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Callaway Bertha Mini 1.5 - THP Review Thread

SuperStroke
This club contributed to my first eagle of the year. 520 yd Par 5 playing short due to tee boxes moved up. Playing about 440, I DROP KICKED the 12° and thought I was in left fairway bunker. Drove up to see the ball had carried the bunker and rolled out some 70 yds past it leaving 144 to pin. Yeah a 300 yd drop kick lol.
 
kc720 said:
This club contributed to my first eagle of the year. 520 yd Par 5 playing short due to tee boxes moved up. Playing about 440, I DROP KICKED the 12° and thought I was in left fairway bunker. Drove up to see the ball had carried the bunker and rolled out some 70 yds past it leaving 144 to pin. Yeah a 300 yd drop kick lol.
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Awesome to see hear this. This should bea fun club in your bag.
Nate said:
Been texting with BigTex this evening as he's out on the range right now with a demo. Gonna try and meet him on Sat to hit it before he takes it back. This combined with James and other thoughts so far are making me excited to hit this now.
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IMO your are going to blister the ball with this one. Wish I could be there when you finally get to hit it. Curious to see your results. And actually curious to hear what it sounds like when you smash into one.
 
kc720 said:
Great look at address
3b54a18695c3b7a3b9a5dbd178cf3419.jpg
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What shaft is that? It means absolutely nothing to me, other than I love the contrasting look of the shaft and the head. Reminds me a lot of my 815 + Rogue Silver.
 
O'Carroll said:
What shaft is that? It means absolutely nothing to me, other than I love the contrasting look of the shaft and the head. Reminds me a lot of my 815 + Rogue Silver.
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Speeder 565 IIRC.
 
Jman said:
Speeder 565 IIRC.
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That's what I was thinking. Looks just like my 665 at address. Which I will be trying in my Mini this weekend.
 
jmaier said:
Very interested but the one question I have is related to what some of you are seeing with dispersion. Is it consistently somewhat more accurate than your current driver? If not, why game it? I pull a 3/4w out on the tee because I need less distance or I want more control. Often the latter so if I get similar control but more distance I'd drop the $300. If it's just a slightly shorter driver, what's the point? Note that I'm not speaking to the high SS folk going for a 575yd par 5 in 2.
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For me, it is as accurate as my driver, but less distance of course vs. driver. The reason I'm playing this over the shallow faced XR 3 wood is the Mini is a good 12 to 18 yards longer for me off the tee over the XR 3 wood, so that alone earns its place. The deeper face makes it a much better club off the tee as a driver replacement on some Par 4's, and it can still be used off the turf on any lie.

I'm not a bomb it anywhere type of player. I play each shot to a number (thank you JB!), and this club gives me the number on some holes vs. driver.
 
HoosierGolfer said:
For me, it is as accurate as my driver, but less distance of course vs. driver. The reason I'm playing this over the shallow faced XR 3 wood is the Mini is a good 12 to 18 yards longer for me off the tee over the XR 3 wood, so that alone earns its place. The deeper face makes it a much better club off the tee as a driver replacement on some Par 4's, and it can still be used off the turf on any lie.

I'm not a bomb it anywhere type of player. I play each shot to a number (thank you JB!), and this club gives me the number on some holes vs. driver.
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I guess I see it as mostly a tee only club given my general weakness with fairway metals. So, if it's longer than a fairway but more accurate than my driver, it's a gamer. If I'm just as accurate with the driver, I'll just hit driver for the extra distance. Otherwise I use my fairway off the tee precisely because I want less distance due to the situation. I love how these look and I'm looking forward to hitting one but I'm struggling to justify why it would be a good investment for me.
 
Out of curiosity, how does the stock KK shaft compare to a Red Tie? I have gotten along with the red tie in the past and was just looking for a comparison other than just "their both mid launch/spin"
 
afwcardinal said:
Awesome to see hear this. This should bea fun club in your bag.

IMO your are going to blister the ball with this one. Wish I could be there when you finally get to hit it. Curious to see your results. And actually curious to hear what it sounds like when you smash into one.
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Come on out! You can get some swings with it also.
 
