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Callaway Epic Speed and Epic Max Drivers and Fairway Woods

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SuperStroke
noodle3872 said:
Every year TM’s new driver seems to get more buzz. This year in particular, it’s good but in many ways a step sideways. Callaway just keep plugging along in the shadows which is unfortunate because their entire range is excellent! TM‘s marketing team out does them all.
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I think Callaway has had the best selling driver for a few years now.
 
Got a chance to hit the Epic Speed yesterday at a demo day.

Let's just say I've got a tough choice ahead of me. I got fit earlier this year for a driver. Unfortunately, due to some swing changes and injuries the shaft setup just doesn't work for me. So while at a demo day trying irons, I gave the drivers a shot. Immediately preferred the look of the Speed down by the ball, so we started there. First tried the MMT 60 shaft, but that wasn't the best fit. Next we tried the iM10 - which I thought felt really good. We tried it at full length, then the fitter suggested playing it shorter as I was still leaving the ball out to the right.

At -1" I didn't lose any clubhead speed, and was finding the center of the face more - the blocks turned into push draws, and ball speed was EXTREMELY consistent. The thing about the club that most impressed me was the sound/feel. Just incredibly solid as compared to both the G410 LST I have and the Epic Flash. In both the 410 and the Flash I have the club draw weighted, so the slight draw bias of the speed is not an issue for me.

Really nice offering from Callaway this year. Stinks that it's not adjustable, but for those that fit into it I think the Speed is going to be a big hit.
 
Nate said:
Xander seems to be creating enough buzz with his drastic reversal in driving stats since the switch to Epic. Pretty impressive.

Also, it seems like many of the staffers made the switch to Epic pretty early in the season. I think that’s pretty good buzz on it’s own.
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Not sure I agree with you on Xander creating a buzz with his driver... I hate to sound snarky, but the only thing buzzing around him lately has been his inability to avoid the bridesmaid rep, and finish on Sundays.
The guys who create buzz are DJ, Bryson, JT and very recently Spieth ( Koepka also?) and none of them are on Callaways staff.
When your big guys are Xander and Rahm, you’re not moving any needles. You put any of the guys I just mentioned, or Rickie Fowler out there, and nobody is following Xander and Rahm over them.
 
GolfFest said:
I think Callaway has had the best selling driver for a few years now.
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If I had to put money on it, I’d agree with you on that.
The thing is, is that more a reflection on the quality of their product, or their name recognition and marketing budget?
For example... you will never convince me the Rogue driver line was better than the G400 or M2/M3 lines of drivers they were competing with.
The Flash line was meh, and although the Maverick drivers got great reviews, I never saw them in the wild down here until they popped up on CPO. Once they did, people started buying them.
Maybe it’s a regional thing, but my club hosts a ton of college matches. You see a lot of Titleist and TM drivers in their bag. As for the older guys, the bag drops are full of transients and locals playing Ping drivers. I realize this is as random as random gets, but when I dabbled with the Cobra SZ Extreme last year, mine was the only bag I ever saw with a Cobra driver in it...
 
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I strolled into Dicks looking to hit a certain combination of club.. of the SIM2. 9.0 SIM2 Hazardus Black 6.0 60g
I was able to hit said combination and I just wasn't happy with the outcome. Hitting super spinny shots that were flaring up and no rollout. I was averging nearly 3100 rpm. No Bueno.
I asked for that shaft with the Epic head. He handed me an Epic Max Ls. With my near negative AOA I do struggle with too much spin.
Good lord that Epic Max LS is a Spin killer. I immediately dropped to the 1900-2100 range. Distance, carry and total went through the roof. They have a set smash factor of 1.37 so I don't have a lot of faith in a realistic set of numbers. But apples to apples was a massive difference.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
 
