The new Callaway Elyte iron line (the standard Elyte, the more forgiving Elyte X, the lighterweight Elyte Max Fast and higher-launching Elyte HL) feature numerous shared technologies. Among them is a face made from a high-strength stainless steel that allowed Callaway engineers (with an assist from artificial intelligence using real-player data) to create a thinner face for more speed while creating a tighter dispersion pattern. To assist sound and feel, the company’s hallmark urethane microspheres were used within the hollow-body clubhead.
PRICE: $150 per iron for Elyte and Elyte X, Elyte Max Fast and Elyte HL. Available at retail Feb. 7.
3 COOL THINGS
1. Stronger-lofted irons that still fly high. The lofts on two of the irons border on indecency (42-degree pitching wedge on Elyte and 41 degrees on Elyte X) but these hollow-body irons not only don’t produce line drives, they fly remarkably high. That’s due to a few things. One of the problems with hollow-body irons is mass located above face center. A design the company refers to as “Speed Frame” has “pockets” or “windows” above face center where material is removed. The size of these windows changes depending on the iron, bit in all irons it is used to assist launch and speed.
“We saw how we could stiffen and reinforce the top line and have a very stable and very strong chassis to drive ball speed through the face,” said Brian Williams, vice president of R&D for Callaway.
Of course, all of this is useless if the iron feels like a brick at impact. Sound is always a concern in hollow-body irons, but even more so given the windows where mass was removed. To combat the loss of mass higher in the head, the company filled the inside area behind the face higher with its urethane microspheres.
“[The Speed Frame] is helping us drive more ball speed but it’s also dampening sound and vibration that’s coming off that topline,” said Williams. “ So really a two-for-one benefit from this technology. … It gives us a little bit more fill on the perimeter—we’ve got about 20 percent more urethane in these, and you really can feel the difference.”
2. A new face design brings controlled distance. With four different irons it’s natural to wonder what is different. Fact is, different types of players have differing swing DNAs that require a slightly different face design to optimize performance. Callaway leaned on real-player data combined with its artificial intelligence capabilities to produce its AI 10x face design where the topology changes from iron to iron to better match the target audience.
Specifically, the HL iron underwent a bit of an overhaul. “Just having more and more data that came in from the field and from our fits, we saw that we were optimizing at swing speeds that were too high for the players that were fitting into HL,” said Williams. “And so, we refined our approach and lowered the swing speeds that we optimized around and that allowed us to have a more active face there.”
3. Which one’s for me? It would be easy to simply say if you’re looking for a game-improvement iron, choose the Elyte or Elyte HL and if you want more super-game-improvement features, go with the Elyte Max Fast or Elyte X, but there is more to it than that. All have traits that bring plenty of distance, so the choice is more nuanced. If looks matter, the Elyte is a cleaner package with a slightly thinner sole and just enough offset that produces a look that not only comfortably cradles the ball at address, but makes you feel as if shaping shots is doable. For those needing more height and carry, Elyte HL is the call.
The two most forgiving options also are decidedly different. The Elyte X has slightly more heft at address, which not only exudes the horsepower within the club, but can be comforting to those that tend to miss the center of the face a little more often and works well with moderate-to-fast swing speeds. The Max Fast on the other hand is designed to optimize performance for those more swing-speed challenged.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
