Big Bertha Alpha Driver Review

Really? It felt pretty stable for me. I am trying to lay off X flex unless its necessary and my driver SS is down to 102-105 so I'm going to try the stiff stock shaft. Although my transition isn't as violent as your either...

Yeah. The stiff was noodlely for me. You're much smoother than I am. It should fit you much better.
 
Stock shaft didn't work for some of the guys in Carlsbad either. Bunch of freaky longknockers I tell ya.
 
I didn't try many different shafts in Carlsbad but I am happy with the one I ended up with.

I tried a Speeder VC 6.2, Tour Green, and the Fubuki K. Ended up with the Fubuki A though as they couldnt fill the Fubuki K order. No biggie though
 
Stock shaft didn't work for some of the guys in Carlsbad either. Bunch of freaky longknockers I tell ya.


Stock, stiff shaft felt fine, it just caused the ball to get way too high for me, especially with the gravity core up.

It didn't feel at all whippy, though.
 
Stock, stiff shaft felt fine, it just caused the ball to get way too high for me, especially with the gravity core up.

It didn't feel at all whippy, though.

Didn't do much for you with limited flight balls if I remember correctly.

*alienfacethingy*
 
Wonder if the Scottsdale Van's has them yet. Heading there Saturday.

There is an outside Demo Day at Legend at Arrowhead on Saturday. My guy at Golfsmith says he is bringing their two demos with them.
 
I didn't try many different shafts in Carlsbad but I am happy with the one I ended up with.

I tried a Speeder VC 6.2, Tour Green, and the Fubuki K. Ended up with the Fubuki A though as they couldnt fill the Fubuki K order. No biggie though

How did it feel with the Tour Green?
 
Didn't do much for you with limited flight balls if I remember correctly.

*alienfacethingy*


Now I know what Canadan feels like when I keep reminding him that I tied him (for his first full round of 2013).

Still counts, Dan!
 
How did it feel with the Tour Green?

It wasn't bad. I just didnt care for that shaft in the driver, but I am not an Aldila fan for my driver shafts as it is. As a FW or hybrid shaft though it would be pretty fantastic.
 
Now I know what Canadan feels like when I keep reminding him that I tied him (for his first full round of 2013).

Still counts, Dan!

Dude probably has this on a plaque on his wall.


----

To the drivers, it's exciting to hear they are coming in for the Grandaddy guys who selected them. I still haven't had an opportunity to hit one and am excited to see how they built on their 2013 line beyond just the tech advances of the sliding weight and gravity core.
 
There is an outside Demo Day at Legend at Arrowhead on Saturday. My guy at Golfsmith says he is bringing their two demos with them.

I don't think I'll be able to make that time. I'm doing the Spartan Race in Phoenix, then after I shower and while my wife & kids are napping I was planning to hit up a golf store or two. But if I get done sooner than I think, I may head over there.
 
Dude probably has this on a plaque on his wall.


----

To the drivers, it's exciting to hear they are coming in for the Grandaddy guys who selected them. I still haven't had an opportunity to hit one and am excited to see how they built on their 2013 line beyond just the tech advances of the sliding weight and gravity core.


Tattoo, Daniel. "I tied Canadan -- 04/13" Tattoo. In Gaelic text.

And, I cannot wait to get my hands back on the Alpha and to put it into play. I'm very interested to see if it performs like it did out in Carlsbad.
 
Dude probably has this on a plaque on his wall.


----

To the drivers, it's exciting to hear they are coming in for the Grandaddy guys who selected them. I still haven't had an opportunity to hit one and am excited to see how they built on their 2013 line beyond just the tech advances of the sliding weight and gravity core.

I know your a high spin guy, so I will wet your appetite:

First swing, 17.1* launch, 2100 spin rate.
 
I know your a high spin guy, so I will wet your appetite:

First swing, 17.1* launch, 2100 spin rate.


haha I'm already all kinds of intrigued man. Drop that gravity core to low spin and let me do some work with a few shafts, and this guy is in heaven.

What shaft?
 
haha I'm already all kinds of intrigued man. Drop that gravity core to low spin and let me do some work with a few shafts, and this guy is in heaven.

What shaft?

Stock Fubuki K.
 
Went to golftec to practice, found out the Alpha demo just arrived!!!

After practicing for a little shorter than planned, I grabbed the Alpha for a couple dozen swings or so.

I started out with everything in the stock settings. After about 5 swings and launch lower than I'd like (about 11 degrees), I cranked the head up to the 11 degree setting. The face does become noticeably closed at address in the 11* setting, probably at least a degree closed. You will see from the numbers following in the screenshot that I never fully seemed to adjust my starting point based on the closed face, so all shots started left. BUT the increased loft gave me some darn good launch numbers as you'll see in a minute.

The club looks AMAZING at address. Coming from a Cleveland Classic, I love the comparable type head shape and size. The dark blue looks great. I don't know if I'd change a thing with how this looks at address. The face is definitely on the taller side, which I really like as well. I found myself teeing this up higher like I do with my Classic.

