Callaway Great Big Bertha Driver Review Thread
emart2173
#journey2017
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Very impressive numbers JB. Is the extra spin you prefer for more carry distance due to less roll out in FL?
i was talking with #cookie yesterday and some guys in the range Sunday that this is the best driver I hit and the number of shafts that work with this head really makes it a driver that can fit so many swing types.
i was talking with #cookie yesterday and some guys in the range Sunday that this is the best driver I hit and the number of shafts that work with this head really makes it a driver that can fit so many swing types.
- Admin
- #904
yes sir. Update in the Oban thread.
Miller Time
Twitter - @joshmlr
So your new name should be Josh Bombsitt?
I'd love to have those numbers!
I'd love to have those numbers!
Tadashi70
Well-known member
- Admin
- #907
- Admin
- #909
Not at all throughout the bag, but getting there.
Weight to me is an overrated subject, so its not that for me personally.
Just a head that works for me. Crazy forgiving, because I do miss frequently. Especially high or toe side. Both of which are offering me virtually no ball speed loss.
- Admin
- #911
No sir. FlightScope says my normal numbers are coming up. In fact yesterday all 4 drivers were similar club head speed. The difference was ball speed across the board.
It must be me. I LOVE that I can get consistently higher club speeds with it because I've been working to add speed all year. Issue for me unfortunately, is that the extra head speed just doesn't translate to more ball speed? Gotta be me and how it fits me? Jealous (but happy) it works for so many.
Last edited:
jdub
Member
JB- At what length are you playing your GBB driver?
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the hashimoto. I am a big big fan
Big SoIL
Well-known member
I don't know if you could be as excited about this club as I am after hearing about it at #thegrandaddy and then reading through this thread and then #THPholidaycheer. I'm pretty effing excited too!!!
- Admin
- #917
45 inches.
BigCountryStein
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Hit this today and it is a rocket launcher. Getting some range time with it tomorrow morning and will have some better thoughts after I give it a full workout.
Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
- Admin
- #919
Looking forward to your feedback on it BigCountry.
ProZoneGolf
Clubmaker/Fitter
Its sure has a lot of head toe side of sweet spot...do any of you align up to the ball toe side of the Cally head mark?
BigCountryStein
New member
- Joined
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So I hit this today. Yikes. Little disclaimer:
I got up super early to give it a good run before work and I ended up swinging very poorly. I figured out what I was doing after looking at my swing videos I took. My shoulders were as open as anything, and it lead to me swinging very OTT, ending in a lot of pulls and fades. Not all were like that, but a lot were.
I was hitting the 10.5 degree head and I plugged the Black Tie 6m3 from my sig in to it.
The matte black on matte black looks badass, like my XR Pro. Personally, I like the look of the GBB's sole a lot more though. The red stands out a lot more, whereas the red and blue of the XR is busy. The XR looks pretty cool, but I'm more in to clean and classy. Plus, the sliding weight is an added luxury for me that I really enjoy.
I'm not a club fitter, but I have multiple friends who do fittings for companies such as TaylorMade, Callaway, PING and GolfTown, so I have been lucky enough to have been professionally fitted a bunch with and without trackman's and flightscope's, and can recognize an optimal ball flight decently well.
With that said, the GBB with my 6m3 felt a little too light for me. If I was to guess, I would need a 70+ gram shaft to be comfortable. I will try and get fit over the next couple days as I explore this ponder deeper.
- Flushed Shots -
It felt like I was hitting nothing. I have never hit a driver with this much "pop" off the face. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Rocketballz Tour, but the Great Big Bertha is much greater than that. The sound is pretty standard, not much to say here, it sounds like a normal driver.
The ball speed was substantially greater when swung comfortably, versus swinging hard. The best results I saw were by using 70%-80% swings. The launch I was seeing was low, as I wasn't swinging well and could not hit the ball the way I normally do. I was launching the ball around 8 or 9 degrees, if I had to guess, and needed to bump it up to around 11, where I am at a more comfortable playing height and would produce better numbers on a launch monitor and on my scorecard!!
Dispersion was tight. I was swinging OTT very badly IMO and the ball still stayed within my target lines 7/10 times. The workability was there when asked, but I wouldn't feel comfortable bending it around a dog leg yet.
The distance was phenomenal for how low I was launching the golf ball. When hit properly, straight or with a small draw or cut, I was averaging 265 carry. When hit with too much curve (sliced or hooked) it would go around 255 carry. Very, very long driver for sure.
