X2, probably why the X1 worked better for me on the sim per the data the computer captured.  The OnCore site is really good for information on all their ball choices. 

Go Bills!!!  (I'm sure there are Bills Mafia in Oklahoma, we tend to show up everywhere.) 

I picked up a couple dozen of the yellow X1's over the winter with one of their 2-pack deals to test out. It's what came up from their online fitting, plus the numbers from the MGS ball test last summer looked good to me. Price was right too. So we'll see how they test compared to the Maxfli Tour's I've been playing for a while now.

[Berg Ryman]

So, first round is hopefully Sunday morning. Is there anything people are specifically want me to try with Max, like moving around the sliding weight, etc? Might also sub for a friend's league on Wednesday

[JAYER38]

Got a round in today after work. Weather was odd… Went from 75 and sunny to 60 with grey clouds and wind so all the conditions in 1. 
 

Any guesses on how the Max D performed?

[Preeway]

14 minutes ago, JAYER38 said:

Got a round in today after work. Weather was odd… Went from 75 and sunny to 60 with grey clouds and wind so all the conditions in 1. 
 

Any guesses on how the Max D performed?

Was it a “Smoke”show?

[RickM71]

I will be playing my first round with the triple diamond tomorrow. This early in the season, my hope is to stay disciplined and just try to keep the ball in play off the tee. I know myself though, with the excitement of getting on the course, I'm going to want to see how far I can hit it. And I also know from experience, that rarely works out well for scoring.

[FallenSaber]

24 minutes ago, RickM71 said:

I will be playing my first round with the triple diamond tomorrow. This early in the season, my hope is to stay disciplined and just try to keep the ball in play off the tee. I know myself though, with the excitement of getting on the course, I'm going to want to see how far I can hit it. And I also know from experience, that rarely works out well for scoring.

Good luck!

[FallenSaber]

1 hour ago, JAYER38 said:

Got a round in today after work. Weather was odd… Went from 75 and sunny to 60 with grey clouds and wind so all the conditions in 1. 
 

Any guesses on how the Max D performed?

You clearly Smoked the round! 

[FallenSaber]

On 5/1/2024 at 6:25 PM, EasyPutter said:

The Vero X1 and X2 are perimeter weighted and the big difference is the compression value, essentially the X1 is better for my duffing as the X2 is more sensitive to club inducing a greater spin and my club control is likely to do some strange unexpected things with the X2, probably why the X1 worked better for me on the sim per the data the computer captured.  The OnCore site is really good for information on all their ball choices. 

Go Bills!!!  (I'm sure there are Bills Mafia in Oklahoma, we tend to show up everywhere.) 

It's hard to dislike a Bill's fan. Not crazy about the whole Mafia thing but it's hard to dislike fans who lost 4 straight Super Bowls. Arguably the greatest team of all time, if they just would've won 2 of the 4. Hell, maybe 1 of the 4. But they did lose 2 to the Cowboys and all 4 to the NFC East sooo... maybe the NFC East was the greatest Division of all time?

And yes, it hurts to be a Cowboys fan nowadays, and yes I've been to games in both the old and new stadiums.

[JAYER38]

19 hours ago, Berg Ryman said:

So, first round is hopefully Sunday morning. Is there anything people are specifically want me to try with Max, like moving around the sliding weight, etc? Might also sub for a friend's league on Wednesday

Good luck and enjoy!

8 hours ago, RickM71 said:

I will be playing my first round with the triple diamond tomorrow. This early in the season, my hope is to stay disciplined and just try to keep the ball in play off the tee. I know myself though, with the excitement of getting on the course, I'm going to want to see how far I can hit it. And I also know from experience, that rarely works out well for scoring.

Good luck! Going to have a smile the entire time! Haha

[TylorJudd]

Haven’t received mine yet, but I did a second fitting with Callaway this time. All I can say is this is going to be something

[RickM71]

First 18 holes of the season in the bag.  I got out with my dad and we got paired up with two very nice guys.  It was a very enjoyable time. I played a good front nine and a fair back nine, but two triples on the back killed my score.  It was my irons that cost me the most strokes, pulling/hooking them into trouble multiple times.  I need to get that figured out.  

