Another week, another new driver test. Last we I gave you my thoughts on the red faced Taylormade Stealth. Today we take a look at the Black and Gold Rogue ST from Callaway. I am using the stock 65 gram S-flex shaft.

Looks

To be honest the gold and black isnt my style. I dont hate it but its just not for me. The bottom of the club at the end of the day isnt important and what matters most is the addres sposition. From address its a solid looking club. The matte finish is always appreciated and to my eye looks the best. The only real gripe I have from address position was the size of the Callaway Chevron logo. I dont know why but looking down at the club that logo looked massive. Shape wise it looked like a classic Callaway driver. It looked big and confidence inducing. The face on the driver looks unique. It almost looks like it has nothing on it. Like a solid flat piece of titanium. It reminded me a lot of the mid 2000’s long drive heads like the SMT. Now it does have some writing on it but it is very fine. I know that doesnt matter at all but it caught my eye right away. Overall a good looking club that wont offended anyone

Feel/Sound

When I was gathering up the golf balls in the hitting bay to hit, the club was very loud and pingy so I was very worried when I teed up the first ball. First swing and that idea switched real quick. It sounded incredible. A nice solid thwack. It sounded like the ball absolutley exploded off the face.

As I have said a bunch of times, sound and feel go hand in hand. Obviously with how much I loved the sound I also loved the feel. There was enough feedback on the couple of mishits and out of the middle, it was incredible. It was soft but not so soft that it felt dead. I loved it

Performance

The other things are all my opinion but numbers dont lie. If we are being honest this year didnt feel like a ground breaking year. Callaway has had the top driver for the last couple of years in my opinion so its not a surpise they have taken a dont fix what isnt broken approach. No crazy new tech in this head. Just fine tuning of the AI Face and Speed Frame.

The results dont lie. I was picking up some more ball speed vs the PING and it was right on pace with the Stealth. My ball speed was around 2 MPH faster on average with the Rogue vs the G410. I was really impressed. The launch and spin hit that perfect window and I was really maximizing distance.

The biggest surprise for me was the consistency of the club. Everything landed pretty close to the center line and right on top of each other. The shape of the ball flight changed but you could honestly put a blanket down over the shots. They were that close to each other.

Final Thoughts

With a wide range of clubs in the ST lineup Im sure you can find one to fit your game. I like the club a lot. It performed a lot better than I expected. When I saw the ball speed jumps from Taylormade I thought Callaway was going to be in big trouble. I will admit here I was wrong. Callaway also brought it this year and it may be my favorite one of the two. Is it worth the price tag for me? Probably not. The gains were good but not so much that I wanted to drop the cash. The consistency of landing and flight are going to be the thing that could get me to change my mind. If you are in the market for a new driver The Rogue ST lineup should be included