- Heel Misses -
Very noticable "feel" wise. You could definitely tell you hit one off the heel, even just a little bit. With that said, the face was more stable through the ball than expected when miss-hit, greater than any driver I have hit as a matter if fact. Basically, I could not be happier, as it tells you what you did wrong, but stays more stable than any other big stick I've hit when struck poorly. Very exciting. The sound when struck was muted and higher pitched than when struck well, but not annoying at all.
Ball speed was still high when struck on the heel. As said above, lots of feedback off the face, but stable through the ball, leading to a good flight even when struck not so well. It was launched lower for sure, but it is hard to complain when you are still way down there on a poor swing.
Heel shot dispersion was actually really good. All misses were to the right, but I still hit 50% within my target lines. If I make a bad swing, and you tell me I am going to hit the fairway half of the time, I don't care how far it's going, I want that driver in my bag. I only had 2 or 3 very poor misses right, but that is unavoidable when making more bad swings than good ones.
This is where I was most impressed with this driver. The distances on heel misses were UNREAL. I was still up around 255-260 carry. When I hit my optimal launch height, I hit the 275 sign on the fly, which I bushnelled at 282, 281, 282, 282. Yeah, I scoped it 4 times because I was in shock, I could not believe that it was heeled.
Edit: I hate sounding like "that guy", or "that internet golfer guy", but this is no exaggeration of any sort. The ball mark on the face was a whole ball's worth of space closer to the heel from the sweet spot decal. Anyone who has hit this driver can vouch for the forgiveness across the face of this club.
-Toe Shots-
Echoing my heel misses, my swings off of the toe side of the club were very noticable. With less force near the toe end of the club compared to the heel, of course the toe is not as stable through the ball at impact, but I did not notice that much of a difference as I never missed off of the toe super severely. The sound at impact was a bit louder than normal.
It had similar but less ball speed compared to heel misses, and not drastic but noticably less ball speed off the toe compared to when buttered on the sweet spot. Compared to other drivers, I would take a toe miss with this guy over any other all day every day.
Dispersion was over average when missed off the toe. Not as luxurious as the heel misses since they only went one way. But, when missed off the toe and the ball went right, I found it was very close to my target line, meaning it would just be in the light rough and out of trouble. Left wasn't as lucky with my toe misses. Hit a couple of bad pulls, I would have gone OB if there was trouble there for sure! When missing 2 ways, one can only assume their misses would be greater than a miss 1 way, and that was the case. Thus, only a 35-40% success rate for accuracy off the toe with a case of the bad swings today.
Distance greatly fluctuated with my toe misses. They flew normally to my flushed carries (which is stupid good) but also flew a lot shorter as well, dependant on how far left or right I missed. Roll wasn't a thing today, but I could tell I hit a lot of knuckleball pull-draws off the toe, and could only imagine how long they'd roll if it was the summer. (Good material for when I'm done typing this) For you who like numbers, worst was around 220 carry (yup, swung that badly today) and best was 260.
Overall, this is one of, if not the best all around performing driver I have ever hit. As a low cap, a driver that is this long and still so forgiving is an absolute dream as it still appeals to a "players eye." The ball speed across the face is stupid. I doubt I will ever find a driver head like this again, it is truly unbelievable how you can hit a ball off the heel or toe, and have it carry the same distance or 5 yards less than when you pure one. Cup face is legit.
I'm not sure what shaft is the best fit for me, but I know it isn't the Black Tie 6m3. The potential in the Great Big Bertha head was just sniffed today and as much as I have loved the hell out of this shaft, I plan to explore some more options and get fit for this head. If I am hitting it comfortably 260 carry, with a good miss ratio, when I'm swinging poorly and not launching the ball in the optimal flight window, it makes me giddy to think what I can uncover with a proper fitting. I will come back with some more info when I figure it out.
Sorry if that was long winded, never done a legit review before. If you have any feedback please reply here or PM, thank you.
Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
I got up super early to give it a good run before work and I ended up swinging very poorly. I figured out what I was doing after looking at my swing videos I took. My shoulders were as open as anything, and it lead to me swinging very OTT, ending in a lot of pulls and fades. Not all were like that, but a lot were.
I was hitting the 10.5 degree head and I plugged the Black Tie 6m3 from my sig in to it.
