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Callaway Big Bertha Driver Review

SuperStroke
My Big Bertha finally arrived at quarter to 7 this evening, too late for the local range as they close at 6:30. I was not planning to play tomorrow as I have a 3 day tournament coming up on Thursday, Friday & Saturday but it looks like I will be hitting the range for a while in the morning to dial this lady in.
 
Got in 9 holes this evening with the BB. This is only my second nine hole round since #theking. I tried several different settings with the BB on the range: 11.5 degree, 10.5 degree, 9.5 degree. I've got a really big draw working most of the time with the girl so I'd like to work that out. The 9.5 degree setting produced the least draw but it was such a low trajectory that I was losing carry distance. I settled on 10.5 degree, neutral setting, with the perimeter weighting set on "2" towards fade. I really wish this driver had adjustability to set the face open instead of just the neutral or draw setting. Maybe that will come in the next generation.

I hit 5 of 6 fairways with the BB on the 6 holes I played her on, so it is working out for me. One of those was a pop up though that only went about 200 yards. Distance seems similar to the SLDR. SLDR is quite a bit straighter for me right now though. I'll spend some more time with BB though and see if I can't get used to her.
 
A bit off topic but not really... I love the alignment aid on top of the BB.... It makes me wonder why there is no indication of one on the Alpha.

Tap tap taparoo
 
ShanksaloT said:
A bit off topic but not really... I love the alignment aid on top of the BB.... It makes me wonder why there is no indication of one on the Alpha.

Tap tap taparoo
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They told us it's because Pros don't like alignment aids. Alpha, x2hot pros and & deeps do not have them
 
jlukes said:
They told us it's because Pros don't like alignment aids. Alpha, x2hot pros and & deeps do not have them
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Ahh OK. Makes sense.

Tap tap taparoo
 
How do you think the BB works for slow swing speeds?
 
mikedean441 said:
Amazing and I'm proof of it
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Ditto that statement. I started using the SR1 balls a month or so ago, with my Amp Cell I was lucky to see 220 on a good day, with the BB yesterday I was between 220 - 243. I was swinging around 88 mph with my Amp Cell.
 
tucsondivots said:
How do you think the BB works for slow swing speeds?
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Like mike said amazing. Especially notice on slightly off center hits when you are still hitting you second shot from almost the same distance in. Us slow swingers need all the help we can get and it delivers!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
Hit a couple monster drives at the range tonight with the Bertha. Longest balls I've ever hit at my local range!
 
Excited that in a couple of hours I will be at the range getting acquainted with my new BB. Anticipation is building.
 
Congrats. Your going to love it.
 
And it is now in the bag. Ended up setting it to +2 D and moving the slider weight over 1 mark to the fade side. Perfect. I hit it slightly farther than the X-Hot, maybe 5-7 yards, but mainly I hit it straighter than the X-Hot and that was really a surprise as I hit a high percentage of fairways already. It will be in the bag this weekend at the tournament in Tuscaloosa. #BigBerthaLove
 
DawgDaddy said:
And it is now in the bag. Ended up setting it to +2 D and moving the slider weight over 1 mark to the fade side. Perfect. I hit it slightly farther than the X-Hot, maybe 5-7 yards, but mainly I hit it straighter than the X-Hot and that was really a surprise as I hit a high percentage of fairways already. It will be in the bag this weekend at the tournament in Tuscaloosa. #BigBerthaLove
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Shoot, you were already a straight hitter. Sounds like you've got a real winner on your hands!
 
I wasn't going to swing anything before my fitting because I just wanted to go in completely open minded. Well I was at Golfsmith yesterday and couldn't help myself. The only demo Alpha they had was a 9* stiff shaft and I couldn't get it up in the air quite enough. I think a 10.5 for me would be pretty awesome. I hit 6 balls that all would have found the fairway which is pretty shocking for me (drivers are my kryptonite). I took some swings with the regular Bertha and was very impressed with that club as well. I think I may have had a little more confidence looking down at the regular Bertha. I know missing a ton of fairways with driver is mostly a swing issue but I really think one of these drivers is going to give me some more consistency. I guess I'll see what Saturday brings me and from there.
 
Ordered my 9° BB today!
 
Took the BB out late yesterday for 18 holes. I really like this club. Hit 73% of my fairways and the ones that missed were just in the second cut.
 
DawgDaddy said:
And it is now in the bag. Ended up setting it to +2 D and moving the slider weight over 1 mark to the fade side. Perfect. I hit it slightly farther than the X-Hot, maybe 5-7 yards, but mainly I hit it straighter than the X-Hot and that was really a surprise as I hit a high percentage of fairways already. It will be in the bag this weekend at the tournament in Tuscaloosa. #BigBerthaLove
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I never saw great distance with the XH, but it was really straight. Bertha is long AND straight. I know you'll love this one DD.
 
I thoroughly enjoyed the feedback from my moderate (Hi 80s to lo 90s) swing speed brethren here. I think I'm going to get the BB Driver and maybe a fairway (I love the shallow face for off the deck shots).
My question for my moderate SS friends is what flex are you playing in the BB? I tend to get regular flex in everything, but a local shop taped up a stiff flex to demo since it was all they had in stock. For some reason, it turns out it wasn't the regular stiff flex 50 ZT shaft but it was the 60ZT shaft for the Alpha. I hit it pretty well (maybe even better than a couple of demo day sessions at R fleet +1, draw biased weight setting( with no control issues, but the ball flight was a little lower than I wanted. However, I felt like I could go after it a little harder without losing it right or left. It was a 10.5* at +2 N with neutral slide weighting. So, now I'm wondering if a stiff flex in the normal BB shaft might work best. I'll try both flexes again before buying, but any thoughts and feedback would be appreciated.
 
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Miller Time said:
I never saw great distance with the XH, but it was really straight. Bertha is long AND straight. I know you'll love this one DD.
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Just finished a round over here in Alabama, only missed 1 FW. Not seeing much increase in distance. I had never played this course and the wind was pretty bad at times so I did not really try to get after it.
 
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Illinimick said:
I thoroughly enjoyed the feedback from my moderate (Hi 80s to lo 90s) swing speed brethren here. I think I'm going to get the BB Driver and maybe a fairway (I love the shallow face for off the deck shots).
My question for my moderate SS friends is what flex are you playing in the BB? I tend to get regular flex in everything, but a local shop taped up a stiff flex to demo since it was all they had in stock. For some reason, it turns out it wasn't the regular stiff flex 50 ZT shaft but it was the 60ZT shaft for the Alpha. I hit it pretty well (maybe even better than a couple of demo day sessions at R fleet +1, draw biased weight setting( with no control issues, but the ball flight was a little lower than I wanted. However, I felt like I could go after it a little harder without losing it right or left. It was a 10.5* at +2 N with neutral slide weighting. So, now I'm wondering if a stiff flex in the normal BB shaft might work best. I'll try both flexes again before buying, but any thoughts and feedback would be appreciated.
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My driver swing speed is right about 90 and I'm gaming the Aldila Tour Blue R flex in mine. It's a 9* head set at +1 D. Love it!!
 
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