At a glance
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- RRP£399.00
What we say...
Technology: The world’s first driver with an adjustable centre of gravity via a “Gravity Core”. Adjustable in three other ways: two sole weights and loft and lie via the OptiFit hosel.
Looks: This driver boasts the tallest face Callaway has ever produced. With that, the head is much shorter from front to back with no alignment aid on the crown, better suited to better players who want to shape the ball.
This driver is great for players that want the spin control and adjustability of the 2014 Alpha, but need a little bit of that Big Bertha forgiveness. RMOTO Face The RMOTO face design saves weight to move the CG lower for added forgiveness while providing higher ball speeds across the face. The head of the new Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 driver looks fantastic behind the ball. It’s as understated as a large modern driver head can be. The look at address becomes even more.
Feel/sound: Off the face, the sensation wasn’t overly different to the Big Bertha due to the similarities in construction. Fast and satisfying on a variety of strike points.
Forgiveness: The shape of the face means there’s more leeway above and below the sweetspot rather than to the side of it. This allowed me to tee the ball a fraction higher and swing more freely, not worrying about catching the roof of the driver, and hit more up on the ball and strike it above the CG, both factors helping to reduce spin.
Performance: Placing the heavier end of the Gravity Core low in the head, the position most better players will choose, did reduce my spin by around 200rpm on average and increase my carry slightly. It can be a touch fiddly – I found myself scrounging around in the grass looking for the cap a few times – and remember not to wait for the same click you get when tightening the hosel. But this really is the total package for better players who want distance and versatility, with the ability to fine-tune their flight with ease.
How To Adjust Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Driver Shaft
>> Click here to find out how the Callaway Big Bertha Alpha scored in The Drivers Test 2014.
Meet the world’s first driver with an adjustable centre of gravity. It’s the most adjustable driver ever, with four ways to tweak it – via weights to promote a draw or a fade; loft and lie via the OptiFit hosel; the vertical centre of gravity via the Gravity Core, the heart of the club. This lightweight, glass-fibre rod is just over two inches long. It has a 10.5 gram tungsten weight on one end, which lets you alter the vertical centre of gravity. How? When the tungsten weight is placed closest to the sole (giving a low CG), it should create a flatter, more penetrating trajectory with less spin and more roll. Turn it round, and it creates a mid-CG with more spin and, Callaway says, a “more controlled” ball flight. According to Callaway, changing the core results in an average of 300rpm less spin, though some tests have shown twice that.
The Key Features:
Gravity Control Adjustability
For the first time ever, the Big Bertha Alpha’s Gravity Core lets golfers adjust spin independently of launch angle, a natural (and dramatic) extension to loft adjustability in a driver head. This adjustability breaks the fixed relationship between launch angle and backspin for the first time, providing a major asset in the fitting process to find optimal distance for a wide range of players’ abilities. The Gravity Core sits within the club head in a carbon tube that connects the crown and sole. It has a tungsten end, weighing 10.5g, and a glass fibre reinforced body, weighing just 1.5g. The gravity core can be inserted into the club head two different ways, which allows golfers to change the vertical centre of gravity and alter the spin rates based on how it is positioned. When the tungsten end is closest to the sole, it will create a lower centre of gravity and lower backspin. When the tungsten end is inserted first and therefore closer to the crown, it creates more of a mid-CG position. Generally, players with above average head speeds or those who are trying to prevent excessive spin will benefit from the lower centre of gravity, which a creates a flatter, more penetrating trajectory accompanied by more roll out. For those looking for a more controlled and workable ball flight and less roll out, the mid CG position is recommended. Player testing has shown as much as a 600rpm spin differential between the two Gravity Core settings without a change in loft.
Hyper Speed Face
Hyper Speed Face technology is predicated on a deep understanding of the probability of where players’ impact locations will be across a driver face, and uses an optimisation code based on huge amounts of impact data to help determine the thickness profile of the face. The result is an extremely lightweight and robust face that helps deliver more ball speed where players need it most.
