If you’re an AI denier and still believe that artificial intelligence in golf is just marketing BS, newbie Callaway Elyte irons can allay your doubts.
Maybe, just a little.
Hey, folks, it’s 2025. AI mockery is so 2024. Let’s try to keep up, OK?
Callaway has positioned itself as the leader in golf AI design, even though nearly every other major OEM uses that technology to varying degrees. However, the new Elyte irons represent a very simple and easy to understand example of what AI brings to the design table.
No doubt you have questions about the new Callaway Elyte irons. We did too. Here are five of them along with five answers. That should be enough to help you decide if they should be on your must-have demos list for 2025.
Question 1: Yes HOW too many Callaway Elyte cuffs?
This is an easy one: four.
The hardest question is why?
The answer can be found in the notion that there are many different types of golfers. Some are just there to have a good time, others are beginners, while others are grinding, trying to improve and score lower scores. They are also of all ages, sizes and relative athleticism.
It seems that one or two sizes do not fit all.
“It’s hard to give golfers a solution that’s going to be best for them with just one or two heads,” he says. Callaway Senior Product Manager Zack Oakley. “We’d love to be able to condense the SKUs and make a single iron that will fit everyone, but that’s not the reality.”
When you look at the landscape, we golfers all have things that get in our way. “Go practice” and “Take lessons” are part of the solution. So are the right tools, especially if those tools can be designed, based on real-world data, to work with the golfer, not against.
This is something AI can do very well.
Question 2: What did HE do that was so special?
Guaranteed or not, Callaway has positioned itself as a leader in AI design in golf. There’s nearly a decade’s worth of data in Callaway’s supercomputer, and the more data you put in, the more nuanced the eventual designs can be.
In this case, those designs include two irons that fit the meaty part of the game improvement bell curve, and two irons that fit a very specific, albeit large, niche.
The new Elyte and Elyte X hit big targets. The Elyte is Callaway’s next-generation standard game-enhancing iron, while the Elyte-X is a new super game-enhancing club in the family. It features a larger head than the standard Elyte along with more offset, a wider heel and a thicker topline.
Both feature Callaway’s new Ai10x face. It’s a variable-thickness face with 10 times more control points than last year’s Ai Smart Face. Callaway says this translates to more ball speed and optimized launch conditions across most of the face.
Elyte HL and Elyte Fast Max get the biggest improvements from AI. Both models are aimed at players with moderate (read: slower) swing speeds, so Callaway’s design intent veered away from pure ball speed.
“We durability test these things at a swing speed of 105 mph,” says Brian Williams, Callaway’s vice president of Club R&D. “What does that do for a guy who swings 65? We were robbing him of face deflection in pursuit of a quality standard he would never need.”
Instead, the new Elyte HL and Max Fast run Ai10x Faces optimized for players who swing it at 65 or 70 mph.
“This has resulted in better products for players with slower swing speeds,” says Williams. “It’s OK if it breaks at 105 because someone swinging an iron at 105 isn’t buying a HL or a Max Fast.”
Question 3: Game improvement irons tend to feel “fluffy”. Are these different?
According to Callaway, yes.
Performance may be the final judge, but OEMs know that sound and feel are the keys to a golfer’s heart. While we use the term “counterfeit feeling,” we’ve found that there are two underlying truths. Get it wrong and you’ll end up with a bad-feeling forged iron. Get it right and you can make a game improvement club with a cast that feels pretty sweet.
Feel, Callaway Elyte irons are game improvement done right. Give Callaway credit, our testing found the Elyte line to have a very nice sound and feel.
Callaway credits its new Speed Frame construction.
“Stiffening the topline gives us a very strong frame for our face to turn in,” says Williams. “It also calms the vibration coming from the top line.”
The redesigned speed frame also allows room for 20 percent more of Callaway’s patented Urethane microsphere padding to further dampen vibration.
“We saw that the snapping sound went away,” Williams says.
“These don’t feel like an upgrade cast,” adds Oakley. “They feel like a premium performance iron.”
Question 4: Are these really better than last year’s irons?
A fair question. The answer may leave you unsatisfied, but here it is anyway:
yes and no.
(I told you.)
Each club outing brings only three possibilities: it can be better, worse or the same as the old one. I will happily return my keyboard if you can find a fourth alternative.
“Last year was a discovery phase for us in using AI for irons,” says Williams. “We have a lot more data now to look at what we call player ‘clustering’ and movement dynamics. It’s more about consistency and repeatability this year rather than pure ball speed. It’s precise launch and spin tuning.”
If you bought a set of standard Ai Smoke irons last year, new Callaway Elite irons can offer small improvements in performance. However, if you fit the Elyte HL mold, you may be in for a surprise.
“For someone in the HL product who needs a higher launch and a little more spin, this face is tuned to help that player get in the air and keep it in the air,” says Oakley.
AI is easy to remove because you can’t see it. Whatever AI voodoo does, it happens behind the face, but it won’t turn you into a ball-hitting machine. Slices, hooks, spikes and chunks will still happen.
AI won’t absolve you of your venial sins, but it can make those sins more heinous and less deadly. These meats may find rough instead of trees and may be a little taller than they might have been otherwise.
Question 5: These are probably expensive, aren’t they?
That depends on your definition stupid.
AND dear.
Complaining about price never goes out of style. I imagine someone in St Andrews was probably fornicated for what old Tom Morris was paying for a cleat or machine when Queen Victoria ruled the empire.
Given the climate of 2025, the new Callaway Elyte irons might just qualify as trend-busters. They’re hitting the road at $150 per steel club, $900 for a set of six. As 2025 majors go, it’s not bad.
By the way, the number “six” is no accident. Callaway says that this has been the average for game improvement groups for several years now. They average close to seven sticks with the Apex line, but the game improvement is generally a 5-PW set. The North American GI 4-iron has apparently gone the way of the North American Isuzu.
Callaway Elyte Cuff: Specs, Price and Availability
standard Callaway The Elyte is built for players who swing fast enough to activate the face. They have no problem getting the ball in the air, but they want a little more distance and better distribution.
True Temper Vector is the steel shaft and Project X Denali Charcoal is the stock graphite. The Lamkin Crossline grip is standard.
Elyte X is the super game-enhancing version of the standard Elyte. It’s slightly stiffer (28-degree vs. 29-degree 7-iron) and has the same shafts and grip as the standard Elyte.
The “HL” in Elyte HL stands for Launch High. It is designed for slower speed golfers who need help getting the ball in the air. It’s leaner throughout the kit with an AI-optimized face for higher launch and spin. KBS MAX 80 is the stock steel while Denali Charcoal is the stock graphite. The Lamkin Crossline is the standard glove.
The Elyte HL is also available in a women’s model with a Mitsubishi Eldio shaft and Lamkin ST Soft handle.
The Elyte Fast Max is extremely lightweight and optimized for even slower speed golfers. It has the same loft structure as the HL, but without the steel axle option. The condition graphite shaft is Mitsubishi Vanquish PL 40 grams in the men’s version and Eldio in the women’s. Win Dri-Tac 2.0 is stock control.
As mentioned, the Elyte line retails for $899.99 for a set of six in steel ($150 per club) and $999 in graphite ($167 per club). Each model will be available in left and right hand.
Presale starts January 17th. They hit stores on February 7th.
For more information, visit Callaway website.
Don’t sleep on last year’s model
With the launch of the new ELYTE line, Paradym Ai Smoke Irons are heavily discounted
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