Our Callaway X Hot Driver Review - Great Golf Deals.com Blog

When you think of the brand Callaway what's the first thing that normally comes to mind?  If you're like most people probably the word "Big Bertha" comes to mind first - their iconic metal wood which revolutionized the metal driver and fairway wood market back in the early 90s'.

The introduction of the Big Bertha launched Callaway Golf to the forefront of golf equipment technology and established them as a leader in metal woods category.

Unfortunately for Callaway, for the past decade, it has lost it's way and for a number of years has had a hard time breaking through the crowded driver/metal woods market which it dominated in the 90's and early 2000s.

That is until now. With new leadership and a new aggressive attitude and marketing campaign Callaway is back and back "Big Time" with its new 2013 offerings.  But an aggressive attitude and marketing campaign will only take you so far - you still need the product to perform and boy does the Callaway X Hot driver perform!

The new Callaway X Hot Driver is the product that will appeal to most of the market as it is targeted at golfers at all levels ( form mid-handicappers to single-digit players).  But by no means is this a one driver fits all product.  Callaway has also come out with a X Hot Pro model targeted at golfers with more advanced skills and faster swing speeds.

The Callaway X Hot Driver is a speed demon with many of the technical features designed to increase club head speed while at the same time provide forgiveness on off-center miss-hits.  The driver checks in at 46 inches which is a half an inch to an inch longer than standard.  It has a 460cc head and speed-frame face is made of titanium that is thinner around the perimeter and thicker in the center which optimizes the sweet spot and decrease the amount of distance loss on off-center hits.

LOOKS:
Callaway has decided to go in a different direction and eschew the popular "white" clubhead look and has equipped the X Hot driver with what can best be described as a matte-gunmetal finish.  The color gives this driver a futuristic look while maintaining a traditional look and feel.  The gunmetal finish against the black club face looks great and does not have that "look at me and my new driver" look.

The club head design can be summed up in one word; "classic".  The head of the X-Hot is a nice and evenly rounded shape without any of the triangle look you see with many heads out there. There is no doubt that it is a 460cc driver, yet it is in a subdued style that doesn’t seem all that large to your eye. Obviously the finish plays a role in this though as well. All in all, this is a driver that presents a clean and classic shape.


ADJUSTABILITY:
The X Hot driver uses Callaway's OptiFit technology which was the same as used in the 2012 RAZR Fit driver.  What's great about this feature is that it is by far the easiest to adjust and you do not a Phd  in club physics to make the proper adjustments for your game.  The X Hot driver is designed to have a square face angle in its neutral setting. Setting the face angle to the open (O) position on the Opti-Fit Hosel will open the face to 2.5 degrees and subtract 1 degree of loft. A change to the closed (C) setting will set the face 1.5-degrees closed and increase loft 1 degree.  Each adjustment made a noticeable change in the ball flight as the OptiFit technology was more than fancy name for a new technology.

Also because it uses the same OptiFit technology in all the Callaway Drivers you can easily swap shafts between different drivers without having to purchase a special adapter.

Sure there are other drivers that offer more ajustability, almost to the point where it is overkill but with the X Hot sometimes more really isn't better.

FORGIVENESS:
The X Hot driver is the most forgiving driver in the Callaway lineup.  The 460cc head is the largest allowed by USGA specifications but what really makes this driver more forgiving is the Speed-Frame face technology and interior weighting technology.

The speed-frame face is made of titanium that is thinner around the perimeter and thicker in the center which optimizes the sweet spot and decrease the amount of distance loss on off-center hits.

Additionally, the X-Hot line has interior weighting that is meant to promote a draw, as most average golfers struggle with slicing the ball right. The good thing about this is that Callaway has not altered the look of the driver to achieve this. Instead they altered the interior weighting to keep the head-shape clean and attractive. Additionally, Callaway’s research led them to see that as more loft is needed in a driver then typically more draw bias is needed as well, so as the lofts increase in the X-Hot, so too does that interior weighting.

DISTANCE:
Face it, the main reason we all buy new drivers is to get more distance.  We may not want to admit it but being the shortest driver in your weekly foursome is not fun and it sure would be great to be able to get to a par 5 in two sometimes.

The Callaway X Hot Driver excels in this area.  At 300 grams, the X Hot driver is the lightest driver Callaway has ever put out.  Paired with the 46 inch lightweight Project X shaft, thin titanium speed-frame face and innovative internal weighting the driver can get it out there with the best of them.  Callaway's marketing campaign claims you can gain 13 extra yards with this driver and that is on the conservative side.  Now granted my driver is currently 4 years old but I was seeing 20 yards gained but more importantly my miss-hits were not penalized with lost distance as much as my older driver.

OVERALL:
Although it's still only early May and a lot of the golf season is still ahead of us I feel confident right now that the Callaway X Hot Driver will be on my top 3 drivers list for 2013 at the end of the season.  If you are looking for a driver that can bomb it out there with the best of them but also still provide the technology and adjustability to make  it forgiving on miss-hits then this is driver you're looking for.  Callaway's X Hot Driver is a product that will move Callaway back into the forefront of innovative, high-performance metal woods.  It's a position that they once had and are now on there way back to obtaining.


The X-Hot driver comes with an MSRP of $299.99 but you can get it for less at Great Golf Deals.com

Callaway Golf Announces Its New Line of X Hot Drivers and Fairway Woods.

