YOUR
GEAR - TESTED
CALLAWAY ‘THE BRAND’
Callaway built its brand on the popularity of the original Big Bertha
driver. Just about every golfer either played one or at least has
heard of the Big Bertha driver. It turned Callaway into “the” brand
of metal woods for many years. When Callaway announced that
in 2014 they were going to resurrect that name, they clearly had
huge shoes to fill. The new Big Bertha Alpha is touted as their most
advanced driver to date and has the physics to back it up. They
are using Sir Isaac Newton (as they did originally) as part of their
tag line, “You can’t argue with physics”. While we all try to keep
ourselves from getting sucked into marketing speak, I won’t argue
with my results when it comes to the Callaway Big Bertha Alpha.
The nuts and bolts of the Big Bertha Alpha are the adjustable CG
Gravity Core, heel and toe weights, as well as an adjustable hosel.
The plethora of adjustments is mind boggling. The standard loft of
9.0* can be adjusted at the hosel and the standard swingweight
of D3 can also be changed via weights. It comes with a high end,
real deal, stock shaft; the Fubuki Zeta Tour Shaft. The colors are
Blue, Red and White. The Golf Pride Dual Compound grip rounds
out the complete package. The headcover is quite extravagant
too with the multiple colors and faux gravity core. All-in-all the
Callaway Big Bertha Alpha is an impressive driver just sitting there.
Marketing talk and fancy adjustments aren’t going to win any
club championships or a spot in the bag if it doesn’t live up to the
hype. I’m as skeptical as anyone. I took the Big Bertha Alpha to the
course for my first spring round in MN and the ground was still
fairly soft which I figured gave me a good test of how the distance
of this driver was. The first hole is a pretty straight forward par 4
playing 377. My first whack left me 70 yards from the pin in the
fairway. Roughly 307 yards with the 1st swing will sell just about
anyone on a driver. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe it was a fluke, so
the next driver hole is a par 5 slightly uphill and into a slight breeze.
Found the center of the fairway at 285 off the tee. This is long for
me, I typically average 265-270 tota