Callaway’s all-new 2025 line of clubs includes a subtle tribute to its founder, Ely Callaway Jr.
It’s right there in the name: Elyte.
It’s a fitting moniker when you consider the company’s tour staff includes the likes of Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm and Yuka Saso, all of whom have won majors in the last two seasons. Callaway also is bringing back a green color scheme with Elyte, a nod to some of its most successful drivers, which also featured the color.
With the Elyte line, Callaway is unveiling a whopping four driver models and five fairway woods. Here are seven things you need to know about the Callaway Elyte drivers and fairway woods.
1. Four driver models
Callaway is sticking with its customary four-model driver lineup, with the standard Elyte core model being the driver that will fit the most golfers. The standard model is the only driver in the lineup to feature a perimeter weighting system with three settings (draw, neutral, fade), allowing for customization of the center of gravity via a 13-gram weight.
For its high-launch and ultra-forgiveness model, Callaway is ditching the “Max” moniker for Elyte X, which Callaway VP of Product Strategy Jacob Davidson said is a nomenclature that will appeal to more golfers. The X still features a slight draw bias with a more upright standard lie angle (59˚) and can be accentuated with a perimeter weighting system with two settings (neutral and draw) with the same 13-gram weight.
Callaway also is releasing an ultra-lightweight option with the Elyte Max Fast, which comes standard with a 40-gram shaft and 25-gram grip; it’s also available in a women’s configuration.
Rounding out the driver lineup is the Elyte Triple Diamond, which is geared toward better players. While Triple Diamond models have on Tour since 2018, the Elyte version features a slightly smaller (450 cc) profile and glossy carbon crown compared to the rest of the lineup, which has a matte finish. The Triple Diamond has front and rear adjustable weights which can be used to dial in launch and spin characteristics.
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2. New crown material
To help get the CGs of the Elyte family lower to increase launch, Callaway is using a new material it calls Thermoforged carbon for the crown of the driver.
“It came from aerospace and this was really a big challenge for the team because our manufacturing process didn’t support this,” Davidson said. “So we had to go over and completely retool, solidify the material and build out, an incredible new, manufacturing process for this.”
The advantage is that, previously, carbon crowns needed to be sanded and polished manually after coming out of the mold to meet manufacturing tolerances. Now, with the Thermoforged material, the crowns require no further processing, ensuring consistency throughout the line.
“Believe it or not, a sheet of paper in the wrong spot on a crown can affect your swing speed .1 -.2 miles an hour,” Davidson said. “So from manufacturing tolerances across the face, if you’re not able to produce something that’s the exact same every time, it’s not as efficient.”
The new crowns actually were so effective in testing that Callaway has removed the 360 carbon chassis from all but the Triple Diamond driver as the results with the standard models were better without it.
3. The next phase of Ai
Artificial Intelligence has been a staple of Callaway’s lineup for the last few years, and the Elyte line is no exception. With the introduction of Ai Smart Face in the Paradym Ai Smoke line last year, Callaway was able to control 1,500 points across the face to create variable face thicknesses optimized for different swing types.
“But we didn’t have full control over the face last year,” Davidson said. “There was still some manual blending through simulation. And so the team gathered more data, wrote more thousands of lines of code, took more swing speeds from our partners.”
With Elyte’s new Ai10x Face, Callaway says it has 10 times the number of control points to shape the face. The company also has full control over the face for the first time, which helps its engineers cater to individual golfer’s swing types.
4. 3D printing leads to speed and forgiveness
While Callaway hasn’t yet 3D-printed a driver, the technology was used to help create the shapes for the new Elyte drivers. Typical driver design resulted in just three or four prototypes being manufactured and tested before making a few changes to get it ready for launch.
With the use of 3D printing, Callaway was able to print nearly 75 nylon models that were actually testable on a robot. From there, they were able to create a shape for the new driver that offered a larger footprint for more forgiveness but also refined aerodynamics to make it faster.
The 3D-printed prototypes helped Callaway designers create both a faster through improved areodynamics and a more forgiving driver thanks to a larger footprint.
5. ‘Launch pad’ on the sole
With its fairway woods, Callaway is launching five new models with four models carrying over from the driver family. The outlier is the Elyte Ti fairway wood, which wasn’t necessarily intended for launch, but Callaway CEO Chip Brewer played with the prototype and liked it so much that he said, “We’re launching it.”
All of the models feature the company’s new Step Sole design that comes from studying the success of the Callaway Apex UW line. The idea was to help golfers strike the ball more consistently in the center of the face and to help them avoid striking the ball low on the face.
With Step Sole, Callaway says, 57 percent of the sole area has been moved down, minimizing turf interaction to help the golfers strike the ball more cleanly in the center of the club.
“Essentially, it acts as a launch pad,” Davidson said. “It just allows you to feel like you can get more club under that ball, hit it more center on the face.”
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6. SpeedWave
The other piece of tech to help with low strikes is the all-new Tungsten SpeedWave, which is featured on all of the fairway woods up to 7-wood. (Elyte core is available up to an 11-wood.)
The 35-gram weight positions mass low and forward, reducing spin and increasing ball speeds.
7. Price and availability
All of the Callaway Elyte drivers and fairway woods go on pre-sale Friday, Jan. 17, and all but the Elyte Ti fairway wood come to retail the following week on Friday, Jan. 24. The Elyte Ti fairway wood will be available on Friday, Feb. 21.
Elyte drivers will be $599.99, except for Elyte Triple Diamond, which will be $649.99. Elyte fairway woods will be $349.99. The Elyte Triple Diamond fairway woods will be $399.99, while the Elyte Ti fairway wood will be $449.99.
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