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By independent reviewer Martin Hopley

The Callaway Elyte driver replaces the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max Driver with the aim of greater club head speed through a new more aerodynamic shape.

Normally there is a trade off between the taller more compact shape of a faster head with the larger shape of a more forgiving head. To try and make a faster head shape without a loss of forgiveness Callaway used a number of titanium 3D printed heads and through a process of testing came up with the Elyte shape.

The Elyte driver has a taller 460cc head and uses a new Thermoforged Carbon crown that is stronger than carbon and made in one process.

The new Ai10 face has 10 times more control points where the is less drop in ball speed when there is an off-centre strike in order to make the Elyte more forgiving. Callaway claim up to 1.3mph extra head speed, but that could vary depending on how you swing the club.

The Callaway Elyte driver comes in three models and I put them through their paces in the Lyle studio using the same shaft that I had been custom fitted for in my previous Callaway driver fitting.

Callaway Elyte Driver Review

Visually the standard Elyte driver is an improvement on the Ai Smoke thanks to a cleaner dark crown and sole. The green and white flashes are reminiscent of the Epic driver and are solid rather than spectacular.

What is spectacular is the sound at impact which is much more solid than the Ai Smoke thanks to the new shape and crown material. In testing at SGGT using Pro V1 balls hit outdoors with Trackman, the Elyte outperformed the Ai Smoke by a few yards. There is a fraction more club speed, but the main gain came from the better launch conditions of spin and launch angle.

What do Trackman numbers mean?

The sole has a 13g weight that can be moved towards the heal to create 4-8 yards of draw or towards the toe to create 2-4 yards of fade. The functionality of this is pretty simple, but doing it this way does save weight compared to elaborate sliding tracks.

Combined with the adjustable hosel, the sole weight will give the SGGT fitters plenty of options to dial in the performance of the Elyte to suit any golfer.

Callaway Elyte X Driver review

The Callaway Elyte X driver replaces the Ai Smoke Max D and is the more forgiving version. The head is slightly deeper for a higher launch and is set up with only the draw option weight position.

This was very easy to hit and gave the highest ball speed on test for me, but maybe with a little too much spin. With some adjustments to loft and shaft it could be dialled into be a very accurate and forgiving club if the spin could be dropped a little.

Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond Driver Review

The Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond driver has the most compact head and is the lower spinning version for high swing speed players. It is easy to spot thanks to the polished black crown and has a real classy look to it.

Callaway claim that it is more forgiving than past Triple Diamond drivers and I would go along with that. You could see the faster head speed from the slightly more compact shape and it did seem easier to get going than previous models of this type. That said, the better launch conditions didn’t always transfer into more distance, which indicates a bit less forgiveness, so one to leave for the better players.

Callaway Elyte Driver Review Summary

Overall the Callaway Elyte driver is an improvement on the Ai Smoke because it is a little quicker through the air and it looks a lot better on the sole. After the previous high-tech head of Ai Smoke, this is the alternate year for the simple forgiving driver from Callaway and the Elyte fulfils this role well.

The last in these models was the Callaway Rogue ST and if you still have one of these, then the test against the Elyte would be interesting. Ultimately it will all come down the loft, shaft and optimising the adjustability options and your driver custom fitting at SGGT will be able to create some Elyte results for you.

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