In this review article, you will see my full review of the Rogue ST drivers from Callaway. So there are four new drivers in the lineup, and I’ll explain why they’re slightly different. But first off, let’s talk about the name. We’ve heard of Rogue before; back in 2018, Callaway brought the Rogue drivers out, and they were very successful. The Rogue ST, meaning speed tuned, will replace the Maverick driver from two years ago.
Rogue Drivers Lineup Introduction
This time round Callaway does this thing where each alternate year, they’ll bring out a driver with a movable weight followed by the next year with drivers with non-movable weight technology, and we’re in the non-moveable weight year. The one that will be the most popular is the Rogue ST Max.
The Rogue ST Max is a 460cc driver, and it is designed for most forgiveness. So if you are out there and want the most forgiveness from your driver, that’s where you’ll be. Looking on the side of that, you’ve got a Max D, which is effectively a driver to help golfers who spray it a little bit more to the right to try and fix that slice.
You have a Max LS head this time. It’s still a forgiving driver with a lower spin than ST Max. This will suit a slightly better golfer who wants to keep that forgiveness and maximize distance. And finally, the drive will probably not go in the bag of a single average golfer.
It’s the Rogue ST Triple Diamond LS; hell of a name. This monster is a super low-spin driver on paper, so for many golfers, the low spin will equate to less forgiveness. So in this review, I test every one of the drivers and give my full honest opinion of what I found.
Design for Rogue ST Drivers from Callaway
Let’s talk about looks first because, for me, it’s the very classy driver design from Callaway. This year, they’ve gone through a Matt Black Top, which I’m a fan of. It’s not for everybody, but I like the top looking down on the drivers, and they’ve gone for this kind of gold and white color scheme, which looks quite classic, I’ll be honest with you. There’s been a few drivers that Callaway brought out recently, even the Epic Speed, which is still in the lineup now.
The color is green-yellowy, almost a bit gimmicky, but the lineup looks clean and classic this time. And that same color scheme also rolls into the head cover with the kind of black, gray, white, and gold. It would be an excellent head cover bar having a big number one. I don’t know why a driver doesn’t need a number one on it for whatever reason.
Price
So price-wise, the price is $479 per driver. But by the time they hit stores, you’ll be paying near to $450.
Technology
Now let’s dive into technology and find out what’s different in the Rogue ST. Callaway is a big fan of this AI computer they bought a few years ago. This supercomputer gives Callaway all the answers to every golfer’s dreams. They’ve used it on the face before by making a more artificially intelligent face but optimizing ball speed across the face. That’s continued with these drivers, and it’s got even better.
But also, they’ve used it this time to figure out how they can make the Jailbreak Technology better. So the Jailbreak AI speed frame has calculated to change a little bit, get a little bit thinner, and for you guys as a golfer, what you need to know is that apparently, it helps keep the relationship between the top and head and the bottom of the head of the driver stable.
So, you get more ball speed across the face on good hits. And on those missed hits, they’ve moved the weight further back, and that’s where you see the big gold waiting system at the back that’s to optimize forgiveness, the correct spin rate, and again to make it a much more forgiving driver.
You can change a loft sleeve and go up and down in lofts and dial it a little bit to fine-tune it if you want it upright, for example, to stop it going more to the right. But all in all, I’ll be honest with you, not massive changes this year by Callaway.
Performance
They’re subtle tweaks to what they believe is already great technology in their drivers. But does that translate into better performance? Well, that’s what I wanted to find out. So I went on the golf course and took out the Max, the Max LS, and the Triple Diamond LS.
So after spending some time walking all of these three drivers out on the golf course, I want to pick up a few things. The looks of the driver behind the golf ball are right up my street. For me, these head shapes this year; I swayed a bit more towards the Max LS head shape-wise.
The look behind the ball was stunning, and I liked the matte blacktop finish. I’m a massive fan of it. And then, sound-wise, these drivers all sounded good but also sounded slightly different from each other. For me, the Max version was the loudest. It gave that kind of a crack of the head.
