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Callaway XR Driver Review Thread

SuperStroke
This past weekend i shared the love with a buddy of mine. We got teamed up in this toss up group with play in and let him share my driver for the entire 18. His first few tee balls he turned over and ended up in the left trees a few times but his face every time was OMG that felt amazing! I told him to just relax with it and ease his tempo and stop trying to kill it lol. He is a 2 handicap and spank the ball. On the back 9 he put a display with it. He had an Adams driver that would spin up on him a lot, so watching the difference between "spinning up" vs high launch back to back was very educating. The XR takes off and goes! On a par 5 he knocked one about 295 yards and had 165 left to the pin...he missed the putt but still made birdie lol.

Needless to say he texted me this morning about the details and specs of the driver so he could buy one today :).
 
I had my last warm up round with the XR today. Needless to say I am still impressed.

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Fupaaaaaaaaaay! NICE!
 
This driver just keeps performing for me. I played Saturday and hit 7/14 fairways with my XR/UST combo. It rained the morning before the round so I was getting a foot of roll max and was getting consistent distances of around 270 and was 20+ yards longer than the guys I was playing with. Of the remaining 7 drives, one was with a 3 wood, 1 was OB right (I just stopped my swing halfway through and hit a big push), and the rest were not far from the fairway and in good positions for second shots.

I've been playing the driver at S/D (stated loft/draw) and have had the best results. I took it to the range Sunday just to play around with the loft/lie settings and nothing beat the S/D position for me. I tried going down 1 degree and could easily see that I was carrying short of the 250 yard marker while I could see that I was carrying it in the S/D setting. I felt like I don't have to have it in the Draw setting, but I was more consistent with it than I was in the neutral setting.
 
I finally played a full round on Torrey Pines North with my XR Driver. Unfortunately, I (not the driver's fault) only hit 2 of 14 fairways. With that said, my misses were all playable and extremely long. I'm a firm believer in the R-MOTO face. You can literally hit the ball all over the face and you will lose very little distance. Subjectively, the XR Driver sounds and feels as good as any other recent Callaway driver (2014 Big Bertha, V-series, and Alpha 815). I'm able to work the ball on the range, but had a hard time hitting fades on the course. Obviously, it's me and not the XR Driver.

There are a couple modifications I would recommend for those buying an XR Driver. First is shaft length. I usually play at 45" and the stock length is 46". I think the head and face technology is so damn good, an extra inch in shaft length is not necessary and might be counter-intuitive. I rather be LONG in the fairway then LONGER in the rough. Second is the grip. I flat out hate the new Callaway Universal Grip. I recommend paying the $6 through Callaway or whatever your local golf shop charges to get a better grip.

In closing, I don't see there being a driver out there longer than the XR. If you want a long and forgiving driver, do yourself a favor and give the XR a swing.
 
During my last round, I hit both the XR and the X2Hot Pro (with a Whiteboard) to try to compare. I don't know the reason, but my misses with the two clubs are very different. With the X2Hot Pro, my misses are almost exclusively vertical. I'm near the center of the clubface, sometimes missing thin (low on the club face) and sometimes missing a little high, but I rarely miss on the toe or the heel. With the XR, my misses are all over the face, with the most common being a miss on the heel. That's obviously my fault, not the club's.

In what should be a ringing endorsement for the XR though, the fact that I hit it all over the face really hasn't hurt me. Although I have not hit my longest drives with the XR by any stretch (probably because I can't seem to find the center of the clubface), my misses have not been punishing at all. I can count on one hand the times a mishit with the XR has put me in a terrible position, and I would have been in a terrible position with every driver on the market for those shots. I second sandiegonative as a believer in the R-MOTO face. With most drivers, missing both vertically and laterally would be recipe for disaster, but the XR always seems to keep me in play, so much so that I shot a PB by 3 shots with it a little over a week ago.

I've been playing at 9* because I've been letting my dad play it for each round too, but I set it to 8* and hit a few on the range on Saturday and absolutely loved what I was seeing. Don't get me wrong, adjusting the loft is unlikely to mean that I'm going to start hitting the center of the face every time. But if it's mental for me, so be it. Stranger things have happened in this game.

I'm going to get one more practice round in with the XR tomorrow before heading out to San Diego. I'm going to work on dialing it in, but I'm heading out there confident because I know that even if I'm not swinging it perfect, the XR is going to perform for me.
 
I'm loving this club more and more, in fact keep an eye out on the marketplace as I'll likely be selling an Alpha 815 real soon! Haha.

