Definitely more accurate and nearly as long. Been playing TM 300 and the Burner for around two years. The smaller head seems to reduce drag and allows (me) to achieve near driver clubhead speed. I outdrive most guys in my age bracket, and I really strugle adjusting to the 460cc heads.
I really don’t understand not having adjustable fairway woods and hybrids. If you don’t want to use the technology, don’t but don’t punish the rest of us. I have my 3 wood set at 16.5. It gaps perfectly between my driver and hybrid or 7 wood. If I want to go to 3 wedges instead of 4 I’ll need the adjustability to change lofts on the top end. Ping’s flat setting is also a great addition. I have a 3, 5 and 7 wood plus 2 hybrids and an iCrossover. That gives me lots of options depending on the type of course and conditions I may be playing in. Not really interested in a mini drive. I like hitting a fairway wood off the tee or the deck. I especially like the shallow face.
For a mini driver would ideally be a high lofted bigger driver sized that I could hit off the deck, and accommodate a narrow fairway drive. I have tons of confidence with a big driver, and actually am way more accurate than I am a three wood.
Marty jertson from ping on a recent podcast coined the term “thriver” or three-wood driver for a shorter higher lofted 460cc club that carries 20-40 yards shorter than your normal driver. He said for scratch or better players >90% of 3 wood shots are tee shots compared to fairway which fits what you guys were saying. So a second shorter driver is a good option.
44.25"-45" is a great driver length....center strike more often than not, fairways hit more often, better launch conditions...all equal more distance than a long driver. I wish people would try this more often.
So I only typically use three wood off the deck about maybe one time around and that’s obviously to reach a par five and two or get as close as I can otherwise I might be reaching the par five with less than 31 or I’m in the rough or I’m not as confident hitting three wood where I’ll opt to hit a five wood or a hybrid so many driver for me opens up a few more opportunities to hit it or I’m really trying to keep the ball in play and the added spin kind of provides me a safety net to hit a tighter T shot more consistently than just with my standard bomb driver, which I do still hit primarilyand it also gives me a little added yardage over the three wood
I don't have any inside information but I think the issue might be that the carbon chassis kept cracking. I cracked my paradym driver twice. Not the face. The chassis on the bottom. Callaway replaced them both times, no questions asked. But it has to be expensive replacing drivers. BTW - I don't even have great club head speed. I'm guessing guys who can really bring it probably crack them more often then I do.
Don't play a mini driver. My Ping 10K is very accurate and I have a knockdown driver shot when I need to lay up. Seems like Callaway designed a smaller, less tilted oval dispersion pattern. I'll let my friend know because his dispersion got worse from Rogue to AI Smoke, lol.
So I only typically use three wood off the deck about maybe one time around and that’s obviously to reach a par five and two or get as close as I can otherwise I might be reaching the par five with less than 31 or I’m in the rough or I’m not as confident hitting three wood where I’ll opt to hit a five wood or a hybrid so many driver for me opens up a few more opportunities to hit it or I’m really trying to keep the ball in play and the added spin kind of provides me a safety net to hit a tighter T shot more consistently than just with my standard bomb driver, which I do still hit primarilyand it also gives me a little added yardage over the three wood. So basically in short, it’s a second higher lofted driver with a shorter shaft that I can hit off the deck the one time around I might need to with much greater success than I could hit a typical driver off the deck.
Mini driver seemed neat in 08 when TW played the Nike Ignite 380🤷♂️ But it was cool because it was hard to find...unless you deep pockets in the forum days. Now, with high lofted mini drivers, you "can" hit off the deck...but lets be honest, most amateurs shouldn't.... Edit: To the Callaway jump in improvement.. i think if you have a well dit driver from the last 3-4 years...its tiny, incremental positve changes...is it worth all the $$$ for 2 yards more distance or 3 hards better dispersion....thays up to the comsumer... I do believe its getting harder to upgrade for the average golfer with newer equipment tho...its not like 90s/early 2000s where jumls are huge...
There is no value for money if you’re buying a new driver if you already have a driver that was built any time within the last 7 years from one of the major 4 brands. TM ping Callaway and Titleist. Any time a reputable content creator/club fitter/reviewer does a comparison dispersion/distance/spin/consistency is largely the same. Unless you don’t mind paying hundreds of dollars per yard or extra distance
At least Callaway is consistent with horrible looking drivers. The "Paradym" looked like a 1980's bowling ball. Now the "Elyte" looks like a cheap 90s driver. Of course it's performance that matters, but having to look down at that monstrosity would prevent me from ever putting one in the bag.
You guys may want to review this test that Ian put out on mini drivers vs short shafted drivers. ruclips.net/video/kw-2X5vESNc/видео.htmlsi=46UaCrfxM7YFm2mq. He also did a couple of additional reviews on the TM vs AI Smoke that were good. They answer a lot of your concerns around performance off the deck and size of heads…
Yep, Ian does a great job. The problem here - and it has nothing to do with Ian - is that any single person "test" is statistically useless. At best, you might be able to get a sense for how a club works for that individual, but unless your swing characteristics perfectly mirror Ian's, I'd caution against drawing any grand conclusions. It you really want to understand the differences between clubs, it takes a full scale player test.
I was fit for the Paradyme X a couple of years ago. Love it. As the saying goes about prying it from my cold dead hands.
i have one two, love it
Good job look forward to the up coming reviews it’s nice to see a plethora of new Stuff 🎉 for we golf junkies 🏌️
Indeed....More on the way!
I hit the 340 Callaway mini driver off the deck all the time. Great club - awesome performance
Definitely more accurate and nearly as long. Been playing TM 300 and the Burner for around two years. The smaller head seems to reduce drag and allows (me) to achieve near driver clubhead speed. I outdrive most guys in my age bracket, and I really strugle adjusting to the 460cc heads.
