Callaway BIG BERTHA Driver 2023 - Review

If you slice the ball, the new BIG BERTHA driver couldn’t have come at a better time.

If you don’t… go ahead and watch some cat videos because Big Bertha is not for you.

If you reflexively veer to the right of every fairway, the Big Bertha driver is designed to steer you back to the centre. And Callaway reckon you don’t even need to change a thing.

We put it to the test to prove if the Big Bertha driver really is the slice-dicer it claims to be.

Australian Release Date: 12/05/2023

WHO IS THE BIG BERTHA DRIVER FOR?

Big Bertha is a recognisable name in the Callaway ecosystem but it’s been reduced to a bit of a supporting character in recent times.

Callaway’s current premium heavyweight line-up of PARADYM, JAWS, Apex and Rogue ST all tend to favour the big, strong and powerful and get plenty of oxygen at release time.

Big Bertha doesn’t capture the spotlight to the same degree, but it is arguably one of Callaway’s most important club releases.

Its target audience is the once-a-month golfer who generally slices, duffs and chunks their way around the course.

If that sounds like you, buckle up.

BIG BERTHA DRIVER: THE TECH

While the PARADYM driver is the heavyweight prize fighter in Callaway’s range, the 2023 Big Bertha driver is a much more tenacious combatant.

It might lack the flat-out firepower of its more credentialled stablemate, but it fights well above its weight division thanks to its technical innovation and user-friendly design.

Unlike most anti-slice drivers, Callaway have not applied a massive amount of offset to the Big Bertha face.

Offset is like preventative medicine for a slice. It will help square the face to thwart a slice but won’t correct the flight of the ball.

Callaway have taken a different tack in the Big Bertha, more of a targeted anti-viral that remedies the problem much closer to the source.

The centre of gravity of the head has been lowered and shifted more towards the front of the face while some internal heel weighting has been added to produce a draw bias.

Each of those elements reduces slice spin significantly, and subsequently straightens up a ball flight.

With that in mind, it’s more accurate to say the Big Bertha driver is more of a slice-limiter than a slice-stopper.

But did it work out on the course?

BIG BERTHA DRIVER: WE TEST IT

Given my miss is generally a round-wrecking hook off the tee, the Big Bertha driver isn’t… well, it shouldn’t really be my thing.

But to be honest, it wasn’t half bad. In fact, it earned my grudging respect for the way it went about its work.

With that said, aesthetically, the Big Bertha’s stretched-out, triangular-shaped head is highly unconventional and took some getting used to.

Essentially a low-spin driver, the size of the Big Bertha is fairly monstrous compared to other low-spin driver models.

The upsized shape is clearly a comfort/confidence booster for higher handicappers and while it was too big for my liking, I could understand the logic.

The carbon fibre crown featured a flecked, light grey colour and was finished with a glimmering gloss coat (no judgment here, but I was a little surprised Callaway discontinued the visible carbon fibre weave finish that is currently trending).

There was also a thin red-and-white pinstripe running halfway around the crown’s rear perimeter, as well as the famous Callaway alignment chevron on the front. 

I’m no curmudgeon but I am a less-is-more-on-the-crown kind of golfer.

The alignment chevron just passed muster but I wasn’t convinced about the pinstriping. Apart from being a cute visual I didn’t understand why it was there and it did possess a certain Cobra Aerojet vibe.

On the flipside, there was a distinctly Stealth feel on the Big Bertha’s sole, with hues of red, black, grey and silver all appearing to various degrees.

I suppose imitation is the best form of flattery — and I may be entering nit-picking territory right now — but it’s not like the universe is running out of colours, right?

But with all due respect, the most impressive aspect of the Big Bertha is the fact that, from the exterior, there’s little to suggest it’s an anti-slice, game improvement driver.

BIG BERTHA DRIVER: SHOTS FIRED

With the driver behind the ball, the face looked like it sat slightly closed at address and gave the impression of a lower-lofted face (I was trialling the 10.5° but it looked more like 9° or less to the eye).

