Callaway X2 Hot Driver

MODEL AND SHAFT PLAYED: Callaway X2 Hot driver fitted with a stiff-flex graphite shaft. The Advanced OptiFit Hosel was set to add a degree of loft (to 10°) with the lie angle setting kept neutral.

FORGIVING HEADS: An improved clubhead shape and construction generates faster ball speed on drives struck in the sweet spot and outside it.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I love the look and feel of the driver – especially the grey colouring, the crown shape and the markings around the outside to help promote good alignment. It sets up at address well but I suspect the shaft is a little whippier than I am used to. The adjustability is good to have, although you might need more time than I’ve got with this club to work out your ideal combination of settings.

VERDICT: The feel off the clubface of the X2 Hot is very solid and strong. When I ‘caught’ it and put a good swing on it, the ball just sailed – it was really long. When I did that and achieved a good impact position the length and flight were fine. However, I battled with that shaft to get my transition right and find a solid impact position. The clubface is hot but I’d like to have my shaft in the X2 Hot and make the comparison.

Every good hit felt fine – good for contact, accuracy, trajectory and length. I just put my inconsistency with it down to the shaft.

MODEL AND SHAFT PLAYED: Callaway X2 Hot driver fitted with a stiff-flex graphite shaft. The Advanced OptiFit Hosel was set to add a degree of loft (to 10°) with the lie angle setting kept neutral.

NEW FACES: The X2 Hot features a revised Hyper Speed face on what is Callaway’s fastest, thinnest all-titanium driver.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I love the look and feel of the driver – especially the grey colouring, the crown shape and the markings around the outside to help promote good alignment. It sets up at address well but I suspect the shaft is a little whippier than I am used to. The adjustability is good to have, although you might need more time than I’ve got with this club to work out your ideal combination of settings.

VERDICT: The feel off the clubface of the X2 Hot is very solid and strong. When I ‘caught’ it and put a good swing on it, the ball just sailed – it was really long. When I did that and achieved a good impact position the length and flight were fine. However, I battled with that shaft to get my transition right and find a solid impact position. The clubface is hot but I’d like to have my shaft in the X2 Hot and make the comparison.

Every good hit felt fine – good for contact, accuracy, trajectory and length. I just put my inconsistency with it down to the shaft.

Facts & Figures

SUITABILITY: All golfers. Also available for better players is the X2 Hot Pro, a 440cc 8.5° model (plus adjustability) with no crown graphics.

SHAFT: The Aldila Tour Green Shaft – a Tour-grade, after-market shaft that has an approximate after-market value of $299 in Australia – comes standard in the new X2 Hot driver.

LOFTS: The X2 Hot comes in three distinctly shaped clubheads, all of them 460cc. All three clubhead shapes are available in 9°, 10.5° and 13.5° models, with each adjustable one degree lower or two degrees higher.

LEFT-HANDED MODELS?: Yes.

HOW MUCH?: $430.

CALLAWAY SAYS: “The X2 Hot driver makes off-centre hits behave like centre hits. Now in a slightly darker colour, the new X2 Hot features a new Hyper Speed face and the Advanced OptiFit Hosel (the same one found on the OptiForce driver), making it easy to adjust both loft and directional bias.

“The Callaway R&D team has optimised the face pattern in the X2 Hot to perform in places where higher handicappers most frequently miss the centre – low on the heel and high on the toe – making the face hotter in a greater overall area.

“We changed everything to give you more ball speed on shots hit on the centre of the face and on off-centre shots as well. We know you don’t hit it there, but the other guys do – 65 percent of the time. So for those guys, drives are going to go a long, long way wherever they hit it on the clubface.

“And what do you get from our fastest, thinnest all-titanium driver ever? Just faster ball speeds, a much larger sweet spot and more forgiveness to make it even longer.”

Contact Callaway Golf on 1800 217 777 or visit www.callawaygolf.com