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In this review, I’ll be taking a look at the Callaway Elyte irons.
The Elyte can be considered the balanced middle model in the Elyte family of irons. It’s designed to produce a strong blend of distance and forgiveness, boasting cutting-edge tech including a Speed Frame, tri-sole design, and new Ai10x Face.
How do the Elyte irons actually perform when put to the test? How do they compare to the previous generation Paradym Ai Smoke? Who are they best suited for? Are they worth putting in the bag?
Here’s what will be covered in the review:
Read on to learn what you need to know to make an informed purchase.
Note: Unless otherwise stated, stock shafts and stock grips are used when evaluating this club. In most cases, the golf clubs reviewed on Golfstead are acquired temporarily for testing purposes and are not purchased. The review that follows is based on the personal experience and research of the author. Because everyone’s swing and body are different, results with a particular club may differ from person to person.
What are the reviews like?
The Elyte iron is a new release, so the ratings that are out there are currently limited.
However, it won a gold medal on the Golf Digest 2025 Hot List and enjoys wide praise from critics and consumers, with a 5/5 rating on the official Callaway store.
What People Like
- amazing looks
- relatively slim profile
- impact sound is addictive
- smooth turf interaction
- forgiving across the face
What People Don’t Like
- rather firm feel won’t appeal to everyone
The Features
Hollow Body W/ Speed Frame
Callaway’s Speed Frame technology, first seen in the Paradym irons, returns for the Elyte, and like the Paradym, it’s accompanied by a hollow-body construction.
In this iteration, the Speed Frame connects the topline to the body. It adds stiffness to the body and supports the thin face, leading to more face flexion at impact and hence higher ball speeds. In addition, it works with the iron’s urethane microspheres to dampen vibrations from the ball impacting the face.
This is complemented by a hollow body which further contributes to high ball speeds across the entire face.
Ai10x Face
The Ai10x Face replaces the Ai Smart Face from the previous generation Paradym Ai Smoke.
This face technology, developed with a more precise artificial intelligence, delivers ten times more control points than the Ai Smart Face, further enhancing performance across the face. This means higher ball speeds, tighter dispersions, and better optimized spin and launch.
Tri-Sole Design
The sophisticated sole of the Elyte iron can be divided into three parts:
- Sharper leading edge: enables clean, efficient entry into the turf.
- Chamfered trailing edge: enables smooth exit from the turf.
- Mid section: promotes forgiving and versatile turf interaction, helping to prevent both digging and skidding.
The Elyte iron is geared towards golfers with moderate or fast swing speeds and is designed with a high yet balanced amount of distance and forgiveness.
Stock Info
The Elyte irons come in 4-SW (19°-55°). Sets and singles are available.
The stock shaft options are the Project X Denali Charcoal 55, 65 & 75 in graphite and the True Temper Vector 80 & 90 in steel. The stock grip is the Lamkin Crossline.
If you’re interested, more information on shafts, grips and other customizations can be found here.
Below are the specs of the Elyte irons (click to enlarge):
The Performance
In the sections that follow, I’ll talk about my experience with the Elyte irons. Let’s jump right in.
Distance
I was getting really great ball speed numbers with the Elyte irons, although they seem to be in the same ballpark as the previous generation Paradym Ai Smoke.
At best, there may be a very marginal gain of 0.5-1 mph, but it’s hard to tell. Theoretically, there should be a gain in speed and distance from the new AI face tech, but nothing was jumping out at me.
Forgiveness
There’s a solid amount of forgiveness at work with the Elyte, although they’re not as forgiving as the X and Max Fast models. In general, there’s more forgiveness than a players’ iron but less than a max-GI iron.
Ball speeds are consistent across the face, and dispersions are tight. In some cases, you’ll find that minor or moderate mis-hits don’t deviate from the intended result by more than a few feet, but you shouldn’t expect poor swings to be bailed out completely.
Playability/Trajectory
The lofts of the Elyte irons are nearly as strong as the Paradym Ai Smoke, with a few irons in the set being one degree weaker. Having said this, typical trajectories are mid-high, and spin is pretty middle-of-the-road as far as irons go.
When I reviewed the Paradym Ai Smoke irons, I noted that their stopping power coming into greens wasn’t the greatest. The Elyte irons have improved on this; during my field test, I was able to stop the ball quickly when I wanted to.
At the same time, the Elyte is the most workable iron in the Elyte family of irons. Whichever way you want to flight your ball, you shouldn’t face much resistance.
The Look
One of the things that stands out the most to me about the Elyte iron is how clean it looks.
It’s a simple, traditional aesthetic that is nearly all chrome. This is enhanced by a textured region on the back of the iron, overlaid with some dark accent logoing, which gives it a modern touch.
The Elyte has a mid-size profile, although the top line is thinner than most game-improvement irons you’re used to, which makes it that much more appealing from the address position.
The offset is quite modest — just a hair more than the Paradym Ai Smoke iron. The tri-sole design and other intricacies really make it feel like you’re playing a premium, well-made iron.
I prefer the Paradym’s “flat back” geometry, as the Elyte looks somewhat like a cavity-back iron even though it’s a hollow-body iron. Nevertheless, the Elyte has great overall looks.
The Sound & Feel
The feel of the Elyte iron at impact resembles past Paradym irons: solid with a touch of softness and explosiveness. There is a level of firmness to the strike that is very satisfying when you make center contact.
Callaway’s urethane microspheres make a return this generation, and like the original Paradym, they help mute and quieten the impact sound.
I do find the Elyte to provide clearer feedback on the strike compared to the Paradym Ai Smoke. While the sound doesn’t change all that much, feel becomes very firm in the heel and toe regions of the face, so if you make poor contact, you’ll definitely know it.
The tri-sole of the Elyte irons is very versatile, being able to perform well out of a variety of lies from long (rough) to firm to soft.
Where To Buy These Irons Online
If you want a brand new set of (or individual) Elyte irons with custom shafts, grips, lengths, lofts, lies, etc., definitely head over to this page on the official Callaway store.
If you want to find good savings, you can look on eBay. Alternatively, check out what’s available at Global Golf or PGA TOUR Superstore.
Final Thoughts
The Callaway Elyte iron is the complete package. While it may have a slight edge in distance over the previous-generation Paradym Ai Smoke, it’s not as forgiving, although it has more workability and better stopping power into greens.
At the end of the day, this is an iron that’s fast off the face and provides balanced performance in every other category, with the looks and feel you have come to expect from Callaway. It’s affordable too, with a three-figure price tag for a full set.
While a wide range of golfers can have success with the Elyte, I suggest it most for high single digit or low teen handicaps.
Are you interested in the Elyte irons? Have you played them? What’s your experience? Tell us about it in the comments below.