Great Big Bertha vs. XR comparison.

Hello,

Anyone prefer the XR over the Great Big Bertha or the other way around? I had a XR driver, 3 wood, and utility. Also, just bought the Great Big Bertha driver, 3wood, heaven wood. I liked the XRs quite a bit and haven't had time to play the GBB woods yet. I seem to have awful luck with hybrids in general and hope the heaven wood is a good replacement.

Let it me know your thoughts.

Regards,
Will

GBB has more forgiveness, more penetrating ball flight, better stock shaft. That goes for driver and fairway woods.

Have both and just did a side by side comparison for my game.
In the same loft, XR launched higher and had about 500 RPMs of spin more.

I found them both super forgiving, but the GBB has more fine tuning and fitting capabilities. If I was going in now to pick one, I would choose the GBB, However I think both are solid.

There are more comparisons in the Great Big Bertha Review thread as well.

mbradley said:

GBB has more forgiveness, more penetrating ball flight, better stock shaft. The goes for driver and fairway woods.

Click to expand...

Thats a bit unfair. There are quite a few shafts you can get in the XR. I think you can get the Speeder 665 at no charge, and the Kuro Kage Black for $100 extra. Still comes in at alot less $$ than the GBB.

I game the XR with the LZ in stiff, and I have recently spent about an hour on a launch monitor with the XR and the GBB (Speeder 665 in stiff)...

The GBB is a great looking club and it feels great. I personally couldn't get it to work for me however, I was slicing it pretty bad and launching it super high. It's entirely because Im used to swinging the longer XR, and the shorter GBB is all out of sequence but even after an hour I just couldnt get used to it..
I was a bit longer and straighter with the Xr but only because I hit it better.

I'm sure the GBB is a better club and people will find reason as to why, but I wouldnt swap my XR for a GBB after the time I spent with it. (I mean, yeah Id swap it, but only because the GBB was worth more $ on a trade-in)

Willwhite said:

Hello,

Anyone prefer the XR over the Great Big Bertha or the other way around? I had a XR driver, 3 wood, and utility. Also, just bought the Great Big Bertha driver, 3wood, heaven wood. I liked the XRs quite a bit and haven't had time to play the GBB woods yet. I seem to have awful luck with hybrids in general and hope the heaven wood is a good replacement.

Let it me know your thoughts.

Regards,
Will

Click to expand...

i just did the same thing. I sold my XR which I hit well but didn't love the feel. I'm waiting on the arrival of the GBB driver. 3 wood and 5 wood. I'll be playing the speeder 565 shaft at 44.5 inches that I used in the XR.

I hit the XR with several shafts at multiple demo days and it was ok. I hit it with the ust prototype shaft and liked it better. The GBB for me is a better option. I like the looks, sound and forgiveness

I got fitted for an XR driver at the start of this year. First time getting back to the game after 8 years of not really playing. I loved the XR. I've been playing like crazy since and the XR helped me drop my handicap and produced great distance for my mid 90 swing speed. Last week I stopped by golfsmith and hit the Big Bertha and I was impressed. I ended up buying it with the Fuji 565 shaft and it works well for me. I've picked up close to 10 yards and my consistency is much better. Just feels more solid to me


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Willwhite said:

Hello,

Anyone prefer the XR over the Great Big Bertha or the other way around? I had a XR driver, 3 wood, and utility. Also, just bought the Great Big Bertha driver, 3wood, heaven wood. I liked the XRs quite a bit and haven't had time to play the GBB woods yet. I seem to have awful luck with hybrids in general and hope the heaven wood is a good replacement.

Let it me know your thoughts.

Regards,
Will

Click to expand...

First off, I wish I had that problem to pick from haha. But I have found the GBB, at least in regards to the driver, to be much better for my swing. I've had no problems with the XR woods though, but haven't tried the GBB woods or hybrids. The heavenwood has been a great club for many people on here, so I would think that's a pretty solid replacement if you haven't had the best of luck with the hybrids.

cbaker2882 said:

First off, I wish I had that problem to pick from haha. But I have found the GBB, at least in regards to the driver, to be much better for my swing. I've had no problems with the XR woods though, but haven't tried the GBB woods or hybrids. The heavenwood has been a great club for many people on here, so I would think that's a pretty solid replacement if you haven't had the best of luck with the hybrids.

Click to expand...

