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Callaway Releases Big Bertha B21 Driver

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SuperStroke
Caught the tops at the start of my round today, then got it going on hole 8 and hit a bunch of good drives on the back. It won't fix crappy swings, but it works great on the good swings and good on the ok swings.
 
Jman said:
Mav Max - GC2 averages
Launch: 13.6
Ball Speed: 157.4 (Peak 162, Low 149)
Spin: 3,248 RPM (Peak 3,920, Low 2,633)

BB B21 - GC2 averages
Launch: 14.3
Ball Speed: 158.9 (Peak 164, Low 152)
Spin: 2,672 RPM (Peak 3,180, Low 2,162)
Click to expand...
Those #'s tell the story. I need to try this driver.
 
long practice session today, and lots of drivers hit. i had my swing caddie sc200 set up to record swing numbers. imho i think the sc200 reads ss and distance higher than actual. but patterns can emerge and tell a story.

i started with the mav max, and continued to see excellent results. the 10.5 turned down to 9.5 paired with my thce16 shaft is absolutely showing out. ss was reading 104-107, ball speed 150-154, distance 270-285. these are not numbers i’m used to seeing. the miss was a hard draw.

then the b21. its a 9* head with rch 55s. i started at NS. i was missing all over the face. the sound at first was very much like the mavrik standard. super muted. it’s honestly not my preferred sound. i like a little more metallic higher pitch. at this setting, ss was reading 103-108, ball speed 152-156, total 268-277. and not a single hook. some soft draws or soft fades. very consistent.

as a lower spin player, i didn’t think the 9* would be the best loft so i went +1N. ss increased to 106-109, but ball speed dropped to 151-155, and distance increased to 270-285. again, no hooks.

then i swapped in the attas 7s. i preferred the feel and sound over the stock setup. ss dropped to 103-107, ballspeed was 152-156, and total dropped to 260-278. was also pretty erratic, including some extreme toe hits that i don’t think went 200 yards.

i finished up the testing with the thce16 shaft. ss came back up to 104-108, ball speeds 150-156, and distance 272-283. i had a run of 3-4 shots that all registered the exact same distance.

as i got tired, i saw some big blocks and wiped fades. i also saw some hard draws, but far fewer than with the mav max.

i’d say i’m not completely in love yet. from this one session, i saw some good stuff. at times i would go on a stretch where you could throw a blanket over the grouping of shots. other times i’d hit a shot expecting one result and seeing something different. i also felt like the ball speeds were lower than i expected. some good contact that didn’t read a very high smash. seeing gentle shapes from the b21 instead of some of the more extreme shapes i see out of the mav max was encouraging.
 
Callaway should have named this driver the
⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️🅱️🅰️ wood because this thing is just cheating at this point! :oops::ROFLMAO::p#KonamiCode
 
I gotta say again after some more swings this morning, how freaking nice the sound/feel on this one is. It almost makes up for the Flash debacle. :ROFLMAO:
 
I played with the settings again a little today. I tried the -1 D setting and hit 4-5 little fades. Nothing drastic, just 5-10 yards right of target. Put it back in the S N setting, and just mid-high bombs straight down broadway! I was thinking about putting my HZRDUS shaft in this, but dang, I hit it so well, I’m going to leave it alone! Callaway has a sure fire winner here!!! Go hit it! Go get fitted! This is one club that lives up to the marketing hype!
 
J.B. Cobb III said:
I played with the settings again a little today. I tried the -1 D setting and hit 4-5 little fades. Nothing drastic, just 5-10 yards right of target. Put it back in the S N setting, and just mid-high bombs straight down broadway! I was thinking about putting my HZRDUS shaft in this, but dang, I hit it so well, I’m going to leave it alone! Callaway has a sure fire winner here!!! Go hit it! Go get fitted! This is one club that lives up to the marketing hype!
Click to expand...
Good stuff!!!!!
 
