Callaway Epic Driver – Specs, Comparison And Reviews
So, you are considering buying a Callaway Epic driver. Is it worth it?
The Callaway Golf Company has one of the best reputations as a golf equipment manufacturer and for good reason.
Their golf clubs, golf balls, and customer service are typically top notch. Does this trend continue with their “Epic” driver? The Callaway Epic driver has a big name to live up to.
In this article, we will go over the specifications (specs) of the golf club as well as see what other people have to say about it.
Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic Driver Overview
The Callaway Epic driver retails for $499. It was the Golf Digest Hot List Gold Medal Winner.
The full name of the Callaway Epic driver is the Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic driver, often shortened to GBB Epic. It currently comes in two models, the GBB Epic and GBB Epic Sub Zero. The GBB Epic comes in both a men’s and women’s model.
The original “Big Bertha” line of Callaway golf drivers came out in 1991. The name “Big Bertha” derives from a massive howitzer artillery gun used by Germany in World War II. The “Big Bertha” howitzer was possibly named after the wide of the owner of the factory that made the ginormous weapon.
The “Epic” driver is part of this line of Big Bertha clubs, and with “Great” prepended before the name, we know that Callaway is saying this golf club driver means business. Serious business.
The Callaway Epic driver was launched in 2017 with big fanfare. This new driver was allegedly made from game-changing technology that would revolutionize the world of golf drivers.
Golf Club Technology Designed to Work Within the Rules
In 1998, the United States Golf Association (USGA) instituted a rule called the COR rule, also known as the “spring face rule.” COR stands for Coefficient of Restitution, and it is a physics term that refers to how much energy is lost or transferred when two objects collide.
In the case of a golf ball colliding with the face of a high technology driver, the driver would (in design) take more of a loss in energy, thus giving energy to the golf ball, in order to help the ball fly farther. The higher the COR number, the farther the golf ball will go down the fairway.
The United States Golf Association set the limit of the Coefficient of Restitution for golf drivers at 0.830, which means that no more than 83% of energy from the driver can go to the golf ball.
The USGA set up this rule because of all the new technologies coming out in the 90s that seemed to be irrevocably changing the game of golf.
Some critics say that COR rules end up helping physically stronger golf players with faster swings than weaker ones with slower swings, because the strong golf player will not benefit as much from the extra distance provided by a high COR club.
In practical terms, this limited how “thin” golf driver faces could be, because a thinner golf club face would send more energy to the golf ball.
In 2004, the United States Golf Association along with the R&A (The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which manages the rules of golf), created a different standard for drivers, called Characteristic Time, or CT for short. (Fairway woods, irons, and hybrid golf clubs still have COR limits.)
CT measures how long an object (which, for measurement purposes, is a steel ball), maintains contact with the driver face when it is hit. The official limit is 239 microseconds, with a “tolerance” of 18 microseconds, meaning the effective limit is 257 microseconds.
This might seem crazy, measuring how many microseconds a golf driver maintains contact with an object, but this measurement basically determines how much “spring” the driver has.
At any rate, while Callaway still has to follow these rules in creating “legal” golf clubs and drivers, their technical experts in the R&D department are still coming up with ways to improve drivers. Millions of dollars are spent trying to figure out how to make a driver that gets the best distance with a golf ball, despite COR or CT rules that limit what is going on with the driver face.
The Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic driver is the result of those millions of dollars. It’s aptly named “jailbreak technology” is supposed to get around these COR and CT rules to give you the most distance when you hit the golf ball.
Great Big Bertha Epic Driver Technologies
The GBB Epic driver from Callaway is designed with the latest golf club technologies to promote a lot more distance with great feel and control of the golf club. Here is an outline of these technologies and how they are designed to help your golf game:
Jailbreak Technology
The Callaway website does not provide technical specifics on exactly what or how this jailbreak technology works. However, it is advertised as a way to improve speed by utilizing a larger area of the driver face, which ultimately results in better distance on average.
Exo-Cage/Triaxial Carbon Construction
Forgiveness can be an important part of golf club design, especially if you are working on improving an inconsistent golf swing. The titanium construction of the exo-cage and the lightest carbon material in the driver crown offer high launches and low spin with maximum forgiveness.
Adjustable Perimeter Weighting
The Epic golf club has a 17g weight that you can slide along a track to adjust the club to your specific swing type. Based on testing with a robot and a 95 mph clubhead speed, this potentially delivers 21 extra yards of “shot-shape correction” to improve control and increase distance.
Industry-leading Aerodynamics
To get the fasted head speed, Callaway designed this Epic club to be totally streamlined. This uses “Speed Step,” a proprietary technology that was developed in conjunction with aerospace experts. This enables better airflow around the head of the club to increase the speed of your swing and the distance the golf ball flies.
High-Performance Stock Shafts
The stock shafts that you can get with the Epic golf club include HZRDUS, Diamana, Fujikura, and Rogue with four different options for weight, from 40g to 70g. Additionally, with four premium golf club shafts to choose from, you can maximize your game with better performance and control.
OptiFit Adjustability
Epic drivers have many different options to suit your individual golf playing style. The club offers loft and lie angle adjustability in eight ways. The lie angle options include draw or neutral. The loft can be adjusted up +2 and down -1 from the original loft.
