Four TruTrack designs. Four polarizing golf debates. Five golden tickets to the experience of a lifetime*.
*The “Experience” is not available on Sundays
In what can only be described as a bold strategic pivot away from dinosaurs and hamburgers, Callaway has announced the limited edition Chrome Tour Karens & Chads collection – a dozen golf balls designed to honor the most passionate, loudest and most needlessly confrontational voices in amateur golf.
“We’ve spent years listening to golfers,” said Brenda Hutchkiss, Callaway’s newly appointed vice president of Consumer Complaints. “And, honestly? Most of what we hear are complaints. So, we get it, why not celebrate?”
The Chrome Tour Karens & Chads collection features four TruTrack designs, each inspired by one of golf’s most polarizing debates—the kind of topics that turn a civilized commentary section into a digital cage match faster than you can say “pace of play.”
“We wanted to capture the energy of someone who has already drafted a strongly worded email before the round is over,” adds Hutchkiss. “These balls are for the golfer who has opinions. Lots of them. About everything. Whether you asked or not.”
Chrome Tour Karens & Chads come in four gloriously unique designs.
Karen dress code
Dress Code Karen Top features a woman in a red, striped polo shirt, sunglasses and pearl necklace, arms crossed, lips pursed, radiating disapproval. Around her are circular red symbols on collarless tops. Her expression says everything her email to the club manager will say later.
“Dress Code Karen sees a collarless shirt on the fourth hole and her round is effectively over,” explains Darren Foldsworth, Director of Cultural Awareness at Callaway Golf. “She’s not playing golf anymore. She’s conducting an audit. She’s cataloging violations. She’s drafting a letter to the greens committee in her head while hitting from 12 feet.”
Karen dress code doesn’t care about your game. It takes care of your neck. And if your shirt doesn’t have a collar, she doesn’t have time for you, which is ironic, because she has a lot of free time.
Bluetooth speaker Chad
The Chad Bluetooth Speaker Top features a guy (Chad) in a navy polo, visor and sunglasses, with his mouth open in the middle, clutching a Bluetooth speaker to his ear. Red lightning and blue sweatdrops surround him. He’s not having a good time.
“It was personal for a lot of guys on the team,” admits Foldsworth. “We ran an internal poll, and Bluetooth speakers on the course were the single most divisive topic — more than favorite lies, more than range, more than whether a hot dog is a sandwich.”
The Chad Bluetooth Speaker can hear your JBL Clip from two streets away. He has identified the song (he hates it). He has identified the golfer (he hates him too). And he’s already mentally drafting his Yelp review for the entire golf course because management has clearly abandoned all standards of decency.
Zero stars. Chad does not recommend it.
Bluetooth Speaker Chad has strong opinions about what constitutes “acceptable volume” on a golf course. The acceptable volume, per record, is zero. Absolute silence. He wants to hear nothing but birdsong, the crack of a well-struck iron, and the gentle rustling of the wind through the trees. Anything else is a personal attack.
“The irony,” adds Foldsworth, “is that Chad’s Bluetooth speaker rings in every other box. Full volume. He never turns it down. The lack of self-awareness is really what makes him special.”
When asked how the #Chad concept came about, Foldsworth simply credited a former member of Callaway’s social media team. “Some things just get named,” he said, adding, “We should probably post something about that on Vine.”
AimPoint Chad
The AimPoint Chad top features a guy (also Chad) in a light blue polo and an AimPoint branded ruler, holding up two fingers in the classic AimPoint green reading pose – topped with a giant red X.
AimPoint Chad hates AimPoint. He hates it. He has posted about it on every golf forum that will have it and some that won’t. He called it a scam, a cult and – on a particularly hot Tuesday evening – “an affront to the traditions of the game”.
“What makes AimPoint Chad so special,” says Hutchkiss, “is the hypocrisy. He despises AimPoint with every fiber of his being, but he hits every shot. Every. Single. One. From three angles. For three minutes. With two feet.”
