Equipment

Review: Callaway X2 Hot and X2 Hot Pro Hybrids

Published

9 years ago

Jan 12, 2014

Pros: Two different options, a Pro version with a slightly smaller head and lower launch and spin, and a standard version with more forgiveness and an easier launch. The forged Hyper Speed Face Cup produces a smooth feel and more ball speed across the face.

Cons: The look of the Pro version turns heads, but even the better player might find it takes more “work” to hit great shots.

Bottom line: Both hybrids live up to the marketing promise of higher ball speeds and more distance even on shots not hit on the sweet spot. The X2 Hot Pro is geared for the better player and creates lower-launching, more-penetrating flight and the ability to easily work the ball in any direction. On the other hand, all golfers, even better players, should seriously consider the X2 Hot Hybrid and its slightly larger, more-forgiving face and higher-launching ball flight.

Overview

Callaway continues to launch new products that offer golfers two different versions to chose from — a Pro version for better players and a standard version designed for everyone — allowing golfers of every skill level an off-the-rack choice of clubs suited to their general needs. The X2 Hot Pro hybrid, with its smaller, tour-inspired head and Aldila Tour Green shaft, is designed for the better player looking for a lower-launching, lower-spinning hybrid. The X2 Hot hybrid, designed for every golfer, has a larger face, larger sweet spot and Aldila Tour Blue shaft that makes it easier to launch the ball in the air and generate distance even on mishits.

The Callaway X2 Hot Hybrid (above) and X2 Hot Pro hybrids have similar-looking club faces, but the body of the X2 Hot Pro is substantially slimmer.

For the first time, Callaway added its high-strength forged 455-carpenter steel cup face to the X2 Hot hybrids. Last year’s X Hot fairway woods proved that adding a forged face to a fairway wood means more distance for more players, and bringing that technology to hybrids was a natural progression. Through its precision forging process, Callaway claims it was able to increase the spring-like effect of the face not just in the center of the club, but all over the face, leading to increased distance even on mishits.

The X2 Hot hybrids are available in lofts of 19, 22, 25 and 28 degrees and come stock with Aldila’s Tour Blue 65 hybrid shaft in light, regular and stiff flexes. Stock swingweight is D0. The X2 Hot Pro hybrids come in lofts of 16, 18, 20 and 23 with an aftermarket version of Aldila’s Tour Green 75 hybrid shaft in R, S and X flexes. Stock swing weight is D2. Both hybrids will be available in stores Jan. 17 and sell for $199.

Performance

During any given round I might hit my hybrid off the tee, off the deck, from the rough or possibly even around the green, making the hybrid one of the most versatile clubs in my bag. I tested the X2 Hot and X2 Hot Pro hybrids over multiple sessions both on the course during rounds and on a Flightscope launch monitor on the driving range. My goal was to simply see if the ball flight and performance matched Callaway’s claims.

My first few shots with the X2 Hot hybrid were on the driving range prior to a round. It only took a few swings to realize this hybrid was going to play a big role in my bag. The X2 Hot hybrid was almost effortless to launch and produced a nice ball flight that wasn’t necessarily low and boring, but also wasn’t ballooning up in the air. The turf interaction on both clubs was very nice and I could play these hybrids out of the rough or fairway. My typical ball flight with a hybrid is straight to a slight cut, however with the X2 Hot hybrid, almost all my shots on the range and in testing produced a draw. I could still work the ball left to right, but it was clear these clubs have a least a little draw bias.

I really wanted the X2 Hot Pro hybrid to produce great results for me as well. I instantly liked the look of the smaller head and clean crown. At address, the Pro hybrid really looked and felt like an iron, but with a lot more power behind it. I only hit a few shots on the range before the round, but I could tell the ball flight was more penetrating, the spin was even lower than the X2 Hot hybrid and the distance was slightly longer. However, unlike the effortless launch of the standard hybrid, I was working hard on every shot.

Notice how much longer front to back the X2 Hot hybrid (above) is than the X2 Hot Pro hybrid. That moves the CG more rearward in the head, raising launch and spin.

