Callaway has been known for breaking the boundaries of club head design for many years. While there has always been a focus on distance with forgiveness, the new Elyte line up for 2025 claims to take these performance attributes to new levels. The name represents the continued innovation its golf clubs have seen over the past few generations - from good, to great and to elite or Elyte, which gives a subtle nod to the company's founder - Ely Callaway Jr.
Last year the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke range had so much shelf appeal with its forged carbon design that it was always going to be hard to improve on the aesthetics. This year it seems Callaway has toned things down on the visuals and is happy to let the performance on the golf course do the talking. Through implementing new crown and face technology as well as enhanced aerodynamics, Callaway has its sights set on topping the list of the best golf drivers of 2025 and will be hoping the versatility of the Elyte driver range will help it claim the crown.
What Is The Technology?
Much of the technology within the new Callaway Elyte family comes by way of improved aerodynamics. The brand claims historically with driver design that: “Fast head shapes are unforgiving and forgiving shapes lack speed”. A smaller profile will allow the head to move faster but this has always had an impact on the forgiveness and so the R&D team at Callaway was challenged to create a faster head without losing the high levels of MOI found in last year's design. With over $2 million invested into in-house 3D printing, the brand has been able to rapidly produce more prototypes and understand what the implications are when making subtle tweaks to each area of the head.
Images showing the improved aerodynamics of the Callaway Elyte shape over the Ai Smoke driver footprint
The new Elyte driver family boasts a lower profile heel section and a higher ribbon. While this did initially create a CG penalty, through the use of new materials on the crown and a newly designed face, the engineers were able to counteract this penalty, resulting in better aerodynamics without losing any forgiveness. A refined and improved Ai Smartface has been introduced, which sees ten more 'control points' than on the Paradym Ai Smoke driver and more swing data fed through the Callaway super computer to create a face that is more forgiving in the places that golfers need it the most.
The new shaping and Thermoforged carbon crown on the Callaway Elyte driver
Elsewhere the Callaway Elyte drivers will feature a new Thermoforged Carbon crown made from aerospace-grade carbon for additional weight savings. Callaway is claiming the combination of the new 10x Ai Smartface, refined materials and modified head profiles will result in more club and ball speed, up to 19 percent tighter dispersion and more optimized spin.
What Are The Models And Who Are They Aimed At?
Drivers
There are three driver models available in the new Callaway Elyte range. The Elyte is a head that will suit the majority of golfers regardless of their ability level. This driver features a new perimeter weighting system that allows golfers to fully customize where they place the movable 13g weight to help promote or rectify a certain ball flight. This head boasts a matte carbon fiber crown on a modern-looking profile with the iconic Callaway chevron on the top for easy alignment. This head will be available in three lofts of 9°, 10.5°, and 12° with an adjustable hosel to help you tailor this club to your needs.
Read our full Callaway Elyte driver review
The Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond is a low spin driver designed for more confident players who want a slightly more compact-looking head at address. This particular model is a 450cc head whereas the other two models in the lineup are both 460cc. The smaller profile is matched with a gloss carbon fiber crown and a front-to-back weighting system, allowing golfers to move the heavier weight forward to lower launch and spin or throw it in the rear weight port for more stability. Due to this model being popular among faster swingers of the club, the Triple Diamond is available in lofts of 8°, 9° and 10.5° for maximum trajectory control.
Read our full Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond driver review
The last driver model in the range is the Elyte X - a driver for the golfer seeking a higher launch with maximum forgiveness. The 13g weight in the rear can easily be moved towards the heel to promote a more draw-bias ball flight, helping those who fight against a slice. From the top, this model looks almost identical to the standard Elyte model, with a Thermoforged matte carbon crown and satin black banner running along the top of the face for weight saving and additional alignment benefits. Callaway will be hoping this model stands out among the most forgiving drivers in 2025.
Read our full Callaway Elyte X driver review
Fairway Woods
The fairway woods suitably follow the lineup of the drivers so there is very little to be confused about. The Elyte fairway wood model looks exactly like a miniature version of the driver, which will please those who like a matching set at the top end of the bag. This model is available by way of a 3-wood (15°) through to an 11-wood (27°). The Elyte fairway features a new 35g Tungsten Speed Wave which is positioned low and forward to help promote fast ball speeds. This has been introduced to help with shots struck slightly low on the face - a common occurrence for most club golfers, particularly when striking fairway woods from the deck.
Read our full Callaway Elyte fairway wood review
The Triple Diamond fairway wood is once again catered towards the more confident ball striker and comes with the same gloss carbon fiber crown found on the driver equivalent. This particular model has a more compact shape to promote workability and a slightly deeper face to promote a lower launch with less spin. As is the case with all of the Elyte fairway models, the Triple Diamond has been designed with a new Step Sole for enhanced turf interaction and improved center-face contact. The sole is slightly raised towards the face of the club allowing the club to slide through the turf better at impact - something the Callaway engineers have taken from the design of the popular Apex UW.
