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Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Irons & Hybrids Review

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SuperStroke
Muchmore said:
I am loving the shape of the Smoke irons. I'm needing a new driving iron this year (if I feel like spending the money) and I feel like a Smoke 4i should be it. The shape is honestly the biggest thing to me. I have a Big Bertha 23 iron that is just wayyyyyyyy too big to feel comfortable. Because of that, I don't hit it very well or get it very high in the air. Before I bought that, I had a Cobra Radspeed 4i in the bag because I need that forgiveness instead of a set 4i. But it was a smaller profile and it kept me comfortable. Moving to the Smoke 4i should be my next step here. You guys are making these irons sound automatic and the fact that they FEEL good as well is a huge plus.
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You will like it. Coming from the Paradym's which were already a player's shape to something that's more playerish in size (smaller footprint) is the right shape for me. Heck, they are smaller than their competitors like 923 HMPs. Callaway made a great player's shape iron here. I think anyone that has the perception these are chunky irons really needs to spend time with them. They are not chunky or off putting in any way. The back is so much sleeker than the Paradym's and I can report no badging wear or issues like the Paradyms had.

As for the feel, they feel to me just like the Paradyms. They have a smooth non-punishing sound and feel (especially when struck even moderately well)! I truly think you will enjoy these
 
Bryndom said:
You will like it. Coming from the Paradym's which were already a player's shape to something that's more playerish in size (smaller footprint) is the right shape for me. Heck, they are smaller than their competitors like 923 HMPs. Callaway made a great player's shape iron here. I think anyone that has the perception these are chunky irons really needs to spend time with them. They are not chunky or off putting in any way. The back is so much sleeker than the Paradym's and I can report no badging wear or issues like the Paradyms had.

As for the feel, they feel to me just like the Paradyms. They have a smooth non-punishing sound and feel (especially when struck even moderately well)! I truly think you will enjoy these
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I WANT ONE
 
Muchmore said:
I am loving the shape of the Smoke irons. I'm needing a new driving iron this year (if I feel like spending the money) and I feel like a Smoke 4i should be it. The shape is honestly the biggest thing to me. I have a Big Bertha 23 iron that is just wayyyyyyyy too big to feel comfortable. Because of that, I don't hit it very well or get it very high in the air. Before I bought that, I had a Cobra Radspeed 4i in the bag because I need that forgiveness instead of a set 4i. But it was a smaller profile and it kept me comfortable. Moving to the Smoke 4i should be my next step here. You guys are making these irons sound automatic and the fact that they FEEL good as well is a huge plus.
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What about the size of the BB gets to you?
 
JB said:
What about the size of the BB gets to you?
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Top line and how much of the back of it I can see. The amount of the back iron I can see in a way makes me think there is essentially no loft and I struggle with that.

It’s a 4i. There isn’t a ton of loft already, but the combo of the top line, the huge cavity back there and the offset just doesn’t work with my eyes or my confidence.

I got it originally just to be a non thinking club off the tee or to be a little more conservative on par five layups. But it’s gotten in my head more often than it’s helped me out.
 
Muchmore said:
Top line and how much of the back of it I can see. The amount of the back iron I can see in a way makes me think there is essentially no loft and I struggle with that.

It’s a 4i. There isn’t a ton of loft already, but the combo of the top line, the huge cavity back there and the offset just doesn’t work with my eyes or my confidence.

I got it originally just to be a non thinking club off the tee or to be a little more conservative on par five layups. But it’s gotten in my head more often than it’s helped me out.
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It’s a little internet-ty but I totally get it
 
I've been struggling with my iron swing for the last couple months. Somehow I finally found it today, and it was so nice to be hitting good crisp, solid iron shots with the HLs! Callaway did a great job with the design of these irons, making them easy to launch without ballooning, and they're lofted 1° - 2° weaker than the core Ai Smoke irons throughout the set (5i 24° vs 22°, PW 43° vs 42°).

I'll also second what @Bryndom said above about the look at address. SGI and GI irons have been my mainstay for many years, and these irons don't have the "GI" look of years past. The topline is amazingly slender for an iron of their class, and the heads are smaller and sleeker than what I'm used to looking down at. No, you're not going to feel like you're standing over a blade at address, but you don't feel like you're looking down at a shovel either.
 
JB said:
It’s a little internet-ty but I totally get it
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Welcome to THP 😂

When you have GI irons that do the size and shape better, I’d rather go with what I’m comfortable looking at.

And maybe I don’t need a GI club in that spot. That’s why I was thinking about grabbing a Smoke 4i. They look fantastic and the discussion here has been pretty top notch about them
 
Muchmore said:
Welcome to THP 😂

When you have GI irons that do the size and shape better, I’d rather go with what I’m comfortable looking at.

