Callaway’s next big thing, the Rogue family of golf clubs, have been on the world market now for almost six months but have just started to make their way to the country’s proshops. Shame really. TaylorMade has gotten a big jump on Callaway’s finest since their Philippine launch several months back. They’ve made big strides in the market since the M3 and M4 have proven themselves superior to their predecessors. Has Callaway’s late entry into our market shortchanged golfers that opted to put the new M3 and M4 in their bags? Would they have been better served if they’d waited for the Rogue drivers?
A friend that works in the golf industry in the United States, sent me a message on Facebook Messenger just after the PGA Show in Orlando, Florida, in February and said in no uncertain terms that the Callaway Rogue would be the best and hottest driver of 2018 and that I should make it my gamer for 2018.
TaylorMade beat Callaway to the punch in the Philippine market and the new M-series drivers made quite an impression in the interim. Can Callaway, although unfashionably late, throw a wet blanket on the TaylorMade party and steal their thunder for the rest of 2018?
It might be far-fetched to think so, but if there’s one thing that Callaway has proven through the years, it’s that they can make a driver that hits the ball further than any other. I’ve had a few drivers from the company that Ely built.
The FT series were certified beasts. I gamed an FT5 Pro for a couple of years. Shafted with an Aldila Voodoo, this thing was the longest club of its generation. It was a bit larger and more forgiving than its smaller brother, the FT5 Tour, and held the top slot in my bag until the Razr Hawk hit the market. That was another weapon. It was longer and, more important, lighter than my beloved FT3 Pro and held sway in the No. 1 spot until I was finally seduced by the TaylorMade R1.
The Callaway drivers have always been one of longest, if not the longest, drivers of their respective generations. Some of them weren’t the easiest things to hit, but when you managed to find the sweet spot they sent the ball into the next area code with a modicum of fuss.
The Callaway Epic again led the distance charts last year, but I felt it lost out to the same generation products from TaylorMade when it came to ease of use and fairways found. It was longer on its best hits, but it just wasn’t as user friendly.
The design brief for the Rogue addresses this issue specifically.
After finally getting my hands on the Rogue series of drivers at the special preview for the Pinoygolfer group on Facebook at the Transview store at the Podium, I am sufficiently intrigued. I spent about half an hour before the event started, familiarizing myself with the Rogue Sub Zero. At first blush, it seems much easier to hit than its Epic forebearer without any loss of the explosiveness that drivers that possess Callaway’s vaunted Jailbreak Technology.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time on Transview Philippines’s Foresight GC Quad launch monitor to determine definitively which member of the Rogue family will be the best fit for myself since the event was starting but the interim results were in the ballpark with the stock shafts. That’s piqued my interest sufficiently that I’ve booked a fitting for the coming week.
The three Rogue variants are all currently available at Transview Philippines stores and should make their way to other retailers shortly. The standard Rogue is huge. Its size and huge moment of inertia promise ease of use beyond that of the Epic. The included aero package assures the golfer that in spite of its size, it will be easy to swing quickly. The lighter crown and new X-Face with variable thickness have created weight savings that allowed Callaway engineers to gift the Rogue series with higher levels of moments of inertia than anything previously in Callaway’s product line without a loss of performance. A third variant, a draw biased model, joins the festivities this year. It offers a simpler, more elegant solution for golfers looking to eliminate the right side of the golf course.
The Rogue family of drivers comes with a variety of shafts with weights ranging from just over 40 to 75-grams so there is literally something for everyone here. If you can’t wait for the extended review of the Rogue drivers, make your way down to the Transview Philippines store at the Podium and bring your current driver with you for a proper comparison on the Foresight GC Quad.
The results might surprise you.