But this discussion is about driving - and the Triple Diamond treated me very well today. I don't think any drives clearly cost me strokes, as the one I hit in the water was long enough I still managed to save bogey.  The driver was LONG, and surprisingly forgiving.  I had a few shots towards the toe that flew much farther than I had expected.  I did have one heel shot that lost some distance, but was dead straight, which surprised me.  I hit a few drives flush, and they were some of my longest drives ever.

First, my dad lent me an old Callaway bag which I thought was fitting (loved the extra space, but that shape makes fastening into the cart a little tricky):

I also used a Shot Scope V5 for the first time.  I've never tracked club stats before, but I had to get one in order to collect proper stats. 

To see a dispersion / distribution of shots:

The black dotted line is the average of 249, the blue dotted line is the p-average of 267, and the Green dotted line was my long drive of 280 yards.  P-average is Shot Scopes algorithm of removing shots that were far off the norm for the club used.  I'm guessing it subtracted out the heel shot and one that carried into a bunker and had no roll.  

Other than the one drive into a water hazard, none of the other drives that missed the fairway caused me any problems.  The one that came up short was a bad hole for me, but that was because I shanked my second shot.  

Aside from the stats, the driver looked, felt, and sounded very good to me.  This was one of my best driving rounds, but I'll need to see how much of that is the driver and how much was me.  For this early in the season, I'm content with how I played - it was so nice to get out on the course.    

 

Edited May 5 by RickM71

[JAYER38]

On 5/3/2024 at 11:37 AM, Berg Ryman said:

So, first round is hopefully Sunday morning. Is there anything people are specifically want me to try with Max, like moving around the sliding weight, etc? Might also sub for a friend's league on Wednesday

Berg, In a few words what are your thoughts?

On 5/4/2024 at 9:54 PM, RickM71 said:

First 18 holes of the season in the bag.  I got out with my dad and we got paired up with two very nice guys.  It was a very enjoyable time. I played a good front nine and a fair back nine, but two triples on the back killed my score.  It was my irons that cost me the most strokes, pulling/hooking them into trouble multiple times.  I need to get that figured out.  

But this discussion is about driving - and the Triple Diamond treated me very well today. I don't think any drives clearly cost me strokes, as the one I hit in the water was long enough I still managed to save bogey.  The driver was LONG, and surprisingly forgiving.  I had a few shots towards the toe that flew much farther than I had expected.  I did have one heel shot that lost some distance, but was dead straight, which surprised me.  I hit a few drives flush, and they were some of my longest drives ever.

First, my dad lent me an old Callaway bag which I thought was fitting (loved the extra space, but that shape makes fastening into the cart a little tricky):

I also used a Shot Scope V5 for the first time.  I've never tracked club stats before, but I had to get one in order to collect proper stats. 

To see a dispersion / distribution of shots:

The black dotted line is the average of 249, the blue dotted line is the p-average of 267, and the Green dotted line was my long drive of 280 yards.  P-average is Shot Scopes algorithm of removing shots that were far off the norm for the club used.  I'm guessing it subtracted out the heel shot and one that carried into a bunker and had no roll.  

Other than the one drive into a water hazard, none of the other drives that missed the fairway caused me any problems.  The one that came up short was a bad hole for me, but that was because I shanked my second shot.  

Aside from the stats, the driver looked, felt, and sounded very good to me.  This was one of my best driving rounds, but I'll need to see how much of that is the driver and how much was me.  For this early in the season, I'm content with how I played - it was so nice to get out on the course.    

 

I just have to say I LOVE seeing the Ai Smoke headcover in the bag! Sticks out but in a good way 

[Berg Ryman]

2 hours ago, JAYER38 said:

Berg, In a few words what are your thoughts?

Well, my thoughts at this time is that I hate the weather because I got rained out on Sunday morning. However, a range session was done. Admittedly, the range session was more about finding some tempo for this this week covering for a friend in the old league on Wednesday, but we did get some time with the AI Smoke.

Here's what I can tell you from the session. The driver launched much better than my TSR2, as would be expected with the higher loft, but considering the spinny nature of range balls it's hard for me to make any real takeaways as to distance and accuracy. I will say that the combo of Smoke Red and the length of the driver is seeing some quicker swings creep in, which should lead to a bit more distance through better compression and ball speed numbers.