I got one in this week. I love the shape and overall look of the driver. Went to the range and started with the stock RCH shaft. Wasn't very consistent with that shaft, so I went to the Blue Ventus and Black Ventus and had great results with both. I think the black ventus was most conistent dispersion wise resulting in baby fades (my miss is a slice). This thing will slice with the rest of them but having more consistent baby fades were a delight to see. Ill probabably rotate the standard Mavrik and the BB21 until I pick what goes in the bag but I do love the BB21's look, sound and flight after one session. Fantastic job by Callaway.
 
Newman21 said:
Played 9 holes this evening with the B21 driver. I took the Ventus blue out of it and replaced it with the RCH65 stiff I ordered from CPO. I am not joking here when I tell you that I gained about 10-20 yards. Booming and was really easy to hit my spots (aiming points). Nice and straight or a baby draw. Just what I wanted. I hit places in the fairway that I haven't hit in several years. I am super impressed with this shaft and I cannot believe I am hitting it better than the Ventus. The RCH is definitely designed to enhance the B21 driver and its capabilities in my honest opinion.
This B21 driver is LEGIT!(y)

Edit a day later: I still cannot believe that the RCH works better than the expensive Ventus for this driver head. It wakens the BEAST in it! (for me)
Click to expand...

dibs on the ventus! Lol
 
Jman said:
So, yesterday I put this on the GC2 and intentionally got WAY across the ball with my swing to see just how high the spin would jump. This was pretty eye opening.

Three different shafts (RCH 65, Smoke Black 6.5, and GD AD MT6X) and spin MAXED at 3375 with the average actually sitting at 3,000.

Why is this amazing? Because it’s truly mitigating the tilted spin axis on that miss, which is the miss most golfers have (OTT and across) so instead of seeing 4,000 rpm and distances falling WAY off, I was still seeing carries averaging to 252. That much, on what is historically a bad miss with the ball not moving NEARLY as far right is wild. There are some who are thinking this is a draw driver, and I’ll say it again as I tried to tell the story in the article on the homepage, it’s all about lessening the miss many suffer from, the right miss (for a righty) that moves FURTHER right, it’s not going to make you start hitting draws.

I also put it against the Mavrik Max, also 9.0, both with the HZRDUS Smoke Black 60 6.5:

Mav Max - GC2 averages
Launch: 13.6
Ball Speed: 157.4 (Peak 162, Low 149)
Spin: 3,248 RPM (Peak 3,920, Low 2,633)

BB B21 - GC2 averages
Launch: 14.3
Ball Speed: 158.9 (Peak 164, Low 152)
Spin: 2,672 RPM (Peak 3,180, Low 2,162)
Click to expand...
That is what I am seeing. High launch and a ton of carry. It's just a blaster.
 
Dammit. I’m enamored by this one.

Now, that’s not a knock, but rather it’s warping my noggin a bit.

The big story is, as Doc Hocknell calls it “the spin robustness”. On the button with a square face it’s nothing different than most drivers, not the fastest, not the slowest, just solid. Miss the button though and the ability of keeping the spin DOWN on some misses that should just spin like tops is crazy. Every round I catch one in disgust at impact only to see it literally wind up 15 yards further than history tells me it should. When as I talked about in my last update I can intentionally swipe across the ball hard and only see the spin hit 3000-3200 where with the Mav Max I can crack 4000 on that same swing? That’s not make believe, that’s just awesome.
 
McLovin said:
long practice session today, and lots of drivers hit. i had my swing caddie sc200 set up to record swing numbers. imho i think the sc200 reads ss and distance higher than actual. but patterns can emerge and tell a story.

i started with the mav max, and continued to see excellent results. the 10.5 turned down to 9.5 paired with my thce16 shaft is absolutely showing out. ss was reading 104-107, ball speed 150-154, distance 270-285. these are not numbers i’m used to seeing. the miss was a hard draw.

then the b21. its a 9* head with rch 55s. i started at NS. i was missing all over the face. the sound at first was very much like the mavrik standard. super muted. it’s honestly not my preferred sound. i like a little more metallic higher pitch. at this setting, ss was reading 103-108, ball speed 152-156, total 268-277. and not a single hook. some soft draws or soft fades. very consistent.