Over the course of four rounds, I played the X2 Hot and X2 Hot Pro hybrids in as many on-course situations as possible. Each club continued to produce the ball flight and distance I expected. The standard hybrid was easily more forgiving, and by the middle of the week I had gained a lot of confidence in the club. The X2 Hot Pro hybrid continued to make me work for every good shot that I hit.

After on-course testing, I wanted to get on a launch monitor and confirm my theory that both hybrids live up to their marketing claims and confirm what I was seeing in the on-course testing.

Performance: Standard X2 Hot Hybrid

Over the course of an hour-long session on Flightscope, I rotated between both hybrids and threw out true mishits and outliers from the data. The majority of my swings produced shots off or near the sweet spot, not a dime size by any means, but consistent. I also tested shots off the heel and toe as well as high and low.

The X2 Hot hybrid is designed to launch easier but still have a nice penetrating flight with lower spin than Callaway’s previous hybrids. On average, when compared to the X2 Hot Pro, the standard hybrid generated 2 mph more ball speed, 4 more yards of carry and 1.5 yards more total distance. The launch angle was actually only a half-degree higher but generated 300 more rpm of spin and a peak height that was 2 yards higher. That said, the spin numbers were much lower than my current gamer and right inline with the range I would want out of a hybrid.

Almost every shot I hit with the X2 Hot hybrid had a draw ball flight and a very nice trajectory. What is most impressive and very important is that mishits off the heel and toe resulted in very little loss of ball speed and total distance, proving Callaway’s claim of a larger sweet spot. As expected, shots off the heel would likely minimize the draw tendency, but instead of producing a solid fade, it produced relatively straight shots or slight cuts. I really had to mishit this club to produce wildly offline shots.

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Performance: X2 Hot Pro Hybrid

Last year’s X Hot Pro hybrids, while lower spinning than previous generations, still generated more spin than some better players were looking for. Callaway took this feedback and decided to lower the CG (center of gravity) by 40 percent in an effort to decrease spin and lower ball flight. It worked. While the launch angle was only marginally lower than the X2 Hot hybrid, the overall trajectory was lower while still resulting in nice flight time and carry numbers. My spin numbers were excellent and when properly struck, the golf ball jumped off the face and flew forever.

In contrast to the X2 Hot hybrid, the majority of my shots had less draw and I was more prone to hitting straight shots and cuts with the X2 Hot Pro hybrid. Mishits off the heel and toe still generated good ball speed, but it was much easier to mishit the Pro version. High shots and low shots on the face were more costly resulting in average distance loss of 4 to 5 yards.

Those were the averages. Where it gets really interesting is when I looked at the top five swings with both hybrids, based on carry and total distance, smash factor, spin and launch angle. The X2 Hot Pro hybrid outperforms the standard hybrid in every category except smash factor. I produced 4 more yards of carry and 7 more total yards, a straight to slight cut ball flight with a fractionally lower smash factor and lower launch. In fact, my three longest shots of the day were with the X2 Hot Pro hybrid and each shot was at least 4 yards longer than the longest X2 Hot shot. If I could be assured I would hit the ball almost perfectly every time, the X2 Hot Pro hybrid would be in my bag. However, it also means that the X2 Hot Pro hybrid is less forgiving, requires a lot more work to hit quality shots and truly is a club fit for the very best of players.

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Both clubs outperform my current gamer in every category and generated average distance gains of 5 to7 yards. But more importantly, both clubs produced results I expected based on Callaway’s claims. For the better player, the Pro version should be very enticing, but even if you favor pro models, I would recommend also testing the standard version as a comparison. For the golfer looking for help getting the ball into the air and greater forgiveness on mishits, the standard version should go to the top of the list of hybrids to test.

Looks and Feel

From the moment I took the headcover off, I was instantly impressed with the look of these clubs. Both hybrids received a very noticeable redesign that went deeper than just a new paint job. With less pinching at the toe and the heel, less offset and more scroll lines on the face, the X2 Hot hybrids have a much more iron-like look than last year’s X Hot hybrids.