What continues to impress me is that even when I feel like I didn't hit the ball that hard I'll be rewarded with it getting out there a good ways. As with any driver, poor swings produce poor shots but I'm continually impressed how it will turn a medicore swing/contact into a pretty dang good ball. That to me is huge. All weekend I again managed to flight the ball down when needed with a good amount of ease, which is also very important to me. Misses out toward the toe were definitely the ones that I found cost me the most, but my more common miss is high on the face and I'm totally getting away with that time and time again so I'm loving this! Couple of range sessions left before the big weekend!! Can't wait to see how she performs in #TheKing!!!
 
bigskyirish said:
During my last round, I hit both the XR and the X2Hot Pro (with a Whiteboard) to try to compare. I don't know the reason, but my misses with the two clubs are very different. With the X2Hot Pro, my misses are almost exclusively vertical. I'm near the center of the clubface, sometimes missing thin (low on the club face) and sometimes missing a little high, but I rarely miss on the toe or the heel. With the XR, my misses are all over the face, with the most common being a miss on the heel. That's obviously my fault, not the club's.

In what should be a ringing endorsement for the XR though, the fact that I hit it all over the face really hasn't hurt me. Although I have not hit my longest drives with the XR by any stretch (probably because I can't seem to find the center of the clubface), my misses have not been punishing at all. I can count on one hand the times a mishit with the XR has put me in a terrible position, and I would have been in a terrible position with every driver on the market for those shots. I second sandiegonative as a believer in the R-MOTO face. With most drivers, missing both vertically and laterally would be recipe for disaster, but the XR always seems to keep me in play, so much so that I shot a PB by 3 shots with it a little over a week ago.

I've been playing at 9* because I've been letting my dad play it for each round too, but I set it to 8* and hit a few on the range on Saturday and absolutely loved what I was seeing. Don't get me wrong, adjusting the loft is unlikely to mean that I'm going to start hitting the center of the face every time. But if it's mental for me, so be it. Stranger things have happened in this game.

I'm going to get one more practice round in with the XR tomorrow before heading out to San Diego. I'm going to work on dialing it in, but I'm heading out there confident because I know that even if I'm not swinging it perfect, the XR is going to perform for me.
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How long does the x2hot play? Seems like going back and forth could be causing the misses on the heel.
 
Wake said:
How long does the x2hot play? Seems like going back and forth could be causing the misses on the heel.
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I think you're right on with this. The X2Hot Pro is an inch shorter.
 
Mward said:
Took my XR out alongside my 815 in a bit of a shoutout. The results were interesting to say the least. The XR is a very long driver that really doesn't punish you as much as the 815 on mishit shots. On mishits, this one beat the 815 by several yards. On center strikes though, the XR was several yards behind the 815.

This vs the 815 really comes down to your miss. If you miss the center more often than not, this driver is truly excellent. If you catch the center area a lot, you may want to go the 815 route.

It's definitely a fun driver though. Ball just gets up in a hurry and goes.
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sigh, I guess this just goes to show how often I miss center. The standard 815 and XR couldn't be more different from your results when I swing them. So far in 4 test sessions (58 drives) with XR versus my control driver; XR is averaging 5+ yards longer carry than my control. 815 (3 sessions - 53 shots) on the other hand falls 7.5 yards shorter than my control? One of those test sessions included both drivers and XR (12 swings) averaged 9.9 yards more carry than did 815 (18 swings) for me on that day?
 
Daddio said:
sigh, I guess this just goes to show how often I miss center. The standard 815 and XR couldn't be more different from your results when I swing them. So far in 4 test sessions (58 drives) with XR versus my control driver; XR is averaging 5+ yards longer carry than my control. 815 (3 sessions - 53 shots) on the other hand falls 7.5 yards shorter than my control? One of those test sessions included both drivers and XR (12 swings) averaged 9.9 yards more carry than did 815 (18 swings) for me on that day?
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I think it all comes down to fitting, the XR is certainly longer for me, as it's high launch is a God send for me. On the other hand Wardy needs no help getting the ball airborne, makes since he would see better distance with the 815.
 
Wake said:
I think it all comes down to fitting, the XR is certainly longer for me, as it's high launch is a God send for me. On the other hand Wardy needs no help getting the ball airborne, makes since he would see better distance with the 815.
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Yes indeed. It's amazing just how much 'performance' of a club relies upon the nuances of each unique golfer's swing dynamics and how well that club 'fits' them. My own little monitor only calculates carry yardage so the differences in those clubs for me are purely the differences in measured ball speeds. XR just provides significantly more ball speed for my own unique swing.
 
Daddio said:
sigh, I guess this just goes to show how often I miss center.
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This is me as well, and I'd imagine a fair number of others. I don't think we realize how often we hit around the middle but not really the middle of the face. The XR has made those misses much less penal to the point where for me the average distance has increased over my previous driver.
 
