T&C Reviews
Callaway MAVRIK Sub Zero Triple Diamond Review
On Course Review of Callaway's Upcoming Driver
- Tees and coins staff
- June 23, 2020
- Equipment Reviews
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What happens when a Callaway loyalist and a TM fanboy get together to try Callaway’s upcoming driver? Don and Eddie, part of the braintrust here at Tees and Coins, have spent several days with the new Mavrik Triple Diamond variant.
Don:
Callaway introduced a driver in the middle of 2019 called the Epic Flash Triple Diamond. This was the head that a majority of the guys on tour were playing. The one thing that more people noticed was that it did not have the line running across the crown like the retail models had. It was also a mid spin head that was 450cc and sat pretty open at address. The one thing that this head had that was different was that it included a green dot adapter which meant that it could go down 2 degrees instead of the max 1 degree on the standard retail models.
Being the club geek that I am, I had to have this club and I bought it site unseen. I have always done well with Callaway drivers on launch monitors but it never translated well outside. This was different. This not only did well inside, but it performed really well outside to the point that I have kept it in the bag since. I have dabbled with the other 2020 offerings but nothing has come close to this thing for distance and accuracy.
The 2020 Callaway Mavrik line was introduced at the beginning of the year and I was excited to see what they would offer. I knew that most of the guys like Xander Schauffele were playing the Mavrik Triple Diamond head. Would this thing come to retail again? I tested the standard Mavrik head and could tell that they took some the features and looks of the Epic Flash Triple Diamond and included them into this model. The one thing I didn’t like was it was very left friendly so I was hoping they would bring the Mavrik Triple Diamond to retail.
Ed:
I’m just here to keep this review honest. I’m not a big Callaway guy, but I will be the first to admit that the Epic Triple Diamond driver was a pretty solid driver. What I respected most about Callaway was that it broke the mold that the average player needed a lot of height and spin and that the tour player needed absurdly low launch and low spin.
Have you ever hit a friend’s club once and had that shot just linger in your mind, causing you to look at the specs of what you had hit and wondered what it would be like to own one? My moment was with an Epic Flash Triple Diamond with a Tensei Pro Orange. My goto shot off the tee is a slight pull that fades back a touch, and the shot I hit with the above club was the flattest straightest cut I had ever hit in my life.
The ballflight and total distance of that shot has plagued me for months. But there was no way I would buy an Epic Flash. Green? Really? Come on. How am I going to find a shaft and grip and head cover to match that? Not happening.
New and Improved?
Don:
Like last year, Callaway secretly launched the Mavrik Triple Diamond head to select accounts without any advertising. They did the same thing this year but we were able to get our hands on one and wanted to get it out to test on the course ASAP.
The initial look makes you think this is the exact same head as the Epic Flash without the slidingweight. It pretty much is but the topline is not as straight as the Epic Flash. The first few hits produced the same ballflight as the Epic Flash but the sound was a little more muted. The feel was closer to a forged iron than a metal wood. This was the one thing Callaway said they tried to do is make the acoustics better. It was definitely a big improvement over the Epic Flash.
After a few more shots I was thinking” could this finally beat my gamer?” I think the verdict is still out but its got a great chance. The one thing that I could not do was swap the weights in the Epic Flash. I was able to do that with the Mavrik. The standard weights that come with it are 2 8g weights. I had a few spare weights with me and I decided to keep the overall weight the same but have the front weight be at 2g and the rear weight at 14g.
Ed:
“Yo, I have the Mavrik Triple Diamond, let’s go.”
When I got that text from Don, I had to try it. Setting it down at address, there was a lot to like. Being used to playing the SIM, that straighter edge at address does present the club differently than the standard MAVRIK offerings do.
I’ll tell you what I did see, I saw more carbon in the crown. Now, I know that the whole crown is carbon, but they made more of the weave visible at address. The fade starts closer to the topline on the Mavrik, a touch I liked. The face is deeper than I was used to , which effectively raised my tee height a touch, but I quickly got used to it. Almost a slight nod to the R510 TP in terms of how it set up at address.
