MODEL AND SHAFT PLAYED: Callaway Big Bertha Alpha driver fitted with a stiff-flex graphite shaft. The adjustable elements were set to add two degrees of loft (to 11°), while the lie angle remained neutral and the tungsten Gravity Core weight was set to standard. The centre of gravity bias seven-gram weight was placed in the heel and the one-gram weight in the toe.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I like the style of the head, the colours and the design. It’s not a big, broad club and is a typically Callaway driver for appearance. It does look a little offset to me – neutral appears slightly closed – but I like how you’ve got the opportunity to change the components to get it to act differently.

VERDICT: I didn’t hit a bad drive with the Big Bertha Alpha. It gets out there without being significantly longer but I drove the ball far straighter. The sound of impact was very genuine – there wasn’t a tinny, unusual noise and the sound seemed to match the quality of the strike. The ball felt almost a little soft on the clubface, and I played with both a softer and harder ball. That’s a nice feeling to have because you sense you’re controlling the ball. I would like to experiment with the various settings, especially the centre of gravity height.