Callaway Rogue ST Max D Fairway Review

Callaway Rogue ST MAX D Fairway Review

The Rogue ST MAX D Fairway is Callaway’s first-ever dedicated draw fairway wood. It’s aimed at golfers looking to correct or neutralise a slice in their game. It’s one of a family of three new Rogue ST fairway metals released for 2022 and replaces the Mavrik range. Alongside ST Max D, there’s Rogue ST LS, a compact low spin players head and Rogue ST Max, built for all-round playability and forgiveness.

The Epic Max and Epic Speed fairways are staying in the range for 2022 and are still among the best Callaway Fairway woods you can buy.

Callaway says ST stands for Speed Tuned, inspired by the brand’s use of A.I (artificial intelligence) to optimise its Flash Face designs for the best possible launch, spin and ball speed.

Every head in this ST range sets up differently. Look down on ST Max D and you see a slightly closed face, vertical and horizontal grooves with a more upright lie angle. On the sole, there’s a 27g Tungsten speed cartridge and more weight located toward the heel to create that high launching, powerful draw flight.

The matt black finish is classic, compact and feels premium – an improvement on the vivid Epic 21 and Mavrik lines. We felt the graphics on the back of the crown were overdone and the club would arguably look better without them.

I tested a Callaway Rogue ST Max D at Slaley Hall’s Hunting Course, a former European Tour venue, with the Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei AV Blue shaft in 75g stiff using Titleist Pro V1x golf balls and then inside on a TrackMan launch monitor.

All the tour proven Callaway technology is here, including a speed tuned makeover for the Jailbreak A.I system. The two internal ‘batwings’ have been moved to the perimeter of the face, keeping the stabilising stiffness while helping the face flex more for higher ball speed.

The Rogue ST Max D comes off with a muted sound, a deeper thudding hit, which I feel improves on the loud metallic ting of previous lines. For a forgiving anti-slice fairway, Max D played nicely on the course and was especially playable from the fairway and short rough. The flight was high and towering, possibly too high on tee-shots for a windy, exposed parkland course in January. I had to adjust my set-up a lot to get a lower penetrating flight that would run out.

On the launch monitor, the ST Max D performed better than expected, especially given that I naturally draw the ball and am usually trying to work it back more left to right for accuracy and consistency. Around 60 per cent of shots finished left of target but not by much and grouping was more than good enough to be hitting 7/10 medium-sized fairways.

Feel off the face was fast and energetic. TrackMan captured an average ball speed of 150.2 mph, smash factor of 1.47 and total average distance of 240 yards from a spin rate of 4371rpm. That spin rate is too high. When I brought it down to around 3300 with a lower launch angle, I hit one 260 and another 253 yards; proving that there is more performance to be unleashed if you deliver the club to the ball better.

The Callaway Rogue ST Max D is packed with power and forgiveness and delivers on its main promise to golfers, to encourage a draw shape and correct a slice. This is a premium Callaway fairway wood pitched at a specific player and does its job extremely well. Available in 3, 5 and 7 wood options with a choice of two premium stock shafts and a Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip.

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