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Callaway Big Bertha V-Series Fairway Wood Review

SuperStroke
Got to hit the Heavenwood today with the shaft change, gained quite a bit of yardage and the ball flight came down considerable. I hit a couple in the 200-210 range today when the best I could get was about 185-190 with the stock 52 gram shaft. I put in a 76 gram UST Pro Force shaft that I have been playing for while, much better all around for me.
 
jim54 said:
Got to hit the Heavenwood today with the shaft change, gained quite a bit of yardage and the ball flight came down considerable. I hit a couple in the 200-210 range today when the best I could get was about 185-190 with the stock 52 gram shaft. I put in a 76 gram UST Pro Force shaft that I have been playing for while, much better all around for me.
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After hitting the Rogue silver in the BB815 I'm pondering that shaft with the V Series head.
 
I absolutely love the Speeder 665 with my 3 wood. That shaft pairing with the heavenwood just has not produced the same results for me though. Just finished putting the Prolaunch Red with the heavenwood head and will give it a go this weekend. The was the first club I ever built so hopefully I did everything right and the head doesn't fly off..haha
 
In part because I've been struggling with the big stick I leaned on this club from the tees a lot. Interesting thing happened. I was in the fairway or first cut all day. Freddie said it and today it was true for me - this thing was money, just a fairway finder. The default distance seemed to be about 235. It might be nice to squeeze out a few more yards but that's mostly just being greedy. What a fun day with this club.

Two shots in particular stand out:
1. The one truly bad swing I put on the ball, I hit it WAY out on the toe and got a low hook. It stayed in the first cut. Terrible swing and I had 6i instead of 8i into the green. Yeah, I'll take that.

2. I had a 3rd shot from an adjacent fairway that is lower than the one I was supposed to be in. My path to the green was blocked by two trees. I don't even know the distance - 240-250??. And because I was in the wrong fairway I needed to turn the ball over. Off the deck, the ball easily elevated over the trees, gently drew and ended up about 5 feet on front of the green. Freekin' sweet.


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I wish these were adjustable like the bertha FWs
 
Day 1 of the Prolaunch Red shaft in the heavenwood was an epic disaster. I think it may be a little more shaft than I can handle at this point. Felt like I was swing a piece of rebar. The Speeder 665 may be going back in soon and I can just use it as a high launching, soft landing 195 yard club.
 
Was a little sideways with the driver today and leaned on my 3w a bunch. It was so nice to be able to crush this thing off the tee, such a fantastic club. I also used my 5w out of the fairway to get myself back into a couple holes. These things are just so easy to hit.
 
3 wood and Heavenwood have been very good for me all weekend. (When I put a good swing on it)

I know sound is subjective, but really love the sound of a well struck shot with these clubs.
These are solid clubs!
 
Callaway Big Bertha V-Series Fairway Wood Review

This club is a bit of a conundrum to me. It almost plays more like a 2 hybrid than 3 wood.

On the negative side I'm pretty sure I'm spinning the ball too much and losing distance. I can absolutely crush the ball and it flies high and far but then falls out of the sky at 230 yards with almost no roll. It kind of gets annoying feeling like I'm leaving distance in the bag.

On the other hand a completely reliable 230 yard club off the tee is great. And that fly and land soft thing is great into par fives. For example, on one par 5 today I had a second shot that was 229 yards to the pin. I hit it off the bottom two grooves. The ball still flew straight and high and carried the water with complete ease. Here's the result I got:

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I lost about 18 yards in distance with the low groove impact but notice how the ball stopped 2 feet from its pitch mark. These greens were firm, I often saw more roll out today with iron approach shots. Hold the green like this for an eagle putts is pretty damn nice..

Anyways, part of me thinks I should be happy with what I'm seeing and another part of me thinks I should try a different shaft in this head.
 

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Well I'd kill for 230 carry with a 3w, but I know that doesn't really help your issue lol.

Are you seeing better consistency with this than what you had prior? Equipment can be a compromise sometimes, though I know we all want everything dialed in perfectly.
 
That's great Frank. A reliable 230 carry off the deck? I'd throw a party, not change shafts dude.
 
I realize how stupid this sounds, Hawk. I should be content. It's probably a testament to how good equipment technology is that a hacker like myself - I'm aware of my age and the unnatural way SS seems to be increasing - gets a result and kind of focuses on the 'what could have been.'
 
ArmyGolf said:
That's great Frank. A reliable 230 carry off the deck? I'd throw a party, not change shafts dude.
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Well, more like reliable off the tee for that. It has been a machine for finding fairways and giving me consistent numbers off the tees. I think it's just how the ball falls out of the sky that makes me go "hmm". I should quit being an idiot and just be happy.
 
