Gear: Callaway Big Bertha B-21 driver
Price: $499.99 with Callaway RCH shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet Soft grip
Specs: A titanium body and face with carbon-fiber crown and an adjustable hosel. Available in 9, 10.5 and 12.5 degrees
Available: Sept. 10
For as long as golf has been played, a slice has been the scourge of many high-scoring players. The result of swinging a driver on an out-to-in path and striking the ball with an open face, a sliced shot curves to the right (for right-handed players) because it has so much sidespin. Such a banana ball not only leaves recreational golfers in the rough or worse, it robs them of distance.
Callaway recently studied many high-handicap golfers and concluded that not only do they create excessive spin, many do not take lessons and are unlikely to change the way they swing. So Callaway designers went about creating a new driver, the Big Bertha B-21, that will not be spotted on the PGA Tour because it is optimized to help golfers who struggle with a slice.
The Big Bertha B-21 has a carbon-fiber crown that saves weight and an adjustable hosel that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the stated loft. The secret sauce that helps slicers hit straighter shots, however, is something you can’t see.
The massive titanium face was created with the help of artificial intelligence. It not only flexes efficiently at impact for more distance, it also protects ball speed better on mis-hits. That allowed Callaway engineers to shift more of the head’s overall weight forward without sacrificing stability. And that reduces spin.
Callaway positioned a significant amount of the forward weight internally in the heel area, which also should encourage the face to rotate to a more squared position on the downswing.
The combination of reduced spin off the tee with a face that closes more efficiently as it approaches the ball should lead to straighter shots for slicers. Because the ball will not peel off to the side as severely, players can expect to increase distance and hit the ball straighter.
To further increase the efficiency of the hit, Callaway designed the Big Bertha B-21 with Jailbreak Technology. Two bars inside the head connect the sole to the crown directly behind the hitting area. The bars stiffen the front of the head, so more energy goes into the ball instead of being lost in the club’s deformation.