Jman was right when he was telling me about distances. I had a great swing today and pulled the Mini on a few occasions and sure enough the 14* is only about 10-15 yards shorter then my XR. Sure, I can pipe the XR when I need to to create some seperation but on general swings the Mini off the tee is a monster.
 
The Dave said:
Out of curiosity, how does the stock KK shaft compare to a Red Tie? I have gotten along with the red tie in the past and was just looking for a comparison other than just "their both mid launch/spin"
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The Kurokage Silver Tini (default in the mini) is more of a low luanch/low spin shaft than the Matrix Red Tie.
 
From reading some reviews here it seems that the standard shaft KK launched low. Would it been better for a moderate SS to go 14* and not 12* for tee use only ? There is always the possibility to loft down 1* if needed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
SirPercival said:
From reading some reviews here it seems that the standard shaft KK launched low. Would it been better for a moderate SS to go 14* and not 12* for tee use only ? There is always the possibility to loft down 1* if needed.


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Interesting I have wondered which is the best way to go? If you had the 12 you could loft up to 14 or go to 11 for a stronger flight.

When adjusting woods is it better to add or subtract loft?
 
BigTex said:
Come on out! You can get some swings with it also.
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Thanks for the offer. I've gotten to hit this twice now already. Once at the PGA Superstore and last weekend I had the chance to hit Cookie's.
I think this will be a great club for many folks. It has the looks and it can produce.
Definitely an intriguing option, but not really something that would fit in my bag set-up right now.
 
afwcardinal said:
Thanks for the offer. I've gotten to hit this twice now already. Once at the PGA Superstore and last weekend I had the chance to hit Cookie's.
I think this will be a great club for many folks. It has the looks and it can produce.
Definitely an intriguing option, but not really something that would fit in my bag set-up right now.
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I want to see you hit this on the range with a few shafts. Seeing you how move a 3w in lieu of driver often I could see this being a monster if paired with right shaft.
 
SirPercival said:
From reading some reviews here it seems that the standard shaft KK launched low. Would it been better for a moderate SS to go 14* and not 12* for tee use only ? There is always the possibility to loft down 1* if needed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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When determining what loft and flex to get in a club there are other things you should factor in besides swing speed/ball speed.

Your angle of attack and spin rate are two other factors. If your angle of attack is pretty level the higher loft would probably work better, but if your hitting significantly up or down you be causing it to take of at a higher launch. If your contacting it in the center or high on the face (hitting off a tee the high contact chance is increased) you'll get less spin and again the higher loft might be better (to help get the ball up in place of spin). If your contacting it low low, heel, or toe then you'd have added spin, and the lower loft might be better. How you grip and swing can also be factors.

If you have a strong left hand grip (right handed golfer) (ex: Bobby Jones, Fred Couples, David Duval, Paul Azinger, etc) then your hands will come in leading the clubhead and lead to less clubhead loft at impact. If your lead/left hand is in more of a weak position (ex: Harry Vardon, Jose Maria Olazabal) then the hands and clubhead are more likely to be more even with the ball at impact, and the clubhead to have a higher loft at impact (compared to the strong gripper). The right/trail hand can be a factor too. If your trail hand is underneath the club (palm facing the sky) at setup its going to want to return to a more natural position at impact (palm facing the target or perhaps slightly down) which again would encourage delofting the club around impact (unless of course you make manipulations and compensations).

Having said all that the higher loft is likely to be a better choice for the majority of people. (The safer bet, and the better gamble). The 14* head can also be turned down to 13* or up to 16* while the 12* you are stuck with 11*-14*. If you go to a place that has demos of the BB 1.5 mini, and other BB drivers and fairway woods you may be able to swap in other Callaway removable shafts and test it out with Speeder's, Fubuki's, etc to see if they would work better than a KK for you. Besides what works better on your good shots you should factor in what ball flight you prefer on your mishits, as well as if one works better to give you mishits towards a direction you desire (if you had to choose). The adjustable 14* loft (without making the post longer explaining why) should also give you less severe directional misses than the 12*. If you're set on the KK shaft, and we were to go off nothing else I would advocate the 14* option which can be configured to work with a wider range of golfers than the 12*.
 
