Callaway Big Bertha Driver Review

[SmoothC83]

Quick question. When you order your driver from Callaway is it an option to purchase one of their shaft upgrades as an individual piece or will they only sell them to you if you have them installed in the head you are purchasing?

 

[jlukes]

Quick question. When you order your driver from Callaway is it an option to purchase one of their shaft upgrades as an individual piece or will they only sell them to you if you have them installed in the head you are purchasing?

They will only sell a shaft upgrade with the head. They don't sell shafts separately

 

[Golf Ghost]

Quick question. When you order your driver from Callaway is it an option to purchase one of their shaft upgrades as an individual piece or will they only sell them to you if you have them installed in the head you are purchasing?

Unless it has changed, it was only what you were having installed by them.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[kc720]

Matrix 8q3.....? Is that an 80 gram shaft in a driver? #beastmode

Yes. Not quite beast mode but heavier shaft suits me well. Jman loves the same shaft in his bertha as well!

 

[Jman]

Yes. Not quite beast mode but heavier shaft suits me well. Jman loves the same shaft in his bertha as well!

I'm a mere mortal w mine though, no 8 for me! hahaha

Would love to have one in S for a fairway though.

 

[kc720]

I'm a mere mortal w mine though, no 8 for me! hahaha

Would love to have one in S for a fairway though.

Not the 8q3 I sent you? Used for trade bait for something suits you more?

 

[Jman]

Not the 8q3 I sent you? Used for trade bait for something suits you more?

That was a 7, I loooooooove the 7. Haha

 

[kc720]

That was a 7, I loooooooove the 7. Haha

Oh thats right. .. red tie is just so right for my swing. Stock 60x shaft I was less consistent and was getting less distance than the 8q3. The red tie is a stiff but tipped 1 inch to bring the cpm to 266

 

[H-SC Tiger]

I, too demoed the Bertha at Golfsmith today. I was impressed with how light the club head is. I hit it pretty good and saw another guy consistently drive it 296; however, I also had an opportunity to swing the X2 Hot and WOW! Will have the X2 Hot at some point in the near future.

 

[tucsondivots]

I, too demoed the Bertha at Golfsmith today. I was impressed with how light the club head is. I hit it pretty good and saw another guy consistently drive it 296; however, I also had an opportunity to swing the X2 Hot and WOW! Will have the X2 Hot at some point in the near future.

How did the X2Hot compare to the BB for you? I see Golf magazine came out with their review of the top 23 "hot" drivers. BB rated top in game improvement category, but X2Hot top in super game improvement. Good things said about both. It seems to me Golf's reviews are less biased than Golf Digest - not sure, but at least the "cons" are more Simon Cowell like in providing details.

 

[tucsondivots]

I am hitting my CG Black driver so well, with good numbers, that I am really on the fence about buying the BB. How much better would a driver have to be for you to replace your current gamer if you were hitting it well? I may go with just the BB 3 wood instead. Need more help there.

 

[H-SC Tiger]

How did the X2Hot compare to the BB for you? I see Golf magazine came out with their review of the top 23 "hot" drivers. BB rated top in game improvement category, but X2Hot top in super game improvement. Good things said about both. It seems to me Golf's reviews are less biased than Golf Digest - not sure, but at least the "cons" are more Simon Cowell like in providing details.

I'm in that super game improvement category so I'm guessing Golf Magazine is absolutely correct. The sweet spot on the X2 Hot is huge and I felt like I couldn't miss it. My swing speed average is in the mid 80's but I was able to top 90 with the X2 hot. Distance-wise, I'm good for 240 yds. I was able to hit the X2 Hot 270yds.

The only con for me was that the club head looks really "normal" (for lack of a better word)-no real innovation there. I like shiny and sophisticated coupled with performance (like the Covert). The X2 Hot's color (smoky gray) isn't appealing at all. After demoing it, that doesn't really matter anymore because that thing is a cannon.

as for the BB, it felt great at address. Not a big fan of the color scheme. Didn't get a chance to tinker with the adjustability as there was quite a line of people waiting. Id like to be able to say more about BB but I left Golfsmith with the other Callaway club on my mind.