SC LEFTY said:
If I had to put money on it, I’d agree with you on that.
The thing is, is that more a reflection on the quality of their product, or their name recognition and marketing budget?
For example... you will never convince me the Rogue driver line was better than the G400 or M2/M3 lines of drivers they were competing with.
The Flash line was meh, and although the Maverick drivers got great reviews, I never saw them in the wild down here until they popped up on CPO. Once they did, people started buying them.
Maybe it’s a regional thing, but my club hosts a ton of college matches. You see a lot of Titleist and TM drivers in their bag. As for the older guys, the bag drops are full of transients and locals playing Ping drivers. I realize this is as random as random gets, but when I dabbled with the Cobra SZ Extreme last year, mine was the only bag I ever saw with a Cobra driver in it...
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At launch and for months after that, the MAVRIK line was the number one selling driver line in golf by a pretty good margin. To compound that, market share doesn’t include items like CPO, which would have no bearing on the results.

In a parallel not related to this thread, you hear things about marketing budget with drivers, yet not only isn’t it the largest budget, but you would rarely hear someone say that about a brand’s golf ball spend, which dwarfs most. To take it a step further, you could make the case the easiest tell is what products are leading in fitting bays at brand agnostic fitters...I can’t think of a single brand out there that does not advocate for fitting.
 
Popeye said:
I strolled into Dicks looking to hit a certain combination of club.. of the SIM2. 9.0 SIM2 Hazardus Black 6.0 60g
I was able to hit said combination and I just wasn't happy with the outcome. Hitting super spinny shots that were flaring up and no rollout. I was averging nearly 3100 rpm. No Bueno.
I asked for that shaft with the Epic head. He handed me an Epic Max Ls. With my near negative AOA I do struggle with too much spin.
Good lord that Epic Max LS is a Spin killer. I immediately dropped to the 1900-2100 range. Distance, carry and total went through the roof. They have a set smash factor of 1.37 so I don't have a lot of faith in a realistic set of numbers. But apples to apples was a massive difference.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
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Yeah, the Sim drivers are a mystery to me... the only guys I’ve seen hit them well are on tv. As for the Sim 2? It’s all in the eye of the beholder, but it just looks like a cheap club to me... that was my issue with the Maverick.
Like you, the Epic Max easily performed better for me. The 400 Max has been so reliable though, in the back of my mind, I keep hearing a voice that says “stick with what works, get the 425 Max and stop over thinking things”. :rolleyes:
 
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SC LEFTY said:
If I had to put money on it, I’d agree with you on that.
The thing is, is that more a reflection on the quality of their product, or their name recognition and marketing budget?
For example... you will never convince me the Rogue driver line was better than the G400 or M2/M3 lines of drivers they were competing with.
The Flash line was meh, and although the Maverick drivers got great reviews, I never saw them in the wild down here until they popped up on CPO. Once they did, people started buying them.
Maybe it’s a regional thing, but my club hosts a ton of college matches. You see a lot of Titleist and TM drivers in their bag. As for the older guys, the bag drops are full of transients and locals playing Ping drivers. I realize this is as random as random gets, but when I dabbled with the Cobra SZ Extreme last year, mine was the only bag I ever saw with a Cobra driver in it...
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Fit matters. There is no one best.

Flash and Mavrik sold EXTREMELY well worldwide, fwiw. Basing things off a region or local haunts is always a microcosm of the big picture.

I can speak on Junior and college golf as well though, Callaway is making MASSIVE inroads there because kids are going and getting fit rather than starting with a brand bias, and there is a growing amount of Chev in there bags, particularly at driver.
 
JB said:
At launch and for months after that, the MAVRIK line was the number one selling driver line in golf by a pretty good margin. To compound that, market share doesn’t include items like CPO, which would have no bearing on the results.

In a parallel not related to this thread, you hear things about marketing budget with drivers, yet not only isn’t it the largest budget, but you would rarely hear someone say that about a brand’s golf ball spend, which dwarfs most. To take it a step further, you could make the case the easiest tell is what products are leading in fitting bays at brand agnostic fitters...I can’t think of a single brand out there that does not advocate for fitting.
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Yes, it was, and for sure it was a really good driver. I was referring more to what I see down here in the Myrtle Beach area.
I was up on Long Island last year around the holidays, and the Maverick was creating a ton of buzz, and preorders were through the roof. Down here, not so much.
 