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chumphries said:
I too hated my 3 wood until I changed shafts. I also have a BB 15* and sorta liked it after I bought it. I put a Aldila Tour Green shafts in it and loved it. I'd actually probably get me one of these mini's if we weren't doing custom shafts in August.
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I love, love, love the Tour Green. I have it in an x flex in my 2Deeep, XR Pro 4 Wood, and a couple of my drivers. I normally switch shafts every couple years but have no plans to change anytime soon. I have tried the Mini 1.5 but they didn't have the Tour Green shaft for it so it didn't perform as well as my 2Deep. I'll probably just order the Mini 1.5 with the Tour Green shaft without hitting it. Even if it doesn't out-perform my 2Deep, I like the looks of the head better.
 
#Cookie said:
I want to see you hit this on the range with a few shafts. Seeing you how move a 3w in lieu of driver often I could see this being a monster if paired with right shaft.
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Eddie if you are hitting a 3 wood pretty well you might do a side by side with the Mini and 3Deep. Right now I am trying to decide which is better for me. The Deep surprised me when I bought it as a driver alternative, being better than any of the thriver alternatives I had tried before. You are welcome to hit mine at some point.
 
afwcardinal said:
IMO your are going to blister the ball with this one. Wish I could be there when you finally get to hit it. Curious to see your results. And actually curious to hear what it sounds like when you smash into one.
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I'm actually quite happy with a higher pitch sounding driver/fw's. I struggle with the more muted sounding driver/fw's. I would actually just be quite happy with the "POW" guy standing behind me each time I hit yelling it outloud. So curious to see what this sound feels like to me.
 
Nate said:
I'm actually quite happy with a higher pitch sounding driver/fw's. I struggle with the more muted sounding driver/fw's. I would actually just be quite happy with the "POW" guy standing behind me each time I hit yelling it outloud. So curious to see what this sound feels like to me.
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It's a very solid feel. Bit higher pitched than Callaway offerings of late but it is a welcome sound
 
Everyone will be different. As I mentioned in the homepage review, its definitely a composite sound, moreso than we have seen from any Callaway metalwoods in a few years. Its not obnoxious, but its going to be incredibly different for many who try it simply expecting what we have been getting from Cally metalwoods lately.

I'm not at all a fan of it, but I can get over it. To me, the Aero sounded about 1000 times better.
 
#Cookie said:
I want to see you hit this on the range with a few shafts. Seeing you how move a 3w in lieu of driver often I could see this being a monster if paired with right shaft.
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Hopefully I can get a few swings with it Sunday. Would be interested to see how it compared next to my 3w.
BigTex said:
Eddie if you are hitting a 3 wood pretty well you might do a side by side with the Mini and 3Deep. Right now I am trying to decide which is better for me. The Deep surprised me when I bought it as a driver alternative, being better than any of the thriver alternatives I had tried before. You are welcome to hit mine at some point.
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That is what I'm hoping to do. As Cookie said, the shaft will make a big difference. Hitting this at the PGA Store, it looked fantastic. Now let's see what it does in the real world with some competition.
Nate said:
I'm actually quite happy with a higher pitch sounding driver/fw's. I struggle with the more muted sounding driver/fw's. I would actually just be quite happy with the "POW" guy standing behind me each time I hit yelling it outloud. So curious to see what this sound feels like to me.
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I can stand there and yell for you, if that would help. I still look forward to hearing what you think of this.
 
BigTex said:
The not so good: Gonna take a little getting used to the sound. I did not notice it as much hitting it indoors, but it was very noticeable on the range. Not as obnoxious as the SLDR Mini which I hated in this regard, but not the solid thwack I like so much with the Deep.

.
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Those who have swapped out shaft in clubs will already know this, but what model shaft you have attached to a club head can drastically change the sound of clubbed to ball contact. The 565, Kuro Kage, and a Fubuki all attached to the same head produce different sounds. Where you using a Kuro Kage, 565, or something else?
 
Golf Analyzer said:
Those who have swapped out shaft in clubs will already know this, but what model shaft you have attached to a club head can drastically change the sound of clubbed to ball contact. The 565, Kuro Kage, and a Fubuki all attached to the same head produce different sounds. Where you using a Kuro Kage, 565, or something else?
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Interesting, as I've now put 4 different shafts in mine the last 3 days after finishing this review and the sound is still exactly the same.
 
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