2021 Callaway Epic Speed, Epic Max fairway woods (in-hand photos)

[Jut]

7 minutes ago, dmeeksDC said:

I’m looking at the same contenders, plus the RadSpeed standard head. The Epic Speed 3 wood sounded and flew great for me. So did the 5. I did not notice a thing with the weight, but I have been playing an OG Epic SubZero 5 wood. I have plenty of spin so trimming it only gives me more distance. I did not care for the Mavrik fairways. I liked the Epic originals and I like both new Epics. 

 

I want to give them all a run. The Big Tour looks really good — the profile may be the most promising off the tee. Epic Speed to me looks like it could be best combo of solid off tee and easy off turf. I use 3 wood pretty regularly off the tee on 360 yard or so par 4s. I predict I end up with a Callaway and a Cobra. I have looked over the Cobras and plan to hit them this weekend, but I game an F9 and I have no doubt I’ll like a RadSpeed, it’s a matter of which one. I am sticking with a Callaway B21 driver I’ve tweaked and really like, so I could see RadSpeed Big Tour 3, Epic Speed 5 and standard RadSpeed 7 wood. (No hybrids - 7 wood to 5 iron.) But depends on how I hit them. Cobra 7 woods are hard to beat. Can easily dial in carry distance. 

Similar to you (including the B21 driver and the need to reduce spin even though I’m not a super fast player), though I like to limit myself to one fairway wood and one hybrid usually.  That’s why the Epic Speed 16.5* and Big Tour at 16* are so intriguing to me - all-purpose for both deck and tee and very fast. 

[Jut]

Hit the Radspeed, Radspeed Big Tour, & Epic Speed today again at GG (I had already eliminated the Ping and Taylormade offerings).  Walked out with the 16.5* Epic Speed.  I give the overall look of the Big Tour a definite edge over the Epic Speed, but the Speed won out in all other categories (and still looks phenomenal behind the ball in its own right).  

[jt2gt]

1 hour ago, Jut said:

Hit the Radspeed, Radspeed Big Tour, & Epic Speed today again at GG (I had already eliminated the Ping and Taylormade offerings).  Walked out with the 16.5* Epic Speed.  I give the overall look of the Big Tour a definite edge over the Epic Speed, but the Speed won out in all other categories (and still looks phenomenal behind the ball in its own right).  

Still having trouble figuring out which fairway is closest to my Epic Flash SubZero 5 wood.  Looking to pick up one of the new ones.  Is it the Epic Max with the two weights, like the Sub Zero or Epic Speed and I lose the ability to switch the weights around for my preference.  Also confusing me is they are both about the same size...whereas in the past the Sub Zero version was always 10-20cc smaller.  

[Jut]

11 minutes ago, jt2gt said:

Still having trouble figuring out which fairway is closest to my Epic Flash SubZero 5 wood.  Looking to pick up one of the new ones.  Is it the Epic Max with the two weights, like the Sub Zero or Epic Speed and I lose the ability to switch the weights around for my preference.  Also confusing me is they are both about the same size...whereas in the past the Sub Zero version was always 10-20cc smaller.  

It's the Epic Speed for sure (coming from the Epic Flash SZ, the Epic Max will look like a pancake to you).  As far as the 5W Speed with relation to your Flash SZ 5W, the specs are a bit different - 

 

Flash SZ  =  17*-20*, 42.5", 55.5* lie, 156cc, ability to adjust cg with the two weights

Epic Speed = 18*, 42.75", 56.5* lie, 154 cc, front weight only 

 

I'm not totally sure why Callaway put the dual-weight system in the Max.  Maybe they wanted a profile (big and forgiving) that could be either the ultimate in forgiveness (heavy weight back) or a combination of forgiveness and still higher ball speed / low launching (heavy weight forward).  Either way, the profile certainly turned me off.  Plus, the Epic Speed seems to have it all in spades (looks, sound, ball speed, forgiveness).    

[Zonazoo]

Callaway really improved on the sound this year in my opinion. Really liked the sound of the epic speed. 

[Bunkersarebigcups]

On 1/18/2021 at 8:59 AM, frj76 said:

I find this product release weird. Based on Callaway website both of the models are draw biased and without no adjustability in shaft adapter (since they are bonded) the new Epic series is made for faders/slicers only. I guess myself looking for an open, neutral/fade biased fairway need to look elsewhere for my 2021 fairway. Love Cally fairways but this year you have me confused.

