Warbirds - shafts or soles ?

[@_the_crook]

Took a set of Warbird fairways out this morning. 3+ and the 4. both have Memphis 10 shafts with the Red stripe. I can't recall if that had any indication of flex.

Working with these and low lofted hybrids to see which is better for my bag this year.

The course showed all effects of an early spring morning - played wet and muddy.

Found that with faster swings, the Warbirds really dug deep furrows.

When I backed off a bit, struck them decently, but nothing to be proud of. A work in progress. 

Hybrids are older Fusions with NV 85g R flex shafts, made good contact and had better results.

Thanks for your sharing your experiences with these clubs.

 

 

[scomac2002]

Memphis 10's are considered uniflex.  I'd call them firm and lower launching than an RCH 90 in regular, which was the graphite option at the time.

 

I'd agree that they perform better with a smooth pass at the ball than really going for it.  I don't recall any issues with digging, but I can't say that i played mine in soft conditions.

 

You'll see in my signature that I'm playing a pair of Adams Tight Lies FWs.  These are very similar to the Warbird sole design and look quite similar from the frontal view both in size and profile to the old Warbirds.  I guess you could say that I'm sold on the design concept.

[@_the_crook]

the Tight Lies idea is a good one @scomac2002, especially since I have some available to try out.

the soles on those are more smooth than v-shaped and the R-shafts should work for me.

as you point out, very proven design.

swing-wise, I'm a scuffer not a picker. it's unusual when I take a conventional sized divot.

 

appreciate your sharing.

 

 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

This sounds like the thread to ask a question about the Warbirds.

I'm thinking of buying a few Warbirds, perhaps Driver, 3w, and 5w, or may be a Driver and 4w, but I never played them as when they came out I had stopped playing golf. My last driver was a Taylormade Burner Plus (1990-ish. I got it secondhand around then), and I pretty much stopped playing around 1993.

 

I'm thinking it'd be fun to get a set of warbirds, and pair them up with some of my Eighties/Nineties irons. What's the difference between the Big Bertha Warbirds and the Great Big Bertha Warbirds? I assume the latter is larger, and later in terms of year produced. Also, what are the graphite shafts like? I see some with "S" and some with "Firm", but I assume they're fairly similar. How stiff are they? I know that last question is pretty subjective, but I'm just looking for a ballpark sort of estimate.

[@_the_crook]

Hey Catchy,

 

the Warbird heads have a Ginty like sole.

other fairway sticks have flat or gently curved bottoms.

 

as to the shaft flex designation - S and F are pretty much the same.

depends on which graphite supplier was used.

I remember RCH were labeled Firm and Aldila was called Stiff.

 

 

 

[scomac2002]

Big Bertha Warbird driver is 195 cc if memory serves whereas the Great Big Bertha was 250 cc.  That's the most obvious difference and hence the name change.  The other difference that is just as important is that the GBB is a titanium head versus a steel head in the BB.

 

There's a difference in shafts as well with the GBB dropping down in weight to 75g UL from the 90/96/99g RCH shafts that came in the BB line.

 

In terms of manufacturing dates these would have been successive lines with the Warbird coming out in 1994/95 and then the GBB coming along in 1997 or more or less about the same time as Titleist's 975 line.

 

I have my Big Bertha Warbirds paired up with a set of Eye 2 clones as they are more or less from the same era.  Mine have the RCH 90 shafts, but I don't know the flex as the markings are worn off, but I suspect it's regular or medium.  They launch quite nicely as I recall.

[raggal62]

On 4/1/2021 at 7:10 AM, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

This sounds like the thread to ask a question about the Warbirds.

I'm thinking of buying a few Warbirds, perhaps Driver, 3w, and 5w, or may be a Driver and 4w, but I never played them as when they came out I had stopped playing golf. My last driver was a Taylormade Burner Plus (1990-ish. I got it secondhand around then), and I pretty much stopped playing around 1993.

