Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D Fairway Wood Review

WATCH: We test and compare the best fairway woods on the market in 2024

The new Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke family features four fairway woods; the Max - suitable for the most amount of golfers thanks to it’s strong all-round performance, the Triple Diamond - designed for low launch and spin, the Max Fast - perfect for those who want help with launch and height and the Max D which has been created to promote a high launch and draw-bias. While all four models possess some of the new Artificial Intelligence technology that gives these clubs their name, each has been cleverly designed to be suitable for golfers fighting or wanting help promoting certain ball flights.

The Ai Smoke Max D has been designed with forgiveness and ease of use in mind and that’s evident when comparing this club to the other members of the Ai smoke fairway wood family. The Max D is set to be one of the most forgiving fairway woods released this year thanks to multiple technical refinements over last year's Paradym model. Callaway has created the Max D model with a slightly more upright lie angle and larger head than the standard Max model. Despite the head looking fairly large and closed to my eye on the ground, I think it still looks as good as some of the best fairway woods on the market.

The head is created from an even stronger and lighter carbon chassis compared to its predecessor, where a total of 24g has been saved and redistributed evenly both lower and forward to elevate spin and launch angles, but also towards the rear for additional forgiveness. The white and grey crushed carbon sole looks beautiful, particularly when shimmering in sunlight and would definitely turn a few heads on the golf course.

The performance upon testing was as expected for the Max D model. I consistently saw high draws through the air, so much so that I only missed one ball to the right of my target when hitting shots indoors at My Golf Matters, Berkshire, gathering data on a Trackman 4 launch monitor. As someone who already plays a slight draw, this club was a little overkill and many of my draws turned into hooks, which proves the design of this club is doing what it is supposed to. The Ai Smart Face is a new technology implemented in the whole of the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke lineup and has been designed through collecting data from thousands of golf shots to create a face with varying thicknesses, creating multiple sweet spots the whole way across the face. Even my heel struck shots felt as though they had good distance and a powerful ball flight.

Where I feel the Ai Smoke Max D fairway wood excelled over the other models in the range was from the first cut of rough. The shallow face and high MOI helped the launch the ball effortlessly from the thick, wet rough and made advancing the ball down long par 4s and par 5s particularly easy. There really was little to complain about with the Max D, other than as much as the shallow face helped launch the ball off the fairway, it made it relatively more challenging to strike the ball correctly when placed off a tee and those who strike the ball with a fairly steep attack angle may find the same issue.

The Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D fairway wood alongside the other fairway wood models will be available to purchase from the 26th January and will retail at $349/£379. This model of fairway wood will be powered by a MCA Tensei Av Blue shaft or Project X Cypher 2.0 as stock, depending on flex and is available in lofts of 15°,16.5°, 18° and 21°.