Callaway Golf Rogue Fairway Wood Review - PGAPappas 12 Days of Christmas Golf Giveaway

Here's the situation.  You're in the fairway on a dogleg par-5, and can hit your second shot with a wedge or mid-iron 125 to 150 yards to the right fairway.  You'll leave yourself with an easy, short approach to the green.  And probably give yourself a good look at birdie. 

 

Or?  You can pull your Callaway Rogue fairway wood from the bag and fire straight at the pin with nothing but water between you and the green for 200 yards.  Oh yeah, and the pin is tucked up front.  Guess what choice I made?  Grinning.  Nodding.  Yep, every time. 

I probably had more fun hitting the Callaway Rogue fairway wood this season than any other club in my bag.  I took on more bunkers, more water hazards, and fired at more pins on par-5s than I ever have before.  Yes I did lose a few balls, but more often than not the risks I took were rewarded, and the results were memorable. 

 

Even if you don't have that go-for-it gene in your DNA, the Rogue will make you strongly consider taking on more risks and hitting more hero shots.  For me, knowing I had an incredibly forgiving, easy to launch, and crazy long wood in my hands pretty much turned me into a raging, risk-taking maniac.  And I loved every second of it. 

 

 

Fairway woods can be tricky to hit.  If they're too big, it can be a battle just getting good contact.  If they're too small, they probably won't be forgiving enough for mere mortals.  I found the size of the Rogue to be perfect, and it was easy to hit from the fairway and rough.  Even with a larger profile than the previous-gen Epic fairway wood, I still thought the Rogue was compact looking and confidence inspiring at address. 

 

 

Callaway brought Jailbreak Technology to the Rogue for the first time ever in a fairway wood, and combined it with their Face Cup Technology.  And this really does produce powerful ball speeds, with long, straight, and towering ball flights.  The steel rods that connect and brace the crown and sole lets the face take on more energy at impact.  And the thinner, stronger face flexes more for increased speeds across a larger area of the face. 

 

 

Callaway also re-positioned weight in the carbon composite crown and used a glued (as opposed to adjustable) hosel to create an extremely low CG and high MOI. 

 

 

This all basically means that the Rogue is forgiving enough to keep your bad shots from being laughed at by your friends, and it's powerful enough to turn your good shots into great ones.  And whatever your skill level, trust me - some of your great shots will be highlight reel material. 

 

 

 

 

PROS:

Extremely easy to hit and launch 
One of the longest fairway woods on the market 
Brilliant results from the fairway and rough 

CONS: 
No adjustable hosel 
You'll still need to practice with it before hitting stingers like Ollie Schniederjans (he's pretty good)