By purchasing the Callaway Strata set you’re getting awesome beginner golf clubs from one of golf’s biggest brands. The best part is the package contains everything you need to play golf, so you can get out on the course in no time!
What’s not to love?
Callaway Strata background
Package sets divide opinion when it comes to golf. It’s often argued that you’re better off buying a set of second-hand clubs that are a few years old. I understand this point, there is value in buying second-hand clubs. You avoid the depreciation associated with some of the more expensive new clubs.
However, the clear downside is that they have been used before. Personally, if I were starting golf again, I would much prefer to be using a set of clubs that had never been hit before. This way I wouldn’t need to worry about whether they’ve been damaged before or how long they’ll last.
In my opinion, starting golf with a brand new set of clubs that you’re super excited to use would make it even more special.
Often when people first start playing golf, they find themselves a bit confused. They know that spending more money means better clubs, but they don’t know which clubs they need and whether they’re designed for beginners. This is why a package like the Callaway Strata set is awesome.
By investing in the Callaway Strata clubs, you know you’re getting a complete set that’s designed for players from beginner upwards. You’ll have everything you need to get out there and play the sport that so many of us fall in love with.
So, without any more delay let’s dive into my Callaway Strata review!
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- Is Callaway a good brand?
Callaway is a brand that makes great golf clubs and their equipment is used by some of the best golfers in the world. Callaway creates some of golf’s best clubs as well as offering affordable options for beginners such as the Callaway Strata package set.
Callaway Strata Golf Set - REVIEW
I’m a guy who knows a thing or two about beginner golf clubs, which is why I’m so excited to be bringing you a review of these clubs. Through my years of experience in golf, I’ve learned which golf clubs are suited to beginners and which ones aren’t! I’ve watched plenty of beginners go out with an expensive set of golf clubs designed for better players, and wonder why they don’t work for them.
So what exactly should a beginner golfer be looking for in a set of clubs? Ultimately, I believe that a new golfer should be looking for a set that contains enough clubs, comes from a reputable manufacturer and also provides them with room to grow into the game. Does the Callaway Strata meet my ideal picture of what a beginner set should provide? Let’s find out!
To start off, let’s take a look at what comes included with the Callaway Strata set of clubs.
Driver
The longest club that comes with the set is the Callaway Strata Driver. This is a lightweight club that’s designed to be “beginner friendly” and offers plenty of forgiveness. If you’re new to golf, forgiveness means that its design helps to reduce the negative impact of a bad strike. Callaway has achieved this by creating a nice big sweet spot on the driver’s large titanium 460cc head which will help you get excellent distance off the tee (even when you haven’t made your best swing).
Fairway wood
The set also comes with an “oversized” fairway wood, this club is designed for shots where you still have a long way to the green so need to hit the ball a fair distance. Its large head helps the club provide forgiveness despite maintaining excellent aerodynamics to help with swing speed.
Hybrid
The next club in the bag is what’s known as a hybrid. Typically, players who are new to the game struggle to hit their longer irons. The hybrid is a mixture between woods and irons and replaces one of the long irons in your bag. This is great as it’s much easier for beginners to use. It’s also far more versatile than a long iron, as it can easily glide through longer grass when your ball finds its way into the rough.
Irons
The Callaway Strata package comes with a set of irons ranging from 6 iron all the way to pitching wedge. These irons offer forgiveness and will allow you to play your approach shots with maximum control to target the green from a variety of distances.
Putter
For the most important part of golf which is getting the ball in the hole, you get a mallet putter. If you don’t know the difference between a mallet putter and a bladed putter, I’d recommend reading our article which highlights the differences between them. Essentially the mallet putter provides you with solid alignment, which helps you line up your putts and forgiveness when you miss the center of the putter face. Putting is one of the hardest parts of the game so it’s nice to see a beginner-friendly putter included with the set.
Stand bag
This is often overlooked by beginners but a golf bag is a vital piece of equipment. Your bag is used to carry your golf clubs as well as other essentials you’ll need access to throughout your round. The bag comes with five useful pockets as well as a cool pocket. You get a carry strap included and rain hood to protect your clubs. Typically bags can cost hundreds of dollars so the fact that you get a bag included with the set provides excellent value.
Callaway Strata's Overall Performance
When we look at how the Callaway Strata golf clubs perform, I don’t think it’s surprising to see that they offer a “beginner-friendly” performance. This means that they offer the golfer using them plenty of help when they don’t hit their best strike. This is very much down to the technical design of the clubs themselves.
Starting with the driver, you get plenty of forgiveness thanks to its large head profile at 460cc. When we move on to the fairway wood you’ll notice that the clubhead also feels large and almost difficult to miss the ball with. As mentioned above, the set comes with a hybrid which in itself is a much more forgiving club than a long iron. Moving into the irons you get a set of cavity back irons that offer plenty of weight behind the ball and looking down at them you can feel confident.
Finally, the putter on offer has a mallet head, which is known to be the most forgiving type of putter out there. The putter feels forgiving thanks to its weight being pushed towards the back which increases MOI (moment of inertia).
On the whole, these clubs perform exactly how a beginner set from Callaway would be expected to perform. They’re clearly a very well thought out set in terms of their physical make-up, they’re great overall quality which you’d expect from a big brand and most importantly they will perform brilliantly for beginner golfers.
