Equipment

Spotted: Callaway Mack Daddy 4 prototype wedges, X Forged driving iron

Published

9 years ago

Sep 26, 2017

Tinker season has returned!

With the 2016-2017 PGA Tour season ending at the Tour Championship on Sunday, it’s technically the offseason despite some of the best players in the world competing in the 2017 Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club. Although it’s an important and patriotic competition, it still marks the start of new equipment releases, and PGA Tour players trying out new equipment.

On the range at Liberty National, we spotted new Callaway Mack Daddy 4 wedges — the company says they are in the prototype phase — and a new Callaway X Forged prototype driving iron in the bag of Phil Mickelson.

Callaway Mack Daddy 4 prototype wedges

CallawayMackDaddy4Wedges

The Mack Daddy 4 wedges look similar to the company’s previous MD3 Milled wedges, which also had four weight ports in the rear cavities that were said to reposition center of gravity (CG) higher in the wedges for a lower launch and higher spin. The overall look of the wedges, however, bear more of a resemblance to its Mack Daddy 2 wedges. The photos also show that “milled” is stamped on the hosel of the Mack Daddy 4 wedges.

Maybe the Mack Daddy 4 is a best-of-both-worlds design that draws from the constructions of both the Mack Daddy 2 and 3 wedges. We’ll have to wait and see, for now.

“This is a Callaway prototype wedge that we are currently testing with our professional staffers,” a Callaway representative told us. “It is a prototype as of now.”

Callaway X Forged Driving Iron

unnamed-4

In Phil Mickelson’s bag, a well-known club tinkerer, we spotted a Callaway Epic Pro iron, X Forged 2017 irons, Callaway Apex MB irons, and a never-before-seen X Forged 18-degree driving iron. Unlike Callaway’s previous Apex UT driving iron that had a weight port in its sole, the X Forged driving iron we spotted in Phil’s bag has a clean sole. It does, however, sport an expectedly wider sole than the new X Forged 2017 irons that were recently unveiled in Japan.

“These are Callaway prototype irons that we are testing with our professional staffers,” a Callaway representative told us. “They are prototypes as of now.”

Discussion: See what GolfWRX members are saying about the Mack Daddy 4 prototype wedges

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GolfWRX Staff

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5 Comments

gunmetal

Oct 1, 2017 at 9:14 pm

It wouldn’t be Fall if Callaway weren’t debuting their new and improved wedges from a few months back. My oh my, how do Titleist, Ping, Mizuno, Cleveland and dare I say Taylormade compete in the wedge segment? They only release new wedges every 18-24 months.

Overengineering? To a T.

FWIW, I do like that they’re not even bothering with rebadging.

Reply Report comment
Mad-Mex

Sep 27, 2017 at 10:25 pm

Read this “article” three times and have not figured out what makes these BETTER than Mack Daddy 2 wedges? It says it ” reposition center of gravity (CG) higher in the wedges for a lower launch and higher spin” How much lower and how much spin?

Reply Report comment
Gearhead

Sep 27, 2017 at 11:22 am

Mmmmmm I love my gear

Reply Report comment
Golf Engineer

Sep 26, 2017 at 5:34 pm

From Wikipedia:
“Overengineering (or over-engineering) is the designing of a product to be more robust or complicated than is necessary for its application, either (charitably) to ensure sufficient factor of safety, sufficient functionality, or because of design errors. Overengineering can be desirable when safety or performance on a particular criterion is critical, or when extremely broad functionality is required, but it is generally criticized from the point of view of value engineering as wasteful. As a design philosophy, such overcomplexity is the opposite of the less is more school of thought (and hence a violation of the KISS principle and parsimony).

Overengineering generally occurs in high-end products or specialized market criteria, and takes various forms. In one form, products are overbuilt, and have performance far in excess of needs (a family sedan that can drive at 300 km/h, or a home video cassette recorder with a projected lifespan of 100 years), and hence are more expensive, bulkier, and heavier than necessary. Alternatively, they may be overcomplicated – the design may be far more complicated than is necessary for its use, such as a modern text editor asking whether files should be saved in ASCII, EBCDIC or various multi-byte formats. Overcomplexity reduces usability of the product by the end user, and can decrease productivity of the design team due to the need to build and maintain all the features.

A related issue is market segmentation – making different products for different market segments. In this context, a particular product may be more or less suited for a particular market segment, and may be over- or under- engineered relative to an application.
—————-
The golf club industry and over-engineering…. so true.