The darker grey color and darker Aldila shaft colors blend better in my opinion than the dark head and light shaft combination of last year’s X Hot hybrids. Both clubs have very clean, minimalistic crowns. The X2 Hot hybrid has a chevron alignment mark, which I like, while the Pro version is completely clean on the crown. Both clubs really look nice behind the ball at address and instill a lot of confidence prior to taking the club back.

The overall graphics package, from the clean crowns to the sweet-looking Aldila shafts, really give these clubs a nice blend of traditional and modern hybrid styling.

Above: The “real deal” Aldila Tour Green 75 that comes stock in the X2 Hot Pro Hybrid.

The forged face feels silky smooth at impact, especially off the sweet spot, and aided in the feeling that it was almost effortless to get the ball in the air. Plenty of feedback is also available on both heel/toe and high/low hits. I knew exactly where I made contact on each shot before even looking at the impact marks. Impact with the X2 Hot Pro, with its smaller head, felt more firm and iron-like while the X2 Hot hybrid felt slightly more springy like a fairway wood. These two clubs have distinctively different feels at impact and since feel is subjective, it is another good reason to test both clubs before making a decision.

Bottom Line

Callaway decided to rethink the look and feel of its hybrid line for this year and I think it hit a home run. The clean lines, forged face, larger sweet spot and premium shaft options all work together to create two hybrids that offer different characteristics for different types of golfers, but ultimately produce the same result: more distance on more shots.

Whether you are a high- or low-handicap golfer, both X2 Hot hybrids should be on your list of clubs to test this year.

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Equipment

7 takeaways from an AWESOME equipment talk with Padraig Harrington

Published

2 hours ago

Mar 30, 2023

Andrew Tursky

Fans of golf equipment have long known that Padraig Harrington is one of us. Throughout his career, Harrington has been willing to test new products, make changes from week to week, and play with a bag of mixed equipment brands.

What equipment fans may not know, however, is just how brilliant of an equipment mind Harrington truly has.

Ahead of the 2023 Valero Texas Open, I caught up with Harrington to pick his brain about what clubs are currently in his bag, and why. The conversation turned into Harrington discussing topics such as the broader equipment landscape, brand deals in 2023, his driver testing process, why he still uses a TaylorMade ZTP wedge from 2008, square grooves vs. V-grooves, and using a knockoff set of Ping Eye 1 irons as a junior.

Padraig Harrington’s 2023 WITB

Below are my 7 major takeaways from the extensive gear talk with Harrington.

1) Padraig’s stance on equipment contracts, and why he prefers Wilson

Harrington is a longtime Wilson staffer, and although he supports the brand and uses their equipment, he doesn’t use a full bag of Wilson clubs. He finds Wilson’s understanding of a player’s need for flexibility to be beneficial to the player, and it’s attracting more and more professional players to the company (such as Kevin Kisner and Trey Mullinax).

“Wilson wants me to play whatever I’m comfortable with. It’s very important. They’re not a manufacturer that says, ‘We want you to play 14 clubs.’ There’s always a club you don’t like. That’s just the way it is. So Wilson is like, ‘We want you playing well and playing the best clubs for you.’

“I am very comfortable with their irons. I’m very comfortable with their wedges, as you can see. They have an old hybrid 4 iron that I love. They have a new hybrid 4-iron that is too powerful. I put it in the bag last week and I had to take it out. The thing is, I use a 4-iron and a 5-wood. My 4-iron has to go somewhat relative to my 5-iron, and then I have to bridge that gap between 4-iron and 5-wood, so it has to do both. The new 4-iron was going 230 yards. My 4-iron goes about 215-235, maybe 240 on a warm day. And my 5-wood is like a warm-day 265 in the air, but I have no problem hitting it 235, so I can cross it over. But this 4-iron, the new version, it just went. I couldn’t hit the 215 shot with it; it’s just too powerful. That’s why I have the old 4-iron in the bag, but it does the job to bridge the gap…

“As players get more money, they’re less dependent on manufacturers. They need the service of a manufacturer – because, like I need to be on that truck and get things checked. But you’re seeing more players see Wilson as an attractive option because you don’t have to use 14 clubs. If you’re not happy this week with the putter; you know, Wilson has the putters, they have everything, but if you want to chase something else for a moment…remember, there’s two things you’re chasing. If you’re a free agent, it’s not good to be changing a lot. That is a distraction. But it’s nice to have the option that if somebody…like I feel Titleist has come out with a great driver. And I’m able to work my way straight into Titleist and say, ‘Hey, gimmie a go with that. Oh, this is a great driver, I’m going to use this.’ Wilson is aware of that. They want their players to be happy and playing well. Like it’s still 10 clubs, but it’s just not 14 and the ball.