 

[H-SC Tiger]

I am hitting my CG Black driver so well, with good numbers, that I am really on the fence about buying the BB. How much better would a driver have to be for you to replace your current gamer if you were hitting it well? I may go with just the BB 3 wood instead. Need more help there.

3wood will be my next purchase. Not sure how you feel about Nike, but the Covert 2.0 3 wood is a BEAST.

 

[SkiBumGolfer]

So I got to hit this thing today, shwing! This thing is sweet, even though my swing was absolutely dreadful. On my good shots I was getting 3000-3200 backspin, ~12* launch, ~100 swing speed, high 140s ball speed, mid 270s distance. This was with bad swings where I was falling into my old habits of the first half of last year. Once I get my swing going, boy am I excite!



I also hit the Alpha, holy balls I want that thing when my swing gets better. Over 300 EASY. That thing is ridiculous. When I sprayed it though, yikes! My rusty swing was a tad dangerous.

The feel of both of these was incredible, and the sound as well. O actually think the regular Bertha was better on the ears, but both great.

Nice Danny! Even more stoked to hit this bad boy now. What I really want to know is: was that 270 carry or total? If you're getting 270 carry with 100mph head speed, that is IMPRESSIVE.

 

[drp3434]

Nice Danny! Even more stoked to hit this bad boy now. What I really want to know is: was that 270 carry or total? If you're getting 270 carry with 100mph head speed, that is IMPRESSIVE.

Total mid 270s, can't remember the carry, but want to say high 250s like 259. I didn't take a pic of the numbers cuz nothing was consistent for me today. I was getting at least that in carry with the Alpha though, 302-304 total

 

[ddelloch]

Hi all. A long time lurker here that thought he would throw in his 2 cents.

I went to Golf Town's free fitting day yesterday morning to check this club out. After playing with some different heads and shafts I have to say I didn't believe the numbers I was getting on the launch monitor. With a 9 degree stiff I was pulling average spin of 1600-1700 and consistently drawing the ball 275-285 carry with a roll out to 305-310. I generally don't trust the launch monitors with longer clubs as I have had issues with them in the past so I ended up taking the driver and a 3w out to my local driving range to see how far off they were from what the screen was showing. If they weren't giving me the same kind of feedback I was planning on returning them.

Needless to say.... I have a new driver and 3w and will likely be going back for a new 5w sometime in the near future. The spin numbers absolutely blew my mind since I was having a hard time staying under 3200 with most of the other drivers I was demoing the last few weeks. I don't know if my swing was just on yesterday or what but if I can bring that club and that swing to the course I am going to be playing a lot of Driver-sand wedge games this season. One thing I thought was telling about the forgiveness of this driver was the fact that even though I have been fighting a slice while I try to get my swing back into game shape after 6 months off, not a single shot on the launch monitor or at the driving range ever ended up on the right hand side of center.

This is the first driver I have ever hit that has really blown my mind. I have tried and played with a lot of them over the years and to be honest none of them were ever better or better enough for me to validate replacing my 09 Burner that I had re shafted to justify the cost to upgrade.

I look forward to reading about what the rest of you think.

 

[Jman]

Thanks for putting all of those thoughts down in here ddelloch, you saw exactly what a LOT of people are going to see, Bertha is legit.

Welcome to THP! Glad you decided to post and hope you jump in all the way!

 

[SmoothC83]

Hi all. A long time lurker here that thought he would throw in his 2 cents.

I went to Golf Town's free fitting day yesterday morning to check this club out. After playing with some different heads and shafts I have to say I didn't believe the numbers I was getting on the launch monitor. With a 9 degree stiff I was pulling average spin of 1600-1700 and consistently drawing the ball 275-285 carry with a roll out to 305-310. I generally don't trust the launch monitors with longer clubs as I have had issues with them in the past so I ended up taking the driver and a 3w out to my local driving range to see how far off they were from what the screen was showing. If they weren't giving me the same kind of feedback I was planning on returning them.

