Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 Driver Review Thread

Glad you found something that is working for you. Im not someone that really searches out low spin like many do, but this one is quite good.
 
I only had time for 9 today and the 815 didn't disappoint me. Without a doubt I'm 15 yards longer with this club and significantly straighter after nearly a month of observation. I'm finding that I'll even use it on tight holes because I'm that comfortable that I can produce a mostly straight ball flight. As much as I like to tinker with settings and shafts I can't see any reason to touch this driver right now, it's just a lot of fun to play.
 
So while at the range today with someone that is working with me on my game (professional), she commented that she has never seen me hit a driver better. Im still convinced that I have not hit a driver that offered the lower spin of this with the forgiveness it has offered in the past, but its really working well for me right now.
 
So while at the range today with someone that is working with me on my game (professional), she commented that she has never seen me hit a driver better. Im still convinced that I have not hit a driver that offered the lower spin of this with the forgiveness it has offered in the past, but its really working well for me right now.

I saw.some tight long shots over the weekend. Never seen you hit anything longer. The driver results speak for themselves.
 
I saw.some tight long shots over the weekend. Never seen you hit anything longer. The driver results speak for themselves.

Ill be honest in that I am not sure I have hit anything longer. I try not to hype too much in terms of products and leave that to the wonderful people here or our awesome group of staff writers, but this one is different.

I literally crave to hit driver.
 
Oh, you guys are getting me into serious ponder mode with all this talk!
 
So while at the range today with someone that is working with me on my game (professional), she commented that she has never seen me hit a driver better. Im still convinced that I have not hit a driver that offered the lower spin of this with the forgiveness it has offered in the past, but its really working well for me right now.

Time for someone to change their WITB in their signature.

Seriously, I thought my Bio Cell+ was low spin and forgiving, but this one has my attention. I'll have to try it out next spring.
 
Time for someone to change their WITB in their signature.

Seriously, I thought my Bio Cell+ was low spin and forgiving, but this one has my attention. I'll have to try it out next spring.

Once I hit everything that is coming out, I will make the judgement. Still have 2 more I am waiting for, and if they improve on anything I am getting out of this line I will be shocked.
 
You typical ball is a high arcing soft cut. The shots I saw reached their apex and rode a axis for a second before heading to tera firma on gradual descent. It's like you found that combination of spin that maximizes your SS and launch factor. in the four years we have played, I have never seen that ball flight with you. Kind of scary to think you found a club that will put more short irons in your hands.
Ill be honest in that I am not sure I have hit anything longer. I try not to hype too much in terms of products and leave that to the wonderful people here or our awesome group of staff writers, but this one is different.

I literally crave to hit driver.
 
You typical ball is a high arcing soft cut. The shots I saw reached their apex and rode a axis for a second before heading to tera firma on gradual descent. It's like you found that combination of spin that maximizes your SS and launch factor. in the four years we have played, I have never seen that ball flight with you. Kind of scary to think you found a club that will put more short irons in your hands.

Thanks dude and you might be right. Now if I could get out of my own way and get a short game back it might be different.
 
Yesterday in the cold, I was still strong good distance out of this driver. My buddy usually out drives me by a good 20-30 yds, I had a decent swing going and was just about always neck and neck distance wise, sometimes as much as 10-15 yards longer than him!

He called BS and I believe he will have an 815 of his own soon!

I didn't put the grandaddy PX shaft in it for the round but can't wait to see what that shaft does compared to the rouge.
 
Good stuff CJ. I was Luke warm about this driver before I read the experiences in this thread and the comments from you guys at The Grandaddy.

It has now gone high up on the list to demo.
 
I really expected to love this club, but it didn't do much for me. I didn't love the sound and didn't get much constancy out of it. I wish I would have hit it again after I was warmed up a bit more but it was pretty popular and hard to get your hands on.
 
I took this driver out for 18 holes during the Tampa get together Saturday. 10.5 with Speeder 665 stiff shaft was a nice combo to start on the range with a drawing ball flight. Before teeing off I lowered the loft -1 and immediately saw straight to slight fade ball flight. It was higher than I'm used to with my 9* Big Bertha but it didnt occur to me to switch the gravity core until after the round. I guess for me that's a new adjustable feature that I'll need to get used to.

Back 9 I switched the shaft to my DI-6 shaft and saw okay results with a few FIRs. I liked the look, sound and feel but I need to spend time getting fitted for this club as this will be my next driver.

This is kind of a small detail but that headcover is so convenient to put on and take off the club. That red looks good too and stands out in the bag.
 
I have not seen anything in the 665 that I didn't like. Glad to finally see full specs on it.
 
Thanks dude and you might be right. Now if I could get out of my own way and get a short game back it might be different.

Think that is what stands in most of our ways
 
Good stuff CJ. I was Luke warm about this driver before I read the experiences in this thread and the comments from you guys at The Grandaddy.