Straight Edged.
Don:
The 2g front 14g back split produced nearly identical shots to my Epic Flash. I think this would be my setting if I were to go with this club as I would like the highest MOI possible. I swapped the weights and and put the heavier one in the front to see how much lower my spin would be. These produced low uncontrollable knuckle drivers that went no where. The sound was also a lot louder. This is exactly the kind of driver I did not need. I hit a few more to see if the first one was an outlier but they all produced the same result.
I swapped the weights back as quickly as I could to avoid losing any confidence I had with the previous setting. After a few great drives, my confidence level was back to normal. I know I am optimal with the Epic Flash and this was pretty much side by side with it. Would I change to this club? If it produces the same results with the better acoustics then I am all in.
Ed:
People have different preferences for sound when looking for a driver. For me, I’m all about that softball muted mushy sound. I still think the r510TP and Nike Flex 440 are the best sounding modern drives ever. To prove my obsession with sound, I have bags of polypill, yarn, and a hotmelt gun in my garage. So if a driver sounds clanky, I’m not interested.
Callaway drivers are known for their distinct sound at impact. Their previous drivers have been a little too clanky for my taste. The first ball I hit with the Mavrik Triple Diamond was different. Not oh my god what a huge change different, but more of a thooooomp sound. It was a spongier sound, still higher pitched, but a weird sensation. Again, for a Callaway driver, pretty solid feeling. I say just muffle the pitch a touch, and we have a winner.
Deep. Face.
Don:
So you might be asking, how many RPM less did the Mavrik spin compared to the Epic Flash? And how much better was the smash factor?
On one day, I spun it 300 rpm less, on another day on a different monitor, there was no difference. We’ve decided when we do our reviews, unless we see some drastic differences in our head to heads, we are going to make it a practice to not include number differences. There are some great content creators out there who already do an admirable job of that kind of content, that’s just not who we are.
We play the equipment on the course, see the misses, and formulate how having that club in our bags affects our score.
So what have I seen on the course? Truly similar performance to the EF, which is no bad thing. My misses remained playable, and with an in to out swing with a +4 AOA, having a decently spinning head for me is actually preferred. My difficulty has always been choosing between a 10.5 head that may launch too high with the right spin, and a 9 degree that will launch in my ideal window but be too low spin.
The big key for me is I don’t see a drastic curvature bias. In the pantheon of modern drivers, it’s firmly neutral. The standard Mavrik in my hands was draw biased and the SIM was fade biased, to give some context.
Ed::
I’m the exact opposite as Don. I play a -2 out to in swing with an AoA of +2. I play for the slightly peeling cut. I’m always looking for something to give me a good initial launch with as little spin as possible, as my ballflight by nature tends to keep the ball in play.
I agree that the sound did change with the heavy weight up front, and actually preferred it ballflight wise. Some may say movable weight tech is a gimmick, but I’m a believer. I set the Mavrik to +1 in loft with the heavy weight forward, and liked what I saw. The initial launch window was not as high as I normally play, but the ballflight was strong. In my trackman sessions, I saw this head as much more playable than a standard subzero head.
Aero.
Don:
I know my Epic Flash Triple Diamond inside out. I know when a poor shot is a result of my swing, when to blame myself, or when to blame the club. I will continue to game this driver for the summer events I have on schedule and will continue to document how the Mavrik Triple Diamond plays.
Ed:
This is the hardest part of a review. Where is the sexy headline saying it’s 15 yards longer, and you should rush to buy one? Or where are the promises of better dispersion? You won’t find that coming from me. I really think that among all the major brands, there is an ideal driver for everyone. Is this the ideal one for me?
Not yet, but the initial results were promising enough for me to get one. Not one to leave well enough alone, the first thing I will do is put hotmelt in it, then remove the heavy weight, and then play it for a few weeks on my home track, which is on a river, a very windy experience. While I still love my SIM, the Mavrik Triple Diamond is good enough for me to order one to try, and that’s saying a lot for me.
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