Callaway Releases Big Bertha B21 Driver

I have run out of superlatives to describe how well this driver works for me. According to Shot Scope, my performance average distance is 294 yards. Today, I hit driver 12 times. I hit 8 fairways and four of my drives were over 300 yards. My longest was 335 yards. There was no wind. this was not down hill. It was just a freaking long drive for me into a place on this particular fairway that I have never reached before, not even when I was in my 30’s and had much more club speed. This was a par 5, where I had a 7 iron into the green, a good look at eagle and birdied the hole.

This very well may be the best piece of equipment that I have ever had in my bag in terms of really changing how I score. Once I put a very tip stiff shaft in it, it is just an absolute monster, but yet I am hitting a ton of fairways. Wow, I wish we were not at the end of the season. I don’t want to lose this magic.

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Do you generally play a fade off the tee? I was out last night playing a few holes and thinking about this driver. I was thinking for a high fade low handicap golfer this driver is probably a dream, but many low handicap golfers may not ever pick it up.
 
Do you generally play a fade off the tee? I was out last night playing a few holes and thinking about this driver. I was thinking for a high fade low handicap golfer this driver is probably a dream, but many low handicap golfers may not ever pick it up.
My predominant ball flight with driver is actually pretty straight, leaning to a slight draw when I am striking it really well, which would definitely not be the player one would think would fit into this profile. As mentioned in some other posts, though, somehow it has allowed me to either draw it or hit a small fade without being worried of a flare to the right.

I think your idea would be dead on, though. A player with a small fade likely hits this very straight, without a two way miss coming into play.
 
Just for grins I quickly demo'd a B21 driver when I was over at my favorite LGS picking up a couple boxes of balls, yesterday. Was a waste of time, other than getting to hit a small bucket for free, as I was well out of my groove and not swinging/hitting well at all. The times I did fire correctly, though, it didn't seem to do anything for me my X2 Hot doesn't.

I'm going over there this morning to hit a bucket. If I've my groove on, maybe I'll ask to demo it again.

I wish somebody with whom I golf had one of these. The time to test it is when I'm clicking, and, right now, that's somewhat highly variable
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This, btw, speaks directly to @TCB2010's point: I'm not going to go out spending $100's or $1000's on equipment expecting it'll magically fix my swing flaws. Yes, there are clubs I bought because: 1. The club I had I just knew was not working for me and, 2. I demo'd replacements in which I had what I felt to be reasonable confidence would work well for me. So far, in three-and-one-half-out-of-four such purchases, I got it right. (The one half is doubt about whether the 58° CBX is going to work for me out of bunkers. Same problem there as with the B21, yesterday, really. Then again: We're talking $60 as opposed to $500+.)
Your point is well taken, but true of many purchases, not just the B21. People are very smart to demo something and be confident it improves upon what they are playing. Otherwise, there certainly will be some wasted purchases. I would have never purchased this particular club without hitting it on a launch monitor.
 
Definitely looking forward to trying this, I don't hit many slices and my fade is very minimal. For me trying this driver is about spin reduction. I did that this weekend with a different ball with the Max, so should be a good experiment.
 
My predominant ball flight with driver is actually pretty straight, leaning to a slight draw when I am striking it really well, which would definitely not be the player one would think would fit into this profile. As mentioned in some other posts, though, somehow it has allowed me to either draw it or hit a small fade without being worried of a flare to the right.

I think your idea would be dead on, though. A player with a small fade likely hits this very straight, without a two way miss coming into play.
Yeah, when a good swing is put on the ball this one just moves very little at all. It also doesn't move much out on the toe (high with slight draw for me). The low misses are the only ones that really want to spin much left and right for me.
 
but the target player is a mid to high index who struggles with a left to right (slice)
To be fair, that’s literally who they designed this one for, the hardcore slicers, they even said so from the outset.

That said, is it playable for more than that segment? Of course it is.
 
To be fair, that’s literally who they designed this one for, the hardcore slicers, they even said so from the outset.

That said, is it playable for more than that segment? Of course it is.
If you are looking at a driver to fix your slice you are looking in the wrong place. You need to spend some money on lessons that correct your over-the-top outside in open face swings. It may be an excellent driver but people look for Band-Aids to fix their golf game. A slice is a very simple thing to fix with the right instruction, it just takes the proper effort. I used to be a slicer, probably like most golfers, but if you want to hit a ball straight it just takes a little swing correction. There is no Club on planet Earth that will stop somebody from slicing. Driver manufacturers make a living on this fallacy. that being said, I would like to demo the B21 and see what it offers.
 
If you are looking at a driver to fix your slice you are looking in the wrong place. You need to spend some money on lessons that correct your over-the-top outside in open face swings. It may be an excellent driver but people look for Band-Aids to fix their golf game. A slice is a very simple thing to fix with the right instruction, it just takes the proper effort. I used to be a slicer, probably like most golfers, but if you want to hit a ball straight it just takes a little swing correction. There is no Club on planet Earth that will stop somebody from slicing. Driver manufacturers make a living on this fallacy. that being said, I would like to demo the B21 and see what it offers.
I urge you to read the article in the first post if you haven’t already.