And maybe I don’t need a GI club in that spot. That’s why I was thinking about grabbing a Smoke 4i. They look fantastic and the discussion here has been pretty top notch about them
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I can tell you the long irons are missle launchers if that helps you
 
I intentionally put the Ai Smoke 4 iron in the bag to have a bit of fun this year, especially when it came down to pure straight line distance out of a fairway or low tee setup.

There are a few holes on my course where this is enormously helpful, and I've been quite satisfied with the results. I actually had some with at my back with about 255 to the hole last weekend, and opted to hit the 4 iron because I had to hit over some trees that were 1/3 of the way to the hole. It was not the perfect strike, but when I do that I think I swap smash for spin and it ends up lumbering forward just fine. Long story short, it went way further than it should have haha

--> of note, that was the second time in three holes that I hit it further than i was expecting it to go. The first time was a great strike, and the second was the above.

It's not as wide as I've used in the past for this kind of club, but I think I gain a bit in overall turf engagement. The sound is decent, closer to my utilities than my other irons, but typically quite rewarding unless I hit a 'clunker' and frankly I don't deserve much when I do that haha.

I think the only thing it has going against it right now is that I enjoy hitting the Pro 5 iron SO much, it gets left behind (emotionally) here and there haha
 
So i've been having some swing issues. And that's led me to think about finally trying to game a hybrid instead of a 4i. Looking at my Shotscope stats my 4i is not quite filling the role to gap between my 5i and 19* UW. But, I've also not used it very often.

Saturday, after a duffed tee shot, I just need to get some distance to try and salvage the hole, but with a creek crossing, I didn't have the reliable firepower to take on carrying the creek. So I pulled the 4i. Well...it clearly knew it was on notice. I was rewarded with a high (for me) ball that made it all the way to the creek. stopping mere feet from it, but center of the FW. 236 yard GPS measured distance! 🤯

On a long par three, I hit a great 6i. It carried on the order of 185. a little ground aided bounce ended up 203 total. behind the green, and able to save bogey. My Ai Smoke irons are really starting to perform well for me. I'm getting comments from my usual playing partners that "the ball sounds different" now that you're playing these irons. The jump in ball speed that I'm producing is noticeable via their seasoned ears.
 
Got my Smoke HL irons and played them over the weekend... and all I can say is 🔥 holy smokes!

I've never had irons that give back so much feeling. Beyond my expectations!
 
Today is the last day for the 50 percent trade bonus and I really want to pull the trigger only issue is I've never hit them.
 
pumbaa said:
Today is the last day for the 50 percent trade bonus and I really want to pull the trigger only issue is I've never hit them.
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Do it... I never hit them and pulled the trigger cause I knew the bonus deal was ending. Best decision I ever made!
 
Got to play outdoors today! A quick wet 5 holes on the “dry” part of the course. Didn’t keep score, but the mvp of the day was the AI Smoke HL irons.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, my fitting for my full bag was only 7,8,9 irons and all of the wedges. Anything higher doesn’t really go much off the ground. But, it’s still a huge upgrade because even a 7 iron used to bring me sadness.

Today though, the HL 7 iron (Tensei blue 65g) flew high and straight. There was a moment in the fairway 140 yards out. Took the 7 iron and it just sailed. It was windy so I’m not saying or not saying how favorable it was, but my goodness. It hit the fringe and rolled onto green. It was early in the round so it became my go to club the entire round. Tne 9 iron was money as usual Feeling incredibly confident right now in these irons.
 
brians said:
Got to play outdoors today! A quick wet 5 holes on the “dry” part of the course. Didn’t keep score, but the mvp of the day was the AI Smoke HL irons.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, my fitting for my full bag was only 7,8,9 irons and all of the wedges. Anything higher doesn’t really go much off the ground. But, it’s still a huge upgrade because even a 7 iron used to bring me sadness.

Today though, the HL 7 iron (Tensei blue 65g) flew high and straight. There was a moment in the fairway 140 yards out. Took the 7 iron and it just sailed. It was windy so I’m not saying or not saying how favorable it was, but my goodness. It hit the fringe and rolled onto green. It was early in the round so it became my go to club the entire round. Tne 9 iron was money as usual Feeling incredibly confident right now in these irons.
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This is awesome! Glad you're able to get out on the course and play these irons. Even more excited that they rewarded you with that huge *stoke*, I can picture the huge grin on your face watching that ball sail to the green!
 
mtbloco said:
This is awesome! Glad you're able to get out on the course and play these irons. Even more excited that they rewarded you with that huge *stoke*, I can picture the huge grin on your face watching that ball sail to the green!
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Oh absolutely. The grin still hasn’t left. It felt good. I’ve been hitting off mats. The grass was nice to get a true feel for the contact.
The HL line is such a smart idea. They explained that it wasn’t just for slower swingers etc. That is it was to truly give a higher launching club for those who needed it. The fact that the yardage loss is incredibly minute (or in today’s case incredibly non-existent) was the part that seems like it was the biggest part of the high launch riddles
 
Canadan said:
I intentionally put the Ai Smoke 4 iron in the bag to have a bit of fun this year, especially when it came down to pure straight line distance out of a fairway or low tee setup.

