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Callaway Bertha Mini 1.5 - THP Review Thread

SuperStroke
Joined BigTex out on the range yesterday to spend some time with the Bertha Mini before he returned the demo. He had the 14 degree with the kuro kage in it set to standard.

Went back and forth on this club through out the time. Sound wasn't an issue with me. It did seem a little hollow feeling at times but nothing that took away from the strike. The ball flight, wow, it was high. Was not expecting it to be that high! I was teeing it down lower than I do with my current 3W. Had no issues hitting it off the deck because of that high flight.

Finally we took to the tee box and I hit 3 balls with my 3W and 3 balls with the Mini. I picked the one ball with each that I hit fairly well and in the same spot. The Mini was about 12 yards further which was not a surprise. We then went to another tee box and hit 1 3W well and then proceed to hit 3 Mini shots that I left out to the right with a cut/fade.

Conclusion (for me and my game): My current 3W is about 10-15 yards shorter on pure hits but my consistency is way better with my 3W. This would not be a replacement for my 3W. My driver is still way longer than the Mini which eliminates replacing the driver for me.

I do think this is the best mini driver of the bunch for forgiveness. I was impressed how spot on my shot shapes were with the club. But the ball flight was way too high for my liking and that's saying a lot....ask #cookie as he probably hits his driver higher than my sand wedge height. Ha! Maybe a different shaft would help but the kuro kage is in my current driver so who knows. I love the shape of the head and the look of it. I just don't have a spot in the bag for it sadly.
 
I will be testing this club out shortly, but would love more feedback on it.
Currently, the best club in my bag is my x2hot 4 wood in Reg flex. I get a consistent 210-220 with it. (15 degree 3 woods generally launch a tad low for me from the deck). I use it off the tee quite often when my driver is misbehaving which is pretty much every other round.
When analyzing the mini Bertha, i would be using it primarily off the tee as a driver replacement.
I am generally a low to mid ball hitter and my SS is in the mid to upper 90s.
Would any of you think the 14 degree KK at regular sound like a good plan?
I will test this out, but wanted your opinions since i am so excited about this little beast.


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I hit Cookie's on the range before our round today and I did enjoy it. Just no where in my bag for this right now.
I will say that this is a great setup for Cookie though. He is hitting it long and quite a bit straighter than he's been hitting the driver lately. Very impressed with his ball striking today with the mini.
 
afwcardinal said:
I hit Cookie's on the range before our round today and I did enjoy it. Just no where in my bag for this right now.
I will say that this is a great setup for Cookie though. He is hitting it long and quite a bit straighter than he's been hitting the driver lately. Very impressed with his ball striking today with the mini.
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Eddie you hit your 3w off the tee at times, this wouldn't give that club a run?
 
mikeg_74 said:
Eddie you hit your 3w off the tee at times, this wouldn't give that club a run?
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I hit 3w off the tee quite a lot, more than drive it seems. Just not sure if there is anything for me to gain with this. It might be more stable than my 3w, not enough swings to give any real thought on that. But if I want a little more length, I will just go driver.
 
I'm in love. Just in love.

I had 2 drop kicks today (1st and 18th) but managed to save par from both. Forgiveness is just stupid impressive - whether it's heeling, toeing, or low grooving it.

Well struck balls are just bombs for me with a mid launch that seems to penetrate for awhile before dropping and running out quite a bit. GPS'ed several balls today and was anywhere from 225 - 250 total with roll (yes, we are getting some good roll since everything has dried out for the most part). Had one on 16 into a breeze at 247 - closer to the green then I've ever been with driver or 3w.

I only have 13 clubs in the bag right now so driver will go back in but will rarely be used based on what I'm seeing now.

One last note: I'm at 11* in draw setting now. I had 227 to middle of green on the 18th yesterday and had a good lie in the FW. Decided to hit this off the deck and bottom grooved it but came up 4 yards short of green. Did it again at the range today. Not often that it'll be used off the deck but good to know I can in right situation.
 