“The irons are great, there’s no doubt about that. They’ve won the most majors. They make a gambit of irons. If you want to use a blade, they have the blade. If you want to use my iron, which is just a good tour composite, it has a bit of a cavity-back, you can do that. If you want to use the D irons that have rockets going off there, you can have them. Like the 4 iron, the one they gave me, it was a rocket! And guys are happy to carry driving irons like that, but mine has to match in with the 5-iron. It was just too high and too fast.

“So yeah, I think you’re going to see manufacturers go more of that way. Our players want to be independent, but the problem is that full independence is not great. You don’t want a situation where you’re turning up – as you see kids who make it into their first tournament, and the manufacturers start giving them stuff, and they’re changing. You don’t want to be the guy changing too much.”

2) The dangers of a 64-degree wedge

Although Harrington himself uses a Wilson Staff High Toe 64-degree wedge, he seldom practices with it. Here’s why he warns against it:

“The big key with a 64 wedge is DO NOT use it. No, seriously, do not use it. It’s a terrible wedge for your technique. That club is in the bag and it gets used on the golf course, and it gets used when it’s needed, but you don’t practice with it, because it’s awful. So much loft will get you leading too much, and you’re going to deloft it. Hit one or two shots with it, then put it away. You’re better off practicing with a pitching wedge and adding loft to be a good chipper instead of practicing with a lob wedge and taking loft off. A 64-degree wedge is accentuating that problem. It’s a dangerous club. It does a great job at times, but it certainly can do harm.

“It’s not bad having it in the bag for a certain shot, but it’s a terrible club to practice with. I literally hit one or two full shots with it, a couple chips with it, and that’s it. I know if I spend too long with it, I’ll start de-lofting.”

3) The interchangeable faces on TaylorMade’s ZTP wedges from 2008 were Padraig’s idea?!

I couldn’t believe it myself, but Harrington says that the idea for TaylorMade to offer interchangeable face technology on its ZTP wedges in 2008 was originally his idea…

“The TaylorMade is obviously attracting a lot of attention, but that was my idea! Myself and a consultant for Wilson, I got him to build changeable faces and he sold that to TaylorMade…that’s fully my idea. He sold that then to TaylorMade, and TaylorMade produced them, which I was happy about. But TaylorMade couldn’t sell them. You can’t get people to clean the grooves, so they weren’t going to buy a new face. Why have 400 faces at home? So I went out and bought these faces to make sure I had them for life. And I was home chipping a while ago, and I have a nice 58. I like the grind on that wedge, and the fact I can just replace the face and have a fresh face every three weeks, it’s just easy, so that’s why that’s in there.”

4) Driver testing isn’t all about speed

“The driver companies know I’m a free agent when it comes to drivers, so every time a new driver comes out, they’ll come to me and say, ‘Hey, would you have a look at this?’

“I will test everything, yeah, but it has to beat what I have in the bag. And Wilson’s new driver is the same. They brought out a new driver and it’s great, but I love the driver I’m using. So I say, ‘Look, guys, not only do you have to be as good as the incumbent, you have to be better, because I already know this and I’m familiar with it.’

“Wilson has built a very, very good driver. There’s know doubt about it. But I love the driver I’m using. And none of these manufacturers can build me a driver that’s better.

“Ball speed gets a driver into the conversation, and then you bring it to the golf course. So the driver has to be going as good as my current driver, and then I bring it to the course and see if I can hit the thing straight. I have gone down the road [of prioritizing speed]…I used a driver in 2014, and it never worked weekends. But it was fast. I used it for about six weeks I’d say – six tournaments – and I missed six straight cuts. It never worked the weekend. It was really fast on the range, but it just wasn’t good on the course.”

