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.
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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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