TEST: Callaway GBB & Alpha 816 drivers

They promise greater distance and better accuracy. Here’s what our testers through of these new drivers.

MODEL AND SHAFT PLAYED: Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond 9° driver, fitted with a stiff-flex graphite shaft. All adjustable components were retained in neutral settings.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I own a Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Double Black Diamond 815 driver, so I’m keen to compare the pair. I like the matte black look and the shaft is the same as in my 815. There’s not a great deal of difference in head shape between the two models, but I’m fine with that.

VERDICT: The Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond felt just a little less forgiving. I did strike the ball out of the middle a lot – and to a distance roughly the equivalent of where my drives normally finish – but if I missed the centre of the clubface, I certainly knew about it. It gave me a pretty low ball flight, which wasn’t ideal as even good drives seemed to ‘knuckle’ low through the air rather than arc nicely, although I have to admit there was no loss of distance; just a different flight. The clubface felt hard at impact so perhaps it was not the right adjustability configuration for me. The Big Bertha Alpha 816 would be a terrific club for elite ball-strikers.

WHAT I LIKED: The look of the club is really impressive.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: I just never felt comfortable with the ball flight.

MODEL AND SHAFT PLAYED: Callaway Great Big Bertha 10.5° driver, fitted with a regular-flex graphite shaft. The sliding weight was set to ‘draw’; the OptiFit hosel was retained in neutral settings.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: It’s a good looking driver. The clubhead is appealing, it sits well at address, I like the grip and the overall weight of the club feels good. I like the idea of the slide weight at the back of the clubhead. I slice the ball so will be curious to see if setting it to ‘draw’ helps me at all.

VERDICT: I hit the Callaway Great Big Bertha really well. I struggled to generate much height with the first couple of drives but I drove it so much straighter than usual. I didn’t get the ball to draw but I found I could hit the ball without the little fade I usually hit. The happy by-product of this was hitting drives a good 20 to 25 metres longer. And because it’s lighter than my driver, I could really swing the Great Big Bertha harder right through the ball. The more I used it, the more confidence I had in it.

WHAT I LIKED: The weight of the Great Big Bertha really suited me.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Just the lack of height, even though that improved as the round went on.

FACTS & FIGURES

SUITABILITY: The Great Big Bertha driver is suited to all golfers. The Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond model is aimed at better players with faster swing speeds.

SHAFTS: Available with either Mitsubishi’s Bassara E42, Kuro Kage Black TiNi 50 or Diamana D+ 70 shafts, or Fujikura’s Speeder Evolution TS 665.

LOFTS: Available in 9° and 10.5° (plus a 13.5° version in the Great Big Bertha only).

LEFT-HANDED MODELS?: Yes.

HOW MUCH?: $650 or $725 for the Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond model.

CALLAWAY SAYS: “The Great Big Bertha driver from Callaway is back, with a multi-dimensional design that features a low centre of gravity and high moment of inertia to deliver distance with forgiveness. The light, fast, stable chassis is the key to generating higher clubhead speed. The Great Big Bertha also offers virtually unlimited draw and fade bias options – all without sacrificing forgiveness. Like the perimeter weighting track, Callaway’s OptiFit hosel provides simple adjustability by allowing you to choose from eight different configurations to tune loft, lie, and face angle.

“The Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond driver is built for high-calibre players looking for the ultimate combination of extreme distance and shot-shaping control in a sleek, traditional shape. The all-new Dual Distance Chambers allow Callaway’s Gravity Core to work as a distance turbo charger. Golfers simply choose to put the Gravity Core in either the left or right chamber for a draw or neutral setting, and flip it up or down depending on where their normal impact location is on the face. More weight behind the impact location equals more ball speed and more distance.”

Contact Callaway Golf on 1800 217 777 or visit www.callawaygolf.com