CALLAWAY PARADYM AI SMOKE IRONS | The Swing Report

The new Callaway Paradym AI Smoke irons are powered by a new AI Smart Face, which features strategically-placed hot spots on the clubface designed to deliver the best performance where golfers make contact with the ball most often. Additionally, the Callaway Paradym Smoke AI Irons have a different face structure for each model in the series.

0:00 Intro
0:45 Key Details, Tech, and Specs
3:55 Testing (Paradym AI Smoke HL)
10:11 Testing (Paradym AI Smoke)
18:21 Final Thoughts

In this edition of The Swing Report, 2nd Swing’s Drew Mahowald and master club fitter Kevin Kraft test and review the new Callaway Paradym AI Smoke irons, including the Callaway Paradym AI Smoke irons and Callaway Paradym AI Smoke HL irons.

A third model, the lightweight Callaway Paradym AI Smoke Max Fast irons are also part of the AI Smoke irons family. The Paradym AI Smoke Max Fast irons are designed with lightweight materials for golfers with moderate swing speeds.

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Today we’ve got new irons for 2024 to review it’s the Callaway AI smoke and AI smoke HL irons we’ve got Kevin here to hit some shots we’ve got trackman ready to track all the information and we’ll tell you everything that you might need to know about the AI smoke irons from

C hey golfers I’m Drew Maha second Swing Golf joined today by Kevin Craft here at the minaka tour van to review and test some new irons we’ve got Callaway AI irons um so Callaway’s kind of been the leader for the last several years in sort of the AI um Ingenuity in

Developing their clubs so this is uh it’s not a surprise now to get AI in the nail of the club um AI smoke irons there’s two models um I guess first before we dive into it what do you what do you see initially first impression

Here uh first thing I see is kind of a trend that’s been going on with Callaway over the last couple releases completely different shape like this this is a very very different shape from what I have seen out of Callaway through the through the years so um I don’t know what to

Expect anymore I they they’ve always kind of had a shape it’s always been one of the shapes that I really like and this one’s going to take a little just a little bit of getting used to it’s it’s definitely different standing over it looking down you don’t to me it doesn’t

Necessarily look like what I would expect a Callaway iron to look like but I will expect that it will be explosive the way Callaway is typically explosive so yeah exactly there’s no short of distance when it comes to C irons especially in these categories so the AI

Smoke is the one I have in my hand this is going to be it’ll be a a game improvement iron for sure it’s a hollow body build um but there’s a new club face design AI uh smart face and what they’ve done have taken data from you know real golfers hitting real golf

Shots and basically they’ve used that data plus artificial intelligence to come up with a unique face map face design that um provides the best performance on all these different areas where golfers will strike the golf ball the most and so that’s going to be different you mean not the center yeah

Believe it or not yes so the smoke uh model I have the standard AI smoke has a different face map face material than the HL model that you have so um Prov because they’re designed for different types of golf so um that is the big innovation here uh and then of note as

Well the a smoke that I have is at 28 degrees okay on the seven iron so a rather strong loed Club should be very explosive yep that HL model is at 30° and typically we’ll have maybe a little bit more weight also lower they kind of

Designed to get launched in the air so um I’m curious to see what we have here I think it’s kind of cool to see these manufacturers kind of almost I know you’ve been need Loft and need spin in the fitting base some irons and so you’re seeing these manufacturers now

Come out with an option that provides really is doing that job is to get the ball in the air yeah the the original Paradigm we had the standard and then we had the the X right the X was not I mean it was supposed to be the higher

Launching right Club but it really wasn’t dedicated so much to that so seeing them come with a version that is dedicated toward better trajectory hopefully maybe with a little bit you know a little weaker loss maybe we’ll get a little more spin um you know I I

Think this might just be something that I can get more people into right you know with those Dynamics right and then there’s actually also a third AI smoke model the AI smoke Max fast which which is going to be kind of your lightweight um sort of you know kind of like the is

It epic star par star that’s kind of morphing into the line now it’s sort of a lightweight premium option so we don’t have that one to test today we instead have ai smoke we have ai smoke HL I think we’re ready to hit some shots here with trackman um which one are we

