The Elyte family of drivers, fairway metals, hybrids and irons feature all new materials, features and even helped change the manufacturing process for Callaway.
After a successful season with Ai Smoke, Callaway knew it needed to improve on the performance and consistency it saw with the previous line. Through testing, new shaping, materials and a ton of data derived from artificial intelligence, Callaway believes it has built its best product yet with Elyte.
Drivers
The drivers come in Standard, X, Max Fast and Triple Diamond and have gone through some major upgrades to build on the performance success the company saw in Ai Smoke.
To start, the shape is different this time around and has given Callaway up to 1.2 miles per hour in clubhead speed compared to Ai Smoke. The engineers were able to use 3D printing to create nylon prototypes that were compatible and usable with the testing robots.
That allowed the team to go from producing three to four prototypes with wax to 75 with the nylon models.
“Ai Smoke is a great driver, but you’ll see very small refinements, but a lot in the heel section that really eliminated the drag and turbulence,” Callaway Vice President of Global Tour, Jacob Davidson said. “When you think of aerodesign, we’re not just measuring here in the playing position, but the golf club on the down swing is on many different planes. You can’t just sit here and put this in a wind tunnel and say this shape is optimal at delivery, because that’s not the real world.”
Throught testing, Callaway was able to optimize the shape at multiple positions along the plane. They also used an all new material in the thermoforged carbon crown, which has helped to make the club lighter with more integrity.
With the shaping, new materials and all new Ai 10x Smart Face that saw 19 percent tighter dispersion than the Ai Smoke, Callaway believes they have a driver for everyone that should see improvements in most swing data.
The Standard driver, according to Davidson, is a large footprint, low spin driver that will be for the majority of players. It has a fade, neutral and draw setting, so it has the shape correction to help you dial in your shot for your needs. It’s a neutral, low spin driver that is built for maximum speed and maximum forgiveness. Callaway says it’s their best combination of speed, low spin and forgiveness among Elyte drivers.
The Elyte X was called the Max D in the Ai Smoke version, but Callaway decided to go back to the X naming. This is Callaway’s core offering, according to Davidson, that has a little bit of draw shot shape correction. It has a slightly larger footprint than the Standard model, but is built for someone who wants to have a draw shot shape correction. The X is the highest MOI, highest forgiveness and highest draw bias model in Elyte drivers. It comes with a neutral and draw adjustable weight setting and is made for the mid to high handicap player who need more forgiveness.
The Triple Diamond was a wildly successful driver for Callaway in the Ai Smoke and the company believes it has improved on this model for Elyte. The Ai Smoke Triple Diamond has 97 wins on Tour and was the number on most used driver across all the global tours, according to Davidson.
Elyte Triple Diamond will be a tour inspired shape, so it will be slightly smaller than the Elyte Standard. It has front and back weight configurations to optimize launch and spin, but does not have shot shape correction. It’s a neutral driver, mid to low spin with a 360-carbon chassis. The Triple Diamond also comes with a gloss crown compared to the matte crown on the other Elyte models and does not have an alignment aid on top to give it a clean look.
The Max Fast is a lightweight driver for the player that is looking for a lighter weight shaft, maximum forgiveness and wants a neutral or draw setting. This club is intended for slower swingers to help deliver the clubhead quicker to the ball.
Fairway metals and hybrids
The fairway metals have a lot of the same technology as the drivers, but there are key differences, as well. Some added features have been added to the fairway metals to help with mishits low on the face and solid contact off the fairway.
Callaway added a 35-gram weight, called a tungsten wave speed, in the sole that pushes forward of the face cup.
“If you miss it lower on the face, you’re going to get ball speeds very similar to what you’re going to see on center contact,” Davidson said. “If you hit it a little bit low on the face, instead of that ball spinning, you’re going to see lower spin, it’s going to promote more consistent contact.”
In addition to the tungsten speed wave, Callaway also added a step sole to its fairway metals to help with turf interaction. The Step sole provides 57 percent less contact area on the bottom of the club by creating what looks like a step to help getting the ball off the ground.
“Our Apex utility wood, we kept constantly getting feedback from the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour about how much easier it was to make solid contact,” Davidson said. “They didn’t hit it low on the face as much, so we said, ‘Wow, we know this has a form of a step sole.’ So, we really looked into that, researched it and ultimately led with this new step sole.”
Davidson said the less contact area gives the golfer a feeling that they won’t bottom out, that they can get the club face under the ball and hit it more center on the face. That will ultimately lead to higher launch and optimal spin.
“Akshay (Bhatia) and Sam Burns put these into play immediately. Fitting Tour guys in fairway woods is hard, when they find something they like, they don’t change easy,” Davidson said. “Their first impression, put it at address, they pick up on it. Then when they hit one a little bit low on the face, they’re like, ‘That didn’t do what it normally does,’ and that’s because of the tungsten speed wave and the step sole.”
When it came to the hybrids, Callaway looked at a typical problem that most golfers have with these specific clubs. Callaway Senior Manager of Product Marketing, Zack Oakley, said that a lot of players struggle with turning the ball over with hybrids, that they tend to go too far left.
“We have a new technology in the hosel, the Optifit 4 hosel system, which is born out of a lot of research and studies we’ve done with the LPGA Tour,” Oakley said. “They play a lot of hybrids, they need to hit specific numbers and they too struggle with the ball going left. We developed this system where you can actually go two (degrees) flat.”
Putting the club flat, typically, will help get the ball started more right and neutralize that left miss.
The hybrids will come in the Elyte, X and Max Fast, providing a few different options for every golfer.
The Elyte is a smaller profile, neutral hybrid, where the X is more of a forgiving hybrid for the player trying to hit it straight and not looking to work the ball as much. The Max Fast is a light weight, easy to swing model for golfers looking to get the ball up in the air.
Irons
The Elyte irons fall into the game improvement category, but have a refined, premium look that differ from most game improvement irons.
“These look fantastic. My opinion, I think it’s the best game improvement iron that Callaway has ever made,” Oakley said. “One of the reasons we did that is we want golfers to feel good about what they’re playing, what they’re putting in their bag.”
The irons feature a chrome plated finish and have a new speedfoam construction. The speedfoam is trying to provide stiffness in the iron where the engineers want it. In this case, stiffness is in the back to help with face flex to give you more ball speed.
“This also helps us with sound and feel,” Oakley said. “That’s another unique characteristic that we’re excited about with Elyte irons. This bar actually dampens unwanted vibrations, so it’s going to sound a little better.”
Through the drivers, metals, hybrids and irons, Callaway has produced a new line of clubs that feature major breakthroughs and technology upgrades. The company wasn’t starting from scratch, however, and had the advantage of building off of the success of past iterations.
Through advancements and investments in Ai, 3D printing and testing actual golfers, Callaway has developed the Elyte family to provide optimized conditions for any golfer.
