This is our review of the Callaway Solaire women’s golf set.
Throughout the past decade, golf manufacturers are placing more focus on female golfing equipment. Though there’s still plenty to improve on, we’re finally starting to see custom female golf clubs instead of just a side-product of a male version golf set.
When it comes to female golf sets, Callaway is the best manufacturer out there in terms of quality, set usability, and performance. That said, their Solaire Women’s golf sets are some of the best women’s golf sets for beginners and high handicappers.
In this post, we’ll give you a full breakdown of what makes the Callaway Solaire golf set so amazing and how this set can benefit you.
Let’s begin!
Callaway Solaire Set Overview
In our opinion, any female beginner looking to seriously jump into the sport should consider Callaway’s Solaire 11-piece golf set as their first set of golf clubs. Price-wise, they’re much more affordable than they were before and they check off everything we look for in a good set of golf clubs for beginners and high handicappers.
That said, if you’re on a tighter budget, you can settle for the 8-piece set rather than the 11-piece set, but we don’t think the 8-piece set is really that worth it for its price because the 11-piece comes with an extra pitching wedge, a 3-wood, and a 5 & 6-hybrid.
Whereas, when we look into the 11-piece set, you’ll find a driver, a 3-wood, 5 & 6-hybrid, a set of 7 to 9-irons, a sand wedge, a pitching wedge, a mallet putter, 4 headcovers, and a stand bag.
As a bonus, each club in the set is designed to provide optimal forgiveness and consistency. Therefore, the loft of the woods in this set will be spec’d at the higher end. Specifically, the driver has a loft of 13 degrees while the 3-wood has a loft of 18 degrees. Not to mention, every club in the set has a good perimeter weighting design, a larger sweet spot, and a rear weight port that promotes a higher launch.
The sand wedge is also amazing for any shots within 80 yards while the pitching wedge is good for a quick bump and run and a decent club to use when pitching the ball from 100 yards. That said, there is an 8-degree loft gap between the two wedges so buying another wedge that fits in-between both the Solaire wedges is ideal.
Finally, the putter has a mallet design. It’s heavy and has 3 lines on top of the clubhead to help you with your alignment. In our opinion, the putter in this set is great and can be used even when you decide to swap to a different set of golf clubs down the line!
Pros
- High forgiveness golf set for women
- Great for those with a slower swing speed (men can use this set too)
- Very well designed and good looking golf clubs
Cons
- Low adjustability – driver loft is fixed, club can’t be customized
- Made for forgiveness and straight shots, not for workability
- Quite expensive for a golf set and is often out of stock due to high demand
| Club Type | Loft | Lie |
| Driver | 13.5° | 57° |
| 3-Wood | 17° | 57° |
| 5-Hybrid | 26° | 60.5° |
| 6-Hybrid | 29° | 61.5° |
| 7-Iron | 32° | 62.5° |
| 8-Iron | 36° | 63° |
| 9-Iron | 40° | 63.5° |
| Pitching Wedge | 45° | 64° |
| Sand Wedge | 56° | 64° |
| Mallet Putter | 3° | 70° |
What’s In the Bag
Callaway Solaire Driver Review
The driver from this set is lightweight, comfortable to grip, and has a higher than standard loft (13 degrees). Paired with a graphite shaft, it’s the ideal driver for any beginner and high handicapper who tends to have a slower club head speed at impact (roughly 70mph club head speed).
The driver is rear weighted which helps with ball launch and the head is built with titanium, hence providing it with a lightweight but solid feel.
All these features combined and you’ll end up with a straight hitting and powerful driver that generates a good amount of spin. In other words, you’ll be sacrificing distance for more consistency and accuracy which is what every beginner should prioritize.
A downside to the driver in the Solaire set is that it is not adjustable. Meaning what you buy is what you’ll get. But the specs of the driver are optimal for anyone looking to start the sport.
Callaway Solaire 3-Wood Review (Available in the 11-Piece Set)
The 3-wood is available only in the 11-piece sets and it’s a really good one. It’s quite rare to see any golfer, even some mid handicappers, use the 3-wood. And that’s such a waste!
The 3-wood is one of the most ignored, but powerful golf clubs you can have in your arsenal. It can be used as an easier choice for a more consistent and still long golf shot off the tees when compared to the driver, and it’s the farthest hitting golf club you can have off the fairway.
The Solaire 3-wood is surprisingly easy to use when we’re talking about 3-woods. It is unlikely you’ll start ripping shots off the fairway right away with this club, but with some practice, this 3-wood comes with 18 degrees of loft instead of a loft below 17 (which most golfers have a hard time with) can significantly drop your golf handicap.
Callaway Solaire 5- & 6-Hybrid (Available in the 11-Piece Set)
Another bonus to the 11-piece Solaire set is that it comes with a pair of 5 & 6-hybrids. As beginners and high handicap golfers, the longer irons tend to be unused in the bag similar to the 3-wood. Most high handicap golfers find longer irons (typically 3 to 5-irons) too hard to hit with due to the decreased loft and longer shaft length.
For most less experienced golfers, it’s almost always recommended to substitute their longer irons with their respective hybrids. With the 5 & 6-hybrid that already comes with the set, it’ll make using these longer irons much more enjoyable.
What is a hybrid and why should you use one? A problem many golfers face when starting out in the sport is learning to launch the golf ball with an iron, particularly those with a longer shaft and lower loft angle. That’s changed ever since the release of hybrids which produce the results of an iron, but the feel and features of a wood club. When you look at a hybrid, you’ll notice that the rear of the club is bulged out like a wood, this allows manufacturers to place the weight of the club even lower and towards the back of the club head, increasing the forgiveness and launch potential of the golf ball.