Starting with today um yeah let’s start with the easy one okay it’s it’s early it is early in the day I need a help I can get all right so Kevin starting with the HL the Paradigm AI smoke HL um shape and appearance at a dress what do you see

Yeah it’s just it’s just different um it’s not it doesn’t have the Hallmarks that I have come to be used to with with Callaway it’s not that it’s a bad shape it’s just a different shape um blade La looks pretty long which is nice um maybe

It’s the fact that you know we don’t have quite as as steep a a jump up to the toe maybe a little bit little you know more compact in terms of of height on the on the club head um which is kind of a Hallmark of a

Higher launching golf club right I mean if you think about some of the other things we’ve seen through time shallow typically means higher launch so that might actually have been a conscious effort when they were putting this iron together going hey if we don’t make the

The the the height quite as big we can a little higher launch the face is not as tall yes exactly yeah so that might that might have actually factored in there there you go yeah okay um but it looks good it’s it’s clean um it’s got the you

Know it’s got your normal Chrome and then then the the sand blasted face so um and then uh I think is that the was it the cipher regular Flex this is the cipher 655 okay so not quite like regular regular but not quite certainly not quite stiff right probably a good place

For me to start this morning all right so in this one remember we’re at 30 Dees of Loft at this yes that was a little thin I mean two very good golf shots nonetheless yeah not too bad I don’t think we’re going to I really don’t

Think we’re going to end up lacking for distance with this thing I don’t think so either that was a better strike huh that was yeah that’ll work yeah 105 fet in the air that’s good height all right you got a few good ones a few maybe off the uh bottom of the

Face a little bit but too thin too thin solid how’s the feel of it so far it it feels actually feels really good uh it doesn’t we I haven’t heard that tiny tiny sound uh so it sounds crisp MH uh and it feels crisp it doesn’t feel harsh

But it feels pretty responsive you can tell where you catch it on the face you can tell when you pull it a little bit I mean a little bit it’s still a pretty good gol shot right yeah not terrible that’s the golf shot I want it

All right no this feels it feels really feels quite good I think I think we’re seeing some pretty decent trajectory on solid strikes I like that spin rate right there that’s your highest ball speed here I think all right let’s bring up some numbers yeah and so here’s the total

Dispersion I actually like how these thin ones that you thought were thin are are I mean they’re in the same area it’s really not bad it’s uh trying to because your first two shots were thin right so this one I mean this one’s right in the

Middle of the whole pack again this is total distance if I go to carry it comes down a little bit more but you’re losing like a five yards that’s what anybody would want yeah honestly if you if you don’t quite catch it and you don’t lose copious amounts of yardage the The Sweet

Spot areas of this club face are doing what they’re supposed to do right how many times have we we’ve all experienced right you hit you swing and you kind of hit it a little bit thin and you know that it’s going to that carry number or

How far it travels in the air is going to decrease a ton but with this club you had a couple of them right away that you said we thin and instead of dropping down into the 160s yeah we’re still very much in the 170s 175 there and then your

You know your solid strikes towards the end here we’re around 180 carrying so you’re losing five maybe a little over five yards with a thin shot great that’s really really good so to to to C for the yeah the smoke yep HL model here UMES any else any other numbers up here jump

Out of you um that you see because that we got the first two here that you know if we do remove we see that spin number climb back up to about 5,000 yeah um some good one yeah you’re hovering around just 5,000 right 5,000 is is actually great what my experience with

The with the last season’s Paradigm was less yeah okay and and that is definitely problematic for a lot of people right I hit it high enough that I can I can typically get away with it but um there’s a lot of people that need that trajectory and need as much spin as

They can get so that’s why there’s an HL model I imagine yeah I think that I think that’s there’s there’s just a need for it right it’s it’s something that the industry really they’ve gone almost as far as they can go in terms of making a club not spin right and now they’re

Like oh who wait spin spin’s actually a good thing yeah yeah yes so uh because not everybody’s going to hit towering golf shots so we’re GNA have to make the ball stop somehow otherwise we’re all chipping from back over the green and that tends to not be very good yeah and

Typically there’s more trouble behind the greenre than there is in front of it yeah so that’s uh it’s good notes there from the Paradigm AI smoke HL model so now we can kind of put the other model to the test and I imagine the similar concern is still there where need to