The Max LS had that tiny bit more of a dead noise, and I preferred the sound of that Max LS. Then the Triple Diamond LS produces even deader noise. Not as big a fan of that. When I say dead, it almost just not coming off as if it’s super loud off the face. It’s a bit more of a crack, and that’s down to how they’ve moved the weights or the carbon so they can change the sound a tiny bit.
Let’s dive into what I saw for the ball flight-wise. Let’s start with the Max drive, the most forgiving. It did what it said on the spec sheet. It was very forgiving. Even when I didn’t strike it well, I looked up and saw a flight I wanted to see. I would remove the Max D for a minute cause I’ll come onto that.
The Max driver has a left tendency. In comparison, the Max LS flight was superb. Off the tee, I found I hit it very straight. It was still very forgiving, not as much as the Max, but forgiving. Then moving into the Triple Diamond LS, this is the one I was most concerned about because of its low spin characters.
It was a monster. I definitely hit a couple of big drives with the Triple Diamond LS, but then again, I also hit a few offline. This driver is very much suited to the best players who can hit the middle of the face consistently to be able to optimize that driver. But all in all, happy with the flight, the sound, and the looks.
Shot Data
So then we needed to get some data. So I went to Tour X, set up my GCQuad, and hit shots with all four drivers, and this is what I found. I’m going to start with the Max D first. This driver is the one that supposedly helps you hit it less to the right when I was trying to swing it.
Usually, I saw more of a left tendency as the weight had been pushed into the heel. The toe felt very fast, shutting down the face and going slightly left. But I must admit, I also needed to improve about hitting some slice golf swings. Could I still slice?
Yeah, of course I could. It plays a small part in changing the ball flight, but not loads. I didn’t collect any complex data with the Max D driver because it doesn’t suit my swing, so it’d be pointless and irrelevant. But I did collect data with the other three drivers. I’m going to start with the Max first.
As I mentioned on the golf course, the Max gave me a lot of forgiveness, and when I hit it in the simulator, I saw that again, even on really bad strikes coming low off the head I found. Over time and time again, this Max driver performed the numbers that I like to see. It was good, and I was impressed with that.
But distance-wise, it wasn’t the longest in the test. I expect that as well, just because of the head shape. The spin was a bit higher than what I’d typically see, but I was carrying that 276 yards with 2,200 spin and a little bit low on the ball speed, only 156 miles per hour ball speed.
But not perfect for me, but I must admit, I recommend that to many high handicappers who want forgiveness. Then moving into the Max LS, I loved the look, the sound the most, and the performance out on the golf course. Did it match up for me on performance?
Well, yes, it did. I was carrying this one 280 yards of carry. It was spinning just around 2000 RPM, but the ball speed wasn’t crazy fast. I got about 155 miles per hour of ball speed with the Max LS. Then, moving into the Triple Diamond LS data. As I tested on the golf course, I definitely hit a couple of drivers.
I stood there and was very impressed as that looked like it’s gone a long way. That is a low-spin monster. Did I see that in the simulator? Yes, I did. Again, I saw a low spin of about 2000 rpm. But as I mentioned earlier, anything you hit off-centered definitely lost mid-performance. So on average, I was carrying that driver 277 yards, hit a couple of really long ones, mixed in with some mist strikes, which definitely drew that average down for me.
My Verdict on Callaway Rogue ST Drivers
The Max ls is the one that I would put in the bag that suited me the best. As my conclusion of this new Callaway lineup, they’re excellent drivers, and they’ve done what I’d expect them to do. But as I’ve said, for several years now, if you’ve got a Callaway driver for maybe the last three to five years, you’ll probably see a slight difference between those and this lineup.
But if you want a brand new driver and a Callaway, you will go right with these too. Thanks for reading my review of Callaway Rogue ST Drivers!