There are a few holes on my course where this is enormously helpful, and I've been quite satisfied with the results. I actually had some with at my back with about 255 to the hole last weekend, and opted to hit the 4 iron because I had to hit over some trees that were 1/3 of the way to the hole. It was not the perfect strike, but when I do that I think I swap smash for spin and it ends up lumbering forward just fine. Long story short, it went way further than it should have haha

--> of note, that was the second time in three holes that I hit it further than i was expecting it to go. The first time was a great strike, and the second was the above.

It's not as wide as I've used in the past for this kind of club, but I think I gain a bit in overall turf engagement. The sound is decent, closer to my utilities than my other irons, but typically quite rewarding unless I hit a 'clunker' and frankly I don't deserve much when I do that haha.

I think the only thing it has going against it right now is that I enjoy hitting the Pro 5 iron SO much, it gets left behind (emotionally) here and there haha
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I have the UT in the bag now but have been kicking myself for not trying the Smoke 4i while at The Grandaddy. How would you compare the UT and Smoke 4i?
 
Jeff Spicoli said:
I have the UT in the bag now but have been kicking myself for not trying the Smoke 4i while at The Grandaddy. How would you compare the UT and Smoke 4i?
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it's a totally different experience. Shaft length, graphite to steel, plays a big role of course, but I think the UT is about flat power vs the Smoke 4 that seems to do more to promote launch and control by comparison.
 
brians said:
Oh absolutely. The grin still hasn’t left. It felt good. I’ve been hitting off mats. The grass was nice to get a true feel for the contact.
The HL line is such a smart idea. They explained that it wasn’t just for slower swingers etc. That is it was to truly give a higher launching club for those who needed it. The fact that the yardage loss is incredibly minute (or in today’s case incredibly non-existent) was the part that seems like it was the biggest part of the high launch riddles
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achieving actual launch is critical for low ball hitters like ourselves. That launch helps us maximize our distance.

my experience with the Ai Smoke (not HL) has been that even though they are stronger lofted than my previous gamers....they launch higher for me! that is a great combo.
 
Canadan said:
it's a totally different experience. Shaft length, graphite to steel, plays a big role of course, but I think the UT is about flat power vs the Smoke 4 that seems to do more to promote launch and control by comparison.
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More launch and spin with the Smoke?
 
brians said:
Oh absolutely. The grin still hasn’t left. It felt good. I’ve been hitting off mats. The grass was nice to get a true feel for the contact.
The HL line is such a smart idea. They explained that it wasn’t just for slower swingers etc. That is it was to truly give a higher launching club for those who needed it. The fact that the yardage loss is incredibly minute (or in today’s case incredibly non-existent) was the part that seems like it was the biggest part of the high launch riddles
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The HL irons are working out really well for me. I'm one of those who needs a higher launching club, as I don't normally hit a high ball. The HLs help me get some air under it, and I'm getting better descent angles into greens.

I'm still working on dialing in yardages - it's hard to accurately gauge them when it's cold, the ground is wet, I'm wearing extra layers and muscles are tight (not to mention that I've been in kind of a slump with my ballstriking). I've been clubbing up 1 to 1 1/2 clubs from normal, but now that it's starting to warm up a little bit I'm starting to see the distances I expect. The Ai Smoke HLs are higher lofted than my Mavrik irons were, but if I'm losing any distance at all it's very little, and the dispersion is much better.
 
BigMac said:
The HL irons are working out really well for me. I'm one of those who needs a higher launching club, as I don't normally hit a high ball. The HLs help me get some air under it, and I'm getting better descent angles into greens.

I'm still working on dialing in yardages - it's hard to accurately gauge them when it's cold, the ground is wet, I'm wearing extra layers and muscles are tight (not to mention that I've been in kind of a slump with my ballstriking). I've been clubbing up 1 to 1 1/2 clubs from normal, but now that it's starting to warm up a little bit I'm starting to see the distances I expect. The Ai Smoke HLs are higher lofted than my Mavrik irons were, but if I'm losing any distance at all it's very little, and the dispersion is much better.
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Yes. The descent angle into the greens is really nice. I had 2 decent tries with the 7 and one with the 9 iron. 2 out of 3 landing and staying on the green is a pretty big deal.
 
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