It has now gone high up on the list to demo.

Trying not to read too much here as i still have a new 545 to figure out and a Adams XTD arriving tomorrow that still has to be tested out.
 
Got the Black Tie shaft in mine yesterday. It is not the original as you can see. Callaway told me it was made for their driver and that it was not quite as stiff and a tad lighter. 20141224_173552.jpg20141224_173602.jpg20141224_173640.jpg
 
Since the Grandaddy I've been able to get my 815 out for a few range sessions and one full round. I've found the club to be very forgiving, especially off toe hits. My miss is on the low heel and these are still quite penal. The toe miss isn't really much of a miss, it still travels nearly full distance.

I have had some issues since day one with the Speeder 565, for the life of me I can't get it to draw and I inevitably hit a fade. It's not a slice and still travels quite far but I know I'm losing distance and I feel that my control is off.

Now I've also had a chance to use the Project X LZ Handcrafted we got at the Grandaddy. I'm not sure on the numbers and hope to get it on a monitor sometime soon, but it's a performer when paired with the 815. I'm playing it neutral at stock 10.5* and am just loving the ball flight, mid flight that seems to just hang in the air. It's also drawing and much more tolerable direction wise.

After years with the RAZR Fit, this is an upgrade in all categories. Love me some Callaway!
 
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The Alpha 815 is easliest the best, most forgiving driver I have ever hit. Period. Even on toe misses, the ball still gets great distance and the face makes the ball work back towards the fairway. The adjustability of the driver makes it work for many different swings. Working with Ross at Callaway it allowed me to see I needed to lower my trajectory, so being able to lower my 10.5 down to 9.5 was easy. Flipping the core from up to down, lowered my ball spin about 100 RPM. Know, with my Project X LZ shaft, it's made me double check my set up. This 7.0 X Flex kicks and the ball came off like a low laser, so I flipped it back to 10.5, then +1 to 11.5. It was great being able to see all the different flights I could get.
I tend to like the 10.5 or 11.5 trajectory the best. However, I'd really like to see my spin numbers, trajectory and distances with all three settings before I settle on one for sure.
Bottom line, this driver smokes the ball and it will be hard to replicate or replace this club in my bag for a long time to come! It's that good!
 
I'm starting to get a little excited about this driver.

In terms of distance, the gains seem minimal to decent over the BB Alpha on squared impact. The biggest difference, however, is mishits and corresponding distance. The 815 has an incredible amount of forgiveness across the face. While misses towards the heel seem to sap some distance, the ball still travels well. Misses towards the toe certainly have more distance with this driver.

Here's the key -- Anything around the center of the face flies straight and far. It's uncanny how the ball flies if you are just around the target on the center of the clubface. Anything in the vicinity is rewarded greatly.

I saw a very high, soaring, and straight ball flight this afternoon. Very little side movement, which is surprising for someone who tends to play a pronounced draw. The only time I really got into any trouble was on dogleg left holes where the ball did not curve as much as I expected. Still, the ball generally found the fairway today. 8/12 in fairways when I used the 815 (1/2 with my 3W...). One of the missed fairways was also when I was trying to drive a green -- and I landed in a greenside bunker 280 yards from the tee. I've played this particular course a few times, and I've never flown into that bunker.


Distance is still TBD, but I'm liking what I'm seeing. The course I played was wet, but I was still seeing a lot of drives sitting between 280 and 310. Ultimately, I think I'm getting more carry from the 815 than the BB Alpha. I'm not sure the distance gains will be significant, but the forgiveness of this club will definitely be useful. I hope the trend continues.
 
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Took mine to the range today and went with the Project X LZ 6.0 shaft because I simply love the feel of it. Just working on tempo and weight shift and hitting the center of the club once or twice. Had the launch monitor with me until the battery died because I am stupid and forgot to charge it and only had it out there for about 18 balls. What I was seeing was virtually minimal ball speed loss missing the center laterally or top to bottom, which I am a huge fan of.

In fact on 3 shots I hit high on the face, the ball speed dropped by only a single mph.
 
Took mine to the range today and went with the Project X LZ 6.0 shaft because I simply love the feel of it. Just working on tempo and weight shift and hitting the center of the club once or twice. Had the launch monitor with me until the battery died because I am stupid and forgot to charge it and only had it out there for about 18 balls. What I was seeing was virtually minimal ball speed loss missing the center laterally or top to bottom, which I am a huge fan of.

In fact on 3 shots I hit high on the face, the ball speed dropped by only a single mph.
I remember you showed me the high toe miss on the face but the ball flight and distance looked fine to me. Ordering mine tomorrow.
 
I remember you showed me the high toe miss on the face but the ball flight and distance looked fine to me. Ordering mine tomorrow.

Yeah I am really digging the combo and think it could be very solid for the upcoming season.
 
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