This design wasn’t created to eliminate a slice, it was specifically designed to help mitigate the spin created by golfers who are over the top and/or across the ball. Thus, ball more in play and more distance retained. They brought in a huge segment of golfers to record data prior to creating this one and saw the numbers that these golfers create and sought to help that.

It’s easy to sit back and say that people should go get lessons, the reality is most don’t have the time or money to do that and just want to find a way to enjoy the game more, this design is SPECIFICALLY an answer to that by creating a draw bias driver with a forward center of gravity that doesn't give up forgiveness because of what flash face can do.

There has NEVER been a design like this, and seeking to make the game more enjoyable for golfers is not living on a fallacy.
 
I urge you to read the article in the first post if you haven’t already.

This design wasn’t created to eliminate a slice, it was specifically designed to help mitigate the spin created by golfers who are over the top and/or across the ball. Thus, ball more in play and more distance retained. They brought in a huge segment of golfers to record data prior to creating this one and saw the numbers that these golfers create and sought to help that.

It’s easy to sit back and say that people should go get lessons, the reality is most don’t have the time or money to do that and just want to find a way to enjoy the game more, this design is SPECIFICALLY an answer to that by creating a draw bias driver with a forward center of gravity that doesn't give up forgiveness because of what flash face can do.

There has NEVER been a design like this, and seeking to make the game more enjoyable for golfers is not living on a fallacy.
I'll go one further. It is easy to say it is easy to fix a slice. It is not an easy fix. The vast majority of people play a fade/slice and cannot fix it ever.
 
I'll go one further. It is easy to say it is easy to fix a slice. It is not an easy fix. The vast majority of people play a fade/slice and cannot fix it ever.
And one more step down this road, good luck in some places ( like near me) finding a instructor giving lessons with all the crap shutdowns. I had lessons planned for this season to work on my driver swing and they went down the drain. I'll be starting next season with my crappy swing and a B21 in the bag!😎
 
I'll go one further. It is easy to say it is easy to fix a slice. It is not an easy fix. The vast majority of people play a fade/slice and cannot fix it ever.
as said, most amateurs have a fade/slice bias with a driver and many go to teachers in the hope of fixing what is their natural swing. Often they find some success at those lessons, but rarely can they keep the improvement up once they go back to playing without a teacher watching and advising. Had a few friends with terrible slice issues and they finally worked out that aiming further left (a natural move to fix the problem) was really not helping at all - made it worse! Some improved fundamentals, a shorter driver and one like the new Callaway BB21 (less spin) have all helped deal with their over-the-top slice swings. The game is a lot more fun when you can find your ball on shorter grass after the tee shot.
 
If you are looking at a driver to fix your slice you are looking in the wrong place. You need to spend some money on lessons that correct your over-the-top outside in open face swings. It may be an excellent driver but people look for Band-Aids to fix their golf game. A slice is a very simple thing to fix with the right instruction, it just takes the proper effort. I used to be a slicer, probably like most golfers, but if you want to hit a ball straight it just takes a little swing correction. There is no Club on planet Earth that will stop somebody from slicing. Driver manufacturers make a living on this fallacy. that being said, I would like to demo the B21 and see what it offers.
If you take this logic to the ultimate ending point, you would conclude that everyone should just play blades and a very low spin, low launch driver. Obviously, no club is going to completely fix a slice, but equipment clearly can mitigate to a certain degree the results of a bad swing path or club head direction at impact.
 
Definitely looking forward to trying this, I don't hit many slices and my fade is very minimal. For me trying this driver is about spin reduction. I did that this weekend with a different ball with the Max, so should be a good experiment.
I hope it unleashes something for you, but if it doesn't, don't send it away until we play together again. This guy needs to try it. :cool:
 
And one more step down this road, good luck in some places ( like near me) finding a instructor giving lessons with all the crap shutdowns. I had lessons planned for this season to work on my driver swing and they went down the drain. I'll be starting next season with my crappy swing and a B21 in the bag!😎
I'm not sure where you live, but it seems like every decent golf course has a teaching professional. I just took a lesson about 2 months ago without any issues. As far as the money aspect for lessons , that driver cost $500! By manipulating weighting and whatever else to hinder spin, I wonder if it loses distance for those who can normally hit a straight ball. I think it is a bit of a trade-off, distance for accuracy. Like I said in an earlier post, it is not that difficult to rid yourself of a slice, you just have to be willing to work at it a bit. Also, again, this club will probably be in the back of people's Mind by Midsummer next year for the new driver that is coming out. I wonder if you have heard, the new 2021 Big Bertha is supposed to add 25 yards to your distance while reducing side spin.
 
Thanks to Captain @McLovin I have a B21 driver inbound to test out. Should be here around Thursday and will be able to get on course Sunday. Looking forward to trying this one out.

I see she’s making her rounds haha.
 