Reply Report comment
- Boss
  
  Sep 27, 2017 at 2:53 am
  
  From Wikipedia:
  IDIOT
  An idiot, dolt, dullard or (archaically) mome is a person perceived to be lacking intelligence, or someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way. Along with the similar terms moron, imbecile, and cretin, the word archaically referred to the intellectually disabled, but have all since gained specialized meanings in modern times. An idiot is said to be idiotic, and to suffer from idiocy.
  =========
  You are the definition. So true//
  
  Reply Report comment

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Equipment

Interesting clubs at top of bag – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

9 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, users are talking about top of bag setups that are non-traditional or thought-provoking in some way. Original poster @SuperSpurs106 inquired about other members who might use unorthodox set-ups to help with gapping issues or weak spots.

They wrote:

“I currently have a PING G430 driver, TM Qi35 3W and a TM Qi4D 7W. Driver and 7W are fine but can’t get on with my 3W and have always struggling with this club over the years. Thinking of adding a 2H which I know would look odd. Just wondering if anyone else had a weird set up at the top of their bag?”

Our members in the forum have offered up their thoughts and personal experiences with non-traditional top of bag set-ups, and their reasoning for thinking outside of the box to begin with. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

BowMain42: “Don’t worry about what “looks” odd. If the club does what you need it to do, it’s the right club.”
scooterhd2: “I cant hit 3 woods either. Thats why I roll with a unicorn XL Hibore 2 wood. 400 cc head at 16 degrees of loft and its just a monster 3 wood off the tee. Off the deck, we are playing the f6 baffler. 5 wood at 41.75 inches and its easy to control.”
phizzy30: “I had driver, 3 metal, 2/4 hybrid once upon a time as a higher ss player. 4 hybrid is gone and in place is a driving iron nowadays. I don’t think what you’re proposing is weird in anyway, however the yardage gap might be glaringly huge between driver and 2 hybrid. What is it about your 3 metal that has got you all messed up? You could always go 4 metal with shorter shaft and see if that works.”

Entire Thread: “Interesting clubs at top of bag”

If you aren’t a member, join us in the GolfWRX forums today!

Equipment

Members of the Mini Driver Club – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

9 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user has gone searching for fellow users of a mini driver. In a post, @TightFade asked for other mini driver users to chime in with their weapon of choice, the reason for employing a mini, and what club follows it in the bag.

@TightFade asked:

“What mini are you playing? What spot in the bag did it take over? What’s the next club after it? For me: Elyte mini 13.5. Replacing 3w. Next up club looks like it’ll be 5w.”

Our members in the forum have been sharing their own bag setups featuring the mini driver, and the various reasons they purchased one in the first place. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

RCGA: “Ping G430 Max 12* ‘Thriver.’ Next club is a 4w and 2i (I play a weird course).”
JMB3: “R7 at 12.75 with Diamana BB 63s. 3w replacement. Next Club: Elyte Ti 5w at 17*.”
ColdOkieGolf: “R7 15.5 turned down to 13.5 It replaces the 3w. I found it surprisingly easy to hit off the deck, and it’s very rare that I need or want to hit something beyond 250 from the fairway, so next club is my 7w.”
ChaosTheory: “I’m sub-90 MPH with driver. But I’m able to hit DOD. I have been wanting something like the R7 15.5, so I just ordered one. I have a spot in the bag so nothing has to go. But I could see it replacing my trusty 4 wood, which I never use for approach shots. Just tee shots and lay ups. If I drop the 4 wood, I will turn my 7 wood down to ~20 degrees and will have good gaps. I recently tried a thriver build: 12 degree driver turned to 14, with a heavier 44 inch shaft and added head weight. I hit it great. Very accurate and not overly high, but the problem was that it sometimes went as far as a typical drive. And that’s not what I needed. So I will probably turn the 15.5 up to 16.5 or even 17.5. It’s all theoretical at this point. ?”

Entire Thread: “Members of the Mini Driver Club…Check In.”

If you aren’t a member, join us in the GolfWRX forums today!

Whats in the Bag

Chris Gotterup WITB 2026 (June)

Published

9 hours ago

Jun 3, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Chris Gotterup had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.

Drivers: TaylorMade Qi4D (8 degrees), Ping G440 LST (9 degrees @8), Ping G440 LST (7.5 degrees)
Shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Grey 6.5 TX 70 g, Project X HZRDUS T1100 Handcrafted 6.5 TX 70 g, Project X HZRDUS Smoke Grey 6.5 TX 70 g