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Well I have officially broke 3 Epic Big Bertha Drivers... 2 Sub Zeros and 1 Non sub zero... With my whopping 86-95 mph club head speed I once in a while hit one off the crown. For me this has destroyed 3 yes 3 of Callaways newest and best drivers... I miss my Alpha 816 Double Black Diamond.... Why oh why....
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They are not built to be hit off the crown, so you cant really blame the club. Any composite head will crack if you hit it off the crown. A full titanium head will take that kind of abuse better.
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Well... everyone skyshots a ball once in a while... The epics carbon fiber appear to be paper thin...Comment
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If you hit any modern driver on the crown, whether it be composite or cup face construction, you sooner or later will crack it. In either case you are hitting the club on a construction seam. With composites you are on the material interface and with cup face drivers on the weld between face and body.
If you can't fix your swing then either get a much older club or tee the ball lower so you can't miss the face. I'd go for fix the swing.
BTW everybody does not hit them off the crown every now and then.Comment
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I disagree.... Everyone gets under a ball once in a blue moon even a pro. The fact is that I am not a scratch golfer. But if you were to tell me that a $500 "game improvement" driver would crack with one errant 86 mph swing I would be concerned... I am not the only one that is having this issue with the new epic.
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Sorry to hear about your driver Sledge. I think a couple of the comments are a bit harsh, not everybody is a scratch golfer. BTW Sledge, I have one of those Alpha's laying around that I'd let go of pretty cheap. I bought it used off eBay and haven't really done much with it. Give me a shout if you're interested.Comment
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Last night I bought a new one on Ebay! I beat the poop out of my last one for over 2 years without an issue... I believe the new design although faster may not be better. I also lost distance with the new Epic's vs my Alpha 816 -
Thank you.
The funny thing is that my Alpha developed a hairline crack from a non-swing related incident... (And no I didn't throw the club!) It was my placing the bag in a tight spot which resulted in the crack.... I didn't realize it for almost 2 weeks as I was losing major distance... Hell My best drive has been 260-265 but I was lucky to get to 180-200! So of course I modified everything in my swing and now I am left skyshotting the ball!
Ahhh Golf the glorious game that it is!
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That sucks Sledge! I didn't realize they were that fragile on the crown. I definitely hit the crown of my last Driver (Ping G30) and didn't have that kind of damage. I have owned by Epic for less than 24 hours but so far i love it.
Something to consider.
Sledge, you may be tee'ing the ball too high. I previously was doing that and would hit high on the face or off the crown at times. Despite what the golf channel says, tee it higher does not necessarily help you hit up on driver. You might be hitting it high on the face which will make it launch higher.
Since lowering my tee, my ball speed jumped and there is more spin. The net effect is slightly more distance from ball speed increase and better control from the higher spin.
Since adding the HMT, it proved that tee'ing the ball higher only moved the strike higher and left angle of attack alone for me.
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Wow that shot doesn't look like one that come from the crown Sledge? Stingr makes some good points above. Moving the ball position really forward could help with this as well. Just something to think about if you're having issues with this.Comment
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With the way the Epic has a "cage" design with the carbon fiber around it. Does the crack impact performance?Comment
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Take a look at this link http://www.golfalot.com/equipment-re...view-3725.aspx and it should be obvious why hitting on the crown is a no no.Originally posted by Sledge0001 View Post
No one I play with ever hits the crown unless they are on the range screwing around with 4 inch tee ala long drive competitions. Your complaint is similar to those putting light weight race type wheels on their cars and then bitching about bending rims when they drive into a large pothole.
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FYI- not that this helps your problem but it does appear more fragile. And how your launch angle isn't super high makes me wonder if it wasn't a crown shot. 14*. Seems to low for a shot off the crown.....
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Yeah I think a previous crown shot may have started the eventual failure on the last shot. I heard the crack and that's when I saw the damage.
I am no golf pro. Would say I am the average hack to be honest... I shoot between 89-110 IRL depending on the track.
I am by all means a Callaway "Fan Boy" with my bag consisting of XHot2 - 3, 4 and 5 Hybrids, 6,7,8,9,PW,AW,SW,LW and Oddesy putter. I've played them from the beginning so no offense is meant by my post.
I am only stating my experiences and observations.
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Stinger speaking my language above. It could be more of a design flaw and maybe you aren't crowning the shot. If the driver fails, without you knowing it, the strike could feel awful and make you think you're making terrible contact. I've had drivers fail by simply hitting them too far toward the toe. Now another option could be that the strike was crowned and it wigged out the Skytrak reading, another option...
Something to investigate though Sledge...Comment
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Callaway is sending me a new Driver. I must say their customer service is incredible. I explained the situation fully and they offered me a new Sub Zero, Non Sub Zero and Fusion... I agreed to try the fusion given its forgiveness. I feel a bit gun shy now with the driver which mentally I have to get over.
Well done Callaway for taking care of a shit golfer like me!Comment
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Here is something to check out as well..
Check out the difference in face size and shape from my Alpha 816 DBD (the largest face to the smallest being the Sub Zero) That "sweet" spot has shrunk considerably!Comment
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Sledge, its funny, I was thinking the same thing on my Epic vs the Ping G30 it replaced. The face is noticeably smaller. Supposedly, its still 460 cc..... but I am not sure where the size is.Originally posted by Sledge0001 View PostComment
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I've been seeing similar with newer drivers. They're making them longer and thinner at the back. I'm not really a fan of this not that matters. I've gotten used to the deep faces and smaller "looking" heads from top down. They're getting longer and leaner though. -
I think the picture represents exactly what I felt. I just couldn't get the face to square up. Again I know some will think I am bashing but I am not I am only speaking from my perspective and as the average (or below as of late) weekend hack... -
I think we all have hit enough clubs to know that some just don't work for us. When you find one that works, buy it
I just can't hit an M1 or M2 to save my life, I went through a ton of shaft combos, the club and I just couldn't agree on where we wanted the ball to go. First swing with the Epic and I liked it. I really don't know why, the ball just went straight. I am currently in the honeymoon phase with my Epic. Balls are going straight so far.
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