Trevor68 said:
I will be testing this club out shortly, but would love more feedback on it.
Currently, the best club in my bag is my x2hot 4 wood in Reg flex. I get a consistent 210-220 with it. (15 degree 3 woods generally launch a tad low for me from the deck). I use it off the tee quite often when my driver is misbehaving which is pretty much every other round.
When analyzing the mini Bertha, i would be using it primarily off the tee as a driver replacement.
I am generally a low to mid ball hitter and my SS is in the mid to upper 90s.
Would any of you think the 14 degree KK at regular sound like a good plan?
I will test this out, but wanted your opinions since i am so excited about this little beast.


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My stats are pretty close to yours and I would let your ball flight decide if you can try both. But I am not sure you would see a big difference between a regular and stiff. I have only hit the stiff in the 14, and like the way the shaft performs. If I wanted a touch more launch angle I might consider a regular, but would likely be a toss up.
 
Trevor68 said:
I will be testing this club out shortly, but would love more feedback on it.
Currently, the best club in my bag is my x2hot 4 wood in Reg flex. I get a consistent 210-220 with it. (15 degree 3 woods generally launch a tad low for me from the deck). I use it off the tee quite often when my driver is misbehaving which is pretty much every other round.
When analyzing the mini Bertha, i would be using it primarily off the tee as a driver replacement.
I am generally a low to mid ball hitter and my SS is in the mid to upper 90s.
Would any of you think the 14 degree KK at regular sound like a good plan?
I will test this out, but wanted your opinions since i am so excited about this little beast.


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Click to expand...

What club shaft do you have in your x2hot 4 wood? (The default Aldila Tour Blue shaft?) Is that the club you are using in your analysis of having a low-mid flight?
The Aldila Tour Blue shaft (default in the standard x2hot model) is a mid ball flight shaft.
I think 14* is the right choice based on what you've said about your swing/other clubs. The KK shaft is going to be a lower ball flight shaft than the tour blue meaning a lower ball flight than what you are used to seeing with your 4 wood (which should have 17* loft on the head). The Speeder 565 would be a closer shaft profile to the Aldila Tour Blue. Having said all that you should still test it out with the KK to see what you think.
If you have access to different shafts when you test it out that would be ideal. (Even if they are full length driver shafts you have access to that would help you out. You could just grip down to the same length as a mini-shaft).
Like BigTex said a regular flex shaft will give you a little higher ball flight than a stiff shaft. If you can test out both stiff and regular, to see if one matches you better in ball launch angle and feel, you should. Sometimes one company's stiff shaft plays like another's regular, and vice versa. The Kuro Kage Silver Tini in stiff is pretty close in torgue to an Aldila Tour Blue in regular, so may give you similar feel. A Kuro Kage in regular should give a bit softer feel which could be good or bad depending on what you like from a feel perspective. If you can take your 4 wood along with you to compare.
Edit: One other thing, you can also custom order the mini with a Tour Blue shaft at no up-charge from Callaway, so you have that option too.
 
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Took my new 12* Mini 1.5 w/ KK X-flex to the range today. Spent a ton of time hitting it, and alternating with my DBD 9* w/ Rogue Silver 70TX for purposes of comparison and to get a sense of how complementary it might be to the DBD.
Absolutely loved the 1.5. Loved the feel, consistency, distance, flight, spin . . . everything. I could work it a bit, but it wants to go straight. Distance was consistently in the 270-275 range, perhaps a little longer (tough to gauge exact distance, but with a green and flag at 265, it's not hard to ballpark it. I was hitting my DBD right around 300. Dispersion with the 1.5 was vastly superior. The thing that surprised me the most about the 1.5 was how forgiving it is across the face. Given the much smaller face relative to the DBD (or any 430-460 driver), I didn't expect that at all.
If my first experience is any indication, I can easily see the 1.5 making it into the bag with the consistent results I was seeing. Heck, it's even planted a seed of doubt as to whether the extra 25 or whatever yards I get with the DBD is worth it, given the inferior dispersion. But of course, it'll take much more experimentation before I seriously consider something as radical as that. For now, I'm thinking the 1.5 probably goes into the bag alongside the DBD.
 
I bought mine today. The local Dicks called and said they got some in. Went with the 12 degree Reg flex with TiNi shaft. The store got in an entire 4 clubs two 12's one stiff and regular flex and the same for the 14's.
 
Callaway Bertha Mini 1.5 - THP Review Thread

Is the lengh of the shaft (including the tip but excluding the head) the exact same as the stock shaft in the 815 driver?