What more could you ask for from a beginner golf set?
Pros & cons of the Callaway Strata set
In this section of the article, I’ll be highlighting the benefits as well as noting any of the potential downsides of investing in this set of golf clubs.
— PROS —
- Callaway is a great brand
Often I see players with cheaper package sets, unhappy with their purchase a couple of months down the line. Although you’re buying a package set designed for beginners which you may eventually outgrow, you need to make sure that it’s good quality.
If I were to buy a golf club set designed for beginners, one of my major considerations would be who made the clubs. By investing in a set of Callaway golf clubs, you’re buying from a brand known for their quality right up to the top level of golf.
Some of the world’s most famous players (such as Phil Mickelson) are Callaway players. With such a large presence in golf, they have big budgets for research and production and take their club production very seriously. When you decide to go with Callaway you’re going with one of golf’s mammoths, known for making golf clubs that are the best of the best.
- Value for money
The Callaway Strata clubs are a very good option considering their price point. For the money, you’re not going to get a top-end set of golf clubs that are custom-fitted to you. Your other options involve buying second-hand, but you’re likely to end up with clubs that are a few years old and that have probably had a considerable amount of use.
What impresses me is that you’re able to get a brand new set of clubs from Callaway, which includes a stand bag from a company as reputable as Callaway for the price they’re offering.
- Out the box and onto the course
My next point is based on the convenience of buying these golf clubs. What I like about the Strata set is that they offer beginner golfers a set of brand new set of clubs that come with everything you need to get out on the course and play golf.
You could literally order the golf clubs, rock up to your local course, head to the pro shop to buy some balls and tees and you’re ready to play golf right away. I think that the set offers an excellent choice for people who don’t have the time to sit around researching and building their own bags. If there’s one thing I advocate it’s spending less time sitting in front of screens and spending more time out on the course!
— CONS —
- Not much room for growth
Although this seems like common sense, it’s important to remember that package sets are typically best suited to the beginner golfer. It’s worth noting that everyone will progress at different rates and you could well get many years of use out of this package set. However, you need to keep in mind that once you get to a certain skill level you may feel like you have “outgrown” the set.
If you’re an adult, I don’t mean you will physically outgrow your clubs but grow out of them in terms of ability. For most people, once they reach a certain level of competency, they naturally upgrade their clubs to a better set. This is pretty much inevitable with package sets, and although good golfers can play well with any old clubs you will probably get to a point where you want to upgrade this set of clubs.
I don’t think this is a massive downside, but it’s definitely something worth considering before you go out and buy a set. A good analogy would be comparing these clubs to a first car.
The majority of people end up with a first car that’s kind of cheap and they eventually upgrade it. Despite the fact that you’re almost certainly going to upgrade the car in the future, there’s no doubt that it provides excellent value and helps you learn the ropes of driving.
- 12 piece set of clubs
This point might come across a little contradictory after saying the bag has everything you need to play golf but hear me out. This point coincides with my previous point in terms of outgrowing your set. Although the bag does come with everything you would need to get out and play some golf, it only comes with 12 clubs and the rules of golf allow you to carry 14 clubs in total.
So, technically you’re missing out on 2 clubs when compared to the maximum amount of clubs that you’re allowed to carry. Again, this isn’t a massive negative as you can still go out and have great fun playing golf with less than 14 clubs. However, you might get to a point where you’d like to use a sand wedge for example but the set only comes with a pitching wedge.
This isn’t the end of the world, you could still use a pitching wedge from a bunker but I think that if you progress quickly you might find yourself wanting to add a couple of extra clubs to your set. You could look at this as a positive because the 12 piece set allows you to add an extra two clubs to the set in the future if you need to.
All that said, Callaway does offer an upgrade to the standard 12-piece set if you’d like to hit the course with their complete 16-piece set. This “complete” set includes all the aforementioned clubs as well as a sand wedge, an additional hybrid club, and 4 head covers. It’s still a great value for the price point and truly gives you everything you might need on the course.
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- Are Callaway Strata clubs good?
Yes, Callaway Strata clubs are a great set of clubs for beginners or even high handicappers looking to upgrade their set. They are a forgiving set of golf clubs that offer a great choice of options and even include a stand bag.
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- What’s the difference between Callaway and Strata?
Callaway is the overarching brand that offers Strata golf clubs. Their Strata range are golf clubs designed for beginners which offer quality and convenience for people who are looking to get into golf.
Conclusion
So, that brings my review of the Callaway Strata golf club set to an end.
For anyone getting into the game, it’s important to invest in a set of golf clubs that offer completeness without breaking the bank. For the price range that these clubs target, it’s difficult to find many alternatives that offer as much value as they do.
The Strata golf clubs are a great set to give you beginner-friendly performance right out of the box. You even get a bag with the set which you can use to carry or ride the golf course. If you’re looking for a set from one of golf’s top brands that has everything you need to get into golf and that can get you out on the course quickly I would highly recommend considering the Callaway Strata set.
I hope this Callaway Strata review has helped you decide whether these will be your first or next set of clubs. Whether you’ve decided to buy them or give them a miss, I hope that golf brings you half the happiness it’s brought me. Happy flag hunting!