Advanced Adjustable Hosel
Big Bertha enables golfers to independently adjust loft and lie angle to help translate the added ball speed into more distance. Golfers can chose from four different lofts (from -1 to +2) to optimise launch angle and backspin and two different lies, denoted by 'D' for Draw and 'N' for Neutral, to optimise the directional bias. Together, these provide eight unique combinations that help golfers optimise their distance and dispersion. Callaway’s proprietary hosel technology is also the only adjustable hosel to achieve changes in loft and/or lie without having to rotate the shaft (and graphics) on its axis between settings. CG Bias Big Bertha Alpha also enables golfers to make adjustments to CG bias, which helps influence the shot shape. Big Bertha Alpha has a screw port in the heel and toe of the body and comes with 4 interchangeable weights: 1g, 3g, 5g, and 7g. This gives golfers a ton of flexibility in controlling both the shot shape and overall head weight. See, we weren’t kidding when we told you this was the most comprehensive fitting platform ever.
The 7g and 1g screws are installed as standard.
Swing Weight Adjustment
Big Bertha Alpha’s swing weight can be adjusted from D0 to D5 with the standard installed screws achieving a D3 swingweight.
Forged Composite
Big Bertha Alpha’s crown is made of this high strength, lightweight material, which allows Callaway to offer three forms of adjustability while maintaining a very playable D3 swing weight.
Who is this driver for?
The Big Bertha Alpha Driver spans a multiple segments of the player population due to its incredible flexibility and adjustability for individual golfers. With the Gravity Core in the Low CG position of Big Bertha Alpha, the driver has a Low Spin Focus. This is best suited for Tour players and highly skilled amateurs with above average clubhead speeds who consistently hit the ball on the centre of the driver face. These players often prefer low spinning drivers to produce flatter drives that typically result in more roll, depending on course conditions. This driver is also a great choice for better players who hit down on the ball, producing extra, unwanted backspin that robs them of ball speed and distance. With the Gravity Core in the Higher CG position in Big Bertha Alpha, the driver delivers more distance through a balance of the CG placement, low-to-mid spin and higher MOI. This configuration is best for players who want a total balance of distance, forgiveness and consistent control, even on off-centre hits.
Product Information
Left Handed available | Yes |
Custom-Fit available | Yes |
Adjustability | Yes |
Grip Type | Golf Pride |
Head Size | 460cc |
Lofts | 8.0-11.0°, 9.5-12.5° |
Shafts | Mitsubishi Rayon Fubuki ZT |
Related Equipment Reviews
In early 2014, Callaway released the Big Bertha Alpha driver. With it, they introduced the ability to adjust a driver’s center of gravity up or down through their patented Gravity Core. While this was an innovation in driver adjustability, the club itself didn’t really find its way into the hands of the masses.
The second generation of the Big Bertha Alpha is here, with the introduction of the Big Bertha Alpha 815. Callaway claims that this club establishes a new driver category: a driver that maximizes distance with low spin and is still forgiving. It’s a pretty bold claim by Callaway, but they feel that they have created a driver that will be a good fit for most golfers.
Is it the real deal, or just marketing hype? Read on, to find out.
Technology and Design
The Gravity Core is back. It’s a moveable weight that inserts into the center of the clubhead that allows you to change the location of the club’s center of gravity vertically. With the heavy end of the weight down (towards the sole), the CoG is lower in the clubhead, which reduces spin. When the heavy end of the weight is up (towards the crown), the opposite effect occurs. This allows for spin characteristics of the club to be adjusted independently of the loft.
Technology and Design
The Gravity Core is back. It’s a moveable weight that inserts into the center of the clubhead that allows you to change the location of the club’s center of gravity vertically. With the heavy end of the weight down (towards the sole), the CoG is lower in the clubhead, which reduces spin. When the heavy end of the weight is up (towards the crown), the opposite effect occurs. This allows for spin characteristics of the club to be adjusted independently of the loft.
This gives clubfitters more options to optimize launch conditions. Some people, for example, need to increase loft to increase their launch angle, but they generate too much backspin and end up hitting the ball too high, causing a loss of distance. By changing the Gravity Core down, they will be able to increase the loft of the club and reduce the spin. Another golfer might need more spin, but their launch angle is fine. By turning the Gravity Core up, they can achieve this without manipulating the loft. Thus, the same club can help different golfers with different needs.
Along with the Gravity Core, the Big Bertha Alpha 815 has two adjustable weights on the sole of the club, located towards the heel and toe. One is 7g and the other is 1g. Switching these two weights around allows for adjustment of the CoG slightly for a fade or draw bias. The default position has the 7g weight in the heel, but if you tend to miss your drives towards the toe, the weights can be switched around so that your toe shots are closer to the sweetspot.