My guess is that a large portion of that is going to be related to the head. Not to say a shaft couldn't tweak things a bit, but the chances of it dropping spin numbers 1k rpm or something is pretty unlikely.

That said, I know exactly what you are saying (see my thoughts on the Bobby Jones fairway) and it's not stupid. I wanted the same awesome ball flight, consistency, and ease of use, just in a club that went further. Just natural to want it all. I think the thing that made those first three things possible were sort of the reason it wasn't going to happen though.
 
Hawk said:
My guess is that a large portion of that is going to be related to the head. Not to say a shaft couldn't tweak things a bit, but the chances of it dropping spin numbers 1k rpm or something is pretty unlikely.

That said, I know exactly what you are saying (see my thoughts on the Bobby Jones fairway) and it's not stupid. I wanted the same awesome ball flight, consistency, and ease of use, just in a club that went further. Just natural to want it all. I think the thing that made those first three things possible were sort of the reason it wasn't going to happen though.
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I really appreciate that feedback about shafts not helping, I wouldn't have known it was the head. I LOVE the shape of the head and the versatility of the sole and am not inclined to move from it unless I have to. That may well put the issue to rest. Okay, well, maybe (Callaway will re-shaft with a rogue Silver for $50)...
 
30% off the V Series on CPO. $144 for this club in like new condition is a great deal.
 
tequila4kapp said:
30% off the V Series on CPO. $144 for this club in like new condition is a great deal.
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Is that with a coupon? I'm only seeing 20% off. Thanks though.
 
tequila4kapp said:
I really appreciate that feedback about shafts not helping, I wouldn't have known it was the head. I LOVE the shape of the head and the versatility of the sole and am not inclined to move from it unless I have to. That may well put the issue to rest. Okay, well, maybe (Callaway will re-shaft with a rogue Silver for $50)...
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If you want to try a Grafalloy ProLaunch Red (low launching shaft), let me know and I will send you one. I am taking it out of my heavenwood this weekend. Too much shaft for me. I owe a little pay it forward as I was the recipient of some generosity from another THPer.
 
I hit this 3w w/ Bassara stiff yesterday for the first time against my 4w and saw about a 15-20 yard distance gain on average. Not to mention, it's significantly more forgiving on low face and off center strikes in both distance and direction. I've been struggling with whether to stick with 4w for perceived accuracy or go for a 3, but I think this is giving me my answer. I hit the V Series 3w straighter and longer, and it's not as difficult as I'd have expected off the deck.

However, I'd LOVE to have the adjustability that the regular Bertha offers. Has anyone hit both back to back and could comment? I hit the regular Bertha really well a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't able to directly compare as they didn't have any in stock at the shop yesterday.
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
I hit this 3w w/ Bassara stiff yesterday for the first time against my 4w and saw about a 15-20 yard distance gain on average. Not to mention, it's significantly more forgiving on low face and off center strikes in both distance and direction. I've been struggling with whether to stick with 4w for perceived accuracy or go for a 3, but I think this is giving me my answer. I hit the V Series 3w straighter and longer, and it's not as difficult as I'd have expected off the deck.

However, I'd LOVE to have the adjustability that the regular Bertha offers. Has anyone hit both back to back and could comment? I hit the regular Bertha really well a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't able to directly compare as they didn't have any in stock at the shop yesterday.
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I'm glad to see you like this one. I did hit them head to head. I put my thoughts in the Bertha 815 thread.
 
tequila4kapp said:
I'm glad to see you like this one. I did hit them head to head. I put my thoughts in the Bertha 815 thread.
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Thanks Frank. Sounds like it's very similar to the 815 in results for you. Did you happen to hit it against the 2014 Bertha as well?
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
Thanks Frank. Sounds like it's very similar to the 815 in results for you. Did you happen to hit it against the 2014 Bertha as well?
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Sorry, no, I haven't hit the '14 Bertha.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Sorry, no, I haven't hit the '14 Bertha.
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No worries. Appreciate your help and input! I really like the performance I saw from the V Series, especially considering yesterday was a pretty effed up swing day for me haha, but the adjustability in the '14 and 815 lines is just reassuring to me if I started to observe too severe of a hook or (God forbid) fade flight.
 
I dropped my 3w at the shop to have the Bassara pulled. The Pro Launch Red should be installed and ready for a trial run this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing how the club performs with the different shaft.
 
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I had my first range session with this club after changing the Bassara shaft to a Graffaloy Pro Launch Red. This is going to take some time to figure out. Trajectory clearly came down, especially off the deck. And I hit some absolutely beautiful bombs off the tee - high boring trajectory and flying the ball something in the 240 range. Those shot had me questioning whether I even needed to carry a driver. However - and it is a big caveat - there were a lot more misses, especially left. I don't know if that was just my swing or if moving away from the Bassara eliminates the "fairway finder" nature of this club. TBD.
 
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