Make sure there’s enough spin launch from the standard model here you put them down at a dress what do you see between the two uh a little bit more standard looking iron not still not quite what Callaway has typically looked like um a little smaller but not small so it’s not you’re

Not going from a you know from a big Iron to a small iron right um definitely somebody that’s maybe a bit more consistent going to going to go with this one uh or not looking maybe for quite what the what the trajectory is going to be here you said this was 28

Right yeah 28 so two degrees stronger uh you get that player that wants a little bit more you know a little more distance Soul width is a little thinner here okay so a little more forgiving in that HL in that HL model um but you know clean

Badging on both they both look they both look good so nothing offensive yeah a little hanger okay little hanger it’s all right different shaft here as well this is the uh stock steel is it the Elevate is that it is yeah Elevate 95 so it’s it’s 35 G yeah

Heavier going be change how that feels just by the the shaft of course that might have possibly influenced the fact that that club face didn’t quite square up that time yeah yeah there’s a good golf shot there here we go so that spin definitely has dropped

From the last club now that makes sense yeah it does it should I would imagine h in in the mid 4000s is probably where you’d think maybe a little more than 4,500 on average yeah I i’ be at this point I’d be hoping for about 4,500 okay

You know two degrees Stronger Yeah uh cuz the other one was about 5,000 with 30 degrees and with the HL this actually feels really really good very solid yeah that was a little thin okay that’s what it sounded like so we’ll see here okay didn’t really lose anything no

You did not okay A little trajectory yeah little bit of Landing angle it’s funny about that one is the smash Factor was still 143 was it really it going being a little thin yeah huh got a overun that one a little bit wow yeah I feel like I mean again I

Don’t have I’m not the memory is not perfect but I feel like every shot has been just over 180 carries yeah that has seemed to be the case yeah here’s our yeah I mean there it is they’re all right there um that’s what six shots you

Let’s hit one more just so we got seven of each I’d prefer if this one was a little thin too because last time you had two thin ones okay that’s a little bit more thin than I wanted ah H we we we we’ll take that out of the shot here

Out of the sample we’ll leave it in the video for you guys I was actually trying to top it but I didn’t quite didn’t you’re just too good you can’t top it I think as of yesterday we’ve we’ve determined that I can that’s true that’s true but only with Fairway [Laughter]

Woods okay that was a little thin was it actually it was gosh you’re you’re too good you’re too good okay so let’s do this here let’s compare some numbers um I had to do that dude despite the uh the top so okay I’m trying to think this one was

Thin and I think it was this one was also thin yeah I think that’s correct so these two look where they’re at on the map too one right here one right here yeah um they lost no carry number right yeah 181 178 so you lost like two carry yards

Yeah by hitting it a little bit thin on that last one may be something to this new AI face they got going on here there’s something to it I I mean yeah I mean usually look thin to win right is is the the thing right it’s usually not terrible it just

Comes up a little bit short it goes straight but it goes straight it’s short yeah but it it never it’s put never putting you in trouble right this is just hit it anywhere on the face and it’s to win I guess yeah I uh I’m kind of curious

If I go like this and see if we can see oh yeah there is that’s low on the face yeah that’s low on the face y getting more towards the Middle with these ones middle that one’s even this one’s even a little bit low I mean that’s probably

More nitpicking than anything that’s not going to be a big difference these are all pretty good let’s get these ones down here yeah there’s that one’s low I mean can probably feel that one at impact sure also so low and those were the ones on the first club that you felt

Were thin and they still kept up very much distance wise that’s uh I’m impressed by that am impressed by that I am too I think should be proud of that because there’s a lot of golfers out there that will hit the ball thin yeah and they’re looking for something like

That to make sure that the ball still flies well I love too that they’ve they’ve gone back to human testing right rather than just doing the robot thing so humans will give you so many more variables to work with right so that what they’re getting and when they if

They’re going to use AI for these things getting that human variable in there and then taking all that data and applying it toward you know how they build the golf club can only help them have a better performing golf club for humans right it’s not a robot that’s going to

Be swinging this thing so so because what typically has been happening the last several years at they get a robot and they you know set up the club to you know make contact with the toe and then they go to the heel and other places on