Something new on the Big Bertha Alpha 815 that was not its predecessor is the R-Moto Face Technology. Callaway describes this as basically a series of ribs that connects the top of the clubface to the crown and the bottom of the clubface to the sole. This allows the face to be made lighter while creating more stability in the outer boundaries of the face, increasing ball speeds on off-center hits.
The Big Bertha Alpha 815 is also composed of a number of different materials, including Callaway’s forged composite crown, in key locations throughout the clubhead. Combined with the additional weight that was “saved” from the face and distributed elsewhere on the clubhead, Callaway’s engineers are able to increase the moment of inertia of the club. This technology is part of what makes the Big Bertha Alpha 815 so forgiving.
The Big Bertha Alpha 815 also features Callaway’s OptiFit adjustable hosel. There are four possible loft settings, from -1° to +2°, in 1° increments. There are also two lie angle settings, Neutral and Draw bias, for a total of eight possible combinations. Adjusting the hosel is as simple as removing the screw holding the clubhead to the shaft, twisting the hosel cogs to the desired setting, and putting the club back together.
Esthetics
For all its bells and whistles, the Big Bertha Alpha 815 is a fairly traditional-looking club. It has a pear-shaped head that’s a little bit wide from the clubface to the back of the club. The top of the club has a glossy black finish with a small silver Callaway chevron as an alignment aid. It lines up neutral at address.
For all its bells and whistles, the Big Bertha Alpha 815 is a fairly traditional-looking club. It has a pear-shaped head that’s a little bit wide from the clubface to the back of the club. The top of the club has a glossy black finish with a small silver Callaway chevron as an alignment aid. It lines up neutral at address.
The sole of the club is a little busier. Right about in the center is the plug for the gravity core. Just to the side of it, towards the clubface, is the visible part of the R-Moto technology. Both of these features are labeled. The adjustable weight ports are located on the heel and toe side of the gravity core, towards the back slightly. The rest of the design on the sole is stylistic and branding, with Callaway’s logo on the toe of the club, “Big Bertha Alpha” displayed prominently in the back center part of the club, and 815 towards the heel. The overall design has a futuristic/industrial vibe to it.
The club that I reviewed came with a Fujikura Speeder 565 shaft, which is white with silver and red lettering. Callaway did a nice job of matching that with a red and grey (scarlet/platinum, officially) Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound grip. Everything matches well with the color scheme.
I like the overall look of the club. It’s not flashy or gaudy, and there’s nothing on it that looks gimmicky. If I was forced to find something I dislike about the looks, it would have to be the “X” marking on the center of the clubface which Callaway has been putting on its drivers in some form for a while. You can’t see much of it at address, so if you don’t like it, no big deal. I’m also not a fan of the headcover. I think it looks like a boxing glove. Neither of these are deal breakers for me.
Club Specifications
The Big Bertha Alpha 815 comes in 9°, 10.5°, and 12° models. As mentioned earlier, they all feature Callaway’s OptiFit hosel which allows the loft and lie angles to be adjusted further. The driver features a 460cc head and stock length is 45.5”.
The Big Bertha Alpha 815 comes in 9°, 10.5°, and 12° models. As mentioned earlier, they all feature Callaway’s OptiFit hosel which allows the loft and lie angles to be adjusted further. The driver features a 460cc head and stock length is 45.5”.
The club comes with premium aftermarket shafts. You can choose the Fujikura Motore Speeder 565, Fujikura Motore Speeder 665, or Mitsubishi Diamana S+ 60. Callaway also offers a number of other premium shafts at no additional charge. MSRP is $449.
Performance
I’ve been struggling with my driver for most of the past season. Too much backspin was one of my bigger problems driving the ball this year. Even on good hits, the ball would balloon up and drop with very little roll. Callaway claims the Big Bertha Alpha 815 is the perfect combination of low spin and forgiveness, with adjustability that can fit anyone’s swing. I really wanted to see how legitimate this claim was, so I took it out to a simulator as soon as I could.
I’ve been struggling with my driver for most of the past season. Too much backspin was one of my bigger problems driving the ball this year. Even on good hits, the ball would balloon up and drop with very little roll. Callaway claims the Big Bertha Alpha 815 is the perfect combination of low spin and forgiveness, with adjustability that can fit anyone’s swing. I really wanted to see how legitimate this claim was, so I took it out to a simulator as soon as I could.
