Callaway Great Big Bertha Driver Preview Thread

[TheHeez]

Got to finally hit this on my range today. It was really quite impressive, slightly different sound from my 815 and it looked like it was flying a few yards further with the same setup. One thing I agree with many of the posters is that mishits seem less penal, in yardage and especially offline. I was really surprised how much the sliding weight does alter the flight. I started slightly towards draw and was over turning it to the left, slid it all the way over to fade and started hitting a fade, moved it about two weight widths from full fade and the ball just started launching straight. Tried it with the stock Kuro Kage, the 565 Speeder and the 64g PX LZ 6.0 and hit it well with each, definitely preferred the PX but my guess is that the Speeder went further. Would love to try all these options on a monitor, with the multitude of available shaft...bravo Callaway.

 

[JB]

Today on FlightScope.
151 ball speed
14.7 launch angle
2784 spin
Carry 249.8

For me that is just flat out awesome!

 

[mikedean441]

Pound town

 

[bodog]

I'm gonna end up hitting this beast yet, I'll have to see if the wife wants to make a 1 hour trip to Golfsmith or Dick's this weekend. If she hits this thing like I think she will, we'll probably be ordering 2 of them. Can't wait 'till they start showing up on CPO.

 

[JB]

Looking forward to your feedback bodog.

 

[mikeg_74]

Another range session and I'm hitting this driver better than any other driver. I though the BBA815 was hard to beat, but somehow Callaway did.

I had a quick lesson to get my setup back on track and get another set of eyes to help me straighten out some issues. That along with figuring out the proper tee height on my last range session & Man what a difference that made. I have the APW set to +1 on the draw side & the 9* head is set up +2| N. I was hitting balls with a straight ball flight and the occasional fade.

Two thing stand out to me. The sound at impact is hard to describe. I would describe as a muted thwack at impact. The feel at impact is the other. Center of the face strokes provide a feed back that is addicting and I just want to hit balls on the range all day.

These are the results from today's range session. As I understand it on the SC-100 that is carry distance:

 

[bodog]

Another range session and I'm hitting this driver better than any other driver. I though the BBA815 was hard to beat, but somehow Callaway did.

I had a quick lesson to get my setup back on track and get another set of eyes to help me straighten out some issues. That along with figuring out the proper tee height on my last range session & Man what a difference that made. I have the APW set to +1 on the draw side & the 9* head is set up +2| N. I was hitting balls with a straight ball flight and the occasional fade.

Two thing stand out to me. The sound at impact is hard to describe. I would describe as a muted thwack at impact. The feel at impact is the other. Center of the face strokes provide a feed back that is addicting and I just want to hit balls on the range all day.

These are the results from today's range session. As I understand it on the SC-100 that is carry distance:

I just need to tell some of you guys...you have some pretty cool ****

 

[PhillyV]

Today on FlightScope.
151 ball speed
14.7 launch angle
2784 spin
Carry 249.8

For me that is just flat out awesome!

Ball speed would say the swing speed is hovering around 100 mph? And if so, 250 carry is so awesome. God I love this club

 

[bogeyme]

I loved this club last week when I played and used it. I can definitely see me adding this to my bag. I don't know my numbers, but I liked my results.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

[Nebgolfer]

Another range session and I'm hitting this driver better than any other driver. I though the BBA815 was hard to beat, but somehow Callaway did.

I had a quick lesson to get my setup back on track and get another set of eyes to help me straighten out some issues. That along with figuring out the proper tee height on my last range session & Man what a difference that made. I have the APW set to +1 on the draw side & the 9* head is set up +2| N. I was hitting balls with a straight ball flight and the occasional fade.

Two thing stand out to me. The sound at impact is hard to describe. I would describe as a muted thwack at impact. The feel at impact is the other. Center of the face strokes provide a feed back that is addicting and I just want to hit balls on the range all day.

These are the results from today's range session. As I understand it on the SC-100 that is carry distance:

238 with about a 1.4 smash factor, get that to 1.5 and you'll be playing a whole different game than you're used to. That's so awesome.

 

[jhoefer99]

Today on FlightScope.
151 ball speed
14.7 launch angle
2784 spin
Carry 249.8

For me that is just flat out awesome!

that's really solid. I'm sure you said it but which shaft are you using now?

 

[Jman]

that's really solid. I'm sure you said it but which shaft are you using now?

He's still rocking the Grandura, its a hell of a shaft setup in this head.

 

[jhoefer99]

He's still rocking the Grandura, its a hell of a shaft setup in this head.

ah, thanks bud! Wish I would have had this baby in Orlando, those were great driving courses. I'll have to go back

 

[jim54]

ah, thanks bud! Wish I would have had this baby in Orlando, those were great driving courses. I'll have to go back

When I get back next week I will check on you, maybe we can get Jitzy and another THPer to try the Palm again. I will have the GBB in hand also.

 

[jhoefer99]

When I get back next week I will check on you, maybe we can get Jitzy and another THPer to try the Palm again. I will have the GBB in hand also.

dueling berthas at the palm?? Sounds not terrible at all! My wife and girls will be gone on the 27th for 2 weeks so I'm much more flexible then

 

[jitzy]

I would like to give this driver a few smacks.

 

[jitzy]

dueling berthas at the palm?? Sounds not terrible at all! My wife and girls will be gone on the 27th for 2 weeks so I'm much more flexible then

Make that triple threat match. I'm so weak when it comes to new clubs.

 

[bodog]

Looking forward to your feedback bodog.

Ok, Mrs. Bodog and I made a trip to the big city (Indianapolis) to demo some drivers at Golfsmith.