Read our Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond fairway wood review
Rounding out the fairway woods is the Elyte X model which has been designed with forgiveness in mind. This model boasts a more shallow face which has been designed to promote easier launch and inspire confidence in those that require it, particularly when used playing into greens on longer par 4s or par 5s. Like the Elyte X driver, this model has draw-bias to help golfers who suffer from cutting across the ball at impact and naturally hit a fade. Alongside the new Ai 10x face, all three of the fairway wood models have been constructed with a C300 Cup Face to help with additional ball speed on off-center strikes, as well as down-range dispersion. With all of this technology, the Elyte X fairway will likely become one of the most forgiving fairway woods released this year,
Read our Callaway Elyte X fairway wood review
Hybrids
Unlike the driver and fairway woods, there are only two hybrid models in the Elyte family - the Elyte and the Elyte X. The former is a mid-sized head that is designed for playability while offering more forgiveness than a long iron could provide. There are two weight ports situated towards the heel and toe on the sole of the club and come equipped with one 13g tungsten weight and one 3g aluminum weight that can be placed in either position to provide a neutral or more draw-bias ball flight.
Read our Callaway Elyte Hybrid review
The Elyte X hybrid has a larger footprint and a deeper face for more forgiveness and a confidence-inspiring look. Like the rest of the family, the Elyte hybrids come equipped with the new Ai 10x Smart Face helping maintain consistent ball speeds on shots that are miss-struck. The long blade length and high launch/low spin nature of the Elyte X hybrid will suit those looking for an alternative option to the driver off the tee or one of the most forgiving hybrid models.
Read our full Callaway Elyte X hybrid review
Irons
The Callaway Elyte irons epitomise what the whole range is about - complete performance. A new speed frame construction allows for urethane microspheres to be placed behind the face, damping vibration and improving acoustics through impact. This is similar technology to what the brand already uses on one of the most forgiving wedges on the market - the Callaway CB.
Read our full Callaway Elyte Iron Review
Photo of the Callaway Elyte Irons
The Elyte X iron is similar to the standard iron in the sense they both feature the Ai 10x Smart face for more control and optimized launch across the face. Both of the irons are also built with a new tri-sole design which features three different sections to help ensure solid contact and allow the club to glide effortlessly through the turf at impact. The X model benefits from more offset at address, a larger sole and a thicker top-line for a confidence-inspiring look and easier launch. This iron looks to be among the most forgiving irons in terms of its performance package.
Read our full Callaway Elyte X iron review
If more launch and height is what you’re after but without the much larger footprint, there is a third iron - the Elyte HL. This is very much the same iron as the standard Elyte model just with additional loft through the set to help promote a higher, towering ball flight.
Who’s Using Them On Tour?
Akshay Bhatia using the new Callaway Elyte Driver at the Hero World Challenge
Tour seeding has already begun with Callaway staffers such as Akshay Bhatia already having put the driver in play. It’s expected that all Callaway staffers will likely make the switch to the new Elyte range as the season progresses but players such as Sam Burns and Min Woo Lee were both still using the original Paradym Triple Diamond S last season despite the launch of the Ai Smoke models. It remains to be seen if Xander Schauffele will put the new Elyte woods in play after his stellar year in 2024 where he won two major championships.
What Callaway Says
"In golf going faster has meant going smaller, it's meant a more compact shape, lower profile product. Things like raising the ribbon and all of those have tradeoffs, all of those have penalties associated. We see lower MOI, we see higher CG, and higher spin that can result in a short ball flight. We challenged our team to create a new shape that was faster, but without any significant trade-offs to MOI or CG.
What we're seeing is up to 19% tighter dispersion than the AI Smoke Driver which was already incredibly forgiving and already tighter than we were with Paradym, which was tighter than we were with Rogue ST Max. We're just honing in and creating a super consistent driver. Through shape, materials and AI, that's how we're going from a great product to an elite product that doesn't have really any weaknesses."
Our First Impressions
The Elyte family certainly seems like another step forward in clubhead design from an aerodynamic standpoint and once again with Ai technology, but we're a little underwhelmed with the aesthetics as a whole. Callaway set such a high bar with the Ai Smoke last year and so that was always going to be hard to beat but it does feel as though we’ve seen this color scheme and look before with the Great Big Bertha Epic range.
The good news is that looks are very much just part of the story and these clubs really do let the performance do the talking. From all of my testing, I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the results each model was producing. They're clearly designed with specific golfer profiles in mind and I feel the variance in performance reflected that well. There's definitely something for everyone here.
Specs, Pricing & Availability
On Sale: January 31st 2025
RRPs: Elyte and Elyte X drivers $599/£569, Elyte Triple Diamond driver $649/£599, Elyte and Elyte X fairway $349/£349, Triple Diamond fairway $449/£359, hybrid $299/£299, irons $900/ six piece set, steel £167pc / graphite £175pc
Driver/Woods Stock Shafts: True Temper Project X Denali Charcoal, Mitsubishi Chemical Vanquish PL, Aretera EC1 Blue, Mitsubishi Tensei 1k Black,
Hybrid Stock Shaft: True Temper Project X Denali Charcoal, Mitsubishi Chemical Vanquish PL
Irons Stock Shafts: True Temper Vector, True Temper Project X Denali Charcoal, KBS Max 80
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