I left it in the original setting, 9° and neutral lie. In a side-by-side comparison with my current 10.5° Adams Speedline 9064LS, the Big Bertha Alpha 815 was longer. Despite being lower lofted, it launched at about the same angle, but with an average of 600rpm less spin, which resulted in more distance. On individual shots, I could still mis-hit it to over 3,600rpm, but the overall average seemed to be in its favor.
Based on the simulator, I couldn’t decide if it was more forgiving than my old driver. I was able to hit both clubs to roughly the same sized distribution circle, which actually says a lot about how forgiving the Big Bertha Alpha 815 is, considering that it is a low-spinning driver. It’s not the most forgiving driver in the market, but it certainly is one of the most forgiving low-spin drivers I’ve hit.
I was actually pretty happy with the results, but I wanted to play around with the adjustability, so I tried it in a bunch of different settings. I found that the OptiFit hosel was very easy to change. I was a little confused at first when I was looking for the settings on the two cogs, but once I realized that the loft and lie settings are on both of them (as opposed to one cog being solely responsible for loft and the other for lie, like I assumed), it gave me no trouble at all. The Gravity Core is also easy to remove by removing the plug, flipping it around, dropping it back in, and replacing the plug. I did not change the movable weights. My miss is typically towards the heel, so I left them in their original positions.
Used Callaway Big Bertha Drivers
What I also learned from making all the adjustments is that this is a really customizable club. I can see how it can help different people’s needs. I mentioned that I needed less spin on my drives, but I could certainly benefit from more forgiveness as well, so I tested the Big Bertha Alpha 815 with the Gravity Core in the up position. I gained an average of 400rpm from that adjustment while maintaining a similar launch angle, as advertised. This made the club more forgiving and increased my ball speeds, but the increase in spin actually hurt my distance numbers. I actually ended up with the club at the +2° setting (making the club 11°) with the Gravity Core in the low spin position (down). This gave me the most consistent numbers.
I liked the way the Big Bertha Alpha 815 feels, too. Even though the Callaway and my Adams are both listed as D3, the Big Bertha Alpha 815 head just feels a bit heavier. That’s a good thing for me because it gives me better feedback throughout the swing. I tend to take the clubhead too far inside on the takeaway and the heavier head feels a little more awkward in that position.
The sound of the club at impact took a little getting used to. My old driver has a loud, high-pitched pop sound when it strikes the ball. The Big Bertha Alpha 815 has a more muted sound to it, sort of like the sound I get out of my 3 wood. I’d say it sounds more like a solid club hitting a ball, whereas the Adams sounds like a hollow club hitting a ball. I never really noticed how jarring the sound was at impact until I compared the two side-by-side. I like the sound the Big Bertha Alpha 815 makes much better.
On the range, I was able to see exactly what the difference the Big Bertha Alpha 815 was. Like the simulator results, the ball launched at similar trajectories with both clubs, but the Big Bertha Alpha 815 had more of a boring, penetrating flight. The ball was lower at it’s peak, which is a good thing for me, and it descended on a flatter angle, meaning the potential for more roll is there.
Contrary to the findings on the simulator, I did find the Big Bertha Alpha 815 on the range to be more forgiving. Because of the prior results, I was surprised to see pretty decent shots on slight mis-hits. I lost less yardage compared to my old driver on similar shots and hit fewer wild off-line shots (OB drives). I did have a couple of shots that didn’t spin enough to keep it airborne for very long and came up well short of what I expected them to. I think the other positives out-weighed those shots, though.
Conclusion
Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Adjustments
I like the Big Bertha Alpha 815. It looks, sounds, and feels good. It delivers on Callaway’s promise of being low-spin and forgiving. It’s not going to be the industry leader in either category, but it balances the two well.
Adjust Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Driver
The club is $449, so it’s not cheap, but you are getting a premium shaft and a clubhead that’s highly customizable and loaded with technology. It is one of the few clubs in the market that allows you to adjust spin independent of loft. You’re getting your money’s worth.
How Do You Adjust A Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Driver
I do believe what Callaway claims, that this club could be a good fit for most people. If you’re in the market for a new driver, I think you should give the Big Bertha Alpha 815 a try.