The club face um but they do not factor in okay now this robot’s got a swing 10 degrees out to end exactly and then the next swing might be 5 degrees out to end next swing might be z0 you know um that part is is hard to factor in with robot

Testing whereas with humans hitting golf shots you can get those you’re going get everything yes and so it sounds like that’s exactly what Callaway has done with this club face design and with both mod model that worked really well for Kevin it seemed like that was I was

Impressed yeah I I I like the feel of this you know spin rate wise we did see kind of what we thought we would see couple degrees stronger um Landing angle didn’t quite get there for me this time right I I normally want to see that over

45 yeah 45 is your kind of gold number right we’re only averaging 92 feet in the air so that that’ll be something that you know I have as a as a club fitter I’ve got to be cautious about um you know not that you know 447 on the landing angle is

Is a red flag but it’s you know it’s a maybe orange flag right I want to make sure we get the ball that would especially be concerning when it gets to a five iron right four iron if if we’re there with a seven iron likelihood that

We’re going to need to go to you know like a five hybrid is is probably part of the mix or maybe combo it with the with the HL yeah yeah right there’s there’s all those those conversations happen in every fitting and you know you’re one golfer the next golfer might

Hit the ball super high and they might need that lower spin so exactly that’s that’s why it’s important to get fit so uh great performance here from the Paradigm AI smoke irons both the standard and HL models um I think we can wrap it up with final thoughts here yeah

I’m excited to get to get to work with these all right Mr craft testing complete Paradigm AI smoke iron um I was really impressed I think you know there’s um a lot to be said about these the you know what we hear from the manufacturers about what the irons and

What the drivers and what everything’s supposed to do and the new technologies but um you know when we’re told that they did all this new this new testing method and these Club face designs are all different with each um you know hot spot and the sweet spots are magnified

At certain areas of the club face because that’s where people hit the golf ball and then it performs that way that’s that’s pretty cool it is cool pry Co it is cool and you know sometimes it’s sometimes it’s tough as a as a consumer and you know we’re not just clubfitters

And testers and stuff we’re we we play this game so we have to take on the same things that everybody else does in terms of what we’re being told and you know it’s it’s not that everybody’s trying to reinvent the wheel but they’re trying to make a a better performing wheel and I

Think from last generation to this generation I think think we’re definitely seeing that um I thought from a from a feel standpoint stability standpoint and then definitely especially in the HL from a height and spin standpoint we’re talking about a wheel that’s going to it’s going to work

Better on the road yeah yeah you’re right yeah so let’s uh let’s break down each model here start with the standard AI smoke that we tested here today um the type of golfer that will fit into that model there so this will be a lot of golfers um you know kind of a

Midwidth soul so got some forgiveness but uh it’s a little more compact than than this guy so you’re probably not going to see your your highest handicappers going for this one yeah um but it’s it’s a it’s a club that can fit a very wide range of players um could

Even use it as a you I don’t think you’ll find tour players using it but you could probably find uh you know a four iron in in a tour players bag you know uh so yeah this will be the one that’s going to fit probably the

Majority of of people um those who are looking for a little more forgiveness got a little thicker soulle width here um not bad in terms of Top Line either which is something that you know yeah I thought that the HL the smoke HL actually looks it doesn’t look like a

Chunky sort of what it’s kind of categorized H’s always had that they’ve just kind of doubled down on that thicker top line through the years and that’s been my biggest complaint is that they’ve had great shaped irons but then they had this really thick Top Line that

Thick top line is not present in in either of these golf clubs so they look really pleasing to the eye shape is a little different um but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue really for anybody uh if it’s not for me considering how crazy I am in terms of

That sort of thing um so yeah I think they’ve got a really good package here uh when that that player needs a little more trajectory needs a little bit more spin HL is going to be a great option for us yeah yeah I think they’ve they’ve differentiated them enough here too uh

There’s obviously some performance similarities they’re both explosive Club face you know they’re the method of construction is the same the actual face design is different and the result is great performance for both um player types that this will fit into so um great stuff Paradigm AI smoke irons are

Going to be awesome in 20124 schedule your fitting with someone at second swing like Kevin here we’ll get you dial in hitting more greens regulation straight golf shots so thank you Kevin for hitting the shots and providing your Insight today this was uh good absolutely no it was very good Yeah