- Staff
- #226
Oh Bertha, trust me, I have not forgotten about her.
So, I've been able now to get 3 full rounds on this one as well as two full range sessions and some things are crystal clear for me now, some serious and some not so serious.
1) I love saying Big Bertha. I never realized how much so, its just fun to say. Plus, after ripping a drive off or seeing one ripped you can say all kinds of cool things about Bertha
2) This is a truly good looking head aesthetically, the DEEP blue just looks astounding out in the sun and I think it was the right choice.
3) I'll say it again, I have never hit a driver with this kind of sound. Ever. Its addicting, solid, audibly pleasing, and it is impressive that Callaway actually managed to improve on the already tremendous sound of their last driver releases, but they have. I will say, that moving the weight mechanism (more on that below) DOES result in a slight sound change, but I expected that. Nothing drastic, but more noticeable in the fade position for me, the overall pitch changes.
4) I've played it with two different shafts now, the Zeta and the Diamana S+ for the sake of seeing comparisons. Even with the differences in shafts (and their flexes) the performance of the head stood out the most for me. I've been seeing a truly mid-high launch which IMO is a very good thing and the trajectory is never in danger of anything even resembling ballooning, just a nice all around ballflight up and down.
5) The cross face forgiveness on this one is impressive, really impressive, in fact there is more there than I ever expected. Callaway talks about it being a very High MOI driver and its evident, misses are still misses but no where nearly as penal as they were for me with the RFE or XHP last year. In fact, maybe even more than the Optiforce which was my gamer entering this review.
6) The slighting weight works, and it works quite well. I played with it in multiple settings and with a couple low handicap buddies who have pronounced and traditional ball flights (one fades EVERYTHING and the other is always a draw) and I had them hitting the driver without knowing where I was adjusting the weight. We successfully accentuated their natural flights as well as reducing them to the point of a "straighter" ball flight over all. I saw the same thing with my swing and have found that ttwo spots over in the draw settings is a good place for me.
7) Its long. I mean that, head to head with the Optiforce and a 9.5 XHP head all with the same shaft I was seeing about 7-9 yards more carry for me. That's big-big. Surprisingly so, heck just 2 yards is big in a driver. Now, will everyone see that? Likely not, but they aren't lying when they say the high MOI design has increased ball speeds off the face. Same swing, same effort, and more ball speed? Surprising and impressive.
Now, its undoubtedly the driver of the pair that is less "flashy" to some based on the Gravity Core being what is catching the most attention. However, I see why Callaway is saying this is the driver that will fit the broader margin of golfers and honestly it shouldn't be slept on, I really really hope it isn't slept on, seriously. Bertha is indeed back IMO.
So, I've been able now to get 3 full rounds on this one as well as two full range sessions and some things are crystal clear for me now, some serious and some not so serious.
1) I love saying Big Bertha. I never realized how much so, its just fun to say. Plus, after ripping a drive off or seeing one ripped you can say all kinds of cool things about Bertha
2) This is a truly good looking head aesthetically, the DEEP blue just looks astounding out in the sun and I think it was the right choice.
3) I'll say it again, I have never hit a driver with this kind of sound. Ever. Its addicting, solid, audibly pleasing, and it is impressive that Callaway actually managed to improve on the already tremendous sound of their last driver releases, but they have. I will say, that moving the weight mechanism (more on that below) DOES result in a slight sound change, but I expected that. Nothing drastic, but more noticeable in the fade position for me, the overall pitch changes.
4) I've played it with two different shafts now, the Zeta and the Diamana S+ for the sake of seeing comparisons. Even with the differences in shafts (and their flexes) the performance of the head stood out the most for me. I've been seeing a truly mid-high launch which IMO is a very good thing and the trajectory is never in danger of anything even resembling ballooning, just a nice all around ballflight up and down.
5) The cross face forgiveness on this one is impressive, really impressive, in fact there is more there than I ever expected. Callaway talks about it being a very High MOI driver and its evident, misses are still misses but no where nearly as penal as they were for me with the RFE or XHP last year. In fact, maybe even more than the Optiforce which was my gamer entering this review.
6) The slighting weight works, and it works quite well. I played with it in multiple settings and with a couple low handicap buddies who have pronounced and traditional ball flights (one fades EVERYTHING and the other is always a draw) and I had them hitting the driver without knowing where I was adjusting the weight. We successfully accentuated their natural flights as well as reducing them to the point of a "straighter" ball flight over all. I saw the same thing with my swing and have found that ttwo spots over in the draw settings is a good place for me.
7) Its long. I mean that, head to head with the Optiforce and a 9.5 XHP head all with the same shaft I was seeing about 7-9 yards more carry for me. That's big-big. Surprisingly so, heck just 2 yards is big in a driver. Now, will everyone see that? Likely not, but they aren't lying when they say the high MOI design has increased ball speeds off the face. Same swing, same effort, and more ball speed? Surprising and impressive.
Now, its undoubtedly the driver of the pair that is less "flashy" to some based on the Gravity Core being what is catching the most attention. However, I see why Callaway is saying this is the driver that will fit the broader margin of golfers and honestly it shouldn't be slept on, I really really hope it isn't slept on, seriously. Bertha is indeed back IMO.
