As the first of a swathe of product launches get revealed in 2024, the first we've got covered is the new Callaway Ai Smoke driver and Joe 'The Pro' Ferguson has pitted it up against last year's Paradym to see how the looks, feel and performance compares. By the end of this video, you'll have a clear understanding as to how this driver looks, sounds and performs so you can decide if it's worth upgrading to before the 2024 season kicks into full swing.
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00:00 Okay, I'm here at Ryder Cup venue, the Celtic Manor Resort,
00:04 and I've got two drivers with me from Callaway.
00:05 I've got the original Paradigm,
00:08 and I've got its 2024 iteration, the Paradigm AI Smoke Max.
00:13 Now I'm gonna compare and contrast these drivers
00:16 for looks, feel, performance,
00:17 and I'm gonna see how, if at all,
00:20 the Paradigm AI Smoke Max has moved things on.
00:23 (upbeat music)
00:25 (click)
00:27 (click)
00:29 Okay, so what's actually changed?
00:33 Well, from an aesthetics point of view,
00:35 quite a lot, to be honest.
00:36 First thing you notice is, obviously,
00:38 the original Paradigm was quite a dark, deep navy color.
00:41 And on its own, that didn't bother me at all.
00:43 I just never was quite convinced by the clash
00:46 between the main crown and the sort of dark gray banner strip
00:49 at the front where the navy and the gray met.
00:51 Didn't quite suit my eyes.
00:53 So when I pulled out the AI Smoke,
00:55 I was delighted to see that the crown
00:57 is now a light gray color.
00:58 And that light gray blends beautifully
01:01 into that dark gray strip at the front.
01:02 So from an address position point of view,
01:05 that's a real plus point for me.
01:06 I know it's only color,
01:07 but things have to suit your eye, I think.
01:10 On the underside, the shelf appeal,
01:11 I think, again, has improved.
01:13 So in the AI Smoke, we've got that lighter gray color,
01:16 and I think that really highlights
01:17 the sort of smoky effect that's on the bottom again.
01:21 And I really do like the blue color
01:24 they've chosen for the font and the front and back weights.
01:27 I think that pops really, really well with the gray.
01:29 So again, from an aesthetic point of view
01:31 and a shelf appeal point of view,
01:32 I think this will fly off and really catch people's eye.
01:36 From a tech point of view,
01:38 well, the main story here is,
01:40 well, their tagline is sweeter from every spot.
01:43 So Callaway have taken thousands of swings
01:45 from real players.
01:46 They're not just robot tested.
01:47 They've tested thousands of pieces of data
01:49 from real golfers and basically created
01:52 what they call their swing code.
01:54 They've inputted that into their AI supercomputer,
01:57 which has spat out an all new face.
01:59 So that's got variable thickness across the board.
02:01 And what it does is essentially, Callaway are telling us,
02:04 creates numerous sweet spots across the face.
02:07 When you hit it in certain areas,
02:08 the new face creates micro deflections,
02:11 so extra flex basically,
02:13 that helps the ball bounce around
02:15 and creates that springy effect from more places
02:18 so you retain more ball speed,
02:20 and it also helps dispersion.
02:22 Now I don't hit it in the middle all the time,
02:24 so I really like the sound of that.
02:26 Rambo's keen too, so let's see how it looks in practice.
02:29 I'm just gonna hit a few shots away here.
02:31 We've got top tracer technology here
02:33 in this studio at Celtic Manor.
02:35 Good hit, nice high draw.
02:41 Yeah, good launch window, not spinning up too much,
02:44 and that's pretty much what I see
02:46 with the paradigm that I've tested before here.
02:50 (whack)
02:52 Similar ball flight, maybe six, seven yards left
02:56 of the first one.
02:57 (whack)
03:01 Just left that one a little bit out to the right.
03:04 Face stayed a little bit open on that.
03:07 Okay, so that's the baseline numbers done with paradigm.
03:12 Let's have a little look at the paradigm AI Smoke
03:15 and see what that's producing for us.
03:17 As I've spoken about, a little bit of a different look
03:20 down behind the ball, which I like.
03:22 (whack)
03:26 Good solid hit, very similar flight window
03:29 to what I've seen with paradigm.
03:31 From a field point of view, there's not huge amounts in it.
03:35 I would say, I mean, let's go again,
03:38 but the first one I've hit there
03:39 felt a little bit more muted.
03:41 (whack)
03:46 Another good hit, it's not moving much that.
03:48 Very stable ball flight there.
03:51 A little bit higher that one, I think, than the first one.
03:53 And yeah, again, from a field point of view,
03:56 it's difficult to quantify, but probably
03:59 just a slightly less harsh, slightly more muted
04:02 would be fair, I think.
04:03 (whack)
04:10 And another decent hit there,
04:12 just turning over a fraction,
04:15 but a good, really similar flight window
04:17 to what I saw with the original paradigm.
04:20 It's been really interesting to compare those numbers
04:22 and see if there has really been any progression
04:24 or whether it is just more aesthetic.
