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Callaway Big Bertha Driver Review

SuperStroke
Adam Hartzell said:
Going to pick up my Bertha today. I'm giving up on the Jetspeed. On the Trackman the Jetspeed is longer by just a few yards, but if you keep the results from the bad swings in there, the Big Bertha is the better driver. The bad swings with the BB don't punish me like the bad swings with the JS. The Fubuki shaft with the 9° head set at D, +1, and with the weight slid about half way to draw is just beautiful. When I don't cup my wrists and hit it square, I'm seeing a beautiful piercing but high fade that carries 210-215 yards and rolls out to about 225-235 almost every time. I may have to add the 3w while I'm there too.
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Congrats Adam! Hope it works out for you and I see it first hand.
 
tpluff said:
Congrats Adam! Hope it works out for you and I see it first hand.
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You'll get to see first hand on 4/12 as you bomb your hybrid past my drives.
 
My wife ordered her Bertha yesterday. I have never seen her bit the ball like she was with this club. She ordered the 10.5 with the fubuki ladies shaft. She's pretty excited to say the least.
 
4/6 FIRs yesterday with BB in -1 Neutral and 0 APW. My two misses were hooks so I may move the APW to the fade side to help partially offset my occasional flip with the hands. I'll test it out on the range this week.
 
Pretty good Canes. You hit this very well when we played in Sarasota.
 
Adam Hartzell said:
Going to pick up my Bertha today. I'm giving up on the Jetspeed. On the Trackman the Jetspeed is longer by just a few yards, but if you keep the results from the bad swings in there, the Big Bertha is the better driver. The bad swings with the BB don't punish me like the bad swings with the JS. The Fubuki shaft with the 9° head set at D, +1, and with the weight slid about half way to draw is just beautiful. When I don't cup my wrists and hit it square, I'm seeing a beautiful piercing but high fade that carries 210-215 yards and rolls out to about 225-235 almost every time. I may have to add the 3w while I'm there too.
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Congrats and enjoy. I loved the BB I tried at the weekend but for me the x2 hot suited me even better. Prob because my swing speed is so slow.. Grrrr.. Think migrating barnacle...
 
Apologies if that has been discussed yet...but has anyone tried the Big Bertha with Aldila Blue shaft? Any feedback on performance, forgiveness and ball flight? Thanks
 
Thedoswells said:
Congrats and enjoy. I loved the BB I tried at the weekend but for me the x2 hot suited me even better. Prob because my swing speed is so slow.. Grrrr.. Think migrating barnacle...
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So funny thing happened. I'm hitting the X2Hot hybrid trying to decide on the 3 or 5 to pair with the 4h when the fitter says "Have you ever hit the X2Hot driver"? Never hit it before today. Never even thought to. Then BOOM! First swing 235 carry that rolled out to 265 according to the Trackman. Beautiful high draw too.

After a few more swings with the X2Hot driver we put the Tour Blue shaft in the Bertha. It was pure magic I tell ya. The sound. The feel. It was everything that I dreamt a driver could be. There was just one thing missing. The distance that the X2Hot was giving me. I'm thinking that was because I was getting a little tired though. So I'm going back tomorrow to hit the Bertha with the Tour Blue shaft again to see if I can get it to the distance that the X2Hot was giving me.

I'll be hitting the Tour Blue in the BB fairway tomorrow as well.
 
Fantastic... Please let us know how it works!
 
mikeg_74 said:
Have you been hitting the stock Fubuki?
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Yes. I really like it, but I thing the Tour Blue is better for my swing as it brought the launch and spin down from the stock Fubuki. The Fubuki launched at 17* and 3158 backspin. The Tour Blue was launching at 15.5* with 2480 backspin.
 
Adam Hartzell said:
Yes. I really like it, but I thing the Tour Blue is better for my swing as it brought the launch and spin down from the stock Fubuki. The Fubuki launched at 17* and 3158 backspin. The Tour Blue was launching at 15.5* with 2480 backspin.
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I used JB's monitor in Lake Charles and I was launching it between 15-17 degrees with spin in the high 2k & low 3k. With that my carry was good and I hit 3 of my personal best drives in Saturday. Interested his the tour blue works out for you. Might be my next tinker.
 