Callaway's RAZR Fit Xtreme will probably be the driver of choice in 2013 for many of the company's staff players, including Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els, but the new X Hot and X Hot Pro drivers offer a lot of performance features that should appeal to golfers looking for more distance off the tee.

CARLSBAD, Calif., January 3, 2013 - Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) today announced its new line of X Hot™ Drivers and Fairway Woods, configured for blistering ball speeds and distance gains. Already adopted by some of the longest-hitting players on the worldwide tours, including newly-announced Callaway staff professional Gary Woodland, the new line of X Hot Woods are a result of Callaway R&D designing clubs for the best players in the world, and using optimized design progression and adjustability to make them accessible and high-performing for all players. This collection of hot, distance-promoting drivers and fairway woods will be available at golf shops nationwide starting on January 25, 2013.

Distance gains of 13 yards* with the new X Hot Driver have been achieved with a host of design and engineering advancements that make the new drivers fast, hot and more lightweight than their predecessors. Callaway employed its powerfully fast Speed Frame™ Face Technology that increases ball speed, saves weight and optimizes stiffness and stress distribution across the face for more efficient energy transfer. The new face technology promotes more - and more consistent -- distance, even on off-center impact. Also, by decoupling the face performance from the rest of the driver head, Callaway R&D is able to boost ball speed without sacrificing optimum trajectory. And a tighter curvature face on the X Hot Driver (relative to the RAZR X Black Driver) offers a look at address preferred by better players, along with consistent sidespin and dispersion to promote accuracy.

"With the X Hot Drivers, we pushed the Speed Frame Face's efficiency to a new standard, producing high ball speeds while maintaining the trajectory and accuracy that discerning golfers demand," said Dr. Alan Hocknell, SVP, Research & Development, Callaway Golf. "The fast face on X Hot is one piece of the puzzle, though. We went to great lengths to configure the X Hot drivers not only to promote distance, but to progressively optimize performance for various player types."

In the X Hot Drivers, Callaway has implemented its thinnest casting technology ever in the all-titanium head to create a lighter swing weight and overall configuration, a combination that benefits most players in terms of head speed and distance, especially golfers with an average swing speed. Another benefit of the new, thin casting technology to the golfer is the inclusion of Draw Bias Progression, which changes the amount of draw bias depending on the loft, allowing golfers to better control sidespin and tune their shot shape. Players with higher lofts can take advantage of higher draw bias for straighter shots, while players with lower lofts can utilize a more neutral CG that fits their game.

Also featured in the Callaway X Hot Driver is the adjustable OptiFit Hosel, which adjusts the face angle in Open, Square or Closed positions to improve accuracy and trajectory, and allows golfers to dial in their preferred look at address. As a notable value-add, the Callaway X Hot Drivers also feature Project X Velocity shafts as the stock offering.

The Standard Callaway X Hot Driver will be available in 9.5-, 10.5-, 11.5-degree models and a 13-degree HT-model, and will feature a lighter overall club weight and a lower swing weight than the X Hot Pro model. It also features attractive crown decals and an alignment Chevron on the matte grey-colored crown. The X Hot Pro Driver will be available in 8.5-, 9.5- and 10.5-degree models and feature slightly more open face angles than the Standard version. The Pro version will be available on February 15, 2013. Both versions of the new driver will debut with a new product introduction price of $299.

In addition to the X Hot Drivers, Callaway is bringing a new line of fairway woods that Tour Pros, the blogosphere and industry insiders have been buzzing about in recent weeks, the X Hot Fairway Woods. Aiming to deliver the hottest, most versatile and most complete fairway woods in golf, Callaway R&D engineered a Forged Speed Frame Face Cup made of high strength Carpenter 455 stainless steel that is, remarkably, up to 40 percent thinner than last year's fairway wood face -- with a 90 percent larger sweet spot -- jamming the CT level right up against the limit allowed by the USGA. As a result, the Forged Speed Frame Face Cup produces significantly hotter responses all over the face, and does so with superior launch conditions.

The markedly low CG in the fairway wood head, accomplished with a novel proprietary design called the Internal Standing Wave, delivers more ball speed and lower, more consistent backspin, resulting in longer, more consistent distances from everywhere on the course: the tee, fairway or rough. This new, wave-shaped weighting design engineered inside the club head projects up from the sole toward the face, creating a lower and shallower CG and higher MOI.

"We are seriously proud of the X Hot Fairway Wood's design and performance. We think we have set a new and extremely high bar in the fairway wood category," said Hocknell. "The distance gains are for real. In testing with Staff Professional Alvaro Quiros, for example, he gained nearly 18 yards against the gamer in his bag."

Not to be forgotten among the staggering distance gains is the complete performance and versatility of the X Hot Fairway Wood and X Hot Pro Fairway Wood; the sole is designed for improved performance from a variety of lies. Contributing to this versatility is the Modern Warbird® Sole, an updated design that builds off of one of the most adaptable fairway woods ever produced to allow for more dynamic shot shaping and a decidedly more useful fairway wood.

To further enhance speed and distance, the X Hot Fairway Woods will be available with a lightweight Project X Velocity shaft as the stock offering. The Standard X Hot Fairway Wood will be available in a 3-Wood, 4-Wood, 5-Wood, 7-Wood, 9-Wood and 11-Wood. The Standard version features slightly longer length shafts and more upright lie angles. The X Hot Pro Fairway Wood will be available in 13.5-, 15-, 17- and 19-degree models. Both versions will be available for a new product introduction price of $229.