Analyzing the last three years of Callaway drivers with a swing robot

We receive a lot of questions about the latest gear in the marketplace. Most of them center around one specific question: "Should I switch out my current gamer for a [fill in the blank] driver?"

Understanding how the technology housed inside the head can benefit your game is important, but golfers want to see real numbers. The best way to do this is to go test them yourself. Of course, it'd be nice if you had a cheatsheet of sorts that let you know which drivers were worth testing or avoiding.

Our hope is Golf Digest's new Robo Test series can be that cheatsheet. With the Golf Laboratories swing robot leading the way — the same machine used by the USGA, R&A and nearly every major equipment manufacturer for testing — we'll provide you with meaningful insights that hopefully make you smarter and better informed about the gear that's out there.

For our inaugural video, we pitted the last three years of Callaway drivers (Elyte, Ai Smoke and Paradym) against each other to determine which models excel in key metrics, including spin rate, ball speed, carry distance and dispersion.

Should you upgrade or stick with what you have? Let's dive in.

1. Spin rate

When it comes to spin rate, there’s a definite trend towards lower spin in this year’s Elyte models across the board, which can translate to more distance. But if you can somehow trend lower and keep the highest and lowest spin rates within just 700 RPMs of each other, you can pretty much hit it all over the face and not sweat that round-cratering miss.

It’s why we believe Elyte Triple Diamond and Elyte X are driver cheat codes.

So why should you care so much about spin rates? Because spin ultimately dictates carry distance. And if you want to bomb it out there, you need reliable spin numbers to keep the ball in the air, especially if you produce inconsistent contact.

Elyte’s tight spin rates are even more impressive when you compare them to Ai Smoke Triple Diamond and Paradym Triple Diamond, where the high/low spin deltas were anywhere from 1,400-1,600 RPMs apart. Being able to improve spin consistency by 100-plus percent confirms the latest version of Callaway’s Ai face provides a real-world benefit.

2. Shot dispersion

When we break things down by overall shot dispersion, aka "forgiveness," we saw a significant improvement from the 2023 Paradym line to this year’s Elyte line.

We’re now seeing balls that were hanging in a bunch left of the centerline more concentrated around the middle. Think of this chart like shooting a gun at a target. It’s nice when the shot pattern is in a tight bunch, but not when it’s nearly off the target. You want everything to end up around the bulls-eye.

When you overlay the dispersion chart on an actual golf hole, you can see the Elyte and Ai Smoke deliver a straighter ball, regardless of your impact location. In this case, you’re going from consistently living in the trees to finding the right and left rough with those bigger misses.

3. Ball speed

We’re all looking for more distance off the tee, and this is the main reason why most golfers splurge for a new driver. Looking at the ball speed numbers recorded by the robot, Elyte was anywhere from 1-2 mph faster than Ai Smoke and Paradym, which isn’t that impressive. No one’s spending $600 for 3 yards of additional distance.

But what if you could gain 10 yards, in some cases, without making swing changes or improving impact consistency?

Here’s where our data visuals paint an interesting picture. Not only are we seeing a 1-2 mph increase at the high end of ball speed, but the bar chart is getting tighter on the back end, which is similar to what we saw with spin rates. That means the variance in ball speed across the entirety of the face is improving.

And that’s good news for one particular metric.

4. Carry distance

So we’re seeing tighter spin rates and ball speeds no matter where you’re hitting it. As you’d expect, that translates to larger carry distance numbers, and remember, if you swing faster than 95 mph, you will see greater distance increases. But let’s take a look at the low-spin Elyte Triple Diamond, which has historically been considered a driver model for better players with faster swing speeds. In most cases, low spin generally comes with a tradeoff in overall forgiveness.

I’d contend Elyte Triple Diamond has more forgiveness than you might realize. Paradym Triple Diamond had carry distances ranging from 195-225 yards during testing, while Elyte Triple Diamond ranged from 205-235 yards. Yes, the delta is 30 yards for both drivers, but you’re now 10 yards longer on even your worst mis-hit.

Elyte X was even better, gaining 15 yards on its worst shots compared to Ai Smoke Max D and an additional 5 yards on the top end. Not only are these drivers longer across the board, but they’re longer where you need them most.

5. Who should upgrade?

The obvious answers to this question are Elyte X and Elyte Triple Diamond. It’s not often that the low-spin model in the lineup winds up being the fastest and most forgiving at 95 mph. At 105 mph? We could understand it, but we’re now living in a world where drivers no longer tidy buckets. Sometimes they blur the lines between multiple categories.

The Elyte X packs an absolute punch compared to the previous two versions. It’s not just fast. It’s consistently fast, regardless of where you’re hitting it. We can’t stress enough how massive those insights are for mid-handicappers with inconsistent contact. The fade-bias also makes this a legitimate option for better players. If you didn’t get the memo: This one is special.

6. Who should not upgrade?

Someone who plays an auto-fade might not like the straighter flight Elyte and Ai Smoke provide, but you can always dial in shot shape with adjustable weights.

Golfers playing Ai Smoke Max or Paradym won’t see a massive uptick in performance going to the standard Elyte, so that’s likely the one model where we'd say you’re probably good to hold, unless you want a slight increase in ball speed. But with Elyte Triple Diamond and Elyte X improving in a big way, it might make sense to test one of those to see if it’s a better fit.