The sound is really good. A little more muted than with the Big Bertha standard edition, but similar in the deep, solid "Thwack" sound. Very solid sounding, but I think I'd give the sound edge to the regular Bertha. But its better than almost anything I've hit this past year. Really, really good and wont hurt your ears.

This Alpha was with the stock Fubuki Zeta Tour shaft. The blue graphics on this shaft look great with the deep blue driver head. I love the fact the adapter keeps the shaft in the exact same orientation regardless of loft and lie changes.

The head was configured with gravity core down and 7 gram toe in heel, 1 gram in toe. If I had more time, I would have switched the 2 weights to compensate for the slightly closed face to reduce my left dispersion some. Next time I'll definitely be fiddling with the weights.

So, here's the results with a pretty smooth swing (for me). Again, dispersion was too far left but I think I can fix that. Forgiveness high on the face is fantastic. In fact, the longest ball I hit was higher on the face with reduced spin. I removed that shot from the graphic below along with other highs and lows to give you the best representation of the average shots I hit. But it was massive. 16 degrees of launch with 1900 spin and over 290 carry. Yeah, I'll take that on a mis-hit high on the face. Lateral forgiveness seemed pretty good. I didn't have impact tape on though so I don't know how much I was actually hitting heel or toe. I think I was getting pretty close to center most hits which is encouraging too. Ball speeds were topping out below 160 mph, probably averaged 158. A little less than I was seeing with the BB, not surprising with the 2 or 3 degrees more launch angle.

35368076-8D98-4A1A-903C-F7E81EF4BCB5_zpse7g5gbr4.jpg


As you can see spin is still a little high for me, but not too bad. When I get mine with the X flex I bet I get average spin down below 2500 and these numbers get a little bit better yet. I'm really stoked to get this driver in the bag. I think its going to be an absolute monster!!
 
Went to golftec to practice, found out the Alpha demo just arrived!!!

After practicing for a little shorter than planned, I grabbed the Alpha for a couple dozen swings or so.

I started out with everything in the stock settings. After about 5 swings and launch lower than I'd like (about 11 degrees), I cranked the head up to the 11 degree setting. The face does become noticeably closed at address in the 11* setting, probably at least a degree closed. You will see from the numbers following in the screenshot that I never fully seemed to adjust my starting point based on the closed face, so all shots started left. BUT the increased loft gave me some darn good launch numbers as you'll see in a minute.

The club looks AMAZING at address. Coming from a Cleveland Classic, I love the comparable type head shape and size. The dark blue looks great. I don't know if I'd change a thing with how this looks at address. The face is definitely on the taller side, which I really like as well. I found myself teeing this up higher like I do with my Classic.

The sound is really good. A little more muted than with the Big Bertha standard edition, but similar in the deep, solid "Thwack" sound. Very solid sounding, but I think I'd give the sound edge to the regular Bertha. But its better than almost anything I've hit this past year. Really, really good and wont hurt your ears.

This Alpha was with the stock Fubuki Zeta Tour shaft. The blue graphics on this shaft look great with the deep blue driver head. I love the fact the adapter keeps the shaft in the exact same orientation regardless of loft and lie changes.

The head was configured with gravity core down and 7 gram toe in heel, 1 gram in toe. If I had more time, I would have switched the 2 weights to compensate for the slightly closed face to reduce my left dispersion some. Next time I'll definitely be fiddling with the weights.

So, here's the results with a pretty smooth swing (for me). Again, dispersion was too far left but I think I can fix that. Forgiveness high on the face is fantastic. In fact, the longest ball I hit was higher on the face with reduced spin. I removed that shot from the graphic below along with other highs and lows to give you the best representation of the average shots I hit. But it was massive. 16 degrees of launch with 1900 spin and over 290 carry. Yeah, I'll take that on a mis-hit high on the face. Lateral forgiveness seemed pretty good. I didn't have impact tape on though so I don't know how much I was actually hitting heel or toe. I think I was getting pretty close to center most hits which is encouraging too. Ball speeds were topping out below 160 mph, probably averaged 158. A little less than I was seeing with the BB, not surprising with the 2 or 3 degrees more launch angle.

35368076-8D98-4A1A-903C-F7E81EF4BCB5_zpse7g5gbr4.jpg


As you can see spin is still a little high for me, but not too bad. When I get mine with the X flex I bet I get average spin down below 2500 and these numbers get a little bit better yet. I'm really stoked to get this driver in the bag. I think its going to be an absolute monster!!

You were HITTING that thing! I cant wait til my local golfsmith gets the demos

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
 
Those are some seriously good numbers Brett. And once you can get that left pull out of the equation you will be bombing that thing dude! Very nice.
 
Nice work Brett. You were mashing the Alpha.

Ahh -- I need to get this driver back in my hands.
 
Credit card is in my hand....

Enablers.
 
Back
Top