Equipment

Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 Fairway Woods and Hybrids

Published

11 years ago

Jan 2, 2015

We’ve reached the point where one fairway wood isn’t just one fairway wood anymore. Callaway’s Big Bertha Alpha 815 fairway woods have two adjustable weights in their soles that allow them to perform like two completely different clubs.

Position the club’s 30-gram weight in its front weight port and its 3-gram weight in its rear weight port, and it will create a lower-spinning ball flight. Flip the orientation of the weights, and the ball flight will have more spin — and the club will have more forgiveness.

Think of the heavy-weight-forward configuration as the fairway wood equivalent of Callaway’s Big Bertha Alpha 815 Double Black Diamond driver — its more forward center of gravity sacrifices some forgiveness for less spin, which can create more distance for some players.

The 815 fairway woods have a compact shape that was inspired by Callaway’s 2014 Big Bertha Pro fairway wood, a tour-only product that was used by several Callaway Staff players including Patrick Reed and Gary Woodland. You don’t have to be a tour player to use the 815 fairway woods, but better players will see the most benefit from their smaller, tour-inspired head design — particularly in the lower lofts.

The 815 fairway woods use Callaway’s Forged Hyper Speed Face Cup that improves ball speed on shots struck across the clubface. They also have Callaway’s OptiFit Hosel, which allows golfers to choose one of eight loft and lie settings.

Does the technology work? In my testing, the heavy-weight-forward configuration created a very impressive 800 rpm less spin than the more forgiving configuration. Not all golfers will see that big of a difference, but the combination of the 815’s adjustable weights, adjustable hosel and three different loft options makes custom fitting (and tinkering) a breeze.

The Big Bertha Alpha 815 Fairway Woods ($299 — in stores Jan. 16, 2015) are available in lofts of 14, 16 and 18 degrees. They come stock with either Fujikura’s Motore Speeder 665 shaft (L, R, S and X flexes) and Aldila’s Rogue Silver 70 (R, S and X flexes).

Testing Tips: Golfers with very fast swing speeds (105+ mph) will want to try the 16-degree model with the heavy weight forward. For me, it launched extremely high because of its 4-wood loft, but had a spin rate that was similar to a 12-or-13-degree fairway wood.

Lower-swing-speed golfers, or those who use two fairway woods, will want to try the 14- and 18-degree models with the heavy weights back.

Big Bertha Alpha 815 Hybrids

Callaway’s X2 Hot hybrids woods swept our 2014 Gear Trials: Best Hybrids list, earning awards in our Distance-First, Forgiveness-First and Balanced Performance categories. One of our few complaints? They weren’t adjustable.

Callaway’s new Big Bertha Alpha 815 Hybrids are adjustable, and like the X2 Hot hybrids include a Forged Hyper Speed Face Cup for top-notch ball speeds. They’re most similar in design to Callaway’s X2 Hot Pro, with a compact shape, minimal offset and a low, forward center of gravity for a penetrating trajectory.

The Big Bertha Alpha 815 hybrids ($249 — in stores Jan. 16, 2015) are available in three lofts: 18 (2H), 20 (3H) and 23 (4H). They come stock with Fujikura’s Speeder 865 shaft (R, S and X flexes).

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

16 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.

Joel Thelen

Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.

First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.

Mitchell Meissner

Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.

Whats in the Bag

Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)

Published

16 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.

Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX

7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX

Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

See more in-hand photos of Bud Cauley’s clubs here.

Equipment

Name every set of irons you’ve owned – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

16 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.

@Lamosteve began:

Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine

Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6

Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”

Entire Thread: “Name every set of irons you’ve owned.”