Hey guys,


Thanks for the replies, sorry for the late response as work has taken its toll lately. Unfortunately, The GBBs still have the plastic on them. Currently the I have the Oban purple in my driver and the devotion in both the 3 and heaven. I am not very long off the tee due to a car accident years ago so I try and compensate with technology, haha. I'm itching to get out and play with the new woods but I did really like the XR series. Will see what happens hopefully sooner then later.


On a side note: Really kind of of bummed that Callaway just announced the new APEX irons after I had just recently, 2 months, bought the current ones. I guess it's time to fool the wife again.. Haha

I have not tried the GBB, but I have the XR (thanks to THP) and love it. I came from a far less forgiving driver and can really appreciate the forgiveness the XR offers. I wanted to add that the stock length of the XR is .5" longer than the GBB and depending on the shaft choice, you could be comparing shafts with 10 or more grams difference between the two clubs.

I originally had a UST Prototype shaft (55 gram stiff) in mine and bombed it more than once but struggled with it. I went to an Elements Chrome 6F4T (~65 grams stiff) that was cut prior to getting into my hands to play at 45.5". I struggled less with it, but still struggled some and found that in the light XR head it dropped the swing weight to C9. I've since had my 6F4T tipped .5" and butt trimmed .5" to play at 44.5" and had the swing weight adjusted to D5 with tungsten powder in the hosel epoxy. I've since have not hit 300+ yard bombs with this set up, but am getting 250+ carry just about every time and am the most consistent I've ever been with a driver.

So with all that being said, maybe either would be perfect for you when set up the right way for you (whatever that ends up being).

samsquanch said:

Thats a bit unfair. There are quite a few shafts you can get in the XR. I think you can get the Speeder 665 at no charge, and the Kuro Kage Black for $100 extra. Still comes in at alot less $$ than the GBB.

I game the XR with the LZ in stiff, and I have recently spent about an hour on a launch monitor with the XR and the GBB (Speeder 665 in stiff)...

The GBB is a great looking club and it feels great. I personally couldn't get it to work for me however, I was slicing it pretty bad and launching it super high. It's entirely because Im used to swinging the longer XR, and the shorter GBB is all out of sequence but even after an hour I just couldnt get used to it..
I was a bit longer and straighter with the Xr but only because I hit it better.

I'm sure the GBB is a better club and people will find reason as to why, but I wouldnt swap my XR for a GBB after the time I spent with it. (I mean, yeah Id swap it, but only because the GBB was worth more $ on a trade-in)

Click to expand...

I was referencing the clubs in the stock configuration. I didn't care for the stock LZ which is a "made for'. The KK black TINI is a better feeling shaft and responsive. The adjustability of the GBB head put it miles ahead for me. Penetration is low enough for me to play it at 16 degrees. Everyone's journey is different!

I know this is an old thread... haha, just wanted to throw in my thoughts since I own both, and haven't seen any reason to upgrade to xr16 or epic.

XR - Long, like ridiculously long, and high flight - tons of carry. My best shots with XR 3 wood were longer than my usual drive. I avg. 240 with 3 wood, and 255 with driver. Every now and then I would hit the 3 wood 260 off a tee. Really fun club to hit, but I couldn't find much use for it - I was more consistent with driver off the tee, and 5w off the deck. The 5w was more useful for me in the XR range, especially with the 42.75" shaft, it almost plays more like a 4w.

GBB - Shorter than the XR for me, but more consistent yardage, and a lower ball flight. Didn't get the nuclear tee shots like I did with the XR 3W. The adjustability is a nice feature - the +1 setting in the 3W really enhanced the playability for me.

I think they're both really good fairways, and I like owning both. I would get the XR for all out distance, and the GBB for adjustability or dialing in yardage gaps at the top end of the bag.

For what it's worth, I think the 2015 fairways are better than any of the newer releases. I didn't see any improvement from XR16 or Epic, but I did buy the Steelhead XR based solely on looks. I found it much harder to hit than the regular XR - probably spin related. My poor strikes had a really unpredictable trajectory and tons of roll out, and my good strikes weren't any better than XR 2015.

I finally put by GBB in play this week, following a lengthy injury period of nearly a year. The XR was my gamer until then. I would have a lot of praise for the XR, and it stood me well, but the GBB has firmly my new gamer. Once again the ball flight, feel and the sound ticks all my boxes. I haven't had time to experiment with adjusting weights, but even without any tinkering it performs. I have the Kuro Kage Black Tini 50g Stiff shaft, which came as shock shaft.