Equipment
Callaway Big Bertha OS Irons and Hybrids
Spend enough time around golf courses and driving ranges and you’ll realize there are a few different types of golfers playing the game — everyone from the guy hitting 300-yard buttery draws to the newbie or recreational golfer who just wants to get the dang ball airborne.
Callaway’s new Big Bertha OS irons and hybrids are for the latter. Let’s take a look at the new technologies in these super-game improvement clubs, and how they can help golfers enjoy the game more.
Release: Big Bertha OS irons and hybrids will be in stores Sept. 30. They’re available for pre-order Sept. 9.
Big Bertha OS Irons
Take the back badging off of the Big Bertha irons and the structure looks a bit like Bane’s mask from the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises. Behind the face sits vertical bars, which Callaway calls an Exo-Cage. It’s made of steel to support the face of the iron at impact.
“It’s the most complex iron that we might have ever made,” said Alan Hocknell, Callaway’s Senior Vice President of R&D.
The cage design, while having a positive effect on both lateral and vertical forgiveness, is inherently a higher-CG design than what’s ideal for an iron, especially a game-improvement iron that has the goal of higher launch.
As such, Callaway added tungsten — a total of about 100 grams throughout the set — in order to keep the weight as low as possible possible in the club head, while retaining the forgiveness benefits from the Exo-Cage.
The two-piece irons also have Callaway’s next-generation Face Cup, which is thicker in the center of the face and thinner near the perimeter for higher ball speeds on off-center hits to help bad shots fly more like good shots.
Also available for slower-swing-speed players is a set that is designed with higher-than-standard lofts and lighter club weights. The difference between the irons is denoted by a different color scheme.
The Big Bertha OS irons (4-SW) sell for $1,099.99 with steel shafts (True Temper Speed Step 80) and $1,299.99 with graphite shafts (UST Recoil ES 460).
Big Bertha OS Hybrids
Also designed for a super high launch and big forgiveness are the Big Bertha OS hybrids, which are the largest hybrids in Callaway’s arsenal, according to Hocknell. In their design weight is placed extremely low and rearward, as the hybrids use mass properties to manipulate CG back.
Due to their larger head sizes, the hybrids have larger faces than any other hybrid in the Callaway stable. There’s also an adjustable hosel for those players who want to fine tune their trajectory. While the club heads and faces are large, Callaway designed the soles with relief to limit turf interaction. That means all the benefits of a large club head, without the drag from a sole that’s too big.
As with the Big Bertha OS irons, the hybrid are also available in a lighter-weight option, which will appeal to golfers with slower club head speeds. They sell for $249.99 each, and come stock with True Temper’s Speed Step 80 (steel) and UST’s Recoil ES 460 (graphite) shafts.
See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the clubs in our forum.
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/18/24): Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made.
From the seller: (@DLong72): “Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made. ?: $1150. ?? 100% milled collectors item from the limited releases commemorating when Ping putters won every major in 1988 (88 putters made). This was the model Seve Ballesteros used to win the 1988 Open Championship. Condition is brand new, never gamed, everything is in the original packaging as it came. Putter features the iconic sound slot.
Specs/ Additional Details
-100% Milled, Aluminum/Bronze Alloy (310g)
-Original Anser Design
-PING PP58 Grip
-Putter is built to standard specs.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Ping PLD Limited Anser – 1988 Open Championship – #2 of only 88 Made
This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules
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Equipment
Inside Collin Morikawa’s recent golf ball, driver, 3-wood, and “Proto” iron changes
As you probably know by now, Collin Morikawa switched putters after the first round of The Masters, and he ultimately went on to finish T3.
The putter was far from the only change he made last week, however, and his bag is continuing to change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage.
On the range of The Masters, Morikawa worked closely with Adrian Reitveld, TaylorMade’s Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, to find the perfect driver and 3-wood setups.
Morikawa started off 2024 by switching into TaylorMade’s Qi10 Max driver, but since went back to his faithful TaylorMade SIM – yes, the original SIM from 2020. Somehow, some way, it seems Morikawa always ends up back in that driver, which he used to win the 2020 PGA Championship, and the 2021 Open Championship.
At The Masters, however, Rietveld said the duo found the driver head that allowed “zero compromise” on Morikawa’s preferred fade flight and spin. To match his preferences, they landed on a TaylorMade Qi10 LS 9-degree head, and the lie angle is a touch flatter than his former SIM.
“It’s faster than his gamer, and I think what we found is it fits his desired shot shape, with zero compromise” Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the RBC Heritage.
Then, to replace his former SIM rocket 3-wood, Morikawa decided to switch into the TaylorMade Qi10 core model 13.5-degree rocket head, with an adjustable hosel.