Exactly that. I see that fade-biased fairways are a niche product but why not make at least one that is neutral. I do like Cally FWs for usual but if this thing goes left and I cant change anything its a nono.

 

Lets hope the "sligth draw" they state is really sligt

[Golfingfanatic]

52 minutes ago, Bunkersarebigcups said:

Exactly that. I see that fade-biased fairways are a niche product but why not make at least one that is neutral. I do like Cally FWs for usual but if this thing goes left and I cant change anything its a nono.

 

Lets hope the "sligth draw" they state is really sligt

The Mavrik Sub Zero is still in the line-up, I think. Looks better than the speed with the traditional scoring lines, too.

[JamesG12]

Any more views on the epic speed fairway now that hopefully more people have had a chance to hit them?

[xandersingh]

I have an epic speed 4 wood with an AD TP in it. Love it so far but only have 1 round with it. I also have one coming with a Ventus Red and excited to see which I like better. So far its a great combination easy to hit off the deck and the tee. I was testing it against a g425 5 wood and found it much easier to hit off the tee than the g425, but i had no trouble hitting it off the fairway and rough either. 

[third-times-a-charm]

14 hours ago, JamesG12 said:

Any more views on the epic speed fairway now that hopefully more people have had a chance to hit them?

 

I hit just a few balls with one, I forget which model, and it had the iM10 5.5 shaft in it. Too soft of a shaft for me but with just some quick swings before I left the hitting bay it really surprised me how easy it was to hit and everything went straight.

[realitycheck]

On 2/21/2021 at 4:10 AM, Bunkersarebigcups said:

Exactly that. I see that fade-biased fairways are a niche product but why not make at least one that is neutral. I do like Cally FWs for usual but if this thing goes left and I cant change anything its a nono.

 

Lets hope the "sligth draw" they state is really sligt

Same boat as you.  Thats a club I need as neutral as possible!

[odshot68]

I wish cally would have some higher end options to try in their fairway wood. I ordered one in a 4 wood blindly but doubt the shaft is ideal. 

[QuigleyDU]

Surprised I have not seen any rumblings about these yet.. or maybe I just missed it.

 

https://www.callawaygolf.com/clubs/drivers/ld-spec-drivers/

[dmeeksDC]

12 hours ago, QuigleyDU said:

Surprised I have not seen any rumblings about these yet.. or maybe I just missed it.

 

https://www.callawaygolf.com/clubs/drivers/ld-spec-drivers/

I’ve seen some stuff on it but I wonder how many players are really up for a longer shaft due to potential control issues. I know a very good player who uses the max length allowed, for more than 10 years now, but he also takes a long sweeping swing with very slow tempo. It’s easy to catch one and crush it with a longer shaft but he did say it took a long time to groove it and hit accurately. 

[QuigleyDU]

3 hours ago, dmeeksDC said:

I’ve seen some stuff on it but I wonder how many players are really up for a longer shaft due to potential control issues. I know a very good player who uses the max length allowed, for more than 10 years now, but he also takes a long sweeping swing with very slow tempo. It’s easy to catch one and crush it with a longer shaft but he did say it took a long time to groove it and hit accurately. 

Its all the rage right now. The BB21 with a longer shaft could be really crazy good. 

[dmeeksDC]

25 minutes ago, QuigleyDU said:

Its all the rage right now. The BB21 with a longer shaft could be really crazy good. 

Now ya got me thinkin!

[QuigleyDU]

Just now, dmeeksDC said:

Now ya got me thinkin!

Thats what I do... That driver is really awesome. About as anti left as it gets. You could swing away and never worry about a right miss.. 

[dmeeksDC]

16 minutes ago, QuigleyDU said:

Thats what I do... That driver is really awesome. About as anti left as it gets. You could swing away and never worry about a right miss.. 

 

Oh, I know. Big fan. Changed the shaft to something more familiar to me and added weight to the head and it’s great. But you’re right. It is light off the rack so perfect for a longer shaft. 

[mogc60]

Saw these yesterday and the speed is a very good looking fairway wood. Sits very square and the head is nice and compact. Best looking Callaway fairway I’ve seen.