Callaway’s Great Big Bertha and Big Bertha Alpha 816 fairway woods were designed to make the game easier for an overwhelming majority of the golfing population, yet still deliver tailored performance for special cases. The trick was designing two distinct club heads that covered the needs of most golfers, and then adding enough models and adjustability to account for everyone else.

Typical users of the Great Big Bertha are those who want their shots to fly higher and straighter, while the Big Bertha Alpha 816 targets golfers who want maximum distance or the ability to adjust their launch conditions.

Here’s what else you need to know about the fairway woods.

Big Bertha Alpha 816 ($279)

• Lofts: 14 and 16 degrees (RH, LH), 18 degrees (RH only)
• Shaft: Aldila Rogue I/O 70 (R, S, X), Mitsubishi Rayon D+ 70 (S, X)
• Length: 43 inches
• In stores: September 18

There’s a reason the Big Bertha Alpha 816 fairway wood doesn’t have the words Double Black Diamond in its name. Unlike the Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond driver, you don’t need to be an accomplished golfer to use it.

[quote_box_center]“The Alpha 816 driver is for the better player, but the fairway wood is not,” said Evan Gibbs, Manager of Product Performance for Callaway. “It can be configured for the best players, but it’s arguably our best performing fairway wood for everyone.”[/quote_box_center]

The Alpha 816 fairway woods can work for two different types of golfers because of their dual center of gravity (CG) positions, which are made possible by two weights that can be installed in either of the two weight ports on the sole of the clubs. One of the weights is heavy (16 grams), while the other is light (3 grams).

Position the heavy weight in the back weight port (the one farthest from the club face), and the club will have a rearward CG that will create maximum forgiveness on off-center hits and a higher peak trajectory. Flip the orientation of the weights, and the club will have a forward CG for a flatter, lower-spinning trajectory that creates the potential for more distance. While forward-CG fairway woods are not as forgiving as rearward-CG designs, they can bring previously unreachable par-4s or par-5s into range, and they also tend to be more workable if you’re a shot shaper.

Last year’s Big Bertha Alpha 815 fairway wood from Callaway also had two CG positions, but Gibbs said there was room for improvement. The 815’s club head was smaller, so there was less space between the weight ports. The weights themselves were also different – one was 30 grams, and the other was 3 grams. Feedback from tour players was that trajectory differences were too extreme: the forward-weight position launched the ball too low, while the rear-weight position launched the ball with too much spin.

The fix began with a larger club head, which allowed engineers create more separation between the weights. Then they went about optimizing the trajectory of each CG location, which was aided by the addition of a Forged Composite Crown. The lighter structure, which is a first in a Callaway fairway wood, allowed engineers to move several grams of weight lower in the club head to create a higher launch and less spin. That’s a win-win for fairway wood design.

The Big Bertha Alpha 816 fairway woods measure about 165 cubic centimeters, depending on loft. They use Callaway’s Forged Hyper Speed Face Cup, the same technology found in the company’s XR fairway woods — top-rated clubs on our 2015 Gear Trials: Best Fairway Woods list.

Great Big Bertha ($249) 

• Lofts: 3 Wood (15.5), 5 Wood (18), 7 Wood (21), Heavenwood (20.5), Divine 9 (24)
• Stock Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Black (50-gram range: L, R, S, X)
• Length: 43 inches
• In stores: August 28

The Great Big Bertha fairway woods are designed for golfers whose needs aren’t complicated; they want to hit their fairway woods higher and straighter more often.

To that end, the Great Big Bertha is Callaway’s most forgiving fairway wood. It’s large, lightweight, and has a low profile that makes it easy-to-hit from a variety of lies. It’s also designed to fly higher than the Big Bertha Alpha 816, offering the higher launch angle and additional spin that will lead to longer carry distances for golfers with slower swing speeds.

[quote_box_center]“Great Big Bertha is spinnier than XR, and probably our ‘spinniest’ fairway wood,” Gibbs said. “We don’t see these clubs being used by our best players or high swing speed players.”[/quote_box_center]

In the spirit of helping non-elite golfers hit better shots, Callaway made the Great Big Bertha in a unique configuration called a “Heavenwood,” which has the loft of a 7 wood but the length and head size of a 4 wood.

The Heavenwood’s 20.5-degree loft offers golfers a higher launch angle, while the larger head and longer shaft create more forgiveness and swing speed. In the past, the model has been a popular one for golfers who have slow swings, as well as those who struggle to get their fairway woods airborne.

The Great Big Bertha 3 wood, 5 wood and Heavenwood use Callaway’s Advanced Opti-Fit adjustable hosel, which gives golfers a 3-degree loft range and two independent lie angles. The 7 Wood and Divine 9 are not adjustable.

Related

• See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the Great Big Bertha and Alpha 816 fairway woods in our forum.
• Callaway’s Great Big Bertha Driver: What you need to know.
• Callaway’s Big Bertha Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond Driver: What you need to know.