I hit the Bertha today after work quickly with the 'x' flex Fubuki ZT from the Alpha. Ball flight was a bit low for my liking but the numbers were definitely acceptable and the dispersion was the same as I see with my Bio Cell. I know some people don't think flex affects dispersion but it sure tightened up over the stock stiff which was much more inconsistent. Granted they are different shafts entirely. I still have been unable to locate the Bertha with the Fubuki Z in 'x' flex, but I think I'd really like it.
I found success with the weight towards the toe side 2 notches which I didn't think would make a big difference but it was noticeable.
 
Absolutely crushed mine today. I hit 10/12 fairways with this bad Bertha and I couldn't be happier (my misses were awful swings that just missed the fairway thanks to bad bounces). Playing it at 9* Neutral with weight 1 notch toward the heel and was playing a nice baby cut all day. When I really wanted to get into one, I could do just that with some bombs today. I need to get this on a monitor to get some numbers because it is showing all the right things right now.
 
I decided to go ahead and post my review from the THP Staff position contest.

In 1991 golf was forever changed when Callaway released the original Big Bertha Driver. Thirteen years later, they are taking the golf industry by storm with the release of the new Big Bertha and Big Bertha Alpha. These two drivers contain some incredible technologies, and this review will specifically focus on the standard Big Bertha Model.

Technological Features:

Adjustable Perimeter Weighting (APW): This is one of the incredible features of the new Big Bertha. This is an 8 gram weight positioned around the perimeter of the driver that can be adjusted towards both draw and fade settings to help shape shots. I have mine set on the draw side, and through a fitting at the Ely Callaway Performance Center I saw the difference in ball flights by adjusting this weight. This weight is beneficial to golfers because it can be tuned to help straighten out a ball flight or help a golfer to hit a draw or fade

Driver_perimeter_weighting.jpg


Advanced Adjustable Hosel: The Advanced Adjustable Hosel allows for golfers to change both loft and face angle to help dial in perfect launch conditions. It is adjustable a total of 3 degrees (+2 up and -1 down) and is able to be put in both draw and neutral settings to help with shot shape. I have mine set in the 10 degree position (+1 up) and a neutral face angle.

Aesthetics:

This is where this driver really shines. The midnight blue finish on the crown of this driver looks incredible. When the sun reflects off of the top of the driver it is one of the best looking drivers I have ever seen. The driver is also weighted very nicely. In hand the stock shaft (Fubuki Zeta 56S) feels firm, but not boardy. It lets you know that you can go after it, but at the same time it is fairly lightweight which allows for increased swing speeds.

callaway-bb-10.jpg



The best feature of this driver, however, is the sound. The sound can be described in one word, “addicting.” Every time I take this driver out to the course or the range I just want to hit it over and over again. The sound is solid, but not tingy at all. It really lets you know you hit one on the screws when you make solid contact.

Performance:

This driver was tested both on-course and on a Trackman Launch Monitor at the Ely Callaway Performance Center. Through my testing I have found the Bertha to be very forgiving on mishits, especially off of the toe. I think distance is as good or better than most drivers I have tested in 2013/2014, and I think Bertha does all of this in a very attractive package. This driver is going to fit a wide range of golfers with its 45.5 inch shaft that launches mid-high and is mid spin. Of course it is always important to be fit, but the stiff version held up to my 105 MPH swing speed. The trajectory I have seen out of this driver has been very dependent on loft. I saw between 9.5-13 degrees of launch depending on setup so it is very important to get the loft tuned to best fit you.

Parting Thoughts:

The Callaway Big Bertha Driver has the potential to be one of the best releases Callaway has had in a long time. The name draws nostalgic thoughts from golfers that remember the original Bertha, and this one is packed with a lot of forgiveness and distance in a great looking and sounding package. Big Bertha is back, and she is a whole lot meaner.
 
Very solid review Taylor. A lot of good info in there.
 
Fantastic review dude! Love the information and picture is just awesome.
 
Well done, very nice review!
 
Great review taylor
 
Good info and solid piece TH.
 
Great job Taylor ??⛳️


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Nice job Taylor! Gets me even more excited to get mine in 24 days!
 
Thanks guys! It really is a great golf club.
 
Great review. Really enjoyed it.
 
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