With how good the driver is today and the limits placed on them really getting any faster, it’s rare that we see anything truly new. Taylormade made major waves last year with the carbon-faced Stealth. This year Callaway answered with their own carbon fiber creation, Callaway Paradym.

Now with how long the big boys are doing research and development, this isn’t a direct response to Taylormade’s success with the Stealth. Callaway has undoubtedly been working on the concept of a carbon fiber shell for years. They invented a new process for shaping and making carbon fiber called “Forged Carbon,” which has been explained as taking bits of carbon fiber and pressing them together which allows them to make complex shapes (like the bottom of a driver). The crown is made from basically the same “old” carbon fiber nearly every driver has now.

Why? Basically to save weight. The weight in the middle of the driver does nothing for performance. Companies have been trying to strip weight out of the middle and get it to the back for years to lower the CG and add forgiveness.

The 360° Carbon Chassis removes all titanium from the body by combining a Triaxial Carbon crown and Callaway’s proprietary Forged Carbon sole. This results in a body that’s 44% lighter than an all-titanium body. This massive weight savings is repositioned both forward to enhance ball speed, and toward the back of the clubhead for increased forgiveness.

From the Callaway Website

That 44% statistic is slightly misleading because they are comparing the Paradym to an “all-titanium body.” Their last driver, the Rogue ST, had a carbon fiber crown. Nearly every manufacturer uses at minimum a carbon fiber crown. Direct-to-consumer and super affordable manufacturer Sub 70 does in their 849 series. Hell, even Ping finally gave in and put carbon fiber back into the G430 after dabbling with it very successfully in the Ping Rapture back in 2007. Titleist is the lone big-name holdout who doesn’t use it.

While the carbon fiber body is definitely the flashier story (literally and figuratively; this driver is gorgeous) The most intriguing new tech might be the updated face.

The new A.I. designed face is optimized to increase ball speeds, enhance launch, and now downrange dispersion. Experience a more consistent shot pattern with the world’s most advanced driver face designed by A.I.

AI is so hot right now. Chat GPT and AI art have at various points dominated the internet in the last few months. A lot of industries slap AI on something to get some tech clout. Callaway doesn’t seem to be one of those just using it for branding. They introduced it with the Epic “Flash Face.” The goal was for the AI to spit out a face that gives the fastest ball speeds across the face, so the result was a wavy back to the face that certainly looks like something a computer would spit out after millions of simulations. They’ve used it for multiple generations of drivers with outstanding results. What I didn’t realize is that they had never tried to have the computer add forgiveness into the formula. The fact “downrange dispersion” was never used as a variable before now is kind of surprising, but can only be a good thing.

So is this really a paradigm shift? Will every company be bringing out their own carbon fiber drivers in the next 5 years? Maybe, but probably not. I think there is a much better chance of Callaway’s carbon fiber breakthrough catching on than Taylormade’s. The drivers sound great and are performing well in early testing I have seen. They aren’t crazy eye-popping numbers though. Those can’t really exist because they have been up against the ball speed limits for years. Maybe MyGolfSpy will show in their yearly huge test with amateurs it is really a huge jump in forgiveness in real people’s hands. I’m not really sure how they can beat their driver in a statistically significant manner from last year that was right up there with the legend in forgiveness, Ping. It will also be interesting to see how well they hold up when people have them rattling around in their bags for a whole year.

The Callaway Paradym, Paradym X, and Triple-Diamond begin preorder on Jan.13 and will be on shelves Feb. 24 for $599.