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5) Playing with knockoff irons as a junior

“I played as a junior for Ireland, under 18’s, and I owned half a set of golf clubs, and they were imitation Ping Eye 1’s. I borrowed the other half set off my brother. We had a half set each. I had the evens, he had the odds. In that tournament, there was a guy playing with Ping Berylliums with graphite shafts. They cost 1,900 pounds. Mine cost 100 pounds, and they were knockoffs. So I played, for my country, with a set of knockoffs. Before I used those knockoff clubs, I used a mixed bag of clubs. As in, I picked up whatever club they had. The 6-iron might go farther than the 5-iron. The 5-iron might go with a fade and the 7-iron might go with a hook, but I knew what my clubs did. Each club had a purpose.”

6) Using square grooves and V-grooves simultaneously

Square grooves – or “box grooves” – were outlawed by the USGA in 2010 because they were said to help golfers spin the ball too much. V grooves are said to provide less of an advantage because they restrict the sharp edges of the grooves, thus reducing the amount of friction imparted on the golf ball. Prior to the rule change, however, Harrington actually used both V grooves and box grooves, and he’d adjust his setup depending on the golf course.

“What’s interesting is, when the box grooves were around – very few people know this – I carried two sets of clubs at all times. I carried a V groove and a box groove.

“Yeah, see, the box grooves were unbelievable out of the rough, spin wise, but if the rough got to a certain level, the ball would come out so low and with spin that it wouldn’t go very far. Your 7-iron coming out of this rough would only go like 140 yards and it wouldn’t get over any trees because it would come out so low. What I was doing was, if I got to a golf course with this sort of a rough, I’d put in a box groove 7-iron and a V-groove 8-iron. If I got in the rough and I had 170 yards, I’d hit an 8 iron and get a flyer, because the 7 iron wouldn’t get there depending on the lie. And I couldn’t get it over things. So if there were trees, you needed the V groove to get over the trees. A box groove wouldn’t get up in the air.

“No one else was doing it. I played with the box groove for a couple years before I realized that in certain rough, you need the V groove to get there. Hale Irwin played a U.S. Open seemingly with no grooves. Off the fairway it’s meant to make no difference. I would disagree, but that’s what the officials would say. But out of the rough you needed the flyers to get to the green. The V grooves were doing that for me. You get your flyer to get of the rough to get the ball there, but then if it was the first cut of rough, or light rough, or Bermuda rough, or chip shots, it would come out so low and spinny that you’d have no problem.

“I can’t believe that people didn’t realize that I was doing this two-groove thing all the time. I swear to you, you could stand here, you would not launch a 7-iron over that fence there if it was box grooves out of light rough, and V groove would launch over it. The launch characteristics were massively different.”

7) Blame the person, not the putter

Interestingly, Harrington, for all his tinkering, has only used a handful of putters. It turns out, there’s a good reason for that — although he’d like his current model to be a few millimeters taller.

“I used a 2-ball when it came out. Then I used a 2-ball blade, which I won my majors with. I always had a hook in my putts, so not long after I won my majors, I went to face-balanced putter because it helps reduce the left-to-right spin. I started putting really badly in 2013 and 2014 – I had some issues. And then come 2016-2017, I just said, look, I putted well with this putter. If I use this putter, I can’t go back and say it’s the putter’s problem. It’s gotta be me. So I went back to the face-balanced 2-ball blade because I’ve had good times with it. I may have only used 5 or 6 putters in my career.

“I’m really happy that I’ve got a putter that I know I’ve putted well with, and I don’t blame the putter. I can’t say that anymore. I don’t blame my tools, I blame myself if I miss a putt. So it comes down to…I know the putter works, then it’s me. Me, me, me.

“You know, I’ve toyed with using other shafts in the putter, and I will look at other putters, but things are askew to me when I look down. So I can’t have a putter with a line on it. It doesn’t look square to the face. I’ve never putted with a putter that has a line on it for that reason. I line up by feel. I know that putter works, I know it suits me, so that’s why I go with that…

“I prefer a deeper putter (a taller face). The one issue I have is I hit the ball too high on the face, but they won’t remodel the whole system to make me a deeper putter. I’ve tried some optical illusions to try and get it where I hit the ball more in the center, but I hit it high. It seems to be going in the hole so I’m not going to worry about it too much. But in an ideal world, if someone came along and said they could make the putter 3-4 millimeters higher, I’d be happy with that.”

