A year ago Callaway Golf launched the Great Big Bertha Epic Driver. Now, they are launching the new Callaway Rogue Driver. I have to summarize in one sentence, what is the novelty in the new Callaway Rogue Driver then I would say this is the Great Big Bertha Epic Driver 2.0 with a new, MOI-enhancing shape that delivers superior forgiveness.
Now, let’s get into details!
The essence of the new Callaway Rogue Driver
The great innovation in the Great Big Bertha Epic Driver (The best-selling driver in the U.S.. Source: Golf Datatech, U.S. driver dollar-share, combined channel, Jan. 2017 – Nov. 2017) was the Jailbreak ball speed technology. Jailbreak incorporates two slender titanium bars positioned parallel to each other behind the face, connected to the crown and sole.
Now, Callaway enhanced it with new, hourglass-shaped titanium bars, making them 25% lighter without affecting their ability to minimize crown and sole deflection at impact. It seems to me that people did not really use the weight adjustability of the Epic driver and this is why Callaway took it off.
The enhanced X-Face architecture thickens and thins strategic areas of the face to promote higher ball speeds on off-center impacts and consistently high ball speed and long distance overall.
Another new feature of the Callaway Rogue Driver is the more forgiving 460cc shape boasts a larger address footprint than Epic. Callaway Golf claims that thanks to the shallower and deeper body the driver became more forgiving, with a 16% tighter shot dispersion.
Callaway Rogue Driver’s extreme forgiveness is also made possible by the less than 10 grams and strong triaxial carbon crown, which allows more weight to be distributed into the head’s perimeter to increase stability on off-center hits.
Callaway renewed its cooperation with Boeing (see Callaway Golf XR Driver 2016). In case of Callaway Rogue Driver, they were asked to help redefine the geometry of the leading edge to improve airflow to promote faster head speed. Callaway said they were able to improve the clubhead speed by 2% as a result of the cooperation with Boeing.
The new driver’s MOI is 7.5% higher than the Epic and 16% more than the Callaway XR 16 Driver.
The new Callaway Rogue Driver will be available with a wide range of premium aftermarket shafts at 40g, 50g, 60g, and 70g weights, including Aldila Synergy, Aldila Quaranta, Project X EvenFlow, and Project X HZRDS Yellow.
The Callaway Rogue Driver will be available:
- Price: $499,99
- Pre-Sale: 19th January 2018
- At retail: 9th February