The matte black on matte black looks badass, like my XR Pro. Personally, I like the look of the GBB's sole a lot more though. The red stands out a lot more, whereas the red and blue of the XR is busy. The XR looks pretty cool, but I'm more in to clean and classy. Plus, the sliding weight is an added luxury for me that I really enjoy.
I'm not a club fitter, but I have multiple friends who do fittings for companies such as TaylorMade, Callaway, PING and GolfTown, so I have been lucky enough to have been professionally fitted a bunch with and without trackman's and flightscope's, and can recognize an optimal ball flight decently well.
With that said, the GBB with my 6m3 felt a little too light for me. If I was to guess, I would need a 70+ gram shaft to be comfortable. I will try and get fit over the next couple days as I explore this ponder deeper.
- Flushed Shots -
It felt like I was hitting nothing. I have never hit a driver with this much "pop" off the face. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Rocketballz Tour, but the Great Big Bertha is much greater than that. The sound is pretty standard, not much to say here, it sounds like a normal driver.
The ball speed was substantially greater when swung comfortably, versus swinging hard. The best results I saw were by using 70%-80% swings. The launch I was seeing was low, as I wasn't swinging well and could not hit the ball the way I normally do. I was launching the ball around 8 or 9 degrees, if I had to guess, and needed to bump it up to around 11, where I am at a more comfortable playing height and would produce better numbers on a launch monitor and on my scorecard!!
Dispersion was tight. I was swinging OTT very badly IMO and the ball still stayed within my target lines 7/10 times. The workability was there when asked, but I wouldn't feel comfortable bending it around a dog leg yet.
The distance was phenomenal for how low I was launching the golf ball. When hit properly, straight or with a small draw or cut, I was averaging 265 carry. When hit with too much curve (sliced or hooked) it would go around 255 carry. Very, very long driver for sure.
- Heel Misses -
Very noticable "feel" wise. You could definitely tell you hit one off the heel, even just a little bit. With that said, the face was more stable through the ball than expected when miss-hit, greater than any driver I have hit as a matter if fact. Basically, I could not be happier, as it tells you what you did wrong, but stays more stable than any other big stick I've hit when struck poorly. Very exciting. The sound when struck was muted and higher pitched than when struck well, but not annoying at all.
Ball speed was still high when struck on the heel. As said above, lots of feedback off the face, but stable through the ball, leading to a good flight even when struck not so well. It was launched lower for sure, but it is hard to complain when you are still way down there on a poor swing.
Heel shot dispersion was actually really good. All misses were to the right, but I still hit 50% within my target lines. If I make a bad swing, and you tell me I am going to hit the fairway half of the time, I don't care how far it's going, I want that driver in my bag. I only had 2 or 3 very poor misses right, but that is unavoidable when making more bad swings than good ones.
This is where I was most impressed with this driver. The distances on heel misses were UNREAL. I was still up around 255-260 carry. When I hit my optimal launch height, I hit the 275 sign on the fly, which I bushnelled at 282, 281, 282, 282. Yeah, I scoped it 4 times because I was in shock, I could not believe that it was heeled.
Edit: I hate sounding like "that guy", or "that internet golfer guy", but this is no exaggeration of any sort. The ball mark on the face was a whole ball's worth of space closer to the heel from the sweet spot decal. Anyone who has hit this driver can vouch for the forgiveness across the face of this club.
-Toe Shots-
Echoing my heel misses, my swings off of the toe side of the club were very noticable. With less force near the toe end of the club compared to the heel, of course the toe is not as stable through the ball at impact, but I did not notice that much of a difference as I never missed off of the toe super severely. The sound at impact was a bit louder than normal.
It had similar but less ball speed compared to heel misses, and not drastic but noticably less ball speed off the toe compared to when buttered on the sweet spot. Compared to other drivers, I would take a toe miss with this guy over any other all day every day.
Dispersion was over average when missed off the toe. Not as luxurious as the heel misses since they only went one way. But, when missed off the toe and the ball went right, I found it was very close to my target line, meaning it would just be in the light rough and out of trouble. Left wasn't as lucky with my toe misses. Hit a couple of bad pulls, I would have gone OB if there was trouble there for sure! When missing 2 ways, one can only assume their misses would be greater than a miss 1 way, and that was the case. Thus, only a 35-40% success rate for accuracy off the toe with a case of the bad swings today.
