We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Callaway Epic Speed and Epic Max Drivers and Fairway Woods

SuperStroke
Had my first round with the Epic Speed 4w this past weekend and really like what I am seeing so far. Easy to hit off the tee and off the deck. I get plenty of height and distance with the set up. I did not think I would like it as much as I did the Mavrik SZ 4w but I do.
 
I'm still working on my swing and making it consistent, but I had 2 nice drives with my Max LS during league tonight on a wet course. Loving that driver.
 
I am going to retract an earlier statement That @JB questioned me on. I initially thought that the Max LS was slightly fade biased. He pointed out that Callaway says that it is neutral. I now concede that both he and the company are correct. Imagine that, which leads me to my only slight complaint about the Max LS.

My swing is starting to really come around and I am hitting a lot of very straight balls with it. However, I am also missing it both ways. In my round today, I hit it 11 times today off the tee. I hit 6 fairways. I was left twice. I was right three times. This suggests complete neutral flight, where the direction is dependent upon my swing. I might score a little better if I could eliminate one of the misses and it doesn’t really matter to me which. I will be playing with the sliding weight to see if it makes a difference for me.

On the very bright side. ShotScope is saying that my performance average with driver is 293 yards. Now, I am playing at 4000 feet elevation, but the rounds have been in cooler weather. Even at sea level, I would estimate that this performance average would be at 270 plus, which is really top end for me. Last year, my driving average was around 285, so I have picked up almost ten yards. I am hitting about 50% of my fairways and want to get that up another 10% or so.

It really is a superb driver.
 
Tenputt said:
I am going to retract an earlier statement That @JB questioned me on. I initially thought that the Max LS was slightly fade biased. He pointed out that Callaway says that it is neutral. I now concede that both he and the company are correct. Imagine that, which leads me to my only slight complaint about the Max LS.

My swing is starting to really come around and I am hitting a lot of very straight balls with it. However, I am also missing it both ways. In my round today, I hit it 11 times today off the tee. I hit 6 fairways. I was left twice. I was right three times. This suggests complete neutral flight, where the direction is dependent upon my swing. I might score a little better if I could eliminate one of the misses and it doesn’t really matter to me which. I will be playing with the sliding weight to see if it makes a difference for me.

On the very bright side. ShotScope is saying that my performance average with driver is 293 yards. Now, I am playing at 4000 feet elevation, but the rounds have been in cooler weather. Even at sea level, I would estimate that this performance average would be at 270 plus, which is really top end for me. Last year, my driving average was around 285, so I have picked up almost ten yards. I am hitting about 50% of my fairways and want to get that up another 10% or so.

It really is a superb driver.
Click to expand...

How is this comparing against your Radspeed? Distance and consistency wise?
 
JonD said:
How is this comparing against your Radspeed? Distance and consistency wise?
Click to expand...
Right now, I would say that the RadSpeed has a bit higher top end potential, but is not as long on slight misses. I am hitting about 50% of my fairways with the Max LS and 60% with the RadSpeed. Now that my swing is rounding into shape, I need to alternate them a bit more and see if one is the clear winner. The other thing that I want to do is move the heavier weight forward in the Cobra. I was struggling a fair bit with my swing from mid-March to mid-April and I had moved the heavier weight into the back. I traditionally have played the heavier weight forward In the Cobra heads. I may find that the gap narrows on average distance, if the spin comes down a bit on the Cobra. I have no doubt that I could be perfectly happy playing either driver.
 
Tenputt said:
Right now, I would say that the RadSpeed has a bit higher top end potential, but is not as long on slight misses. I am hitting about 50% of my fairways with the Max LS and 60% with the RadSpeed. Now that my swing is rounding into shape, I need to alternate them a bit more and see if one is the clear winner. The other thing that I want to do is move the heavier weight forward in the Cobra. I was struggling a fair bit with my swing from mid-March to mid-April and I had moved the heavier weight into the back. I traditionally have played the heavier weight forward In the Cobra heads. I may find that the gap narrows on average distance, if the spin comes down a bit on the Cobra. I have no doubt that I could be perfectly happy playing either driver.
Click to expand...

I must have missed it but what shaft are you playing in the LS?
 
JonD said:
I must have missed it but what shaft are you playing in the LS?
Click to expand...
Because I am a club ho, I have several. I have used my custom shaft made at the THP Small Batch experience at True Sports. I have used a Graphite Design Tour AD TP 60 stiff. I have used an Hzrdus Smoke Blue 60, 6.0 (which is what is in the Cobra). They all have been great.
 
I got my new Ventus Black with flat adapter yesterday and plugged into the Max LS. Inital range session = Freaking incredible. I cant wait for my next lesson to see what the monitor says. This is my first experience with Ventus and I am excited to get on the course. Stoked!
 
First range session yesterday confirmed everything we saw on the monitor. Missles with the Max LS. Really need to read up on the MMT 60x as I am really digging it.
 
Last edited:
Had a good lesson yesterday and made better contact on the face. Hopefully, that will carry over to the course.
 
Tenputt said:
I am going to retract an earlier statement That @JB questioned me on. I initially thought that the Max LS was slightly fade biased. He pointed out that Callaway says that it is neutral. I now concede that both he and the company are correct. Imagine that, which leads me to my only slight complaint about the Max LS.