Needless to say.... I have a new driver and 3w and will likely be going back for a new 5w sometime in the near future. The spin numbers absolutely blew my mind since I was having a hard time staying under 3200 with most of the other drivers I was demoing the last few weeks. I don't know if my swing was just on yesterday or what but if I can bring that club and that swing to the course I am going to be playing a lot of Driver-sand wedge games this season. One thing I thought was telling about the forgiveness of this driver was the fact that even though I have been fighting a slice while I try to get my swing back into game shape after 6 months off, not a single shot on the launch monitor or at the driving range ever ended up on the right hand side of center.

This is the first driver I have ever hit that has really blown my mind. I have tried and played with a lot of them over the years and to be honest none of them were ever better or better enough for me to validate replacing my 09 Burner that I had re shafted to justify the cost to upgrade.

I look forward to reading about what the rest of you think.

Those are some pretty crazy spin numbers, especially compared to what you saw out of everything else. This was with the regular Big Bertha right, not the Alpha?

 

[ddelloch]

Those are some pretty crazy spin numbers, especially compared to what you saw out of everything else. This was with the regular Big Bertha right, not the Alpha?

It was the regular not the alpha. That was with the 9 degree loft. The 10.5 degree had me up around 2300 rpm on the few shots I tried with it. I know launch monitor to launch monitor you will get different numbers and I wish I had of tried the 10.5 degree RBZ that I had in my bag at the same time. Fortunately when I got to the range it was pretty clear there was no comparison. Now I can only hope they come out with a hybrid to replace the Stage 2 3H in my bag that I am really not in love with.

 

[jlukes]

It was the regular not the alpha. That was with the 9 degree loft. The 10.5 degree had me up around 2300 rpm on the few shots I tried with it. I know launch monitor to launch monitor you will get different numbers and I wish I had of tried the 10.5 degree RBZ that I had in my bag at the same time. Fortunately when I got to the range it was pretty clear there was no comparison. Now I can only hope they come out with a hybrid to replace the Stage 2 3H in my bag that I am really not in love with.

The new x2hot pro hybrid is incredible. Such an improvement from last year's model

 

[SmoothC83]

It was the regular not the alpha. That was with the 9 degree loft. The 10.5 degree had me up around 2300 rpm on the few shots I tried with it. I know launch monitor to launch monitor you will get different numbers and I wish I had of tried the 10.5 degree RBZ that I had in my bag at the same time. Fortunately when I got to the range it was pretty clear there was no comparison. Now I can only hope they come out with a hybrid to replace the Stage 2 3H in my bag that I am really not in love with.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[TNTCigarguy]

Ddelloch thanks for the feedback. I cant wait to go and get my hands on these bad boys.

 

[tpluff]

Bertha flat out performed today in the simulator. Take it for what it's worth being in a simulator, but yardage was consistently 10 yards farther than my old normal and I only missed 2 fairways. Plenty of forgiveness in it too for me. I don't have spin or any numbers like that, might next weekend, but after my first go 'round with her, I'm here to say "Bertha's freaking BACK people!"

 

[BogeyMan60]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but does the Callaway Dual Cog have a setting to open the face up just a little bit? I love my Amp Cell but even on the “Neutral" setting the face still sits closed a bit. Having the face just a tiny bit open would be a game changer for me instead of having to manipulate it manually just for the sake of being able to have it set up consistently for me at address.

 

[TRyan]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but does the Callaway Dual Cog have a setting to open the face up just a little bit? I love my Amp Cell but even on the “Neutral" setting the face still sits closed a bit. Having the face just a tiny bit open would be a game changer for me instead of having to manipulate it manually just for the sake of being able to have it set up consistently for me at address.

Not a dumb question at all man. The dual cog has settings for draw and neutral, but nothing for open. I think in the neutral setting the BB sits very square at address.