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Today, I’ll be reviewing the Callaway Elyte X fairway wood.
The Elyte X benefits from the same tech as the standard model but features a larger, stretched-back footprint with a shallower face. This high-MOI profile promotes more forgiveness, a slight draw bias, and an easy launch for higher handicappers.
How does the Elyte X fairway wood actually perform when put to the test? How does it compare to the standard Elyte? Who is it best suited for? Is it 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 indicated, stock shafts and stock grips are used when evaluating clubs and the 3W is evaluated in the case of fairway woods. 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 X fairway wood won a gold medal on the Golf Digest 2025 Hot List and enjoys wide praise from critics and consumers, with a 5/5 (100% recommended) rating on the official Callaway store.
What People Like
- impressive launch on low-face contact
- keeps the ball in play
- clean turf interaction with minimal resistance
- really long
- responsive, soft feel
What People Don’t Like
- very shallow face can make it difficult to hit off a tee or keep the flight low
The Features
The Elyte X fairway wood benefits from the same features and tech as the standard Elyte, namely:
- Ai10x Face: delivers ten times more control points than the Ai Smart Face of the previous generation, further enhancing performance in the form of higher ball speeds, tighter dispersions, and better optimized spin and launch.
- C300 Face Cup: a wraparound cup face, made of C300 maraging steel, that enhances speed and spin consistency across the face.
- Tungsten Speed Wave: a special 35g weight suspended in the head of the 3-7 woods that shifts the CG low and forward for high ball speeds, high launch and low spin. It also improves performance low on the face, which is a common mis-hit area for most players.
- Step Sole: the sole of the club follows a unique “step” pattern where the middle and back portion drops off from the front of the sole. It’s designed to make 57% less turf contact than a traditional sole design, resulting in cleaner, smoother turf interaction with minimal drag, minimal skidding, and more consistent strikes.
Where the Elyte X differs is in its size, shape, and weighting:
- a larger footprint (starts at 175cc for the 3W) that is slightly more stretched
- a CG that is located located deeper in the head for higher launch, higher MOI, and more forgiveness
- a shallower face for easier contact off the deck
- a slight inherent draw bias
Stock Info
The Elyte X fairway wood is available in 3W, 3 HL, 5W and 7W at lofts 15°, 16.5°, 18° and 21°, respectively.
An included Optifit hosel in the 3W and 3 HL allows you to adjust loft and lie. The loft settings are -1, +1, 0 and +2 (a range of 3°). The lie settings are N (neutral) and D (draw), giving a total of 8 possible configurations.
Also available is the Elyte X fairway wood for women. The women’s version has the same clubhead, but the swingweights, lengths, shafts and grips are tailored to women to maximize their performance.
The stock graphite shafts are the Mitsubishi VANQUISH PL 40 & 50 and Project X Denali Charcoal 60. The stock grip is the Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360. Custom shafts are available.
If you’re interested, full information on the fairway wood, shafts, grips and their specs can be found here.
Below are the specs of the Elyte X fairway wood for men & women. Click or zoom to enlarge.
The Performance
In the sections that follow, I’ll talk about my experience with the Elyte X fairway wood. Let’s jump right in.
Distance
Normally, there’s a slight drop in ball speed for game-improvement woods in comparison to their standard counterpart. I, however, saw no difference at all during my field test, which is great.
The Elyte X does generate significantly more spin than the standard model, though — at least 300-400 RPMs, in my experience. This could be good or bad depending on your natural ball flight.
In my case, I was seeing around six yards less carry and 7-8 yards less total distance after accounting for rollout, but your results may vary.
Forgiveness
The Elyte X is certainly up there with the most forgiving fairway woods of 2025. There’s no question it’s more forgiving than the standard Elyte, but perhaps not by as much as many might hope for.
The club is stable through impact, with great ball speed retention on mis-hits. Dispersions are tight.
One thing that took some getting used to during my session was how good the performance was low on the face. Low strikes maintained an impressive launch & speed and the spin was kept down.
Playability/Trajectory
Callaway classifies the launch of the Elyte X fairway wood as high. With this in mind when I went out for a test with the club, I found the launch angle to be barely above the standard model — maybe a 0.1-0.2° difference.
In a way, this isn’t surprising given that the launch of the standard Elyte was significantly higher than I was expecting when I evaluated that club.
As mentioned above, the spin of the Elyte X is much higher than the Elyte, so much so that I would consider it to be mid-high rather than the mid classification that Callaway gives.
The very shallow face of this club makes it easy to get a high flight not just from the fairway, but from practically any lie. The downside of this is limited workability and versatility which may push away some mid handicappers.
There is also an inherent draw bias that, while modest, will help chronic slicers straighten out their shots.
The Look
As you would expect from the X model of any Callaway wood, the Elyte X has a larger head size than the standard model with a more stretched-back, symmetrical profile. The face is also shallower.
However, these differences are actually quite modest. I would have liked to see a little more visual differentiation for the X model that really hits home the fact that you’re playing the GI model in the family.
The face of the Elyte X has a different geometric design than the standard Elyte, with pronounced vertical lines that help the player with alignment in conjunction with the chevron on the top line.
As with the other Elyte clubs, the Elyte X distinguishes itself with green accents surrounded by various monochrome shades. The two-tone matte Thermoforged Carbon Crown looks very attractive at address, and the sole aesthetic has good contrast with a cohesive colour scheme and logoing that pops.
The Sound & Feel
Compared to the standard Elyte, the Elyte X produces a similar, somewhat muted “clink” but the sound seems to be a bit lower-pitched.
The feel is crisp with power and responsiveness at impact, although it’s marginally less firm off the face which is to be expected given that the CG is pushed farther back.
The overall feel/sound experience is well-balanced, and it’s also more consistent across the face than the standard model, meaning feedback is a little less informative.
The new Step Sole significantly improves turf interaction, helping to deliver a smoother and more effortless movement through the impact zone. The reduced drag is very useful when hitting out of the rough and first cut.
Where To Buy This Fairway Wood Online
The natural place to go to order an Elyte X fairway wood with custom specifications (loft, length, shaft, grip, etc.) is this page on the Callaway store.
If you want to save some money, you can find discounts on eBay.
Optionally look at what’s available on PGA TOUR Superstore, Global Golf or Amazon. The first two vendors may offer club trade-ins, performance guarantees, and/or financing plans to help you minimize the financial hit.
Final Thoughts
The Callaway Elyte X is effectively a higher-spinning, higher-launching, larger version of the standard Elyte fairway wood. There really aren’t any surprises in this regard.
While it offers even more forgiveness and playability for higher handicappers who may traditionally struggle with a low ball flight, this comes at the expense of some workability and versatility. At the same time, I feel like the performance is a bit too similar to the standard model in many ways, and I also would have liked to see it differentiate itself more in terms of its looks.
In any case, this club should be well suited to many higher handicappers (20+), although it could be viable for many mid and even some low handicappers as well.
Are you interested in the Elyte X fairway wood? Have you played it? What’s your experience? Tell us about it in the comments below.