04:27 However, before we look at those numbers,
04:29 I wanted to dive a little bit deeper
04:30 into the forgiveness story
04:32 that Callaway are telling this year.
04:34 (whack)
04:36 Okay, so I've come to the studio here
04:38 at Cherston Golf Club, and I've brought both heads with me
04:41 and my Gamer Shaft, and I really wanted to test out
04:44 some of those off-center hits.
04:45 So we've got GC Quad with its impact location technology,
04:48 and I'm going to be hitting a lot of heels, a lot of toes,
04:51 and I'm going to see if there is much difference
04:52 in the story they're telling.
04:54 So I'm going to start out with the original paradigm.
04:56 Let's hit a few away.
04:57 (whack)
05:01 Okay, so I've dragged a number of shots there,
05:09 a little selection from everything I've just hit.
05:11 I've got with each driver, I've got a couple out of the toe,
05:14 a couple out of the heel,
05:15 and a couple of fairly centered strikes
05:18 to go into that comparison mix.
05:19 So generally speaking, what you expect to see
05:22 when you miss the middle heel or toe
05:23 is a little bit of a ball speed drop-off,
05:25 which I'm certainly seeing with both drivers here.
05:28 The story around the AI Smoke Max
05:29 has been more about the consistency of that drop-off.
05:32 That's the story Callaway are telling.
05:34 And I'm pleased to report it's looking true
05:36 from what I've seen.
05:38 The original paradigm here, if I take the two toe strikes,
05:41 at the bottom, I've got ball speeds
05:43 of 167 and a half miles an hour,
05:45 and 163.6 miles per hour,
05:48 compared to my sort of centered strike average
05:51 is about 169 miles per hour.
05:54 So the differential between those two drop-offs,
05:57 that 167.5 hasn't dropped too far,
05:59 but obviously the 163 and a half is quite a big drop-off,
06:02 and a four mile an hour differential between the two,
06:05 which is significant.
06:07 If I go up into the AI Smoke Max,
06:09 which has its newer face and the micro deflections
06:12 that Callaway are telling us
06:13 will sort of neutralize that drop-off a little bit.
06:16 It looks to be the case here.
06:18 My two toe strikes were 168.3 miles an hour
06:21 and 167.5 miles per hour.
06:24 That's within one mile per hour of each other.
06:27 I saw the same in the heel strikes
06:28 that are up in front of you there.
06:30 Again, with the paradigm, I dropped to 166.7,
06:35 but then my really poor one was 162.8.
06:38 So again, that sort of four mile per hour differential,
06:40 which is gonna cause you some problems over time.
06:43 Whereas with the AI Smoke Max,
06:45 it was again, less than one mile per hour,
06:46 around that one mile per hour mark,
06:48 which is really interesting.
06:50 If I pop it over to the club data here
06:54 and look at the club efficiency,
06:56 whilst the average is coming out very similar,
06:58 or exactly the same at 1.41,
07:01 how the two clubs are achieving those averages
07:03 are very different.
07:04 So the paradigm AI Smoke Max,
07:07 there's, you know, my lowest efficiency was 1.40
07:11 and my highest was 1.42.
07:13 That's a very, very tight window.
07:15 With the paradigm,
07:16 I saw some slight bigger differentiations than that.
07:19 So my, whilst I got my most efficient strikes
07:21 with the paradigm at 1.43,
07:23 so that's the most ball speed relative
07:25 to the club head speed I was putting into it,
07:27 I also got my lowest at 1.37.
07:30 So again, what I'm seeing here is,
07:32 from those misses, probably a little bit more consistency,
07:36 which over the course of a season
07:37 is gonna be really beneficial.
07:39 So in summary, what have I found?
07:41 Well, to be honest, I find the AI Smoke range
07:44 a lot better looking.
07:45 I've already touched on the aesthetics,
07:47 the new colorway, and I think it's oozing shelf appeal.
07:49 So from an aesthetic point of view,
07:51 I think they've done a great job.
07:52 From a performance point of view,
07:54 am I gonna see massive gains from centered strikes?
07:57 No, I'm not, to be honest.
07:59 But would I expect to?
08:00 Again, probably not.
08:01 That isn't the story about this driver.
08:03 The story about the AI Smoke range
08:05 is all about forgiveness.
08:06 Remember that sweeter from every spot tagline.
08:10 And from my testing, that was true.
08:11 I retained more ball speed on off-center hits
08:14 more consistently than I did with the Paradigm.
08:17 So in essence, it's doing what it's supposed to do.
08:19 And over the course of a season,
08:20 that's gonna put you further down the hole.
08:22 Closer to the hole generally means lower scores.
08:25 So they've done a really good job.
08:27 I hope you found that video informative.
08:28 If you have, please give us a like, comment down below,
08:31 let me know your thoughts on the new AI Smoke range,
08:33 and hit that notifications button
08:35 so you can see all of our other videos coming out.
08:37 That's all from me, I'll see you next time.
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