Sign up for our daily newsletter
Latest news, reviews, analysis and opinion, plus unmissable deals for bunkered subscriptions, events, and our commercial partners.
The new Callaway Elyte driver has dropped – but is this the best driver yet from Callaway? They certainly think so.
With launch season in full flow, we all want to know who’s got the best driver. Callaway has high hopes for the Elyte range, which dropped on the second day of 2025.
I caught up with Luke Williams, Senior Director for Product and Brand Management at Callaway, to find out more about the brand’s latest range…
—
Do you think the Elyte driver is Callaway’s best driver ever?
Yes, I think it is. When we’re designing drivers now, it’s really about improving mishits. So, there’s a limit to how fast we can make the faces. We can get better about our manufacturing tolerances and kind of push all of the heads closer to that limit. But we can only make them so hot. What we can do is improve off-centre strikes.
Even the best players in the world don’t always hit it in the centre of the face. When they miss the centre, you lose ball speed and your direction. We want to maintain as much ball speed as we can when you miss the centre. We also want the ball to launch and spin more like it would have if you hit in the centre. If you hit it out of the toe, you’re not having a ball that starts way right with a lot of hook. Also, we don’t want it to be the case that when you hit in the heel, it starts left with a lot of slice. Traditionally, you would control that with MOI because heads with higher MOI are more forgiving. But we’re now also able to use the face to deflect in different ways, so we can have better control over the ball flight on off-centre hits, in addition to the speed.
How has the new Thermoforged Carbon Crown contributed to more speed and distance?
It’s sort of the next evolution for us in how we make crowns and mould that material. We’re able to mould it more precisely. It allows us to wrap the crown further around the ribbon, which allows us to raise the back end of the of the crown a bit. That, in turn, helps with aerodynamics. We can do that without raising the centre of gravity because it’s a very light material. If we did that with titanium, the centre of gravity would go up. But we can do it now with the composite crown and get the aerodynamic benefit without compromising centre of gravity.
How does it impact ball speed?
It translates two miles an hour more ball speed. Everyone wants more ball speed because that then translates into distance. And everyone wants more distance, right?
How are you able to achieve tighter dispersion and more forgiveness?
The face is more consistent in terms of speed across the face, so when you miss the centre, you’ll lose less ball speed than you would with traditional faces. And we can influence the ball flight now as well. Previously, that was really a factor of the mass properties of the head. The face was sort of the speed generator, and then the mass properties of the head dictated how the ball launched and how it would spin. The MOI kind of determined how much side angle or side spin you would create on off-centre hits.
That is still true, but now we have just an extra tool with the face, and then we’re able to design it to control that ball flight even more more.
If you want to see how the latest driver performed in our latest YouTube review check out the video below.
More from the latest Callaway Elyte Range
Review: Callaway Elyte driver – the best yet from Callaway?
Review: Callaway Elyte fairway woods
Review: Callaway Elyte hybrids
Review: Callaway Elyte irons – the best looking game improvement irons?
For all the latest news on the equipment coming in 2025, subscribe to our YouTube channel, here!
ALL ABOUT THE OPEN
More Reads
The bunkered Golf Course Guide - Scotland
Now, with bunkered, you can discover the golf courses Scotland has to offer. Trust us, you will not be disappointed.
Find Courses