Gear: Callaway Epic Speed, Epic Max fairway woods
Price: $299.99 each with Project X Cypher, Project X HZRDUS Smoke IM 10 or Mitsubishi MMT shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align grip
Specs: Forged C300 maraging stainless steel cup face. Epic Speed available in 13.5-, 15-, 16.5-, 18- and 21-degree versions. Epic Max available in 13.5-, 15-, 18-, 20-, 21-, 23- and 25-degree versions.
Available: Feb. 18
For 2021, Callaway updated the Jailbreak system in its drivers and gave the Epic Speed, Epic Max and Epic Max LS the A.I. Speed Frame. This season’s fairway woods, the Epic Speed and Epic Max, also have new technologies developed using artificial intelligence to help golfers gain distance and forgiveness.
Callaway’s drivers are made from titanium and carbon fiber, and they have large faces that tend to be flat pieces of metal. In contrast, most fairway woods are made using stainless steel and are low to the ground, and Callaway designs its fairway woods with a cup face. Players also hit fairway woods off the turf, so the systems that work well in drivers may not be ideal in fairway woods.
With that in mind, Callaway developed Jailbreak A.I. Velocity Blades, internal posts that are wider and spaced farther apart than the bars designed into the company’s previous fairway woods. They connect the sole and crown behind the area where the cup face meets the chassis, stiffening the head and helping redirect energy that otherwise would be wasted as the clubhead deforms at impact. The Jailbreak A.I. Velocity Blades were designed on an angle, so they provide vertical and horizontal stiffness.
The cup face in both the Epic Speed and Epic Max fairway woods was designed differently based on each club’s loft by supercomputers that have run thousands of simulations to reveal the shape that provides the best performance. Why? Typically, most players look for different things from, for example, a 3-wood that is hit primarily off the tee and a 7-wood that will be played almost exclusively from the fairway.
The Epic Speed fairway woods have a weight screw in the front of the head that shifts the center of gravity forward, which increases ball speed and lowers spin rates.
The Epic Max fairways are larger than the Epic Speed, with a shallower face and a slight draw bias. They also come with two moveable weights, one that weighs 14 grams and the other at 2 grams. With the heavier weight in the back, the moment of inertia increases and the Epic Max generates more spin, a higher launch and more stability on off-center hits. Moving the 14-gram weight to the forward spot increases ball sped, reduces spin and lowers the launch angle.