If you are on Instagram, you may have seen the B Roll we have done recently on the Mizuno irons, Ping driver, Houdini sole, Honma, Srixon and more. Here is one that was fun with Callaway and a play on Phil's hitting bombs.

 
Jman said:
Fit matters. There is no one best.

Flash and Mavrik sold EXTREMELY well worldwide, fwiw. Basing things off a region or local haunts is always a microcosm of the big picture.

I can speak on Junior and college golf as well though, Callaway is making MASSIVE inroads there because kids are going and getting fit rather than starting with a brand bias, and there is a growing amount of Chev in there bags, particularly at driver.
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You’re 100% right about getting fit. I think I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but up until a couple of years ago my club had a Callaway Performance Center adjacent to our range. Our members were getting the best fitting experience in the region, right at our doorstep.
I can’t tell you how many of us were bagging the Apex cf16 or XR irons with Recoil shafts and playing MD3 wedges, all with those cool Lamkin neon green grips....
*MASSIVE* ✌
 
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SC LEFTY said:
You’re 100% right about getting fit. I think I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but up until a couple of years ago my club had a Callaway Performance Center adjacent to our range. Our members were getting the best fitting experience in the region, right at our doorstep.
I can’t tell you how many of us were bagging the Apex cf16 or XR irons with Recoil shafts and playing MD3 wedges, all with those cool Lamkin neon green grips....
*MASSIVE* ✌
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Yes, massive. And once again, I stand by it, and see it daily in my jobs.

They’ve shed their “old guy club” connotation fully when it comes to junior golfers, and it’s showing.
 
I think the lack of interest for me is partly because of the irons stealing the spotlight. Having just ordered irons I’m not ready to turn around and drop $600 on a driver too. That and the flash has been good to me.
 
Custom LS has to happen. And now we wait...
 
Max LS should be in my hands today. :eek:
 
This thing looks sooooo good in hand. Going for it's maiden voyage tomorrow in my sim league.

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SC LEFTY said:
I’m a firm believer that as long as you’re in the proper shaft profile with a fairly current driver, your distance is your distance. These heads are maxed out as far as that goes. I tune out the guys who tell me “I gained 15 yards...” and think it’s the new head. No, it isn’t, if you gained 15 yards, your old driver was a very bad fit.
What you might be able to improve on is look, a touch of forgiveness, and hopefully tighten dispersion a bit.
Is that worth spending almost $600 with tax? It’s up to the individual, of course. Nothing wrong with wanting new...
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LDUBFIREGOLFER said:
Maybe I found the right shaft (Attas gogo 5r) because I live on the toe and I've had solid results.....button balls are really solid .....I'm slightly OTT on normal swings but actually staying more inside and DTL with this setup....also have opti-fit in D/S setting

Will STILL hit /buy likely the MAX LS for ballspeed increases I saw so fsr
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Yes , evidently the ATTAS gogo profile has to be a perfect match for me .....no , I'm not claiming 15yds of distance gains but what I have seen with LS head over 17 Epic is lower spin, more ballspeed and more stability.....the 17 Epic has been very good in my hands and yet gains are available albeit subtle to most......

As @JB mentioned before , STUPID describes this club overall.......
 
LDUBFIREGOLFER said:
Yes , evidently the ATTAS gogo profile has to be a perfect match for me .....no , I'm not claiming 15yds of distance gains but what I have seen with LS head over 17 Epic is lower spin, more ballspeed and more stability.....the 17 Epic has been very good in my hands and yet gains are available albeit subtle to most......

As @JB mentioned before , STUPID describes this club overall.......
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The word MASSIVE comes to mind also.... :rolleyes:
 
Alez367 said:
I would have blocked his number had he not going clean crown
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I believe you. Haha.
it looks so good. Just ready for it to ship.
 
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