The Green Fee A couple of pictures leaked online today of the possible new Callaway Driver. We dont have any details but it appears to match the “prototype” driver we saw grainy pictures of on the European tour last week. We have no official details but lets do one of my favorite things, WILDLY SPECULATE!
What’s in a name?
It will be an even number year so the Rogue style head will be getting an update. The lineup has gone Rogue, Mavrik, and looks like it is headed back to Rogue with the Rogue ST lineup. So we know it will be higher launch and spin than the Epic. The ST is new and it will probably stand for something .Id venture Speed Tuned or something else speed
Speed Frame Blades
Last year Callaway introduced the new Jailbreak Speed Frame. It was the next step on from their very successful Jailbreak tech. Rather than having two connection points last year we got 4. We did see on the fairway woods though we got a new jailbreak Speed BLADES. The attachment points on the sole were wider than the ones on the driver. Whats interesting on the new driver is the Speed Frame attachments are back down to two and look a lot like the speed frame. Did they find a way to merger the frame into two attachment points? It still says Jailbreak AI Frame so itll be interesting to see how they have reshaped the frame to increase ball speed and forgiveness
Carbon Fiber
There is an absolute gratuitous use of Carbon fiber on the sole of this club. Its unlike anything we have really seen on a Rogue style driver. They have removed the titanium off the sole and made it all carbon fiber. The carbon fiber is much lighter than the titanium so it will change the weighting of the club substantially. What is Callaway going to do with the additional weight savings? That leads me to the actual design of the sole
Sole Design
This is where it gets interesting in my opinion. This is the LS model which is historically designed for low spin and for that slightly better player. In the middle of the club head you can see is where they built the titanium sole plate and put carbon fiber around it. This means all of the weight in this club is going to be low and in the middle of the head. This should give a nice neutral CG. There is also a different shaped piece more forward in this model so that little piece could move around based on the model of the club. That middle piece gets wider as we move back. It ends in a bright gold weight which doesnt appear to be moveable. The Rogue lineup hasnt ever had moveable weight so this will probably continue.
Final Thoughts
While not the exact same, that center piece is very reminiscent of the PING G425. From an aesthetics sand point, I like it a lot. The Black and white with a pop of gold is nice looking. With the weight designs it looks like Callaway is trying ot move that CG low and back to create an absolute forgiveness machine. Combine that with their AI tech increasing distance and it looks like Callaway is producing another winner.