The 2012 Callaway RAZR Fit Driver Review – Callaway’s First Venture into the World of Adjustable Drivers

The Callaway RAZR Fit driver is new for 2012, and it’s the first Callaway driver to have movable weights and a mechanism that allows golfers to adjust the head’s face angle. I guess Callaway was feeling like TaylorMade was virtually monopolizing the market for adjustable drivers. If so, the company wasn’t all that wrong. But, the Callaway RAZR Fit driver is an adjustable model that should help the company stay abreast of the technology’s rapid evolution.

Naturally, the adjustability of this driver will be responsible for most of the buzz about this club. So, let’s talk about that aspect first and then get to some of the other details of the club a little later. But speaking of buzz, this is one of only four clubs given the Editor’s Choice Award on Golf Digest’s 2012 “Hot List.” Just thought you might like to know, because those Golf Digest guys don’t give out awards to just any club.

Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Alvaro Quiros are three of the Tour pros using the Callaway RAZR Fit driver in tournaments. These top pros must agree with Golf Digest in thinking the club is something special.

So, let’s get on with the show. To me, TaylorMade’s user-adjustable drivers – the R7, R9, R11 and especially the R11S – have always seemed overly complicated. Maybe I’m just a simpleton, but I don’t want to feel like I need an owner’s manual to adjust my driver properly. Callaway took a different approach with this driver, opting for simplicity over the complex arrangements that are required for the 80 different settings possible with the TaylorMade R11S driver.

The Callaway RAZR Fit driver comes with a 12-gram “OptiFit” removable weight already fitted into the toe of the sole; a 2-gram removable OptiFit weight comes positioned in the heel. You can leave the weights where they are, or you can reposition them to shift the club head’s center of gravity and promote a draw or a straight ball flight.

Players can also use the “OptiFit Hosel” of the driver to adjust the face angle of the club. The system’s hosel sleeve settings are not only easy to understand, but easy to change. The three options include a neutral position (“S” for “standard”), 1.5 degrees closed (“C”), or 2.5 degrees open (“O”). By setting the face to “Open” you’ll also be decreasing the head’s loft by 1 degree. Conversely, setting the face to the “Closed” position will add 1 degree of loft. Adjusting the face angle of the club for your swing promotes a better trajectory and a more accurate ball.

That’s it for adjustability. There’s no fancy pentagonal “Adjustable Sole Plate” and no “80 different settings” like there are with the TaylorMade R11S driver (a club we review on another page of this site). The Callaway just offers simple, straightforward, effective adjustability.

But its adjustability isn’t the only thing that’s notable about the Callaway RAZR Fit driver. It also incorporates the latest in club-making innovations, including Callaway’s “Forged Composite” crown that is lighter and stronger than titanium. The crown also uses a “Streamlined Surface Technology” that is said to be significantly more aerodynamic than the head of the Callaway RAZR Hawk driver. All things being equal, less air drag means more club head speed. And that translates into distance.

Callaway’s proven “Variable Face Technology” (“VFT”) and a hyperbolic face provide a large sweet spot that promotes faster ball velocities. Weight saved due to the Forged Composite crown and VFT is positioned toward the perimeter of the head to provide a higher Moment of Inertia. The end result is a driver that is designed to deliver a faster, longer, more accurate ball, whether impact occurs on the sweet spot or not.

Callaway kept the club’s appearance as simple and businesslike as the club’s adjustability. At address, you’ll see a plain black crown with no alignment aids to distract you.

The Callaway RAZR Fit driver comes in several lofts, including 8.5-, 9.5-, 10.5- and 11.5-degrees. The stock shaft is a 60-gram graphite Aldila RIP’d NV.

The Bottom Line: Now, with the introduction of the Callaway RAZR Fit driver, golfers who are partial to Callaway clubs can finally dial in the settings that promote longer, more accurate drives. It took Callaway a while to jump onto the adjustable driver bandwagon, but I think the company may have gotten it right. This club is good enough to be played by elite Tour players, but it’s also good enough to help almost any amateur’s game. Some golfers may prefer a few more options for fine-tuning and custom configuration, but the Callaway RAZR Fit driver seems about right to me. Not too much, not too little. Instead, it’s just right.

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