I suppose it was part of the anti-slice design platform, but it did seem odd given high handicappers prefer the confidence boosting sight of extra loft on a driver face.

Swinging the Big Bertha driver felt effortless; it was extremely light and while the Callaway RCH 55g shaft was much whippier than what I would normally play, it was interesting to test the club as intended for its target demographic.

The slightly closed face threw me off initially, with my first few drives susceptible to turning over and deteriorating into a hook.

Teeing the ball lower helped to neutralise the flight and, on reflection, this made sense given the heel-weighted draw bias of the Big Bertha head.

Once dialled in, I was soon hitting straight bombs. The driver felt fast off the face, although it did have a fairly meek impact sound and was one of the quieter drivers I’ve tested.

Trying to hit a fade was a challenge, which spoke of the club’s effectiveness as a slice fighter.

But in the interests of delivering a true assessment of the Big Bertha’s slice-slashing effectiveness, I decided to go against every ingrained instinct and mix it up a little.

FROM A SLICER’S PERSPECTIVE

I began looping the club over the top to set up a steep-and-across-the-line path (the lengths we go to provide a thorough and unbiased assessment, right?).

While my hands were still instinctively trying to square the face, they eventually capitulated and, against my better judgment, we were optimised for a slice.

What was noticeable immediately was the ball flight correction — cuts came out much lower and the ball flight was significantly more neutral to what you’d normally see with such an off-kilter face angle and club path.

While it is hard to quantify, the Big Bertha seemed to perform exactly like it should in slice mode — it’s not a complete slice eradicator but it did seem to straighten drives up while maximising distance.

It would’ve been interesting to test the Big Bertha with the lighter and more flexible Callaway shaft, just to see the influence a different shaft had on the level of slice correction.

But overall, I think the Big Bertha driver delivers what high handicappers and chronic slicers have been asking for since the dawn of the game: more speed, more distance and above all, more fairways hit.

BIG BERTHA VS GREAT BIG BERTHA

The clear air of the new Big Bertha release is somewhat interrupted by the fact Callaway also have a line of clubs called Great Big Bertha.

Confused? You’re not alone.

The new Big Bertha is priced for the masses. The Great Big Bertha? Not so much.

Released late in 2022, Great Big Bertha is an ultra-premium line of clubs crammed with every piece of technology Callaway has up their sleeve.

Great Big Bertha drivers, fairways, hybrids and irons all feature a lodestone of tungsten and titanium as well as two types of carbon fibre.

It’s a premium product and is priced accordingly (the phrase “customer loot grab” does spring to mind). 

The new Big Bertha is in no way a Great Big Bertha clone.

But it does share many similarities yet remains well-priced for golfers who don’t have cash to burn.

BIG BERTHA VS PARADYM X

If your Achilles heel is a persistently awful slice, playing the Big Bertha is a much better option than Callaway’s Paradym X driver.

The Big Bertha is specifically engineered to lessen the impact of the spin associated with a steep-and-across swing path to straighten up your drives.

The Paradym X is merely weighted to produce a small draw bias of around 12 yards.

THE VERDICT

WHO WILL IT SUIT?

• High handicappers who slice. Golfers who need maximum assistance from their clubs to improve performance. 

SIMILAR CLUBS

• Callaway Paradym X
• TaylorMade Stealth HD
• PING G430 SFT
• Cobra Aerojet MAX
• Mizuno ST-X 230

CALLAWAY BIG BERTHA DRIVER SPECS

• Australian Release Date: 12/05/2023
• Hand: RH/LH (12° RH only)
• Shaft: Callaway RCH graphite (45,55,65)
• Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 Soft
• 2023 Callaway BIG BERTHA Driver Lofts: 9°, 10.5°, 12°

Written by Jamie Martin Jamie Martin is currently locked in a battle to keep his handicap hovering around the mid-single digits. Despite his obvious short-game shortcomings, Jamie enjoys playing and writing about every aspect of golf and is often seen making practice swings in a mirror.