I think that's something I failed to mention in the fitting. My TSR2 is D7 on swingweight, I haven't put the AI Smoke on the scale, but I have to think it's in the D2-D3 range considering the information from the custom catalog, as I believe it's between D3-D4 on stock and then my extra wraps and lighter shaft drop the swingweight by about 1.5 points according to their specs.

It's easy to swing and it's easy for me to swing hard and fast, which his what I want to do after my Superspeed test last year, but it's also stable so it doesn't feel out of control. I'm excited to get it on the course on Wednesday. We'll report back hopefully with some more thoughts and numbers.

[JAYER38]

On 5/3/2024 at 9:06 PM, Preeway said:

Was it a “Smoke”show?

Alot more testing to come but I can say this club been more than Smoke & Mirrors as @EasyPutter says

On 5/3/2024 at 10:21 PM, FallenSaber said:

You clearly Smoked the round! 

Couldn't have said it better myself 

[Berg Ryman]

Another range session on deck this afternoon. Going to try and get some photos and video. Don't have the wrench with me so no adjustments on the fly, sorry for that one guys

[JAYER38]

21 hours ago, Berg Ryman said:

Another range session on deck this afternoon. Going to try and get some photos and video. Don't have the wrench with me so no adjustments on the fly, sorry for that one guys

How did the range session go for ya?

 

i myself am loaded up for a round this afternoon. Hoping to get some range time before hand to try some hosel adjustments.

[Berg Ryman]

Well, after waiting for the photos and video to proof, I'm back with thoughts on the lastest range session. Again, distances aren't much to glean, but what I saw was surprising.

First, the launch angle. It's just... better. Like I can't put it into words and I haven't been able to get good video of it yet, but it's so much more like what you'd consider proper I guess? If I had to guess it's taken my old driver which use to use around a 70/30 mix of carry and roll and turned that up to like 85/15 on the best strikes and that 70/30 mix on the worst. In all, it appears that the shots that are worse with the Smoke are substantially better than any other driver I've owned.

The question though is that down to being fit with the proper loft for my negative AoA or is that the AI Smart Face? Being honest, I did live a little bit toe side on the majority of the strikes and they performed pretty great by my opinion. Balls were starting left of target and just slowly fading back into line or just staying on a line that would have been left side fairway or first cut depending on the fairway width. Distance was solid enough with limited flight balls etc, although I am having a harder time tracking shots downrange, but that's more to my eyesight I think as I think glasses by the end of the year is a real possibility.

Now, those pictures I promised, the first look at my newest toy. First, sitting the bag

Now, some pictures of the set-up, where the weight is, etc. I think this shows the looks of this driver which are excellent, I do wish thought that I had a bit more of the 'smoke' effect on the sole of the driver, but neither here nor there.

A peek at the Hrzdus Red, a solid solid shaft I really am already falling in love with.

And lastly a look down at address, zoomed in for your pleasure. I think this shows best what I said earlier about not being afraid to see loft on the face, this looks perfect for me and inspires confidence that I don't need to change the swing to 'help it' get the launch I need.

As a final bonus, I did tee up some non-range balls to hit some shots at the range to give you all an idea of sound at contact. Here's the shot I got on my phone microphone, Ball in question is the Pro V1X, 2021 model, one of my infamous narwhal balls. Sound up because in my opinion, this sound is absolutely perfect in my ears.

Sub league round today, will keep track of fairways hit and anything noticeable to report back with tomorrow

Edited May 8 by Berg Ryman

[russtopherb]

33 minutes ago, Berg Ryman said:

Well, after waiting for the photos and video to proof, I'm back with thoughts on the lastest range session. Again, distances aren't much to glean, but what I saw was surprising.

First, the launch angle. It's just... better. Like I can't put it into words and I haven't been able to get good video of it yet, but it's so much more like what you'd consider proper I guess? If I had to guess it's taken my old driver which use to use around a 70/30 mix of carry and roll and turned that up to like 85/15 on the best strikes and that 70/30 mix on the worst. In all, it appears that the shots that are worse with the Smoke are substantially better than any other driver I've owned.

