© Callaway Golf

The Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 816 fairway wood retails for $279 and it represents an incremental step (as in evolution) over the previous generation, but now a little bit more forgiving while keeping the outstanding adjustability options and fabulous design!

Sometimes less is more, and that saying applies to the Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 816, which comes with less movable weights than its predecessor, yet it's still hugely customizable.
Design wise, this is an absolute beauty in the fairway wood world, relatively small by modern standards yet very playable and…playful. I must notice the height of the face which works miracles in boosting the confidence levels both off the deck and on the turf.

 Even if the company had dialed down the adjustability options (compared to the Alpha 815 FW for example), you can still play around and fine-tune this baby, and that makes a huge difference when it comes to the feel of the club. The sound upon ball impact is somewhat muted and slightly metallic and as per performance, well, this wood launches the ball relatively easy, even at fourteen degrees of loft.

I was surprised by the amounts of forgiveness  after playing a few round with the Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 816, as this fairway wood proved to be way more forgiving than I would've imagine. Despite its petite size and the better player label, I noticed that this baby is surprisingly generous when it comes to mishits.

Finally, Callaway really did a great job here, i.e. the Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 816 is a significant upgrade over the 815 FW, being a great option for even more players than before.