Callaway Rogue Review

Jailbreak was the rare piece of golf engineering that survived contact with reality. Two three-gram titanium bars run from crown to sole immediately behind the face, stiffening the body so it stops absorbing impact energy and the face keeps it instead. In the Rogue those bars were reshaped with a thinner middle section, which let Callaway soften the sound and remove the harshness that made the original Epic feel like hitting a bell.

Around them sits a triaxial carbon crown, an X-face variable thickness pattern and a 460cc shape noticeably rounder and deeper than the Epic's. The result gives up almost nothing on a strike an inch off centre and launches high without ballooning. There is no sliding weight on the standard model, so fitting means the loft sleeve plus a shaft, but the head is neutral enough that most players never miss it. At $499 it was the most complete off-the-rack driver of its year.