See more photos of Padraig Harrington’s 2023 WITB here

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Equipment

TaylorMade survey on ball rollback finds everyday golfers massively against introduction of Model Local Rule

Published

7 hours ago

Mar 30, 2023

Gianni Magliocco

In response to the USGA and R&A’s recent announcement that they plan on rolling back the golf ball for the professional game, TaylorMade Golf issued a survey asking everyday golfers to voice their opinion regarding the topic of golf ball bifurcation. Today, they are sharing the results.

Almost 45,000 golfers across more than 100 countries spanning a variety of ages, abilities and participation levels took the time to complete the survey and have their voice heard, with some of the major findings shown below:

To the best of your knowledge, do you agree with the proposed golf ball rule?
- 81% No
- 19% Yes

Do you think average hitting distances in professional golf need to be reduced?
- 77% No
- 23% Yes

Are you for or against bifurcation in the game of golf (i.e., different rule(s) for professional golfers versus amateurs)?
- 81% Against
- 19% For

How important is it for you to play with the same equipment professional golfers use?
- 48% Extremely important
- 35% Moderately important
- 17% Not important

If the proposed golf ball rule were to go into effect, would it have an impact on your interest in professional golf?
- 45% Less interested
- 49% No impact
- 6% More Interested

The results also show that 57 percent of golfers aged 18-34 years old would be less interested in the pro game should the rule come into effect, while five percent said they would be more interested.

“The goal of our survey was to give golfers the opportunity to voice their opinion on this proposed ruling as we absorb the MLR and its potential effects on the everyday golfer. We are grateful that nearly 45,000 golfers across the world felt the need for their voice to be heard. The overwhelming amount of responses show the passion, knowledge and care for the game our audience possesses. Each response and data point is being reviewed as we will utilize this feedback in our preparation to provide a response to the USGA and R&A.” – David Abeles, TaylorMade Golf President & CEO

You can check out the survey results in full here.

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Equipment

Spotted: Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K Three “anti-right” prototype putter

Published

1 day ago

Mar 29, 2023

Brian Knudson

Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K putters have really taken off on tour, and we have seen a handful of models in tour player’s bags. The latest version we spotted out on tour is a very unique design.

Odyssey makes this putter head with a standard flow neck that offers plenty of toe hang for golfers who prefer or need that weighting. This prototype has a long slant neck installed more near the center of the putter head that lets the toe sit slightly up in the air when held horizontally. This is pretty different since most putters sit with the toe hanging down towards the ground or are face balanced (face sits parallel to the ground). A full shaft offset looks to be achieved with the slant neck and the look at address is definitely different.

We spoke to Callaway PGA Tour manager Joe Toulon about the putter and he had the following to say

“On course [we had a player who] had a little push bias that didn’t necessarily show up in practice but it is something that he felt on course. So we wanted to build something that was a little easier to release and maybe not necessarily open the toe as much in the back stroke and not have to work as hard to release it in the through stroke. That was kind of designed to give a little offset and when you rested it on your finger it would rest toe up a little bit. We thought for that player it would help him square the putter face at impact rather than leave it open a little bit.

“It was more of a concept we had and will continue to work on it. When we had it on the truck and we were hitting some putts with it we noticed that you had to work really hard to push this putter. We wanted to make an anti-right putter. Just a fun little concept that we have an idea and work with our tour department to test things out.

“It isn’t something that ended up in a player’s bag but we learned some things in that process and will keep in mind for future builds and projects.”

The finish also looks to be a little different than the standard Tri-Hot 5K putter’s black and silver motif. The face and neck are finished in silver and the rear done in more of a blueish-gray tone. The White Hot insert looks to be standard and the sole still contains two interchangeable weights.

The shaft looks to be painted in the same metallic red as their standard Stroke Lab shaft, but we don’t see a steel tip section. Not sure if this putter has a full graphite shaft or painted steel.