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Trevor68 said:
Is the lengh of the shaft (including the tip) the exact same as the stock shaft in the 815 driver?


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Nope, its about an inch shorter.
 
Trevor68 said:
Is the lengh of the shaft (including the tip) the exact same as the stock shaft in the 815 driver?


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I just want to be sure what you are asking. You're wondering if the driver shaft in the 815 driver would work for this club as well? It's a good question, as I have two driver shafts for my 815 driver, and would be curious to see how either worked with this.
 
Yes, i was wondering if i took out the stock shaft in the 815 driver and put it in the mini bertha, would it be the same lengh.


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TexasHacker34 said:
No its 1.5" shorter.
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1", just measured, and remember, the Mini sits more shallow than the 815 in terms of height from ground to hosel, so though it plays 1.5" shorter, the shaft is only 1" shorter.

Trevor68 said:
Yes, i was wondering if i took out the stock shaft in the 815 driver and put it in the mini bertha, would it be the same lengh.


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Nope, it would play 45" with a stock shaft from an 815 (assuming you play that shaft at the standard 45.5" in the driver)
 
Yep my bad James. I was thinking playing length
 
I had the pleasure of previewing this club for Callaway about a month ago. My impression was that it really is more of a driver than a fairway wood, so calling it a 1.5 Mini driver is a fair name for it. I loved the size and appearance of the club, felt more like my old Warbird from the 90's. Feel wise I really like the feel of the stainless over titanium. I tested the 14° with the stiff shaft. 1st trip to the range I wasn't a fan. 2nd trip faired much better. 3rd trip I started to really like it. Finally I got it out on the course. It performed very well for me off the tee. I felt like the shaft was a bit too long for playing comfortably off the deck. As a result I consider it a driver replacement for people struggling with the driver. Better players might be able to play it off the deck.
 
YetiLooper said:
I had the pleasure of previewing this club for Callaway about a month ago. My impression was that it really is more of a driver than a fairway wood, so calling it a 1.5 Mini driver is a fair name for it. I loved the size and appearance of the club, felt more like my old Warbird from the 90's. Feel wise I really like the feel of the stainless over titanium. I tested the 14° with the stiff shaft. 1st trip to the range I wasn't a fan. 2nd trip faired much better. 3rd trip I started to really like it. Finally I got it out on the course. It performed very well for me off the tee. I felt like the shaft was a bit too long for playing comfortably off the deck. As a result I consider it a driver replacement for people struggling with the driver. Better players might be able to play it off the deck.
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What did you initially dislike about this club?


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It didn't seem to be very forgiving to me, the face just wasn't giving me that sweet feel that I was hoping for. Of course that can easily be attributed to it being a 1st run with it, the other times out, I was able to find more of a groove. I also found that it was better with the ball teed lower like a fairway wood even though it had a deep face. I had been teeing it up about mid height.
 
YetiLooper said:
It didn't seem to be very forgiving to me, the face just wasn't giving me that sweet feel that I was hoping for. Of course that can easily be attributed to it being a 1st run with it, the other times out, I was able to find more of a groove. I also found that it was better with the ball teed lower like a fairway wood even though it had a deep face.
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Would you say the mini bertha is less forgiving than your current fairway?


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The SLDR Mini Driver is more forgiving to me. The shaft is a bit shorter and I am able to hit it off the deck pretty well. I also feel like I get longer carry and more accuracy. The Callaway played a bit longer. The Bertha Mini feels like a Mini Driver while the SLDR feels like an oversized fairway wood... If that makes sense.
 
Which really is interesting since the mini SLDR is bigger in terms of cc.
 
Jman said:
Which really is interesting since the mini SLDR is bigger in terms of cc.
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Jman,
I find the x2hot fairway woods (which have the internal standing wave like the mini Bertha) to be some of the most forgiving drivers i ever tried. Do you find the mini bertha to be any leas forgiving than the standard x2hot fairways?


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Jman said:
Which really is interesting since the mini SLDR is bigger in terms of cc.
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I'm going more by feel of the club and playability. To me the real difference was the shaft length, even though it was only 1/2". I know they rate as the same swing weight, but the Taylor Made feels a little head heavier than the Callaway did. That may be why it feels more comfortable off the deck for me.
 
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