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Callaway XR Driver Review Thread

SuperStroke
Another extremely solid day off the tee with this driver today. I dropped it down to 9.5* to stay under some strong wind, but it was consistently finding fairways again for me. It was a scramble, so there were some times when we had a safe one and I tried to swing hard and put one out there, which ultimately led to some poor swings, but even off the toe, this thing still went a long ways.
 
Nice Ryan, laterally this one is just insanely solid, it surprises me every single time.
 
Got to hit this one today for a few holes and only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger is my anniversary. In about a month I'm hoping I'll have one in the bag


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Hi Jman, do u still use ur XR much or mainly the 815? When testing ages ago, I had to swing harder than usual to get a result from the 815. XR for me was a no brainer..
 
Cam007 said:
Hi Jman, do u still use ur XR much or mainly the 815? When testing ages ago, I had to swing harder than usual to get a result from the 815. XR for me was a no brainer..
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I've settled back in with the 815, main reason is my miss now is up/down the face instead of laterally, the 815 just retains ball-speeds better there for me in all the data I've recorded. The XR though is stellar for a lateral miss, its honestly impressive just how solid the two heads are. I could play either though without skipping a beat. The most impressive thing though is how these heads launch, I'm still amazed by that with these and hell even the V-Series too.
 
Hit 13 of 13 fairways today on the holes I hit the XR. So forgiving. I'm falling in love.
 
That is freaking awesome Barry.
 
Just spent a whole day hitting nothing but drivers for testing and after it all, the XR still solidifies it's place in my bag. Haven't been content with a driver for this long in a long time.
 
Brother you hammer this driver. Absolutely kill it.
 
I played today and hit 11 of 14 Fairways. 2 of the ones that missed were 2-3 yards off the short stuff. Ran out of room on a dogleg and the other I took a tighter line over a corner but it was too tight. The third was operator error. :banghead:
im still just amazed how well it goes with a smooth full swing. We had a bit of rain the last few days and the course was a bit soft, so I just teed it up a little and hit high bombs all day. Still nudged a few around 220yards (longish for me) with 2 feet of roll.. Geez I can wait till it firms up. Never had sooooo much confidence with a driver
 
It will be fun to run this one through the paces and provide some feedback. I know I'm late in the game & a lot has already been said, but hopefully I can add a little after a few range sessions & rounds with this one.
 
Looking forward to your thoughts Mike.
 
Cam007 said:
I played today and hit 11 of 14 Fairways. 2 of the ones that missed were 2-3 yards off the short stuff. Ran out of room on a dogleg and the other I took a tighter line over a corner but it was too tight. The third was operator error. :banghead:
im still just amazed how well it goes with a smooth full swing. We had a bit of rain the last few days and the course was a bit soft, so I just teed it up a little and hit high bombs all day. Still nudged a few around 220yards (longish for me) with 2 feet of roll.. Geez I can wait till it firms up. Never had sooooo much confidence with a driver
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This last line is what stands out to me so much with this driver. I've always had a fairly consistent swing with driver (thanks to spending way too much time hitting it at the driving range instead of working on my putting), but there were still times where things would go bad, and I simply haven't seen that as much with this driver. I can feel when I hit it off the toe, but you can hardly tell by the results. Knowing that if I hit the ball with any part of the club face that it's going to go relatively long and straight makes me feel like I can pull driver on almost any hole.
 
fupresti said:
Just spent a whole day hitting nothing but drivers for testing and after it all, the XR still solidifies it's place in my bag. Haven't been content with a driver for this long in a long time.
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Not sure if I missed it in the live thread or not. But what did you hit this weekend on the flightscope that gave you similar ball speed and spin numbers? Was there anything you hit that was faster than this one?
 
ddec said:
Not sure if I missed it in the live thread or not. But what did you hit this weekend on the flightscope that gave you similar ball speed and spin numbers? Was there anything you hit that was faster than this one?
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Only thing I hit on the Flightscope was the DBD. Sorry dude.
 
I took this club to pound town today as Jman would say. Had the longest drive of my life at 320 yards. Hit this on every hole that I could. I had a couple of hooks and one slice. I'm really starting to swing this well. I tee the ball lower and I really go after it now. No laying back, the best results come when I go near full bore. This driver isn't going anywhere for awhile!


