Callaway Ball Speed Blitz

Timing is everything in life right? I would say so. And I consider myself extremely fortunate to have joined the Callaway Golf family in the fall of 2016, just months before the launch of their Epic driver, the club that rocked the golf industry. Just five days into its release early in 2017 and for the next 13 months, it was the No. 1 selling driver and single-handedly generated $300 million for a company that had been forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy only 14 years earlier.

Since CEO Chip Brewer came on board in 2012, Callaway has poured $40 million into research and development annually with one goal in mind: to make the best product in every single category. Well now, Callaway is the undisputed leader in ball speed!

But seriously. How to do you convince an ever-growing crowd of industry skeptics that each successive product launch is better than the last? You invite Callaway Staffers and a hand-selected group of members from their country clubs to a Ball Speed Blitz, the 3rd event of its kind in the last three years. This year, Callaway really nailed it too. Less time in the classroom and more time out on the driving range!

I know what you’re thinking. How does Callaway keep doing it? How can each successive club be better than the last? It all started with Jailbreak, the technology that keeps the crown and the sole of the club from separating at impact resulting in greater ball speeds off the face. Add greater Moment of Inertia (MOI), and you get Rogue. And the only way to improve on Rogue? Figure out a way to better what’s already the most explosive driver face in golf.

To do that, Callaway Senior Vice President of Research and Development Alan Hocknell went to Brewer with a pretty expensive request – permission to purchase a $1 million super computer with artificial intelligence (AI). Basically, Callaway bought itself a “Watson.” Once in place, Callaway engineers put it to work on a new club face. Over the next four weeks, the computer went through 15,000 iterations. It would take your computer 34 years to run just one optimization. Instead of the 4-5 prototypes engineers typically develop in preparation for bringing a product to market, now they had thousands.

The result? Flash Face and the newest Epic Flash driver. Unlike previous club face designs that featured an “X” pattern behind the face for great stability at the sweet spot, Flash Face has more of a ripple effect. Imagine if a droplet of water splashed into a 595c super-aged forged titanium face. It’s not only the first face designed by AI, it’s the first example of AI being used to design a consumer product.

Now for the technical part. Jailbreak and Flash Face generate more ball speed per characteristic time (CT), the amount of time the ball spends on the face at impact. The USGA decided to replace its Coefficient of Restitution (COR) test in favor of CT back in 2016. The maximum allowable CT is 257 milliseconds. Callaway broke the code by pushing the limits of what’s legally allowed and now has more ball speed at a given CT than any other driver face before or since.

In Tour player testing, Flash was 2-7 miles per hour faster, 6-20 yards longer, and had a 23% tighter down range dispersion pattern over players’ current gamer drivers. Granted, these are the best golf swings on the planet, but Xander Schauffele, who plays everything Callaway except for his driver, traded-in his TaylorMade M2 on the spot after he picked up five mph in ball speed during product testing. There’s a ringing endorsement!

But on a more amateur level, one of our members picked-up 20 yards in total distance on TrackMan compared to his gamer on a day when he said “he wasn’t hitting it all that well” (and 35 yards since he switched to Epic back in 2017).

Returning is the Adjustable Perimeter Weighting (APW), even in the lower-spinning Sub Zero model, made famous by the original Epic series of drivers coupled with the MOI of Rogue and the hottest face from crown to sole and heel to toe. According to Senior Manager of Sales Training Joel Rump, “Flash Face results in spin robustness that’s tighter across the face, meaning launch spin is in a tighter range on off-center hits.” It all boils down to this: on February 1st, you have to get your hands on Flash Face!

That’s not all that’s coming from Callaway. There are also several other innovations making 2019 the company’s best ever product launch all across the board:

Stroke Lab
In my opinion, this is just as big if not bigger than Flash Face. Callaway reinvents the putter by removing the steel shaft and replacing it with a tip-heavy graphite and steel stiff shaft. The move saves 30g and repositions it into the head and grip for a smoother, more accurate stroke and increased control by reducing shaft movement. The balance point moves closer to the hands achieving a unique tempo-enhancing benefit that can actually improve the consistency of the putting stroke by nearly 20%. It’s a putter that can actually help you putt better.

Fairway Woods
Epic Flash comes in the fairway woods as well. The OptiFit Hosel adjustability that was removed for Rogue fairway woods is back along with Jailbreak for the first time ever in a fairway wood. It’s Callaway’s fastest fairway wood ever.

Apex Irons
Callaway engineers its proprietary urethane microspheres into a forged iron, something it’s never done before. The 1025 mild carbon steel body promotes sound and feel while the microspheres absorb unwanted vibration without slowing ball speeds off the face.

Big Bertha Irons
The Suspended Energy Core is the engine of the new Big Bertha irons. The revolutionary new construction suspends the Metal Injection Molding (MIM) Tungsten weight using urethene microspheres for easy launch, and long, consistent distance. The technology from the 360 Face Cup employs a flexible rim around the face that flexes and releases at impact to increase ball speed.

PM Grind Wedges
Phil Mickelson and Roger Cleveland collaborate on a higher toed, increased 20-degree offset Groove-in-Groove wedge resulting in greater trajectory control and increased speed when opening the face.

Golf Balls
Three new models are set to hit the marketplace: a Supersoft matte finish (in red, pink, orange, and green), Supersoft Magna (an oversized, two-piece golf ball with a higher center of gravity for straighter, more consistent shots for juniors and seniors), and ERC Soft with Triple Track Technology for improved alignment. The ERC, named after founder Ely Reeves Callaway, is Callaway’s longest ball with a Dual SoftFast Core infused with Graphene and a new hybrid cover for increased greenside spin.