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Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 816 Fairway Wood - THP Preview Thead

SuperStroke
ASN21 said:
Doc Hock mentioned that they wanted to create a bigger sized head over the previous iteration to help improve stability. "Standard fairway and easy to hit size". Also their most forgiving FW in their lineup. I am barely hitting my 3 wood in a round, otherwise I'd definitely check this one out.
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It's plenty forgiving with the weight in the back. I'm having a little bit of hard time believing its going to be more forgiving than the GBB fairway. But hell they have done more testing on these things with robots and the most sophisticated monitors out there.
 
Hit this last night for about 5 swings. Ball jumps off the face. I want to spend more time with this and see if I can get my swing back to being able to hit consistent woods off the deck. Was impressed with the launch and flight
 
I spent a good chunk of time at the range last night with this beauty. I hit it side by side with my Big Bertha '14 3 wood. Was hoping to see some differences to the naked eye as well as see some ball speed numbers across the face. Ball Speed retention, it's something we've been hearing about quite a bit in the last couple of years. Started with drivers, moved down the line and now gets talked about in irons. It's a good thing to look at when looking in on whether a club has part of the forgiveness factor.

On my efficient swings last night I was seeing ball speed in in the 134 mark. Horizontal misses lost some ball speed, as would be expected. That being said they were still up in the same ballpark, the lowest and worst reading at 129, most settling in around 131. I think that's pretty darn good for something of this size. I have numbers written down of speeds from both heavy weight front and back.

Comparing to the '14 Bertha 3 wood, set up exactly the same loft. Every hit seemed to be a touch faster. One area I thought the 816 held better retention was shots in on the heel. Again we aren't talking a huge night and day difference here, but still an improvement.

Here are a few other things that stood out to me last night hitting them side by side in their stock setups with same loft.

- I hit the '14 Betha higher more consistently. I had trouble telling much of a difference between if I had the weights front or back with the 816, but never setup flew as high as the '14 model.
- Sound, touched on it a bit. Much more muted sound compared to the '14. I'm a bigger fan of the 816 in terms of sound.
- When it comes to club feedback, I could tell more when I missed and where I missed on the 816. If this club is aimed at the more advanced player, they will certainly like that.
 
Thanks Dean for the update. Are you using the stock Fubuki in the 14 BB? C
 
mikeg_74 said:
Thanks Dean for the update. Are you using the stock Fubuki in the 14 BB? C
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I am. Both were stock setups. Shaft difference could help explain the launch, but it was pretty clear as to which one got up in the air higher.
 
Dean, I'm really enjoying the thoughts.

I want to hit it, but at the same time I'm a mini driver guy right now and I just don't see that changing.

But damn I love what I'm hearing.
 
Jman said:
Dean, I'm really enjoying the thoughts.

I want to hit it, but at the same time I'm a mini driver guy right now and I just don't see that changing.

But damn I love what I'm hearing.
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Thanks buddy. Still new to this stuff haha

It's not as easy to hit off the deck as the heavenwood, but heck what is. While I have never been a huge adjustable 3 wood guy, I like that if one wanted to use this as a tee club, you can easily make a few changes, throw the weight forward and loft down to 14 and boom there you go. It's got all sorts of bells and whistles that you can certainly get it set up however you would want it. Last night for me I worked on changing settings and looking what would work best and I settled at weight back, 15, draw setting. Course time tonight, will see how that setting works.
 
Shot of the night so far. 220 out with this bad boy.

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How much of that was carry? That is a long one.
 
JB said:
How much of that was carry? That is a long one.
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Pitch mark about 10 feet on green. Say 210 carry.
 
Any time I can get to a hole from 220 I'm happy. Heavenwood is a 200 stick.
 
That's pretty good there Dean no matter the club. Good to see the distances are there for you
 
Thanks to the updates by our wonderful ddec, he has inspired me to take the leap for a 16*. And if I might say, man I am excited to give this a run!
 
tpluff said:
Thanks to the updates by our wonderful ddec, he has inspired me to take the leap for a 16*. And if I might say, man I am excited to give this a run!
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you still thinking Tour Green combo?
 
ddec said:
you still thinking Tour Green combo?
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Yes. I'll probably buy stock configuration with the rogue. I already have a Tour Green with adaptor to keep that option alive too though.
 
Nice review and a interesting club, I did not catch any comparison with the 815 3 wood. They appear to be quite similar in weight setup at least to the eye.

Edit, went back and reread the thread and saw some talk of the 815.
 
jim54 said:
Nice review and a interesting club, I did not catch any comparison the 815 3 wood. They appear to be quite similar in weight setup at least to the eye.
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Unfortunately I do not have an 815 3 wood to directly compare.
 
I do like the 815, but it is club that is not awful forgiving IMO. Perhaps there is a bit more in the 816 by design, I will be giving it a hard look in a couple of weeks when I do the Driver fitting.
 
That ball speed retention is really good Ddec, as is the playability you're seeing out of it. Hm...
 
I want one of these badly.
 



Looks so good


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
ddec said:
It's plenty forgiving with the weight in the back. I'm having a little bit of hard time believing its going to be more forgiving than the GBB fairway. But hell they have done more testing on these things with robots and the most sophisticated monitors out there.
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I read from a Callaway post that the 816 has the highest MOI and that heel to toe it is very forgiving, but not as forgiving as GBB on vertical misses.
 
ddec said:
You know where else you could have read about the MOI...

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/big-bertha-alpha-816-fairway-wood/

Hehe
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Hi - I made a comment in the fine review you wrote.

I thought the GBB being more forgiving on vertical misses was good info -- because when I miss with a fairway, it's usually that miss.

I am no tour pro; I understand that the 816 is for the better player; I hit fairways well, especially 4 and 5 woods, but I need launch, and some vertical forgiveness, and unlike most of you, I am older but with only 97 or so driver SS, but growing a decent swing. The GBB fairway just seems the safer bet.
 
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