AimPoint Chad has no problem with green reading methods. He has a problem with your method of reading green. His method – which involves hanging a barrel in front of his face like a divining rod and gazing at the horizon as if he’s sailing by the stars – is tradition. Your method is a circus act.
He hasn’t broken 100 since 2017, but that’s beside the point.
Pickleball Karen
Pickleball Karen features a woman in golf attire, hands over her ears, eyes wide in horror, as a pickle paddle and ball appear behind her. A single crack runs through the paddle – the result of what Callaway describes as “an unfortunate incident in the clubhouse parking lot.”
Pickleball Karen showed up to play golf and there are courses where the putting green has been. She can hear the noise from the third street. That rhythmic, hollow, soul-crushing pop-pop-pop haunts her dreams and, by her estimation, has added at least four flawed beats.
“Pickleball Karen didn’t pay her initiation fee for this,” says Foldsworth. “She didn’t refinance her kitchen for this. She joined a golf club. Not a golf club and also a pickleball-and-maybe-soon-cornhole club.”
The worst part? Her husband loves pickles. Plays every Wednesday. He bought the shoes. He even bought a Callaway Inertia paddle which Karen has described as “a personal betrayal” and “the basis for a serious conversation”. It is fighting a war on two fronts and losing both.
Golden Ticket: “I want to talk to the pro shop manager” Retro Chrome Soft
Hidden inside five of the Chrome Tour Karens & Chads boxes—and only in five boxes—is a fifth, very limited-edition ball. This one is special.
The “I Want to Talk to the Pro Shop Manager” ball is a Retro Chrome softball in a gold and red Truvis pattern with the classic Callaway font. The player’s number—19—is painted in a brush style that looks like it was applied by hand rather than carefully. If you open it up, you’ll find that the core is more than a little off-center.
“We wanted to pay homage to our heritage,” says Finlay Jones, Senior Director of Heritage Experiences at Callaway. “The 2018-2019 Chrome Soft was a pivotal moment for Callaway. It inspired us to invest hundreds of millions in precision manufacturing technology, quality control infrastructure and 3D X-ray systems. Without that Chrome Soft, there is no Chrome Tour. We thought it was important to honor that journey.”
When asked about the off-center player number and smudged player number, an ever-concerned Jones replied, “Every detail is a deliberate homage to the craftsmanship of the era. We spent months reverse engineering the exact level of inaccuracy. It’s harder than it sounds. Our engineers kept them perfect.”
Callaway is calling it a “Heritage Edition.”
Find the golden ball and you’ll win the Callaway Chicopee VIK (Very Important Karen) Experience—an all-expenses-paid trip to Callaway’s golf ball manufacturing facility in Chicopee, Mass., that includes:
- A private factory tour with backstage access, where you’ll be encouraged to personally reject at least three dozen for “not meeting your standards.”
- A hands-on session with precision painting equipment where winners will be invited to use machines they are in no way qualified to touch. No training will be provided. Callaway says this is intentional. “We believe in learning by doing,” says Jones, “and also in very good insurance.”
- An all-you-can-eat chicken dinner (waffle fries excluded).
- A dozen custom Chrome Tour balls painted in the color of your choice, pending a six to eight week approval process from Callaway’s Director of Relations Karen.
- A title of honor — “Vice President of Consumer Complaints, Chicopee Division” — printed on a business card you absolutely didn’t need but would 100 percent hand out at your home course.
“We wanted the VIK Experience to feel exclusive, extravagant and a little bit wacky,” says Foldsworth, “like PXG, but with chicken nuggets, special sauce and a lot less screaming.”
Specifications, price and availability
The limited edition Chrome Tour Karens & Chads collection is only available at Chrome Tour. Each box includes four balls – one of each design – in the TruTrack pattern. Retail price is $79.99 for a dozen or roughly the emotional cost of playing after a Saturday morning six.
Available while supplies last at CallawayGolf.com. No exchange. No refunds. And before you ask – no, you can’t talk to the manager.
Besides, given the copycat nature of the golf equipment industry, today’s joke is tomorrow’s limited edition.
