Jon Rahm won the 2023 Masters Tournament using a new Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver and a prototype Paradym Triple Diamond 3-wood. Both are clubs designed for fast-swinging golfers who want to shape shots around the course and who have powerful, repeatable swings.
For golfers on the other side of the spectrum, Callaway has prided itself on offering game-improvement and max game-improvement clubs that are made to deliver more distance and forgiveness, often giving them the hallowed moniker of Big Bertha. The brand released the Big Bertha B21 woods and irons in the fall of 2020, and last October saw the debut of an ultra-premium offering for slower-swinging players, the Great Big Bertha line. Now it is releasing the new Big Bertha 2023 family of woods and irons.
Big Bertha driver
Price: $499.99 each with Callaway RCH 45/55/65 graphite shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 Soft grip.
Specs: Titanium body and face with carbon fiber crown and adjustable hosel. Lofts – 9, 10.5 and 12 degrees
When it comes to driving, the two most-common shortcomings for golfers who make more bogeys and double-bogeys than pars are a lack of distance and a slice. With the Big Bertha driver, Callaway is tackling both of those challenges with a combination of technologies.
The common recipe for a slice-killing driver is to add extra weight in the heel, pull the center of gravity back and possibly design the club with offset. While there is a weight in the heel area to encourage the face to close more easily on the downswing, Callaway’s designers went in a different direction by shifting the center of gravity forward and down, which lowers the spin rates overall by 400-500 rpm compared to similar drivers. The idea is that if you lower the overall spin (and the sidespin), you reduce the severity of the slice, so shots fly straighter and go farther.
On the top of the triangular-shaped head, Callaway added a triaxial carbon fiber crown to reduce weight. Inside the head, behind the large titanium face, engineers added the same Y-shaped Jackbreak system that is found in the new Paradym drivers. It stiffens the chassis at the moment of impact to create a more efficient transfer of energy and increased distance.
The adjustable hosel allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the loft by up to 2 degrees, so while the Big Bertha is a lower spinning driver than many high-handicap golfers may have played in the past, they should be able to get the ball up easily using loft instead of backspin, and Callaway claims that should translate to straighter, longer drives.
Big Bertha fairway woods
Price: $299.99 each with Callaway RCH 45/55/65/75 graphite shafts and Callaway Universal grips.
Specs: Cast stainless steel body with carbon fiber crown, internal support beams and adjustable hosel. Lofts – 3W (16 degrees), 5W (19 degrees), 7W (22 degrees), 9W (25 degrees), Heavenwood (21 degrees)
With the Big Bertha driver, Callaway wanted to help golfers straighten their slice and get more distance, but with the fairway woods, the goal was to make clubs that are easy to hit for golfers who top the ball, hit shots fat and struggle to get the ball off the ground.
While the triangular shape is reminiscent of the driver, the Big Bertha fairway woods have an extremely shallow face that is designed to get the leading edge under the ball and instill confidence.
To lower the center of gravity and further encourage high-launching shots, Callaway designed the Big Bertha fairway woods with a lightweight carbon fiber crown and added a tungsten bar behind the stainless steel cup face.
The 3-wood and 5-wood have been designed with adjustable hosels that allow players and fitters to increase or decrease the loft by up to 2 degrees, and Callaway designed each club to be shorter than standard to help golfers increase consistency and make higher-quality strikes.
Big Bertha hybrids
Price: $259.99 each with Callaway RCH 65 graphite shafts and Callaway Universal grips.
Specs: Cast stainless steel body with carbon fiber crown, internal support beams and adjustable hosel. Lofts – 3H (19 degrees), 4H (21 degrees), 5H (24 degrees), 6H (27 degrees), 7H (30 degrees), 8H (33 degrees), 9H (36 degrees)
Golfers who are in the market for their first set of clubs or who struggle to make solid contact with their irons have no business carrying a 3-iron or 4-iron, and they would probably be wise to not carry a 5-iron either. Hybrid clubs, with their wide soles and added forgiveness, are a much smarter choice, so Callaway created seven different Big Bertha hybrids and gave each an adjustable hosel so players and fitters can increase or decrease the lofts by up to 2 degrees and find the ideal gapping for every player.
The Big Bertha hybrids have been designed with a carbon fiber crown to reduce weight on the top of the club. The lighter top combines with an internal tungsten bar inside the head to lower the center of gravity and encourage higher-flying shots that land softly on the greens.
To enhance ball speed, Callaway designed the Big Bertha hybrids with a 455 stainless steel cup face and Jailbreak technology. Referred to as Batwing, it is an internal support structure in the toe of the club that stiffens the sole and crown and impact, so the energy that is created when the face strikes the ball is not lost in the deformation of the head, but instead is redirected back into the shot.
Big Bertha irons
Price: $999.99 (six clubs) with True Temper Elevate 85 steel shafts; $1,099.99 with Callaway RCH 65 graphite shafts and Callaway Universal grips.
Specs: Cast stainless steel body with 450 stainless steel cup face, internal and external tungsten weights and internal urethane microspheres
Accomplished golfers who love to feather a high-fade over a bunker to a ticked flag typically want to see a thin topline and minimal offset, but golfers who shoot in the 90s and 100s are looking for clubs that are visually reassuring. Thicker toplines, longer blade lengths, wide soles and ample offset can inspire confidence, and you get that in the Big Bertha irons, but the triple PVD finish adds a premium look to these clubs.
To enhance distance, Callaway gave the Big Bertha irons a hollow-body design and a cast, 450 stainless steel face cup that was crafted using artificial intelligence. The supercomputers strategically made thin and thick regions in the hitting area, which when combined with the cup face, enlarge the sweet spot and help to protect ball speed on mis-hits.
Inside each head is a large tungsten weight in the toe area that is encased in urethane microspheres. The weight varies by club – but gets as heavy as 43 grams – and helps to lower the center of gravity location and encourage a higher launch angle. The urethane microspheres, absorb excessive vibrations to improve sound and feel.
A second tungsten weight, that is visible on the back of the club, helps to shift the center of gravity back, away from the face, to increase the moment of inertia and boost stability.
The Callaway Big Bertha irons have strong lofts, to help golfers get more distance, but with the low-and-back center of gravity location, they can still hit high-flying shots. But while the 5-iron has 21 degrees of loft and the set’s pitching wedge has 42 degrees of loft, according to Callaway, the Big Bertha irons are the highest-launching irons the company makes.