“He likes the spin characteristics of that head,” Rietveld said. “Now he’s interesting because with Collin, you can turn up at a tournament, and you look at his 3-wood, and he’s changed the setting. One day there’s more loft on it, one day there’s less loft on it. He’s that type of guy. He’s not scared to use the adjustability of the club.
“And I think he felt our titanium head didn’t spin as low as his original SIM. So we did some work with the other head, just because he liked the feel of it. It was a little high launching, so we fit him into something with less loft. It’s a naughty little piece of equipment.”
In addition to the driver and fairway wood changes, Morikawa also debuted his new “MySymbol” jersey No. 5 TP5x golf ball at The Masters. Morikawa’s choice of symbols is likely tied to his love of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.
Not enough changes for you? There’s one more.
On Wednesday at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Morikawa was spotted with a new TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron in the bag. If you recall, it’s the same model that Rory McIlroy debuted at the 2024 Valero Texas Open.
According to Morikawa, the new Proto 4-iron will replace his old P-770 hollow-bodied 4-iron.
“I used to hit my P-770 on a string, but sometimes the distance would be a little unpredictable,” Morikawa told GolfWRX.com. “This one launches a touch higher, and I feel I can predict the distance better. I know Rory replaced his P-760 with it. I’m liking it so far.”
See Morikawa’s full WITB from the 2024 RBC Heritage here.
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Equipment
Why Rory McIlroy will likely use the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper at the RBC Heritage
Although we spotted Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper last week during practice rounds at the Masters, he ultimately didn’t decide to use the club in competition.
It seems that will change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage, played at the short-and-tight Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.
When asked on Wednesday following his morning Pro-Am if he’d be using the new, nostalgic BRNR Copper this week, McIlroy said, “I think so.”
“I like it,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday regarding the BRNR. “This would be a good week for it.”
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According to Adrian Rietveld, the Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, the BRNR Mini Driver can help McIlroy position himself properly off the tee at the tight layout.
Here’s what Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday:
“For someone like Rory, who’s that long at the top end of the bag, and then you put him on a course like Harbour Town, it’s tough off the tee. It’s tight into the greens, and you have to put yourself in position off the tee to have a shot into the green. It kind of reminds me of Valderrama in Spain, where you can be in the fairway and have no shot into the green.
“I’m caddying for Tommy [Fleetwood] this week, so I was walking the course last night and looking at a few things. There’s just such a small margin for error. You can be standing in the fairway at 300 yards and have a shot, but at 320 you don’t. So if you don’t hit a perfect shot, you could be stuck behind a tree. And then if you’re back at 280, it might be a really tough shot into the small greens.
“So for Rory [with the BRNR], it’s a nice course-specific golf club for him. He’s got both shots with it; he can move it right-to-left or left-to-right. And the main thing about this club has been the accuracy and the dispersion with it. I mean, it’s been amazing for Tommy.
“This was the first event Tommy used a BRNR last year, and I remember talking to him about it, and he said he couldn’t wait to play it at Augusta next year. And he just never took it out of the bag because he’s so comfortable with it, and hitting it off the deck.
“So you look at Rory, and you want to have the tools working to your advantage out here, and the driver could hand-cuff him a bit with all of the shots you’d have to manufacture.”
So, although McIlroy might not be making a permanent switch into the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper, he’s likely to switch into it this week.
His version is lofted at 13.5 degrees, and equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft.
See more photos of Rory testing the BRNR Mini here
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KK
Sep 8, 2016 at 7:13 pm
MOI looks insane. Gotta respect the function before form approach.
Art Williams
Sep 8, 2016 at 3:18 pm
I still play BB X12 irons with X14 Pro series wedges. All the new stuff by Callaway is like looking back to the future. The new Steelhead is nice, but this BB looks a bit clunky, even by X12 standards.
PR
Sep 8, 2016 at 6:42 pm
But the technology is miles ahead of what they had in the X12 or X14 or any time before the 360 face cup.
About the only one I would bring up is the original Fusion irons with the Ti face insert. That thing was butter.
Sado Mas Izzle
Sep 8, 2016 at 10:56 am
Stunning! So much fun!
Mark
Sep 7, 2016 at 4:09 pm
I have shovels in my garage that look more attractive.
Jon
Sep 7, 2016 at 10:32 am
Such seemingly great technology wrapped in insanely ugly irons! Why couldn’t Callaway tone down the nasty lettering/patterns on the back of the irons..
msmizzllee
Sep 7, 2016 at 9:02 am
enough already. $1300 a set for the average player (at best)?
George
Sep 7, 2016 at 8:18 am
Pretty ugly
Tom
Sep 7, 2016 at 11:17 am
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
BD57
Sep 7, 2016 at 9:33 pm
When you paint, do you look at the paint brush or what you’re painting?
if they paint a pretty scorecard, they’ll become beautiful quick enough.
peter collins
Sep 8, 2016 at 9:42 am
LOVE your comments