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Hit the XR 9 times today which is quite a lot for me. Only hit two fairways, one of which was a 299 yd drive, but I was within a few yards of the fairway on almost all of the shots. I have had much better dispersion since cutting off an inch and regripping the club. My miss has gone from being on the heel to consistently in the center of the clubface. I have also lost the constant right to left ball flight. I'm now hitting a high baby fade. I really enjoy the feel and performance and will continue to keep it in my bag.
 
dhartmann34 said:
Hit the XR 9 times today which is quite a lot for me. Only hit two fairways, one of which was a 299 yd drive, but I was within a few yards of the fairway on almost all of the shots. I have had much better dispersion since cutting off an inch and regripping the club. My miss has gone from being on the heel to consistently in the center of the clubface. I have also lost the constant right to left ball flight. I'm now hitting a high baby fade. I really enjoy the feel and performance and will continue to keep it in my bag.
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You finding a driver that works as well as that 4w is a dangerous prospect. Glad it's working well for you, buddy.
 
I played 9 holes yesterday hitting two off the tee box comparing this one and my BBA815. A few thoughts

- set up at 10.5 |-1|D

- the sound is different. Not the composite "thwack" I've come to enjoy from the BBA 815. It's a more "tinny" or higher pitched sound at impact, but nothing that was overly loud/obnoxious.

- I hit 6/7 fairways on the front with the only miss being a swing issue and nothing to do with the club. Forgiveness is there and the XR seemed to retain great ball speeds. A few times when I hit it dead center the ball jumped off the club face & gave me some of my better drives of the day.

-ball flight was a touch higher, but not ballooning or anything like that. It was still that mid flight I like, just a touch higher than I normally see.

- distance is subjective to each user and we will all see different results. For me compared to my BBA 815, the XR was shorter. It was only short around 10yds or so, but I was longer with my 815. I still saw respectable yardage & with the wet fairways there wasn't much roll out, but I was happy with the distance. More importantly the carry distance was right there and held up well compared to my 815. I didn't lose anything where carry was concerned.

- weight was what stood out the most. This one is lighter than the 815. It's the first thing I noticed. While warming up on the range & the first few swings were hooks as I was getting used to the lighter weight. Once I settled down my tempo I found the right swing for this one. I rarely try to "step on it" (or whatever you call it to try and get extra yards) bc that's when my swing breaks down, but felt I could swing a little more aggressively with my 815 than the XR.

- overall I'm really impressed and immediately thought this had to be a fun driver to get fit for during UST & play with during #TheKing. I liked this driver more than I thought and I could game this one in a heartbeat without any issues. I think the next time out I'll hit this one exclusively, take more detailed notes on distances & throw in my Aldila Rogue in it to see if I notice anything different.
 
dhartmann34 said:
Hit the XR 9 times today which is quite a lot for me. Only hit two fairways, one of which was a 299 yd drive, but I was within a few yards of the fairway on almost all of the shots. I have had much better dispersion since cutting off an inch and regripping the club. My miss has gone from being on the heel to consistently in the center of the clubface. I have also lost the constant right to left ball flight. I'm now hitting a high baby fade. I really enjoy the feel and performance and will continue to keep it in my bag.
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:blob:it's all about that inch i guess lol. Glad to see you got great results. I put my Oban in it and was able to play it this weekend and got some incredible results. The club even sounds a bit more muted. Dispersion was even tighter and with the Oban I FINALLY for the first time able to play a driver at 9.0 rather than 8 or 8.5. NC hasn't seen as much rain lately and the fairways were nice and crispy this weekend and I hit a handful of 300-310 yard drives. And on mis-hits I found myself still getting 260-270 yards. This all according to bushnell range finder not guesses :).

On the #1 near one of my courses, we had slight wind at our back and I hit a drive with a slight draw, very piercing drive. It landed about 5 yards past a field bunker (which to carry is 290) and it rolled out to 312. I was playing with my typical toss up group and could not believe I rolled one up near their cart and neither could I. The most impressive thing was the fact that it was DEAD center of the fairway. I had 160 yards left on a par 5...I put an 8 iron 10 feet past the hole...I won't talk about the putt that left me with 8 feet to the hole on the other side, but i made birdie lol.

As guys who have other drivers, they each made a comment suggesting my driver felt lighter. Some of those comments came from guys who had the BBA 815 DBD and one with a BBA 815. Anyone hit those in comparison to the XR driver? I just got my wisdom teeth taken out today so I'm off the course for the rest of the week but plan on borrowing a BBA 815 head to compare it.