The question though is that down to being fit with the proper loft for my negative AoA or is that the AI Smart Face? Being honest, I did live a little bit toe side on the majority of the strikes and they performed pretty great by my opinion. Balls were starting left of target and just slowly fading back into line or just staying on a line that would have been left side fairway or first cut depending on the fairway width. Distance was solid enough with limited flight balls etc, although I am having a harder time tracking shots downrange, but that's more to my eyesight I think as I think glasses by the end of the year is a real possibility.

Now, those pictures I promised, the first look at my newest toy. First, sitting the bag

Now, some pictures of the set-up, where the weight is, etc. I think this shows the looks of this driver which are excellent, I do wish thought that I had a bit more of the 'smoke' effect on the sole of the driver, but neither here nor there.

A peek at the Hrzdus Red, a solid solid shaft I really am already falling in love with.

And lastly a look down at address, zoomed in for your pleasure. I think this shows best what I said earlier about not being afraid to see loft on the face, this looks perfect for me and inspires confidence that I don't need to change the swing to 'help it' get the launch I need.

As a final bonus, I did tee up some non-range balls to hit some shots at the range to give you all an idea of sound at contact. Here's the shot I got on my phone microphone, Ball in question is the Pro V1X, 2021 model, one of my infamous narwhal balls. Sound up because in my opinion, this sound is absolutely perfect in my ears.

Sub league round today, will keep track of fairways hit and anything noticeable to report back with tomorrow

I'm really glad you followed the fitter's advice and went with the 12*, I think that'll give you some great results out on the course. When I got fitted for the Mizuno test last year I was totally on board with trying the 12* since my AoA is level to slightly down, it just didn't give me any noticeable improvements over the 10.5*. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works for you with your gamer while playing. 

[Berg Ryman]

7 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

I'm really glad you followed the fitter's advice and went with the 12*, I think that'll give you some great results out on the course. When I got fitted for the Mizuno test last year I was totally on board with trying the 12* since my AoA is level to slightly down, it just didn't give me any noticeable improvements over the 10.5*. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works for you with your gamer while playing. 

Thanks man, I just think I have to match the ball correctly here to really unlock it. I've been going over the Ball Test data and did a series of ballnamic fittings with different inputs to get an idea of where to go and I think Chrome Tour is in play here and I plan on picking up a sleeve today for testing purposes. ProV1X also there, and there is a part of me really interested in Yellow ProV1 due to it's weird outlier performances. There's also a world where if spin gets too high at 12 I could go into something like a Maxfli Tour S or something lower in compression to take that spin off, and just play different shots and anticipate something different going into greens.

It's fun right now because for the first time in a long time I feel like I want to experiment a bit to see where I can improve on the margins. It's a fun adventure that's inspiring and willing me to play more golf instead of how I've tried to minimize rounds considering that it was 'a waste' if I wasn't playing well

[bens197]

1 hour ago, Berg Ryman said:

Well, after waiting for the photos and video to proof, I'm back with thoughts on the lastest range session. Again, distances aren't much to glean, but what I saw was surprising.

First, the launch angle. It's just... better. Like I can't put it into words and I haven't been able to get good video of it yet, but it's so much more like what you'd consider proper I guess? If I had to guess it's taken my old driver which use to use around a 70/30 mix of carry and roll and turned that up to like 85/15 on the best strikes and that 70/30 mix on the worst. In all, it appears that the shots that are worse with the Smoke are substantially better than any other driver I've owned.

The question though is that down to being fit with the proper loft for my negative AoA or is that the AI Smart Face? Being honest, I did live a little bit toe side on the majority of the strikes and they performed pretty great by my opinion. Balls were starting left of target and just slowly fading back into line or just staying on a line that would have been left side fairway or first cut depending on the fairway width. Distance was solid enough with limited flight balls etc, although I am having a harder time tracking shots downrange, but that's more to my eyesight I think as I think glasses by the end of the year is a real possibility.

Now, those pictures I promised, the first look at my newest toy. First, sitting the bag

Now, some pictures of the set-up, where the weight is, etc. I think this shows the looks of this driver which are excellent, I do wish thought that I had a bit more of the 'smoke' effect on the sole of the driver, but neither here nor there.

