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Callaway X Hot Driver Review

Dropping X-Hot Bombs

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Ryan Heiman
Founder and head author at Independent Golf Reviews

Callaway X Hot Driver Review

This is my definitive Callaway X Hot Driver Review after using this driver for many rounds now. 

I have been testing and reviewing clubs for over 10 years. 

These are my overall thoughts and my experience with this driver from Callaway.

Callaway X Hot Driver Review
Things are different at Callaway nowadays.  You can see it in their products and you can see it in their buzz.  While Callaway was once the name when it came to drivers.  The Big Bertha is still one of the best selling drivers of all time.  In the last couple of years Callaway had fallen behind in their market share.  It was a combination of poor timing,  a couple of failed innovations and just bad luck.  Last year Callaway decided to shake things up from the top down.  We are already seeing the results of that.  They added some of the longest hitters on the tour to their staff, they improved their product lines and ramped up their marketing.  This top to bottom change really benefits the consumer.  The X Hot driver is  one of their new products that has generated some real buzz because it is an excellent, lightweight, easy to swing bomber.
Any company can talk a big game, but does the product live up to the hype.  Just because a PGA pro can bomb it 400 yards, doesn’t mean the average golfer will see even the slightest distance gain.  But after my time with this driver I can honestly say that the X Hot bombs it.  Callaway made up special patches for their tour staff members who hit over 323 yards with their driver.  It is a clever way to talk about the distance of this driver.  Even better is that the average golfer should see some yardage gains too.  If you look around on the internet you will see the X Hot scooping up awards and accolades left and right, for good reason; it is a great product.
 

While the X Hot is the less technical model in the Callaway driver line-up, it still offers many great features.  It is an all titanium head with Callaway’s Opti-fit hosel.  It comes in either the standard or pro models.  The speed frame face is the real “tech” behind this driver.  Callaway created their fastest face for this driver and it shows.  The ball speeds are some of the fastest I have found in any driver. I am happy to say that I did earn my X Hot bomb patch with this driver.  I got one out there just over 325.  (It was wind and hill assisted, but it still counts)

You can just feel the ball explode off the face.  It tends to rise quickly and go fairly high.  I didn’t have any issues elevating this driver.  I did change it to the “open” setting which did bring the launch down a little and it also seemed to create a middle ball flight vs. the desire for the X-Hot to go left in the “straight” setting.

The sound is a very pleasant metallic sound.  It is slightly louder than the RAZR drivers because of the use of titanium vs. composite, but it still is fairly muted.   The metal ting resonates nicely in the ears that you just hit a good one.

This speed and distance are paired with forgiveness.  The 460cc head offers confidence with the matte grey finish.  The speed frame face feels hot all over the place and the lighter weight of the head just makes this an easy to hit, forgiving combo.  I prefer to hit the ball straight and this driver seemed to do that with ease even on less than perfect swings.  The one miss that I normally would hit is the left to right cut.  This head seems to look good at address (not closed) and yet still keeps the ball away from the right side. This spring has been an adventure with conditions, but the X-Hot was able to navigate the fairways so that I found maximum distance while still finding the fairway.

The entire package is designed to fit a wide variety of golfers.  It is lightweight so that even slower swingers will get benefits from the combo. It has moderately low spin so that it won’t balloon nor drop from the sky.   It is probably best tuned for the majority of middle to high handicap golfers.  The X-Hot is slightly draw biased which will also help the majority of golfers who slice the ball.  The Pro model is a little lower spin and less draw biased for the lower handicap golfer.  The stock Project X shaft is rather stable for being so lightweight.  I got great launch numbers with it, only slightly higher spin than ideal.  Since the Opti-fit hosel is the same as the 2012 RAZR Fit, I have a whole quiver of shafts to install.  I tried many and settled on the Black Tie 7m3 in it.  This combo cut the spin and launch down so I got even better numbers with ease and still found the middle of the fairway.

Summary

I’d put my Callaway X Hot against any driver in a head to head show down.  From my early spring testing, I think it will come out on top in overall performance.   It might not win in every category, but it will be near the top of every one: distance, forgiveness, accuracy, sound and feel.  If you are looking for a straight forward easy bomber, the Callaway X Hot driver is dropping bombs on fairways all season.

Check the price online here

For more information: www.callawaygolf.com

Quick Hits

➕ Easy Distance
➕ Forgiving Speed Frame face
➕ Excellent TItanium sound
➕ X Hot or X Hot pro options
➕ Opti-fit hosel

➖ Not quite as low spin in the stock combo as I need

Photos

Ryan Heiman – Founder and Head Author of Independent Golf Reviews
Ryan has over 10 years of experience testing and writing golf reviews of nearly every brand out there.
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