I'm not sure where you live, but it seems like every decent golf course has a teaching professional. I just took a lesson about 2 months ago without any issues. As far as the money aspect for lessons , that driver cost $500! By manipulating weighting and whatever else to hinder spin, I wonder if it loses distance for those who can normally hit a straight ball. I think it is a bit of a trade-off, distance for accuracy. Like I said in an earlier post, it is not that difficult to rid yourself of a slice, you just have to be willing to work at it a bit. Also, again, this club will probably be in the back of people's Mind by Midsummer next year for the new driver that is coming out. I wonder if you have heard, the new 2021 Big Bertha is supposed to add 25 yards to your distance while reducing side spin.
I can definitely confirm that there is no distance loss for “those who can normally hit a straight ball.” My average drives with this driver are as long as anything I have ever hit. According to Shot Scope, my performance average with the B21 is 294 yards, which is crazy long for me. As I always mention, I play at about 4000 feet elevation, so back off about 25 yards and we are still talking 270-ish. That is not trading off any distance for my 100 mph swing.
 
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I'm not sure where you live, but it seems like every decent golf course has a teaching professional. I just took a lesson about 2 months ago without any issues. As far as the money aspect for lessons , that driver cost $500! By manipulating weighting and whatever else to hinder spin, I wonder if it loses distance for those who can normally hit a straight ball. I think it is a bit of a trade-off, distance for accuracy. Like I said in an earlier post, it is not that difficult to rid yourself of a slice, you just have to be willing to work at it a bit. Also, again, this club will probably be in the back of people's Mind by Midsummer next year for the new driver that is coming out. I wonder if you have heard, the new 2021 Big Bertha is supposed to add 25 yards to your distance while reducing side spin.
Lessons and new gear that has technology to help are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

The technology in this club does reduce spin on mishits. I've seen the numbers first hand, it is a fact, not marketing fluff. That feature will help many golfers, as can lessons.

I was able to change from fade/slice to draw/hook. It can be done. I don't think it is quite as easy as you indicate. Every instructor I've ever worked with says the opposite - the hook is super easy to fix, getting rid of the fade/slice is going to take some time. IIRC it took me a full season...though I'm certainly not a superior athlete / golfer, so maybe it goes faster for others.
 
I'm not sure where you live, but it seems like every decent golf course has a teaching professional. I just took a lesson about 2 months ago without any issues. As far as the money aspect for lessons , that driver cost $500! By manipulating weighting and whatever else to hinder spin, I wonder if it loses distance for those who can normally hit a straight ball. I think it is a bit of a trade-off, distance for accuracy. Like I said in an earlier post, it is not that difficult to rid yourself of a slice, you just have to be willing to work at it a bit. Also, again, this club will probably be in the back of people's Mind by Midsummer next year for the new driver that is coming out. I wonder if you have heard, the new 2021 Big Bertha is supposed to add 25 yards to your distance while reducing side spin.

For people who come across the ball or OTT there is AMPLE opportunity for this one to add 25 yards. It’s legitimately a unique design seeking to help golfers with enjoying the game more.

And trust me, straight ball hitters can play this, and produce ball speed on par with other drivers.
 
This driver is getting a really hard look from me. I don’t have numbers but have hit it on a range a couple times side by side with my M5 and the results were interesting. The M5 was my normal fade/push fade/slice/occasion pull. This one was dead straight/straight push/draw/big hook. Hmmmmm
 
I'm not sure where you live, but it seems like every decent golf course has a teaching professional. I just took a lesson about 2 months ago without any issues. As far as the money aspect for lessons , that driver cost $500! By manipulating weighting and whatever else to hinder spin, I wonder if it loses distance for those who can normally hit a straight ball. I think it is a bit of a trade-off, distance for accuracy. Like I said in an earlier post, it is not that difficult to rid yourself of a slice, you just have to be willing to work at it a bit. Also, again, this club will probably be in the back of people's Mind by Midsummer next year for the new driver that is coming out. I wonder if you have heard, the new 2021 Big Bertha is supposed to add 25 yards to your distance while reducing side spin.
Live in Maine and I have a great instructor that I worked with last year and had planned on working with this year. His wife is a very high risk subject as it pertains to Covid so even once the state started to allow instructions, beginning of July, he did not want to risk it. As far as my slice, I'm aware of what I need to do and have eliminated it except when I get a little sloppy. If the B21 is going to allow me to get away with a sometimes imperfect swing, I'll take it.
 
It’s one of the many things I never understand about reception of golf gear. If it makes the game more fun for someone, then why can’t we just be happy for them?

B21 is unlike anything Callaway has put out this cycle or any other. I’m one who’s been critical of Callaway at times, but this, they absolutely did something special with this one for a broader segment of golfers than most think.
 
It’s one of the many things I never understand about reception of golf gear. If it makes the game more fun for someone, then why can’t we just be happy for them?

B21 is unlike anything Callaway has put out this cycle or any other. I’m one who’s been critical of Callaway at times, but this, they absolutely did something special with this one for a broader segment of golfers than most think.
I’ll give an “amen.”
 
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