Callaway Epic Driver Specifications
Here are the specs for the GBB Epic driver for both the men’s and women’s versions. The full technical specifications of the Callaway Epic driver are available at the Callaway website.
Men’s GBB Epic Driver Product Specs
Model: 9°
- Loft: Adjustable (8°-11°)
- Availability: RH / LH
- Standard Length: 45.50″
- Lie: 58.00° (Adjustable)
- CC: 460
- Swing Weight: D3
Model: 10.5°
- Loft: Adjustable (9.5°-12.5°)
- Availability: RH / LH
- Standard Length: 45.50″
- Lie: 58.00° (Adjustable) 460
- Swing Weight: D3
Model: 13.5° HT
- Loft: Adjustable (12.5°-15.5°)
- Availability: RH / LH Custom Only
- Standard Length: 45.50″
- Lie: 58.00° (Adjustable)
- CC: 460
- Swing Weight: D3
Women’s GBB Epic Driver Product Specs
Model: 9°
- Loft: Adjustable (8°-11°)
- Availability: Custom Only
- Standard Length: 44.50″
- Lie: 58.00° (Adjustable)
- CC: 460 C8
Model: 10.5°
- Loft: Adjustable (9.5°-12.5°)
- Availability: RH / LH Custom Only
- Standard Length: 44.50″
- Lie: 58.00° (Adjustable)
- CC: 460 C8
Model: 13.5° HT
- Loft: Adjustable (12.5°-15.5°)
- Availability: RH / LH Custom Only
- Standard Length: 44.50″
- Lie: 58.00° (Adjustable)
- CC: 460
- Swing Weight: C8
GBB Epic Sub Zero vs. GBB Epic
The GBB Epic driver comes in two main versions: the basic GBB Epic and the GBB Epic Sub Zero. The Sub Zero model is for a more advanced golfer because the center of gravity is centered below the middle of the driver face. Thus, the spin rate is lower but because of that lowered center of gravity, achieving stability with the driver is more challenging.
Here are the technical differences between the two driver models:
GBB Epic
- Titanium to Triaxial Carbon Ratio: 54/46
- Triaxial Carbon Crown Weight: 9.7g
- Triaxial Carbon Sole Weight: 5.8g
- Face Height: 2.03”
GBB Epic Sub Zero
- Titanium to Triaxial Carbon Ratio: 50/50
- Triaxial Carbon Crown Weight: 10.8g
- Triaxial Carbon Sole Weight: 7.4g
- Face Height: 2.09”
Callaway Epic Driver Reviews and Reception
So, is all this technology in the Epic golf driver worth it? Here, we will look at some reviews of this Callaway premiere driver. We will hear what the golf pros and experts have to say, as well as what individual golfers report about this advanced golf club.
Callaway Epic Driver: Golf Expert Reviews
Overall, the Callaway Epic driver gets really positive reviews from golfing experts and golf review websites.
At the Practical Golf website, they actually tested the GBB Epic driver with real people at a local golf shop called Pete’s Golf Shop. Here are the fantastic results:
“For the most important test factor we were looking for, our golfers gained on average 1.7 mph in extra ball speed, which resulted in almost 5 yards of extra distance.”
Additionally, their drives measured 3.5 yards closer to their target on average, which was actually more important to us (but certainly not to golfers who are obsessed with distance).”
Now, they do caution in this review that you should not expect magical results from the Great Big Bertha Epic. Golf club technology has advanced so much that most premium clubs these days deliver amazing driver results.
However, the GBB Epic positively affected performance for golfers with a wide range of abilities, handicaps, and golf swing speeds. It is definitely living up to some of its hype.
Callaway Epic Driver: Amateur Golfer Reviews
The overall rating of the Callaway Epic driver on the Callaway website is 5 stars. Now, you might be concerned that this is fudged. After all, would Callaway want negative reviews on their own site? However, they do have some poor reviews. One person wrote that his brand new Epic driver cracked after four hits and he is 66 years old with a 95 mph golf swing.
This could have just been an anomaly. Others have reported that the Epic is the “Best driver ever,” as with this review:
“I have played golf for more than 30 years. The last few years, regardless of which driver I hit, the results were very similar. So I was skeptical when I tried the epic. I also was not unhappy with my Ping G30. I did not expect what happened. The Epic is even easier to swing and I am hitting it 10 to 15 yards farther.”
On Amazon, the Sub Zero version of the Epic driver gets overall better ratings than the standard GBB Epic driver. However, as of this writing, the Sub Zero had a five-star average rating with only eight reviews, while the standard Epic club has four stars on average with 34 reviews.
However, if you read the one-star reviews on Amazon, you will notice that most of them have to do with shipping issues and missing items from the package. This is because sellers other than Callaway are shipping on Amazon.
You might consider ordering directly from Callaway if you do not want to risk a shipping issue via Amazon, however, they do not seem to have Epics in stock at their website as of this writing, but direct you to purchase the club from a local retailer (with a map available).
Callaway Epic Driver: The Final Verdict
The Callaway Epic driver does seem to live up to its name. It will help increase the distance you get from your golf swing. Backed by Callaway’s terrific customer support, this is a golf club you might want to consider getting.
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