My swing is starting to really come around and I am hitting a lot of very straight balls with it. However, I am also missing it both ways. In my round today, I hit it 11 times today off the tee. I hit 6 fairways. I was left twice. I was right three times. This suggests complete neutral flight, where the direction is dependent upon my swing. I might score a little better if I could eliminate one of the misses and it doesn’t really matter to me which. I will be playing with the sliding weight to see if it makes a difference for me.

On the very bright side. ShotScope is saying that my performance average with driver is 293 yards. Now, I am playing at 4000 feet elevation, but the rounds have been in cooler weather. Even at sea level, I would estimate that this performance average would be at 270 plus, which is really top end for me. Last year, my driving average was around 285, so I have picked up almost ten yards. I am hitting about 50% of my fairways and want to get that up another 10% or so.

It really is a superb driver.
Click to expand...

You got a month to get that under control or it’s going to be a rough round out there in 4in rough
 
Alez367 said:
You got a month to get that under control or it’s going to be a rough round out there in 4in rough
Click to expand...
I will do a bunch of weight training. 😂
 
The Max LS had its second consecutive round of consistent good drives. I have had good driving days in the past but never two of my best ever back to back. The low spin design helps with my negative AOA and the max style forgiving head keeps the ball speed up all over the face especially toe side. Having no left bias is perfect for my pull tendency and the straight top line without visible bulge and roll make it easy to align. Playing again tomorrow hoping for three in a row.
 
Had an absolutely Epic day today with the Epic Max.

after some recent struggles, I worked on alignment, ball position, and grip in the last week. What an absolute change. I went 3/3 with it today, and not just balls in the fairway, but dead straight ball flights that landed dead center of the fairway.
252, 254, 272

I even had a guy in the group behind watching us tee off tell me “here comes Mr Consistent” off the tee.

i loved this driver. When my swing isn’t just total crap, this driver performs better than anything I’ve ever hit. And when it is, I still end up playable more often than not.
 
20210506_104610.jpg

I have been talking about the forgiveness of the Epic Max LS but lets not forget that this thing is a legit bomber when hit in the middle of the face. This drive was on a flat hole and winds where only 8-10 mph yesterday. Thank you Callaway for making a forgiving neutral setup driver with lower spin. Its like they made it specifically for me.
 
badolds said:
The Max LS had its second consecutive round of consistent good drives. I have had good driving days in the past but never two of my best ever back to back. The low spin design helps with my negative AOA and the max style forgiving head keeps the ball speed up all over the face especially toe side. Having no left bias is perfect for my pull tendency and the straight top line without visible bulge and roll make it easy to align. Playing again tomorrow hoping for three in a row.
Click to expand...

Sums it up pretty well. I have been known for being, well, a bit erratic off the tee over the years. The Mavrik started to turn that corner for me, and now the Max LS (and frankly the Max) has really changed the game for me. I am now very consistent off the tee, and can actually control my tee shots a bit. Something special in the Max LS, and I've gotten rid of all of the other drivers I had around like a Sim Max, B21, Speedzone, stuff like that--not getting rid of my G400 Max heads though... :)
 
Last edited:
After testing most, I have put the Max LS in the bag to start out my year. I am just getting way too much consistency out of the face laterally and some serious pop on the high end. Some good drivers out there this year.
 
Had a chat with local Callaway Rep.....he spoke on the fact that LS was #1 driver on a most wanted list produced by a internet website. Pleasantly surprised was his term mainly due to a perceived dislike from that site due to a former employee that stoked the fire. He also talked about sales and marketing of their main competitor (Taylormade) and how Callaway has hung in despite lacking the same marketing profile or strategy.

We talked also about fittings and flight differences with both LS and Speed drivers......Speed being touch more spin and less of fade bias profile ......but also smaller size that requires better swings(even though I find it quite forgiving)

The APW allows for more flexibility in the LS head but all 3 heads provides golfing public with an assortment of choices.

Good to hear the thoughts of a manufacturer.
 
JB said:
After testing most, I have put the Max LS in the bag to start out my year. I am just getting way too much consistency out of the face laterally and some serious pop on the high end. Some good drivers out there this year.
Click to expand...

Feel the same way. The distance when I hit it on the screws added to the forgiveness for off center hits is amazing. Definitely my gamer for the rest of this season.
 
A battle royale is about to take place. Who is interested in a comparison between Max LS and Speed Triple Diamond LS?

275324DF-876F-4499-848D-8EB531CFD0C0.jpegA5315D34-CBA9-4755-9F29-59263F70BACE.jpegFE2B229E-BB47-4DB6-A308-ED0D7C56D986.jpegDBD5E128-83E8-4790-8C54-CFA43A8AA9D0.jpeg2D818DD6-E607-4ABE-9F87-394616AF5B0A.jpeg33C830E5-0C7E-457D-897C-3AED2F08DF60.jpegFE42B8C3-F178-4847-89C2-B08A8518F3AB.jpeg
 
Epic Speed was really good today, 13/14 FIR the one miss was a drive that went into the water on a bad bounce. I think I may have picked up a few yard over the Mavrik SZ which is minor, but it is the improved forgiveness of the Speed that makes it shine for me.
 
Snickerdog said:
Epic Speed was really good today, 13/14 FIR the one miss was a drive that went into the water on a bad bounce. I think I may have picked up a few yard over the Mavrik SZ which is minor, but it is the improved forgiveness of the Speed that makes it shine for me.
Click to expand...
That’s a hell of a day!! I’ve thoroughly tested the forgiveness of the Speed 😅 but I’m not getting that kind of performance. Well done sir!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top