as a lower spin player, i didn’t think the 9* would be the best loft so i went +1N. ss increased to 106-109, but ball speed dropped to 151-155, and distance increased to 270-285. again, no hooks.

then i swapped in the attas 7s. i preferred the feel and sound over the stock setup. ss dropped to 103-107, ballspeed was 152-156, and total dropped to 260-278. was also pretty erratic, including some extreme toe hits that i don’t think went 200 yards.

i finished up the testing with the thce16 shaft. ss came back up to 104-108, ball speeds 150-156, and distance 272-283. i had a run of 3-4 shots that all registered the exact same distance.

as i got tired, i saw some big blocks and wiped fades. i also saw some hard draws, but far fewer than with the mav max.

i’d say i’m not completely in love yet. from this one session, i saw some good stuff. at times i would go on a stretch where you could throw a blanket over the grouping of shots. other times i’d hit a shot expecting one result and seeing something different. i also felt like the ball speeds were lower than i expected. some good contact that didn’t read a very high smash. seeing gentle shapes from the b21 instead of some of the more extreme shapes i see out of the mav max was encouraging.
Click to expand...
This is fantastic thanks for the write-up. I bought one (thanks to Columbus Day I can't see if it's legit or not yet) in the RCH55 and my concern was that at my SS (right in this neighborhood) that I wouldn't like it as much as the 65. Sounds like the 55 is workable for you, so hopefully will be for me too (if it's real).
 
Jman said:
Dammit. I’m enamored by this one.

Now, that’s not a knock, but rather it’s warping my noggin a bit.

The big story is, as Doc Hocknell calls it “the spin robustness”. On the button with a square face it’s nothing different than most drivers, not the fastest, not the slowest, just solid. Miss the button though and the ability of keeping the spin DOWN on some misses that should just spin like tops is crazy. Every round I catch one in disgust at impact only to see it literally wind up 15 yards further than history tells me it should. When as I talked about in my last update I can intentionally swipe across the ball hard and only see the spin hit 3000-3200 where with the Mav Max I can crack 4000 on that same swing? That’s not make believe, that’s just awesome.
Click to expand...
I didn't hit the ball well yesterday, but I did have this exact same scenario yesterday. Our 16th hole is a par 5 with a lake on the right that can be found if the tee shot is short and right, especially with the tees moved back a box like they were yesterday. You, know like a slice would do. I hit a bad one and it was going right. I figured it would end up in the lake, but it covered by several yards. I was surprised.
 
Greg Kulbick said:
I didn't hit the ball well yesterday, but I did have this exact same scenario yesterday. Our 16th hole is a par 5 with a lake on the right that can be found if the tee shot is short and right, especially with the tees moved back a box like they were yesterday. You, know like a slice would do. I hit a bad one and it was going right. I figured it would end up in the lake, but it covered by several yards. I was surprised.
Click to expand...
It’s wild. I’m adamant when I say there is, nor had there ever been, a driver design like this. AI has officially allowed them to truly change what we expect drivers limitations to be.
 
I love my Epic Flash Driver, I love my Epic Flash Driver......
(Wonder how a B21 would play with my Nemesys 55 Four Shaft - Dang you, you Enablers!)
 
Iceman! said:
I love my Epic Flash Driver, I love my Epic Flash Driver......
(Wonder how a B21 would play with my Nemesys 55 Four Shaft - Dang you, you Enablers!)
Click to expand...
I think you’d enjoy the stock RCH. A lot.
 
thewilderside said:
This is fantastic thanks for the write-up. I bought one (thanks to Columbus Day I can't see if it's legit or not yet) in the RCH55 and my concern was that at my SS (right in this neighborhood) that I wouldn't like it as much as the 65. Sounds like the 55 is workable for you, so hopefully will be for me too (if it's real).
Click to expand...

thanks for reading! maybe the biggest positive takeaway from my first range session was that it's still in the bag for another session. it's a legit threat to the mav max. i don't know that i'm comfortable enough knowing what the ball is going to do, but with one or two more times on the range and it showing out, i may leave it in the bag. personally i thought the rch 55s shaft felt great, but i had a hard time finding the center of the face. my thce16 shaft (70g, 5.7 flex [between stiff and regular], higher torque, similar to evenflow blue) really unlocked this driver's potential for me.
 