Distance greatly fluctuated with my toe misses. They flew normally to my flushed carries (which is stupid good) but also flew a lot shorter as well, dependant on how far left or right I missed. Roll wasn't a thing today, but I could tell I hit a lot of knuckleball pull-draws off the toe, and could only imagine how long they'd roll if it was the summer. (Good material for when I'm done typing this) For you who like numbers, worst was around 220 carry (yup, swung that badly today) and best was 260.
Overall, this is one of, if not the best all around performing driver I have ever hit. As a low cap, a driver that is this long and still so forgiving is an absolute dream as it still appeals to a "players eye." The ball speed across the face is stupid. I doubt I will ever find a driver head like this again, it is truly unbelievable how you can hit a ball off the heel or toe, and have it carry the same distance or 5 yards less than when you pure one. Cup face is legit.
I'm not sure what shaft is the best fit for me, but I know it isn't the Black Tie 6m3. The potential in the Great Big Bertha head was just sniffed today and as much as I have loved the hell out of this shaft, I plan to explore some more options and get fit for this head. If I am hitting it comfortably 260 carry, with a good miss ratio, when I'm swinging poorly and not launching the ball in the optimal flight window, it makes me giddy to think what I can uncover with a proper fitting. I will come back with some more info when I figure it out.
Sorry if that was long winded, never done a legit review before. If you have any feedback please reply here or PM, thank you.
Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
Last edited:
Tadashi70
Well-known member
New swings are a work in progress at all levels. Well mine is just that, a work in progress. But the GBB picks up the slack on less than favorable strikes. I saw a mixed bag yesterday but one thing remained constant. The forgiveness on the GBB is constant. I didn't miss big but just enough to lose a few yards. I missed low a few times and out near the toe. It caused me to be a few yards short of what is expected. I also hit a few on the screws and was reminded that this is the longest driver I've hit in a few years. I actually had two clubs less on two particular holes and that was a surprise. I'm excited to see what today brings.
- Admin
- #923
So I hit this today. Yikes. Little disclaimer:
I got up super early to give it a good run before work and I ended up swinging very poorly. I figured out what I was doing after looking at my swing videos I took. My shoulders were as open as anything, and it lead to me swinging very OTT, ending in a lot of pulls and fades. Not all were like that, but a lot were.
I was hitting the 10.5 degree head and I plugged the Black Tie 6m3 from my sig in to it.
The matte black on matte black looks badass, like my XR Pro. Personally, I like the look of the GBB's sole a lot more though. The red stands out a lot more, whereas the red and blue of the XR is busy. The XR looks pretty cool, but I'm more in to clean and classy. Plus, the sliding weight is an added luxury for me that I really enjoy.
I'm not a club fitter, but I have multiple friends who do fittings for companies such as TaylorMade, Callaway, PING and GolfTown, so I have been lucky enough to have been professionally fitted a bunch with and without trackman's and flightscope's, and can recognize an optimal ball flight decently well.
With that said, the GBB with my 6m3 felt a little too light for me. If I was to guess, I would need a 70+ gram shaft to be comfortable. I will try and get fit over the next couple days as I explore this ponder deeper.
- Flushed Shots -
It felt like I was hitting nothing. I have never hit a driver with this much "pop" off the face. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Rocketballz Tour, but the Great Big Bertha is much greater than that. The sound is pretty standard, not much to say here, it sounds like a normal driver.
The ball speed was substantially greater when swung comfortably, versus swinging hard. The best results I saw were by using 70%-80% swings. The launch I was seeing was low, as I wasn't swinging well and could not hit the ball the way I normally do. I was launching the ball around 8 or 9 degrees, if I had to guess, and needed to bump it up to around 11, where I am at a more comfortable playing height and would produce better numbers on a launch monitor and on my scorecard!!
Dispersion was tight. I was swinging OTT very badly IMO and the ball still stayed within my target lines 7/10 times. The workability was there when asked, but I wouldn't feel comfortable bending it around a dog leg yet.
The distance was phenomenal for how low I was launching the golf ball. When hit properly, straight or with a small draw or cut, I was averaging 265 carry. When hit with too much curve (sliced or hooked) it would go around 255 carry. Very, very long driver for sure.
