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Callaway Introduces Paradym Star

Tuesday, 15 August 2023

Paradym has been a success for Callaway. They seemed to be winning every week during the first half of the season, obviously helped by Jon Rahm finding form. They’ve also been raking it in, according to John Barba’s latest financial report on the Topgolf Callaway behemoth. While they might not be selling equipment hand over fist, it’s still fair to call Paradym a big win.

However, the Callaway Paradym line-up doesn’t have something for everyone. While the Triple Diamond targeted the better players, Paradym covered the bulk of the game-improvement sector and the Paradym X helped battle the slice, there was nothing specifically targeted at slower swing speeds.

Enter the new Callaway Paradym Star.

At one point, senior clubs were all the rage. The classic KING COBRA Seniors with their green graphite shafts spring to mind as well as Yonex. In the current landscape, it’s only really XXIO which offers a premium product that is targeted at the older golfer looking to retain some clubhead speed. Callaway has offered Star products previously with Epic Forged Star and Epic MAX Star. But the new Callaway Paradym Star feels like the most cohesive line-up

“When we look at who it’s for with the Paradym Star family, we know there are a lot of golfers who are either swing speed challenged or getting up in age but they want the performance of Paradym,” explained Dave Neville, Senior Director, Brand Management.

Brian Williams, Vice President of R&D, described what happens in more detail. “We’re seeing some of our senior players who are challenged on swing speed and when you lose speed, the rest of it kind of falls apart, struggling to generate launch, spin, and carry”

Lose Some Weight!

The first thing you need to do to enable the target golfer to swing the club faster is lose weight. One of the quickest ways of doing that is removing the adjustable hosel. Club fitters love adjustability for all the fitting options. Club designers aren’t so fond because of the extra weight they use. Losing the adjustable hosel frees around 20 grams of weight to be used elsewhere. This also gets rid of the weight track to save more weight. And because the target audience tends to be slower-swinging slicers, making the club with a draw bias is perfect for the majority of the people playing them.

Callaway Paradym Star Driver

Despite the new Callaway Paradym Star driver being 31 grams lighter than the Paradym X driver, it still retains the bulk of the technology. It uses the 360-degree carbon chassis that saved so much weight for Callaway’s engineers to move around the head. It features Jailbreak A.I. and a Forged Ti face. It’s also more draw-biased than the Paradym X. And while they have reduced the mass in the head, Callaway claims their engineers have been able to retain a high MOI.

Callaway Paradym Star Fairway Woods

The fairway woods tell a similar story. They lose 28 grams in weight from the Paradym X fairways by losing the adjustable hosel and using more forged carbon in the sole. What they haven’t foregone is the Tungsten Speed Cartridge and Jailbreak with Batwing. This combination of tech has proven to help generate faster ball speeds.

Arguably, the most important change to the Callaway Paradym Star fairway woods is that they have more loft compared to the other Paradym fairways, as well as being more upright. Getting a fairway wood airborne is key to a slower-swinging golfer by maximizing carry and thus creating more distance. Lofts go all the way up to a 9-wood and Callaway says they’re ready for higher lofts if there is demand.

Callaway Paradym Star Hybrids

Hybrids follow the same pattern: 33 grams lighter, a ¼” longer shaft, more draw bias, a touch more loft, as well as the Cutwave Sole for great turf interaction. Available from a 21-degree 4-hybrid up to a 30-degree 7-hybrid, there is a good crossover with the fairway woods to ensure the golfer can get the right set makeup. Pretty impressive for a niche product.

Callaway Paradym Star Irons

The irons might be the biggest change. I really liked the Paradym irons this year. That back plate, though … let’s just say it wasn’t for me. The Paradym Star irons have real shelf appeal now. The silver, grey and gold back looks really sweet and a lot more premium.

This time, Callaway saved 33 grams of weight in each iron but did so without sacrificing the tungsten that helps create so much of the launch. By adding loft as well, these irons are designed to be easy to get airborne. The forged 455 face combined with the Speed Frame is hot while the Urethane Microspheres help give them a solid feel.

Shaft Options

The secret sauce in this whole package is the shafts and grips. UST Mamiya ATTAS Speed Series shafts are used throughout the set. The Attas T1100 shaft in the driver goes down as low as 40 grams while in the fairway woods, it’s 50 grams. T1100 fibers have been used in golf shafts before, primarily for their strength. But because they are so strong, you can use fewer of them to make a super-lightweight shaft series. Irons and hybrids also feature 50-gram shafts to really help the target golfer give it more oomph.

To save even more weight and keep some feel in the head, Callaway uses the Winn Dri-Tac Lite grip. At 25 grams, it’s less than half the weight of a standard Golf Pride Tour Velvet.