As a beginner or a senior golfer, the hybrid is ideal, especially when it comes to the longer irons in your golf set like the 3, 4, and 5-iron. With the Callaway Solaire 11-piece set replacing the 5 & 6-irons to hybrids, this set becomes an ideal candidate for beginners.
Callaway Solaire Irons Review
Out of the box, you’ll get three irons, the 7, 8, & 9-iron.
Each of the irons has an increased sweet spot, a great perimeter weighting design, a good amount of offset, and a well-placed rear weighting for better launch.
What does this all mean? Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Increased sweet spot = Higher chance to hit the ball on the face while producing optimal ball flight.
- Improved perimeter weighting design = allows more weight to be distributed to the edges of the club face which helps prevent twisting of the club on off-centered contact. The result is a relatively straight and still far golf shot on mishits.
- Offsetted club face = makes it easier to cure a golf slice by allowing the club to square on impact easier rather than staying opened which most amateurs do.
- Rear-weighted = helps with ball launch.
These irons are great, and they’re ideal for someone early on in the golf journey as they provide the features we look for in a great set of super game improvement iron. If you’re looking for a golf set that comes with high forgiveness irons, you can’t go wrong with the Callaway Solaire set.
Sand Wedge and Pitching Wedge Review
Unlike the 8-piece set, the 11-piece set comes with both a pitching wedge and a sand wedge while the 8-piece set has just the sand wedge.
Depending on the type of golfer you are, the sand wedge may not be enough to cover all your shots within 100 yards. That’s where the pitching wedge becomes useful.
Although the pitching wedge is mostly used for the bump and run by most golfers and is usually the least important wedge out of the four types of wedges, the pitching wedge in the Solaire set is great for making up the 100-yard gap.
That said, there is an 11-degree loft difference between the PW (45) and SW (56), we advise you to look for other wedges to fill in the loft gaps. We recommend you add a gap wedge that has anywhere between 50 to 53 degrees of loft.
Mallet Putter Performance
Another bonus to the Callaway Solaire set is its mallet putter. Being a beginner, a mallet putter is what you’ll end up wanting compared to a blade putter.
Mallet putters are great for beginners because of their shape. They are less likely to twist on misfits and provide a good visual guideline when you’re sitting the club behind the ball and during your putting stroke.
The putter in the set is great for beginners and can even be used when you decide to swap to a more advanced set of golf clubs. It also comes with three lines for alignment and the club head is also heavy, giving you a better feel for the head of the putter.
The headcover that comes with the putter is made of leather with a nice Velcro closing it, so rest assured, your putter will have no chips on it at all.
Four Head Covers
There are four headcovers that come with the 11-piece set beside the headcover for the putter. All the woods and the hybrids come with a high-quality headcover which not only makes your golf set look slick and professional but also keeps your clubs clean in the process.
Shaft Options
The clubs in the set are fitted with a lightweight female graphite shaft that you can’t switch out from.
That’s probably what we like least about this set, which is that the shaft options are fixed. But, this shaft is great for most golfers looking for forgiveness and has a slower to mid-speed club head speed (roughly 70mph) so it’s probably the best option for you anyway. In fact, the shaft is designed to aid in the launch for every club including the driver.
Common Question: Can Men Use the Callaway Solaire Set?
A common question asked by many people is whether men can use women’s golf clubs and vice versa. To approach this question, keep in mind that the club doesn’t know who’s swinging it.
Women’s golf clubs are made specifically for those with a slower swing speed and that’s because women generally have a slower swing speed than men. That said, this isn’t always true. There are many female golfers who can clock a faster clubhead speed than some men.
In other words, to answer the question. Yes, men can use the Callaway Solaire set if it ends up suiting them. In fact, the Solaire set might be a great option for most beginners regardless of their gender. They’re much easier to hit with due to the light and more flexible graphite shaft combined with all the forgiveness features offered by the clubs.
The only thing to look out for is the length of the golf club. Generally speaking, men are taller and have a longer wingspan than women. For instance, the driver in the Solaire set is 44.5 inches while the standard driver length for men is 45 to 45.5 inches. Though that doesn’t seem like much, it plays a big role in your golf posture and how you execute your golf swing.
A More Affordable Alternative – Callaway Strata Complete 16-Piece Set
An alternative to the Callaway Solaire set is the Callaway Strata Complete 16-Piece set. This set is excellent for those who are looking for a decent quality but not expecting top of the line golf set.
The set comes with almost everything you need to approach any yardage gap in the golf course – a driver with 12 degrees of loft, a 3-wood, a 4 & 5-hybrid, 6 to 9-irons, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, a putter, and a cart bag. With an extra 4-hybrid and a 6-iron instead of a 6-hybrid like you see in the Solaire set, we actually prefer the set composition of the Strata over the Solaires.
That said, this set is great to last you for roughly a year if you’re taking golf rather seriously. Afterwards, you’re going to want to swap over to a more advanced set of golf clubs whereas with the Solaire set you can use it all the way to when you reach a mid handicap.
Pros
- Better set composition than the Solaire’s set
- Very affordable
- Decent quality
- Excellent set for absolute beginners
Cons
- You’ll likely be swapping to a different set after a year
- Not as long and consistent as other super game improvement golf clubs
Conclusion – Callaway Solaire Review
The Callaway Solaire golf set offers any golfer, particularly female beginners, a set of high-quality golf clubs that provide optimal forgiveness and performance.
The set comes with all the clubs you need to not only play well but meet all the yardages within the golf course. They’re much more affordable than they were before but may still be rather expensive. If that’s the case, check out the Callaway Strata Complete Set. We also recommend fitting your own gap wedge into the Solaire set to make your short game much more versatile.
Besides that, the driver, 3-wood, hybrids, irons, and especially the mallet putter are clubs that you can use for a long time! Good luck with practicing!