XR will be my new driver soon. At My fitting yesterday, I had better launch and ball speed with it over the 815 Alpha I'm gaming. I play my 10.5 BB Alpha 815 at +2 degrees, and the higher launch of the XR will have me at 10.5 standard. Also will be going down from the Project X LZ in 6.0 to 5.5. It was close but the 5.5 also helped in getting launch up.
 
cpljohnst said:
XR will be my new driver soon. At My fitting yesterday, I had better launch and ball speed with it over the 815 Alpha I'm gaming. I play my 10.5 BB Alpha 815 at +2 degrees, and the higher launch of the XR will have me at 10.5 standard. Also will be going down from the Project X LZ in 6.0 to 5.5. It was close but the 5.5 also helped in getting launch up.
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Awesome Barry. Looking forward to your thoughts! Fairways beware!
 
In acknowledgement of #TheKing this weekend and all the nerves that I​ have for it let alone what all the guys actually IN the event are feeling, I'm putting the XR/Chrome in the bag today with the new Cleveland Black. Fun!
 
Daddio said:
Yes indeed. It's amazing just how much 'performance' of a club relies upon the nuances of each unique golfer's swing dynamics and how well that club 'fits' them. My own little monitor only calculates carry yardage so the differences in those clubs for me are purely the differences in measured ball speeds. XR just provides significantly more ball speed for my own unique swing.
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As Wake indicated, getting the ball airborne isn't something I have trouble with. Both of those clubs launch very nicely for me, so I'm also guessing it's a fitting thing for one vs the other for you.
 
Jman said:
In acknowledgement of #TheKing this weekend and all the nerves that I​ have for it let alone what all the guys actually IN the event are feeling, I'm putting the XR/Chrome in the bag today with the new Cleveland Black. Fun!
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NICE!

I was thinking about that last night on the range, the nerves aspect of this event. I was trying to emulate the opening tee shot, thinking of how I'll feel and how nervous I'll be and still focusing on putting a good swing on the ball. It's funny, if you really let yourself get in moment, even on the range back home, you can drum up some anxious feelings. Now I KNOW they're nothing like the feelings I'll have this weekend or in big tournaments the rest of the summer, but trying to emulate that and put a smooth swing on the ball and see good results definitely helps prep somewhat. I love this driver, absolutely love it. It's every bit as long as any other driver I've used and it has a great amount of forgiveness that seems to help me in all the right areas I tend to miss. This driver is not going anywhere after this event, I can assure you that!!!
 
I've had those same thoughts running thru my head too. The nerves of the first tee and trying to simulate the pressure. I do think the XR would handle whatever horrible swing I put on the ball just fine. Unfortunately, both opening holes are realatively short, 350 yds. So hitting driver might not be the smartest move. Might just have to take a swing with the XR because a bad swing with the 4w isn't going to be pretty.

Puttin4Bird said:
NICE!

I was thinking about that last night on the range, the nerves aspect of this event. I was trying to emulate the opening tee shot, thinking of how I'll feel and how nervous I'll be and still focusing on putting a good swing on the ball. It's funny, if you really let yourself get in moment, even on the range back home, you can drum up some anxious feelings. Now I KNOW they're nothing like the feelings I'll have this weekend or in big tournaments the rest of the summer, but trying to emulate that and put a smooth swing on the ball and see good results definitely helps prep somewhat. I love this driver, absolutely love it. It's every bit as long as any other driver I've used and it has a great amount of forgiveness that seems to help me in all the right areas I tend to miss. This driver is not going anywhere after this event, I can assure you that!!!
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Schanker said:
I've had those same thoughts running thru my head too. The nerves of the first tee and trying to simulate the pressure. I do think the XR would handle whatever horrible swing I put on the ball just fine. Unfortunately, both opening holes are realatively short, 350 yds. So hitting driver might not be the smartest move. Might just have to take a swing with the XR because a bad swing with the 4w isn't going to be pretty.
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I haven't even scouted the course(s) to know, but eff that dude, I'm banging DRIVER baby!!!!!!
 
Puttin4Bird said:
I haven't even scouted the course(s) to know, but eff that dude, I'm banging DRIVER baby!!!!!!
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You'll enjoy the track(s).

And the rooms.
 
Just reading this and thinking about it got my hands a tad sweaty...EEEk! ....
Puttin4Bird said:
NICE!

I was thinking about that last night on the range, the nerves aspect of this event. I was trying to emulate the opening tee shot, thinking of how I'll feel and how nervous I'll be and still focusing on putting a good swing on the ball. It's funny, if you really let yourself get in moment, even on the range back home, you can drum up some anxious feelings. Now I KNOW they're nothing like the feelings I'll have this weekend or in big tournaments the rest of the summer, but trying to emulate that and put a smooth swing on the ball and see good results definitely helps prep somewhat. I love this driver, absolutely love it. It's every bit as long as any other driver I've used and it has a great amount of forgiveness that seems to help me in all the right areas I tend to miss. This driver is not going anywhere after this event, I can assure you that!!!
Click to expand...
 
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