I probably won't bother with testing against the DBD. I just think that an extra 5-15 yards or so isn't worth losing forgiveness anymore until i'm a 5-8 handicap MAYBE. And since working some things out and not having to play defense more times than not off the tee, I was able to shoot 80, 83 and 81 this past weekend. I hit 10-12 GIR each round and most of that is simply because I wasn't punching out. I also lowered my crime rate against trees this past weekend :bye:

I've very pleased with the XR and very happy that THP and Callaway gave me a chance to open up to a new driver (I had never played a callaway club other than a 3 wood-X2hot and a putter) and really improve my game. I'm looking forward to the XR/XR pro irons I have on the way.
 
mikeg_74 said:
- weight was what stood out the most. This one is lighter than the 815. It's the first thing I noticed. While warming up on the range & the first few swings were hooks as I was getting used to the lighter weight. Once I settled down my tempo I found the right swing for this one. I rarely try to "step on it" (or whatever you call it to try and get extra yards) bc that's when my swing breaks down, but felt I could swing a little more aggressively with my 815 than the XR.

- overall I'm really impressed and immediately thought this had to be a fun driver to get fit for during UST & play with during #TheKing. I liked this driver more than I thought and I could game this one in a heartbeat without any issues. I think the next time out I'll hit this one exclusively, take more detailed notes on distances & throw in my Aldila Rogue in it to see if I notice anything different.
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lol and there's my answer :). I think the LZ shaft is great once you get used to it and you maintain your tempo. But every so often my right hand will snatch that club, and I'll come down firing. The result is poor as you would expect, but it wasn't as bad with the Oban. Of course, you would expect that from the Devotion, that's why I paid the extra money for it lol.

Now I'm curious and anxious to get a BBA 815 head to try out next to it.
 
vFLASHv said:
:blob:it's all about that inch i guess lol. Glad to see you got great results. I put my Oban in it and was able to play it this weekend and got some incredible results. The club even sounds a bit more muted. Dispersion was even tighter and with the Oban I FINALLY for the first time able to play a driver at 9.0 rather than 8 or 8.5. NC hasn't seen as much rain lately and the fairways were nice and crispy this weekend and I hit a handful of 300-310 yard drives. And on mis-hits I found myself still getting 260-270 yards. This all according to bushnell range finder not guesses :).

On the #1 near one of my courses, we had slight wind at our back and I hit a drive with a slight draw, very piercing drive. It landed about 5 yards past a field bunker (which to carry is 290) and it rolled out to 312. I was playing with my typical toss up group and could not believe I rolled one up near their cart and neither could I. The most impressive thing was the fact that it was DEAD center of the fairway. I had 160 yards left on a par 5...I put an 8 iron 10 feet past the hole...I won't talk about the putt that left me with 8 feet to the hole on the other side, but i made birdie lol.

As guys who have other drivers, they each made a comment suggesting my driver felt lighter. Some of those comments came from guys who had the BBA 815 DBD and one with a BBA 815. Anyone hit those in comparison to the XR driver? I just got my wisdom teeth taken out today so I'm off the course for the rest of the week but plan on borrowing a BBA 815 head to compare it.

I probably won't bother with testing against the DBD. I just think that an extra 5-15 yards or so isn't worth losing forgiveness anymore until i'm a 5-8 handicap MAYBE. And since working some things out and not having to play defense more times than not off the tee, I was able to shoot 80, 83 and 81 this past weekend. I hit 10-12 GIR each round and most of that is simply because I wasn't punching out. I also lowered my crime rate against trees this past weekend :bye:

I've very pleased with the XR and very happy that THP and Callaway gave me a chance to open up to a new driver (I had never played a callaway club other than a 3 wood-X2hot and a putter) and really improve my game. I'm looking forward to the XR/XR pro irons I have on the way.
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Glad to hear you are hitting it well. You had some bombs at #TheKing. What iron setup did you buy?


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Solid, solid reviews here!

Never hit one of these, but wouldn't mind doing so and seeing what the buzz is about!
 
ASN21 said:
Glad to hear you are hitting it well. You had some bombs at #TheKing. What iron setup did you buy?


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Yea man! I decided on getting the 4 & 5 iron in the XR and the 6-AW in the XR pros. I was hitting the XRs high and the only way to knock down the flight was using an X-stiff shaft on something that didn't feel comfortable. But with the Xr pros i was able to get by with hard-stepping the tour-v 110 Stiff and hit some great yardages with a great trajectory. I figured my 4-5 is where I needed all the help i could get though lol.

I'm currently playing with a used set of XR pros and have been loving them!
 
I think I'll cut half inch off of my XR with handcrafted 6.5. That will give me 45.5 and should give me bit more accuacy. Been hitting heel a lot lately
 
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