If you’re an AI-denier and still believe artificial intelligence in golf is just marketing BS, the new Callaway Elyte irons might mitigate your misgivings.
Maybe, just a little.
Hey, folks, it’s 2025. Mocking AI is so 2024. Let’s try to keep up, OK?
Callaway has positioned itself as golf’s AI design leader, even though virtually every other major OEM leverages that technology to varying degrees. The new Elyte irons, however, do represent a very plain and simple-to-understand example of what AI brings to the design table.
You no doubt 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 whether they should be on your 2025 must-demo list.
Question 1: There are how many Callaway Elyte irons?
That’s one easy: four.
The harder question is why?
The answer can be found in the notion that there are many different types of golfers. Some are out there just to have a good time, others are beginners, while others are grinding, trying to get better and shoot lower scores. They’re also of all ages, sizes, and relative athleticism.
It would seem that one or two sizes don’t fit all.
“It’s hard to give golfers a solution that’s going to be the best one for them with just one or two heads,” says Callaway Senior Product Manager Zack Oakley. “We’d love to be able to condense SKUs and make a single iron that’s going to be the one for everybody but that’s just not reality.”
When you look at the landscape, we golfers all have things holding us back. “Go practice” and “Get 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 rather than against.
That’s something AI can do very well.
Question 2: What did AI do that was so special?
Warranted or not, Callaway has positioned itself as the AI design leader in golf. There’s nearly a decade’s worth of data in Callaway’s supercomputer and the more data you input, 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 sizable, niche.
The new Elyte and Elyte X hit the big targets. The Elyte is Callaway’s next-generation standard game-improvement iron while the Elyte-X is a new-to-the-family super game-improvement club. It features a larger head than the standard Elyte along with more offset, a wider sole 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 that translates to more ball speed and optimized launch conditions over more of the face.
The Elyte HL and Elyte Fast Max get the biggest boosts from AI. Both models are aimed at moderate (read: slower) swing-speed players so Callaway’s design goal steered away from pure ball speed.
“We used to durability test these things to a 105 mph swing speed,” says Brian Williams, Callaway’s VP of Club R&D. “What’s that doing for a guy who swings it 65? We were robbing him of face deflection in pursuit of a quality standard he’ll never need.”
Instead, the new Elyte HL and Max Fast feature Ai10x Faces optimized for golfers who swing it at 65 or 70 mph.
“It’s resulted in better products for slower swing speed players,” says Williams. “It’s OK if it breaks at 105 because someone who swings an iron at 105 isn’t buying an HL or a Max Fast.”
Question 3: Game-improvement irons tend to feel “clacky.” Are these any different?
According to Callaway, yes.
Performance may be the ultimate judge but OEMs know that sound and feel are the keys to a golfer’s heart. While we throw the term “forged feel” around, we’ve found there are two fundamental truths. Do it wrong and you make a crappy-feeling forged iron. Do it right and you can make a cast game-improvement club that feels pretty damn sweet.
Feelwise, the Callaway Elyte irons are cast game improvement done right. Give Callaway credit, our testing found the Elyte line to have a very pleasing sound and feel.
Callaway credits its new Speed Frame construction.
“Stiffening the topline gives us a very solid frame for our face to deflect within,” says Williams. “It also quiets the vibration that comes from the topline.”
The redesigned Speed Frame also allows room for 20 percent more of Callaway’s patented Urethane Microsphere filling to further dampen vibration.
“We saw the clacky sound go away,” says Williams.
“These don’t feel like a cast improvement iron,” adds Oakley. “They feel like a premium performance iron.”
Question 4: Are these really any better than last year’s irons?
A fair question. The answer might leave you unsatisfied but here it is anyway:
Yes and no.
(I told you.)
Every club release brings only three possibilities: it can be better, worse or the same as the old one. I’ll gladly turn over 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 ‘clustering’ of players and swing dynamics. It’s more about consistency and repeatability this year instead of just pure ball speed. It’s fine-tuning launch and spin.”
If you bought a set of standard Ai Smoke irons last year, the new Callaway Elyte irons may deliver small performance advances. 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 bit more spin, that face is tuned to help that player get the ball up in the air and keep it up in the air,” says Oakley.
AI is easy to dismiss because you can’t see it. Whatever voodoo AI is doing takes place behind the face but it won’t turn you into a ball-striking machine. Slices, snap hooks, tops and chunks are still going to happen.
AI isn’t going to absolve you of your swing sins but it can make those sins more venial and less mortal. Those mishits might find the rough instead of the trees and might be a little bit longer than they otherwise might have been.
Question 5: These are probably silly expensive, right?
That depends on your definition of silly.
And expensive.
Complaining about price never really goes out of style. I imagine someone in St Andrews was probably bitching about what Old Tom Morris was charging for a cleek or a mashie when Queen Victoria ruled the empire.
Given the 2025 climate, the new Callaway Elyte irons might just qualify as trend buckers. They’re hitting the streets at $150 per club in steel, $900 for a set of six. As 2025 mainstream pricing goes, that ain’t bad.
That “six” number isn’t an accident, by the way. Callaway says that’s been the average for game-improvement sets for a few years now. They average closer to seven sticks with the Apex line but game-improvement is generally a 5-PW set. The North American GI 4-iron has seemingly gone the way of the North American Isuzu.
Callaway Elyte irons: Specs, price and availability
The standard Callaway Elyte is built for golfers who swing fast enough to activate the face. They have no problem getting the ball up in the air but want a little more distance and better dispersion.
The True Temper Vector is the stock steel shaft and the Project X Denali Charcoal is stock graphite. The Lamkin Crossline grip is standard.
The Elyte X is the super game-improvement version of the standard Elyte. It’s slightly stronger-lofted (28-degree 7-iron versus 29-degree) and features the same stock shafts and grip as the standard Elyte.
The “HL” in Elyte HL stands for High Launch. It’s designed for slower swing speed golfers who need help getting the ball in the air. It’s weaker-lofted throughout the set with an AI-optimized face for higher launch and spin. The KBS MAX 80 is stock steel while the Denali Charcoal is stock graphite. The Lamkin Crossline is the standard grip.
The Elyte HL is also offered in a women’s model with the Mitsubishi Eldio shaft and Lamkin ST Soft grip.
The Elyte Fast Max is ultra-lightweight and optimized for even slower swing speed golfers. It has the same loft structure as the HL but with no steel shaft option. The stock graphite shaft is the 40-gram Mitsubishi Vanquish PL in the men’s version and the Eldio in the women’s. The Win Dri-Tac 2.0 is the stock grip.
As mentioned, the Elyte line sells for $899.99 for a six-piece set in steel ($150 per club) and $999 in graphite ($167 per club). Each model will be available in left- and right-handed.
Presale starts Jan. 17. They hit the stores Feb. 7.
For more information, visit the Callaway website.
Don’t Sleep on Last Year’s Model
With the release of the new ELYTE line, the Paradym Ai Smoke Irons are heavily discounted
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