You guys do a great job
Much appreciated!
I really don’t understand not having adjustable fairway woods and hybrids. If you don’t want to use the technology, don’t but don’t punish the rest of us. I have my 3 wood set at 16.5. It gaps perfectly between my driver and hybrid or 7 wood. If I want to go to 3 wedges instead of 4 I’ll need the adjustability to change lofts on the top end. Ping’s flat setting is also a great addition. I have a 3, 5 and 7 wood plus 2 hybrids and an iCrossover. That gives me lots of options depending on the type of course and conditions I may be playing in.
Not really interested in a mini drive. I like hitting a fairway wood off the tee or the deck. I especially like the shallow face.
For a mini driver would ideally be a high lofted bigger driver sized that I could hit off the deck, and accommodate a narrow fairway drive. I have tons of confidence with a big driver, and actually am way more accurate than I am a three wood.
Marty jertson from ping on a recent podcast coined the term “thriver” or three-wood driver for a shorter higher lofted 460cc club that carries 20-40 yards shorter than your normal driver. He said for scratch or better players >90% of 3 wood shots are tee shots compared to fairway which fits what you guys were saying. So a second shorter driver is a good option.
44.25"-45" is a great driver length....center strike more often than not, fairways hit more often, better launch conditions...all equal more distance than a long driver. I wish people would try this more often.
So I only typically use three wood off the deck about maybe one time around and that’s obviously to reach a par five and two or get as close as I can otherwise I might be reaching the par five with less than 31 or I’m in the rough or I’m not as confident hitting three wood where I’ll opt to hit a five wood or a hybrid so many driver for me opens up a few more opportunities to hit it or I’m really trying to keep the ball in play and the added spin kind of provides me a safety net to hit a tighter T shot more consistently than just with my standard bomb driver, which I do still hit primarilyand it also gives me a little added yardage over the three wood
Interesting Callaway tanked the carbon chasis after only 2yrs. If I had to choose any Elyte model, I'd go GT3 🤙😏
I don't have any inside information but I think the issue might be that the carbon chassis kept cracking. I cracked my paradym driver twice. Not the face. The chassis on the bottom. Callaway replaced them both times, no questions asked. But it has to be expensive replacing drivers. BTW - I don't even have great club head speed. I'm guessing guys who can really bring it probably crack them more often then I do.
Don't play a mini driver. My Ping 10K is very accurate and I have a knockdown driver shot when I need to lay up. Seems like Callaway designed a smaller, less tilted oval dispersion pattern. I'll let my friend know because his dispersion got worse from Rogue to AI Smoke, lol.
So I only typically use three wood off the deck about maybe one time around and that’s obviously to reach a par five and two or get as close as I can otherwise I might be reaching the par five with less than 31 or I’m in the rough or I’m not as confident hitting three wood where I’ll opt to hit a five wood or a hybrid so many driver for me opens up a few more opportunities to hit it or I’m really trying to keep the ball in play and the added spin kind of provides me a safety net to hit a tighter T shot more consistently than just with my standard bomb driver, which I do still hit primarilyand it also gives me a little added yardage over the three wood. So basically in short, it’s a second higher lofted driver with a shorter shaft that I can hit off the deck the one time around I might need to with much greater success than I could hit a typical driver off the deck.
Mini driver seemed neat in 08 when TW played the Nike Ignite 380🤷♂️
But it was cool because it was hard to find...unless you deep pockets in the forum days.
Now, with high lofted mini drivers, you "can" hit off the deck...but lets be honest, most amateurs shouldn't....
Edit: To the Callaway jump in improvement.. i think if you have a well dit driver from the last 3-4 years...its tiny, incremental positve changes...is it worth all the $$$ for 2 yards more distance or 3 hards better dispersion....thays up to the comsumer...
I do believe its getting harder to upgrade for the average golfer with newer equipment tho...its not like 90s/early 2000s where jumls are huge...
There is no value for money if you’re buying a new driver if you already have a driver that was built any time within the last 7 years from one of the major 4 brands. TM ping Callaway and Titleist. Any time a reputable content creator/club fitter/reviewer does a comparison dispersion/distance/spin/consistency is largely the same. Unless you don’t mind paying hundreds of dollars per yard or extra distance
@jakedavid4304 couldn't agree more..
Would a 3 wood shaft be compatible with the GT280 head?
Are max fast models lighter heads or just lighter shafts and grips? And otherwise would be the HL models
At least Callaway is consistent with horrible looking drivers.
The "Paradym" looked like a 1980's bowling ball. Now the "Elyte" looks like a cheap 90s driver.
Of course it's performance that matters, but having to look down at that monstrosity would prevent me from ever putting one in the bag.
carbon composite gets my vote
But the bottom of the Elyte is so ugly because I turn the driver upside down when I hit tee shots, says fanboys of other current drivers.🙄🙄
Box set looking driver
Top Flite look alike. These two are clowns
You guys may want to review this test that Ian put out on mini drivers vs short shafted drivers. ruclips.net/video/kw-2X5vESNc/видео.htmlsi=46UaCrfxM7YFm2mq. He also did a couple of additional reviews on the TM vs AI Smoke that were good. They answer a lot of your concerns around performance off the deck and size of heads…
Yep, Ian does a great job. The problem here - and it has nothing to do with Ian - is that any single person "test" is statistically useless. At best, you might be able to get a sense for how a club works for that individual, but unless your swing characteristics perfectly mirror Ian's, I'd caution against drawing any grand conclusions. It you really want to understand the differences between clubs, it takes a full scale player test.
Agree, each person needs to test to find what works best for them.