NEW GEAR: Callaway’s Epic day has arrived

The impending release of Callaway’s new Great Big Bertha Epic driver has whipped up plenty of hype during the past few weeks.

January 27 signals the worldwide release of the Great Big Bertha Epic and Great Big Bertha Epic Sub-Zero drivers and fairway woods.

Much of the build-up to the release has focused almost entirely on a new innovation Callaway’s Senior Vice President of Research & Development Dr Alan Hocknell calls a “breakthrough in driver engineering.”

Callaway is not the first club company to make this great proclamation, but the ‘Jailbreak Technology’ connecting Epic’s crown to the sole with two titanium bars certainly promises to provide significant performance gains.

“Jailbreak Technology creates a new and remarkably efficient working relationship between the face, crown and sole to promote faster ball speed across more of the face to give the golfer more distance,” Hocknell said.

The key structural components of a driver – crown, sole and face – deform at impact, because they’re connected, they influence each other’s dynamics. Jailbreak incorporates two slender titanium bars positioned parallel to each other behind the face, connected to the crown and sole.

The size, strength and position of each bar creates a new dynamic relationship between the crown, sole and face. The result is a profound change in how the head, as a whole, behaves at impact, resulting in more speed across a much larger area of the face.

Epic’s clubhead consists of Callaway’s new aerospace-grade titanium Exo-cage outfitted with a crown and sole panels made of triaxial carbon, an extraordinarily light and strong composite material developed by Callaway. Nearly half of the head’s surface – 46 percent – consists of triaxial carbon, with the crown weighing just 9.7g and the sole just 5.8g. That’s the lightest crown of any Callaway driver currently on the market.

Epic’s multi-material structure is incredibly light and strong, with high moment of inertia and a low, deep-back centre of gravity that makes it ultra-easy to launch the ball on a high angle with low spin.

Epic’s increased accuracy is rooted in Callaway’s ‘Adjustable Perimeter Weighting’ technology,  an invaluable feature allowing golfers to quickly and easily adjust the club to fit their swing. Compared to previous Callaway drivers, Epic’s track has been redesigned and the sliding weight has been increased to 17 grams, both for good reason: to deliver a full 21 yards of shot-shape correction (a 22 percent increase compared to last season’s Great Big Bertha) to dial in straighter, more accurate flight while maintaining high moment of inertia (MOI).

Clubhead speed gets an additional boost from Callaway’s proven ‘Speed Step’ technology. Devised with the help of aerospace experts, the Speed Step, located on the crown, improves head aerodynamics for more speed and distance.

Callaway engineers paid particular attention to the shape, aesthetics and acoustics to make Epic pleasing to the eye and the ear. The Tour-inspired shape is sleek, aerodynamic and confidence- inspiring. The triaxial carbon weave visible on the rear half of the crown, along with the vibrant green highlights, give Epic a pleasingly different appearance.

Four premium, Tour-proven stock-shafts are available, distinguished by weight class and each engineered to promote a formidable combination of speed, power, stability, feel and control: Project X HZRDS Green, MRC Diamana Greenboard, Fujikura Pro Green and Aldila Rogue Max. A long list of custom after-market shafts is also available.

Callaway has also launched – in addition to the Great Big Bertha Epic driver – the Great Big Bertha Epic fairway woods as well as the Great Big Bertha Epic Sub Zero driver and fairway woods.

GBB Epic fairway woods also employ a triaxial carbon crown that weighs just 5.8g, making it an incredible 78 percent lighter than a steel fairway wood crown. The saved weight is redistributed into strategic locations within the head to dramatically increase MOI and lower the CG, making Epic fairway woods extraordinarily easy to launch.

Distance is enhanced by the fourth generation of Callaway’s proven Hyper Speed Face Cup technology. In this generation, the thin and flexible rim around the inner side of the face flexes and releases more uniformly and efficiently at impact to increase ball speed across the face, especially toward the bottom.

These fairway woods are offered in five lofts – 3+, 3, 5, 7, 9 and Heavenwood.

The Great Big Bertha Epic Sub Zero driver and Epic Sub Zero fairway woods incorporates all the technology of the Epic but are more suited to better players.

“Tour drivers typically emphasize the performance better players want most – speed, low spin and control – at the expense of forgiveness,” Hocknell said.

“GBB Epic Sub Zero’s combination of tour performance and forgiveness make it a breakthrough in driver engineering.”

Epic Sub Zero’s power is based on Callaway’s innovative new Jailbreak Technology, which fundamentally changes how the head and clubface behave at impact to deliver more ball speed and distance.

“Callaway engineers paid particular attention to the shape, aesthetics and acoustics to make Epic Sub Zero great to look at and agreeable to listen to,” Hocknell said. “The Tour-inspired shape is sleek and confidence-inspiring. The triaxial carbon weave visible on the rear half of the crown, and the vibrant green highlights on the head, shaft and grip, together create a dynamic appearance from every angle.”

The GBB Epic Sub Zero fairway woods are targeted at a wide range of golfers seeking increased distance and control in an adjustable, forgiving and highly playable fairway wood. The cornerstone of its performance is its extraordinarily light triaxial carbon crown, which allows for the lowest centre of gravity of any Callaway fairway wood.

GBB Epic is so-named because it legitimately represents an epic shift in the way the head and face behave to enhance power, spearheaded by Jailbreak ball speed technology and the clubhead’s innovative Exo-Cage/triaxial carbon construction. Any golfer seeking an extraordinarily long, accurate and easy-to-launch driver, from scratch players to high handicappers should find more speed, distance and accuracy with GBB Epic.