A peek at the Hrzdus Red, a solid solid shaft I really am already falling in love with.

And lastly a look down at address, zoomed in for your pleasure. I think this shows best what I said earlier about not being afraid to see loft on the face, this looks perfect for me and inspires confidence that I don't need to change the swing to 'help it' get the launch I need.

As a final bonus, I did tee up some non-range balls to hit some shots at the range to give you all an idea of sound at contact. Here's the shot I got on my phone microphone, Ball in question is the Pro V1X, 2021 model, one of my infamous narwhal balls. Sound up because in my opinion, this sound is absolutely perfect in my ears.

Sub league round today, will keep track of fairways hit and anything noticeable to report back with tomorrow

Now that’s a proper thrash…as Billy Fuccillo would have said…”ITSS HUUUUUUUUGGGGEEEEEE!”

Great work so far Ryan!

[Berg Ryman]

14 minutes ago, bens197 said:

Now that’s a proper thrash…as Billy Fuccillo would have said…”ITSS HUUUUUUUUGGGGEEEEEE!”

Great work so far Ryan!

The late great Huge man himself. True story bought this Nisaan at Fuccillo Nissan before they sold it to Matthews after his death, and before that drove a Hyundai that we got with Fuccillo as well. What a character.

[Berg Ryman]

Live mid round update, distance on good shots is solid, bad swings is really really good.

Bad news, more bad swings than good. But as wet as it is, the fact we're carrying it more is helpful.

[JAYER38]

An update after some range time and a full round…

Made some adjustments to the hosel on the Ai SMOKE Max D and lemme tell ya what. We woke right up. Adjusted to Draw +1. Did this as i just didn't carry enough to clear some trouble areas and my misses were further right than i wanted.

Hit probably 3 of the longest drives I've ever hit. Ball flight seemed more penetrating so wind was not a factor. But the bog thing for me if the misses… Toe, low, high, or heel you wont end up in the trees but instead of the edge of them. Loving that feature right!

Edited May 9 by JAYER38

[Berg Ryman]

Round recap... boy does the bottom of the clubface all across it work really really good!

Seriously though, it was the first round of the year and I didn't translate what I brought to the range to the course. Also, considering a near 20 degree temperature difference and rain on and off throughout the round, this was more of let's get out and try to work through some stuff.

Being honest, strike patterns and swing path are still early season level... aka not great. I've got to settle on a tee height to find center of the clubface to really see what can be done. I will say, the one great swing flew beautifully, carrying around 235-240ish with little roll in wet rough. The other swings were bottom strikes with a lot of cut spin, but were decent on distance, probably 10 yards or so further than drives from last season with TSR, so a solid result. Still had a top in there, still had some issues... but we're getting better.

I think we'll be back at this weekend in some shape or form, while I also have to get things prepped for the outing and other things. Perhaps another range sesh, maybe a quick 9.

[EasyPutter]

Checking in with the weather report about driving and Smoke on the fairways!  That's right, fairways, whoodathunk it from Mr Slice-o-matic when focus is not on to keep the swing from coming over the top (guys that is what gives the ball the out-to-in clubface contact that sets up that beautiful Ginsu Knife quality slice).  Slower backswing was what was working with the gamer and really works like a charm with the Max D.

Distances continue to be good, improvement and longest hit for the day is longer with the Max D.  

Consistency on the club face is not my strong point unless hitting somewhere different on the club face is the intent, in which case I am consistently trying a new place on the club face with each hit.  And the Ai Smoke Max D doesn't seem to care, unless I pull the shot with probably not keeping my balance between my feet, there doesn't seem to be much change in the direction the ball goes unless I top one (low flight) or hit low (pop-up flyball to center field) and those immediately reveal themselves more in the flight path and measured distance from tee to ball.

A second week of only 2 9-hole rounds with son's graduation events taking up too much of my golf time  just kidding, it's awesome to see his life's work so far culminating in fabulous results and impressive relationships he has obviously cultivated with everyone we have met so far with his department.  So next week should prove to be a good testing week!  (hear that next week? get your game on bucko) 

[Berg Ryman]

Be nice if the weather played ball with me. Scared of a second straight washout weekend... boooooooo