Mrs. Bodog demo'd a Ping G30, an Areoburner, a GBB and used her old Biggest Big Bertha in 10* for a baseline. She hit several shots with her gamer and averaged 158 total distance with her normal fade.
With the Ping and the Areoburner...I don't recall which was which, but she averaged 162 with one of them and 165 with the other (believe it was the Areoburner) both with her normal fade.
She then was handed the GBB 13.5* all normal or neutral settings: over the next 10 shots she averaged 176 yards and what was incredible to me, she hit them with a tight draw...shocking! I thought I would have to buy it right then and there

She will have a GBB in the very near future, of that there is no doubt, but since our golf season is rapidly coming to an end, we decided there was no hurry. She and the Bassara shaft really agree with each other.

Now for me:fortunately Mrs. Bodog wrote down the critical numbers for me because I screwed up the screenshot. I was hoping I could still hit 90mph or so since the last time I was checked was 20 years ago at 103+.
I hit my old gamer Titleist 975f-le, demo'd the M1 (very briefly), and the GBB.

Explanation here on the M1...I don't believe I generate enough club head speed to make this club work, even if I would have moved the weight all the way back. In five shots it never felt right, and never got past my gamer distances even though it was the only club I reached 96mph with. I was honestly disappointed but I wanted to test with everything nuetral. I SHOULD NOTE HERE THAT I HIT THIS CLUB DEAD ASS STRAIGHT!

My 975f-le is 9.5* ultralight 60 S-flex: Avg. clubhead speed today was 89.6, avg. carry was 210.28, avg. total distance 231., avg. spin 2977, avg. launch angle 12.9 with a ball speed of 130,5. Off line avg. -12.5

Now for the GBB. I tried the Speeder 665 II in Regular first and I didn't get the numbers for this one, but I thought it felt good and it was on avg. 4 yards longer than my gamer.

Switched to the Kuro Kage tini 50 stiff, and it felt instantly like a better fit for me than the Speeder.

GBB 10.5 with the Kuro Kage: Avg. club head speed was 92.4, avg. carry was 217.52, avg. total distance was 243, avg. spin was 2306, AVG. LAUNCH ANGLE 12.6, ball speed 134.4. Off line avg was a -30.7, but I didn't see anything I couldn't correct easily, since they weren't of the snap hook variety. Not to mention the built in adjustments that we never moved.

All in all, my take from today: I have what I would guess to be fairly average club speed. I'm a pretty consistent low launch low spin kinda guy who this technology would seem to be able to help with a few turns of a wrench.

If it wasn't toward the very end of our golf season I would have probably ordered two GBB's today, this is a very fun club to hit, and there is NO DOUBT we could easily dial in better numbers.

It would be fun to get on one of these monitors and try different golf balls.

Sorry for screwing up the screenshot and making those of you who didn't lose interest read all of this, but thanks to those of you who did!

 

[JB]

Great feedback. And if you raised the loft by a degree or so, you might increase those numbers even more without seeing a huge spin increase. Great stuff.

 

[jitzy]

Great write up Bodog. I'm looking forward to getting this in my hands now even more after your write up.

 

[McLovin]

i had a fitting at the annika academy at reunion resort today. although i was more interested in the fairway wood, drivers are fun so we hit this as well. take these numbers with a bit of a grain of salt and let me preserve my ego by saying that 1) i HATE hitting indoors, 2) they left the bay door down and the net is uncomfortably close, 3) the tee in the mat was a fixed height and lower than i like, and 4) my dad bod was giving out on me and i was getting tired.

results from my gamer, cobra fly-z 10.5 w/ gd ad-mj6s. numbers are close to what i expect, maybe a bit slower chs than i'm used to but again i was getting pooped out.
chs 96.0mph
bs 144.9mph
launch 12.1*
back spin 1,262rpm
side spin -313rpm
carry 230y
total 268y
efficiency 101%

gbb with gd ad-bb6s:
chs 97.4mph
bs 144.9mph
launch 11.8*
back spin 1,252rpm
side spin -328rpm
carry 225y
total 265y
efficiency 99%

we took the gbb out to the grass with the ad-bb as well as a fuji speeder evo ii 665 ts s flex and a kiyoshi gold 65 04. the gold sucked. the bb was extremely consistent, but not spinny enough. the best hits with the speeder were really good, spun more and launched better, but dispersion was worse. the club set up really well behind the ball. feel was a little dead, but nothing i couldn't get used to. i won't say i'm in total ponder mode, but it was definitely a good club.

 

[JB]

Im guessing during the fitting they were trying to get the ball up a bit at launch? 1200 RPMs of spin and a launch around 12 with our no carry fairways would most likely rob you of distance, no?

 

[McLovin]

Im guessing during the fitting they were trying to get the ball up a bit at launch? 1200 RPMs of spin and a launch around 12 with our no carry fairways would most likely rob you of distance, no?

he never tuned the driver up that i'm aware of. he left it at 10.5, weight at neutral, cog n/s (whatever that means). he was more focused on trying to get something that would kick hard and impart spin. and yes, it ABSOLUTELY robs me of distance. he said he'd kill for that spin, but he swings harder and launches higher. i just don't generate enough chs or benefit. and i also don't know whether my numbers outdoors were similar. i hit some really nice drives outside, whereas indoors everything felt like cacapoopoo.

 

[JB]

My gut says just tuning it up a degree or two and you are all of the sudden close to exactly where you want to be.

 

[BigTex]

My gut says just tuning it up a degree or two and you are all of the sudden close to exactly where you want to be.

Since he already has draw spin, do you think it would be better to go to 13.5* head? Maybe go down in loft from there instead of up. When you start increasing loft part of the side affect is also closing the face.