- Heel Misses -
Very noticable "feel" wise. You could definitely tell you hit one off the heel, even just a little bit. With that said, the face was more stable through the ball than expected when miss-hit, greater than any driver I have hit as a matter if fact. Basically, I could not be happier, as it tells you what you did wrong, but stays more stable than any other big stick I've hit when struck poorly. Very exciting. The sound when struck was muted and higher pitched than when struck well, but not annoying at all.
Ball speed was still high when struck on the heel. As said above, lots of feedback off the face, but stable through the ball, leading to a good flight even when struck not so well. It was launched lower for sure, but it is hard to complain when you are still way down there on a poor swing.
Heel shot dispersion was actually really good. All misses were to the right, but I still hit 50% within my target lines. If I make a bad swing, and you tell me I am going to hit the fairway half of the time, I don't care how far it's going, I want that driver in my bag. I only had 2 or 3 very poor misses right, but that is unavoidable when making more bad swings than good ones.
This is where I was most impressed with this driver. The distances on heel misses were UNREAL. I was still up around 255-260 carry. When I hit my optimal launch height, I hit the 275 sign on the fly, which I bushnelled at 282, 281, 282, 282. Yeah, I scoped it 4 times because I was in shock, I could not believe that it was heeled.
Edit: I hate sounding like "that guy", or "that internet golfer guy", but this is no exaggeration of any sort. The ball mark on the face was a whole ball's worth of space closer to the heel from the sweet spot decal. Anyone who has hit this driver can vouch for the forgiveness across the face of this club.
-Toe Shots-
Echoing my heel misses, my swings off of the toe side of the club were very noticable. With less force near the toe end of the club compared to the heel, of course the toe is not as stable through the ball at impact, but I did not notice that much of a difference as I never missed off of the toe super severely. The sound at impact was a bit louder than normal.
It had similar but less ball speed compared to heel misses, and not drastic but noticably less ball speed off the toe compared to when buttered on the sweet spot. Compared to other drivers, I would take a toe miss with this guy over any other all day every day.
Dispersion was over average when missed off the toe. Not as luxurious as the heel misses since they only went one way. But, when missed off the toe and the ball went right, I found it was very close to my target line, meaning it would just be in the light rough and out of trouble. Left wasn't as lucky with my toe misses. Hit a couple of bad pulls, I would have gone OB if there was trouble there for sure! When missing 2 ways, one can only assume their misses would be greater than a miss 1 way, and that was the case. Thus, only a 35-40% success rate for accuracy off the toe with a case of the bad swings today.
Distance greatly fluctuated with my toe misses. They flew normally to my flushed carries (which is stupid good) but also flew a lot shorter as well, dependant on how far left or right I missed. Roll wasn't a thing today, but I could tell I hit a lot of knuckleball pull-draws off the toe, and could only imagine how long they'd roll if it was the summer. (Good material for when I'm done typing this) For you who like numbers, worst was around 220 carry (yup, swung that badly today) and best was 260.
Overall, this is one of, if not the best all around performing driver I have ever hit. As a low cap, a driver that is this long and still so forgiving is an absolute dream as it still appeals to a "players eye." The ball speed across the face is stupid. I doubt I will ever find a driver head like this again, it is truly unbelievable how you can hit a ball off the heel or toe, and have it carry the same distance or 5 yards less than when you pure one. Cup face is legit.
I'm not sure what shaft is the best fit for me, but I know it isn't the Black Tie 6m3. The potential in the Great Big Bertha head was just sniffed today and as much as I have loved the hell out of this shaft, I plan to explore some more options and get fit for this head. If I am hitting it comfortably 260 carry, with a good miss ratio, when I'm swinging poorly and not launching the ball in the optimal flight window, it makes me giddy to think what I can uncover with a proper fitting. I will come back with some more info when I figure it out.
Sorry if that was long winded, never done a legit review before. If you have any feedback please reply here or PM, thank you.
Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
Really good info BCS. It always just feels "right" when you find something that works for you.
ProZoneGolf
Clubmaker/Fitter
Its taking me a bit of adjustment coming from 816 deeper head to 'pure strike'. The head shape is just different and I have to train my swing into the ball to impact the zone.
Were do you guys set up to frame the ball?...on the cally mark or 'me' just toe side of that usually. If you set up on the mark it looks like too much club is past the ball
Were do you guys set up to frame the ball?...on the cally mark or 'me' just toe side of that usually. If you set up on the mark it looks like too much club is past the ball
- Thread starter
- Staff
- #925
Center of the face is where the alignment aid is, so, I set up there.