McLovin said:
thanks for reading! maybe the biggest positive takeaway from my first range session was that it's still in the bag for another session. it's a legit threat to the mav max. i don't know that i'm comfortable enough knowing what the ball is going to do, but with one or two more times on the range and it showing out, i may leave it in the bag. personally i thought the rch 55s shaft felt great, but i had a hard time finding the center of the face. my thce16 shaft (70g, 5.7 flex [between stiff and regular], higher torque, similar to evenflow blue) really unlocked this driver's potential for me.
Click to expand...
That's great, everything I've read indicates this driver will be good for me as I've always been an OTT guy. If I can put a less than stellar swing on the ball and not have to worry about losing it a mile right that will be a big win. Hopefully the RCH55 shaft works because I don't have other options to choose from lol.
 
Maybe a bit off topic but I played 18 holes yesterday and pulled out an old driver, the Cleveland hibore XL, which was from 2007. Technology today is so much different then 10+ years ago, as it did not compare very well to my Callaway XR 16 driver I usually use today, and I can only Imagine what the technology today would be compared to my xr16 vintage. I think it's more about forgiveness and dispersion as opposed to distance. I'm not that long of a hitter, probably 230 yards avg, but I am more interested in forgiveness / dispersion then I am more distance. Being a senior, I am committed to the white tees during tournament play, but can play the blue tees. I feel my biggest weakness in driving is not the distance, but the accuracy. If the B21 is as people say, more forgiving, I will give it a try.
 
Last Tuesday I had installed a Speeder 565 reg flex shaft in the B 21 driver and was happy with the result. I had planned on playing it for 18 holes in scheduled league play on Thursday but was side tracked by a very nasty stomach bug that kept me tethered to a particular room in the house for two days. Saturday was a little better and Sunday was the first day I felt somewhat normal. So no feedback from the course.
Tuesday and Wednesday is our SMGA Club Championship, so it appears I will be playing my first round with the new shaft for more than just internet feedback.
I have no illusions of winning but would like to make a reasonable showing and if I play to my full potential low net is not out of the question since my handicap has crept up a bit in the last few weeks due to some greenside and putting issues that I think I may have under control after spending most of my day last Wednesday at the practice facility.
I did go out for a while today and chipped and putted and hit the B 21 just to be doing something golf related and the B 21 was doing it's part as long as I did mine.
Barring any unforeseen setback overnight I should be reporting on my "on-course" application of the B 21 tomorrow evening.
Wish me luck...I will need it:oops:
 
Hit a huge drive on #2 Par 5 today. Hit it over the dogleg right 280 yards! Left me 170 into the hole! Hit it into a greenside bunker on #3. It’s a short par 4 that curves left. Hit really good drives. I did hit 2 slices today. Had to wait a lot on the back nine. I had 2-3 drop kicks that went about 220-230 but straight. So, all and all, I hit some of my best drives ever, a couple not so good ones, and 2 bad slices. But, I still hit like 85% of the fairways, which is what this driver does! You put a good swing on it and you’re rewarded, swing it poorly and it really minimizes the negatives and you typically can still hit the fairway. It’s down right amazing what this thing can do!
 
I have not read this whole thread . Can anyone compare the b21 and sim max d drivers ? I presently play the max d and it is a solid performer just wondering if would be a step up in performance .
thanks gb
 
J.B. Cobb III said:
You put a good swing on it and you’re rewarded, swing it poorly and it really minimizes the negatives and you typically can still hit the fairway.
Click to expand...

this about sums it up
 
LEFTY57 said:
I have not read this whole thread . Can anyone compare the b21 and sim max d drivers ? I presently play the max d and it is a solid performer just wondering if would be a step up in performance .
thanks gb
Click to expand...
It’s lower spinning, by a surprising margin. So if that’s something that could be a boon to you, might be worth taking a look!
 
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