CALLAWAY X Hybrid with Graphite Shaft

Callaway Golf’s new X Hybrids use a modified version of the X Sole that is designed to prevent rocking of the clubhead as it comes into contact with the ground. The modified design is supposed to offer the versatility that hybrids demand—able to cut through the rough, while still allowing a player to pick the ball off a tight lie on a fairway.

The X Hybrids also use Callaway’s Variable Face Thickness technology, which is supposed to increase ball speed by making the clubface thicker in teh center, and thinner on the perimeter. Perimeter weighting is used to optimize the center of gravity for a high moment of inertia for greater stability and increased trajectory control.

I think that the HX Hot is the best hall out there for mid handicappers like me. It’s long and decent around the green.

Now, Golfsmith has a great deal on Callaway HX Hot logo overrun balls.  They’re just $18.99 a dozen.

You can read my review here.

CALLAWAY X460CC Tour Driver

Callaway’s new X460 driver is an all titanium driver (as opposed to its graphite/titanium heads) whose massive size allows Callaway engineers to move weight even further from the center , this increasing the moment of intertia (resistance to twisting). It’s new X-Sole design allows the club to rest on two points at address, reducing rocking and producing a more consistent alignment. And the variable face thickness face produces greater distance on off-center hits.

In addition to the regular, stiff and light shaft, the club also is available in a ladies’ model (good for Callaway!).

CALLAWAY 2006 HX Tour Golf Ball

Grade: B+ / A for better players
Teacher's Comments: I don't think I have the game for this ball. Better players will probably love it.

Since I tried the several other companies’ premium balls this summer (TaylorMade, Bridgestone, Titleist), I thought I’d also play a couple of rounds with the Callaway HX Tour.

I’ll say at the outset that I have never thought of myself as a premium ball player. Unlike most amateurs, I will readily confess to the fact that I do not swing at pro level speeds and I typically hit my driver around 230 - 250 yards. I hit my irons somewhat better—my 150 club is an 8 iron (thank you TaylorMade R7XDs) but that’s not exceptional. I do, however, have a good short and putting game that keeps my score down.

So I probably do not get as much out of the Tour balls as I should (and lets fact it, you don’t either).

With all of that in mind, my impression of the Callaway HX Tour is that it offers exceptional distance at the price of some accuracy and short game play.

In two recent rounds, I alternated between the Callaway HX Tour, the Bridgestone E6 and the TaylorMade TP Red (a premium ball I really like). On the second of those rounds, I played two balls on every hole, one always being the HX Tour.

With the ball, I hit some exceptionally long shots with each club. But I paid a price in accuracy.

My normal shot off the tee (indeed, with practically every club) is a fade. I don’t hit it really long, but am generally able to keep it in the fairway. The problem for me with the HX Tour was that the ball would start left and then keep going. I lost three on one tee as each time my shot headed into the woods. (My alternate shots with the Bridgestone stayed in play. There was just no curve. It’s a tendency that I have also noticed throughout my use of the HX Hot, but I think its more pronounced with the Tour.

Callaway touts the ball’s low spin off the tee, so that probably explains both the distance and the direction.

But the solution should be easy, right. Just aim straight down the middle. Only it’s not that simple when you have spent years thinking fade, setting up for a fade and swinging for a fade.

I also am not sure that my distances were as consistent with the HX Tour. My most reliable club these last couple of months has been the pitching wedge. Even when I have been playing poorly, I have been able to deliver the ball to the green from anywhere inside 120 yards with the pitching wedge. With the HX Tour,consistently either long or short. I hit very few greens.

Part of that surely is getting used to the ball. But I routinely play a mix of balls when I’m out, and have not had this problem before.

My suspicion is that I just don’t hit the ball hard enough for the HX Tour to play well off the pitching wedge. If I hit it harder, it would fly higher, spin more and stop faster. As it is, on fuller swings, the ball bounces off the back of the green and keeps rolling.

There may also be a similar dynamic going on with my shorter shots. My preferred shot within 20 yards or so is to pitch it low, and let the ball roll toward the hole. With the HX, I have just been unable to get it up and rolling. I have never left so many short.

On the brigher side, the HX putts well. As with the HX Hot, I was sure that the hex pattern would do something strange to the putting, but that isn’t the case. I had more three putts that I would have liked with the HX Tour, but that was mostly a function of being so far away from the hole on the first putt.

It’s also pretty durable. I found two of those balls that I had driven into the woods. They had bounced around amongst the trees ( I could hear them pop a couple of times), but the cover was undamaged.

I would spend any more money on the HX Tour. For my level of play, they’re not worth the extra cash. But if you are a better player, I am sure that it would be an excellent choice ... especially if you are looking for a ball that delivers distance.

CALLAWAY HX Pearl Golf Ball

Grade: B+
Teacher’s Comments: A decent ball, but I didn’t like it as much as much as Callaway’s other mid-priced ball, the HX Hot.

A couple of years ago, I was visiting a local pro shop when the owner approached me like a dealer with dime bags for a junkie.

“I’ve got something you’ve got to try,” he said in a half-whisper, handing me a ball. “I gained twenty yards off the tee playing this one.”

I took the ball and gave it an inspection. “It’s a lady’s ball,” I noted. “It says so right here on the cover.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “When you blast it past your partner, he’ll want to play it too. Trust me. In another month, every guy on the course will be playing these things. But you had better buy them now. Word is that they didn’t make enough to go around.”

I decided that this was his idea of a marketing ploy and took a pass.

But he was right. A month later, every guy I knew was playing the Precept Lady, and you couldn’t find them on the shelves. The balls were going for twice the MSRP on EBay. And the Lady started a revolution in golf ball design, with every company producing lower compression models.

So when I heard that Callaway was producing a new lady’s ball based on the HX Hot that I like so much, I decided to get ahead of the curve.

The first thing you notice about the ball is it’s pearlescent cover. It’s still white, but it shimmers a bit. For a lady’s ball, it’s certainly not as noticable as those hideous pink things, or even the clear covers that so many companies are putting out these days. When it’s sitting on a tee, it’s entirely likely that no one will even notice.

In its design, the HX Pearl is an awful lot like the HX Hot. It’s a three piece ball with an identical core diameter, mantle thickness and cover thickness (in contrast, the HX Tour has a much larger core). The difference is in the composition of the materials. The HX Pearl has been designed to feel much softer (and it does). The Pearl also shares the same hex cover design, although it apparently lacks the deeper dimples that were added to this year’s HX Hot and Tour.

I played two balls in an early morning round last week, using both the HS Pearl and the HX Hot—a ball that I very much like. My impression is that the HX Pearl is softer, and flies higher than the HX Hot. The Hot, however, went further on every shot (I alternated which I hit first), thanks to the lower trajectory and greater roll. I hit my shots very high anyway, so I think I’m better off with a ball that keeps it down a bit.

I did not notice any appreciable difference in accuracy.

Around the greens, though, I preferred the softer feel of the HX Pearl. I am also sure that it spins more on those short pitch shots. I also slightly preferred the feel while putting.

In the end, I decided that overall I prefer the HX Hot. I preferred what was, for me, the lower flight and extra distance of the Hot. The Hot also is by no means a rock, so the difference in feel was on the margins.

If, on the other hand, you need help getting the ball in the air, and the Hot is too hard for your tastes, the Pearl is worth trying.