 

I'm thinking it'd be fun to get a set of warbirds, and pair them up with some of my Eighties/Nineties irons. What's the difference between the Big Bertha Warbirds and the Great Big Bertha Warbirds? I assume the latter is larger, and later in terms of year produced. Also, what are the graphite shafts like? I see some with "S" and some with "Firm", but I assume they're fairly similar. How stiff are they? I know that last question is pretty subjective, but I'm just looking for a ballpark sort of estimate.

During that era Callaway offered as an upgrade the AJ Tech graphite shaft. Installed in a GBB driver made a formidable weapon. A friend had one and he could bomb that thing.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Thank you all for the replies. I hadn't realised the head size was so different between the BB Warbird and the GBB Warbird. It's hard to tell from online pictures.

I've not seen any on sale here with the AJ Tech graphite shaft, but I will keep an eye out for them. I've seen a few GBBs with "Ruger Titanium" on the sole, meaning, I think, that they were manufactured for Callaway by the gunsmiths Ruger. They look rather tasty.

[@_the_crook]

a Biggest BB here has a titanium head with the UL silver colored shaft.

 

one BB titanium has a Grafalloy ProLite graphite in Stiff flex.

another variant.

 

older Bobby Jones model, small head has the RCH Firm flex shaft.

that face is a shade deeper than the BB model. the 975D head is larger.

 

after playing this morning with a Ping G20 fairway (5W) with an S flex, I was very pleased with the performance. required no swing adjustment. I usually hit a fade and that club rocked straight to slight fade shots.

might look for a 3W to match up.

YMMV.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

22 hours ago, @_the_crook said:

a Biggest BB here has a titanium head with the UL silver colored shaft.

 

one BB titanium has a Grafalloy ProLite graphite in Stiff flex.

another variant.

 

older Bobby Jones model, small head has the RCH Firm flex shaft.

that face is a shade deeper than the BB model. the 975D head is larger.

 

after playing this morning with a Ping G20 fairway (5W) with an S flex, I was very pleased with the performance. required no swing adjustment. I usually hit a fade and that club rocked straight to slight fade shots.

might look for a 3W to match up.

YMMV.

 

That's good to know. 

I've heard of the Grafalloy shaft combination with the BB, but I don't think I've seen it here (Japan). The RCH and UL shafts seem to be the most common variants.

[@_the_crook]

besides OEM gear, I remember seeing Grafalloy on the component rack at larger Golfsmith stores.

they used to have ProLaunch, AttackLite, ProLite in stock for repairs-reshaft jobs.

at one point, our local GS discontinued in-store component sales and was mainly offering sets, grips, balls and apparel. 

they had a fine club builder for many years. once he retired any custom work wasn't quite the same.

 

[storm319]

On 4/3/2021 at 7:28 AM, scomac2002 said:

Big Bertha Warbird driver is 195 cc if memory serves whereas the Great Big Bertha was 250 cc.  That's the most obvious difference and hence the name change.  The other difference that is just as important is that the GBB is a titanium head versus a steel head in the BB.

 

There's a difference in shafts as well with the GBB dropping down in weight to 75g UL from the 90/96/99g RCH shafts that came in the BB line.

 

In terms of manufacturing dates these would have been successive lines with the Warbird coming out in 1994/95 and then the GBB coming along in 1997 or more or less about the same time as Titleist's 975 line.

 

I have my Big Bertha Warbirds paired up with a set of Eye 2 clones as they are more or less from the same era.  Mine have the RCH 90 shafts, but I don't know the flex as the markings are worn off, but I suspect it's regular or medium.  They launch quite nicely as I recall.

The BB Warbird (195cc) and GBB (253cc, first retail offering produced with titanium and over 250cc) were both released in 1995 and the BBB (290cc) was added in 1997. Warbird line was replaced by the first gen Steelhead (205cc) in 1998 and GBB was replaced by the GBB Hawkeye (253cc) in 1999.