Note: Callaway just released newer and better Ultimate club sets for men and women. I highly recommend getting these over older generations, as they are the best club set by Callaway on market right now. 

Note 2: Ratings Updated for April 2019

Detailed Reviews  

What is Callaway Strata line?

Callaway has been famous for making quality golf clubs for more than decade now. But that quality used to come at steep price. Trademark Callaway golf clubs like Big Bertha aren’t known for their affordable prices. That all changed when they decided to make and sell affordable club sets under umbrella of their Strata brand, which they acquired many years prior.

It was 2014-15 when Callaway first released affordable club sets under their Strata brand. They weren’t the first to attempt to make affordable set of clubs for beginners, but based on critics review and their commercial success, Strata clubs are the closest of all sets to perfection.

Strata sets cost roughly between two and four hundred dollars, depending on number of clubs, quality of golf bag and other details. Usually they come with headcovers as well.

 Strata golf clubs are widely known and used in golf community, but there is part of that community that seems to clamor them the most – beginner golfers. Objectively, it makes sense because Callaway Strata sets have everything starter golfers might want from a set. The fact that they cost few hundred dollars doesn’t hurt, either. Before the appearance of affordable club sets on the market, beginners had to make a choice between spending thousands on clubs to collect solid club set, or putting up with crappy used clubs. Callaway Strata series, on the other hand, have proven that it is possible to have club set that is both affordable and decent. In my opinion, that’s why it’s so hugely popular among all golfers, especially beginners and recreational golfers. Granted, there are no professional golfers playing with them, because that wouldn’t make sense. No one, not even manufacturers are claiming that these clubs are top notch. On the other hand, they are solid clubs that won’t get in the way of your success if you play well. That’s what makes them perfect for casual golfers.

 There are three most popular versions of this set – 12 piece, 16 piece, and Ultimate 18 piece sets. (See Quick Reviews) I should note that 12 piece doesn’t mean the set comes with 12 clubs. It’s more likely to have 8 or 9 clubs, the rest of pieces are headcovers and the bag. It’s tricky marketing tactic used by Callaway, but for the price they cost, there is little room for complaints. Plus, if you’re a starter golfer, playing with 8 clubs is perfectly fine. In fact, i think it might even be better than playing with, say, 14 clubs like pros do. In the beginning, having large number of golf clubs in your bag can confuse you. You don’t know what’s the right time to use each club. It’s better to start slow and figure out the basics first before playing with dozen or more clubs.

 As we’ve mentioned before, prices increase proportionally to number of golf clubs in the bag.

12 Piece club set costs around two hundred dollars, 16 piece is a bit more expensive and you can get ultimate set for roughly four hundred dollars, depending on where you’re getting them from. In my experience, Amazon is the best place to buy not only Strata sets, but every kind of golf-related product.

Comparison of Sets :

Quick Reviews : 

Callaway Strata 12 Piece

Quality & Materials :

Even though quality of these clubs is solid, because of the affordable price, materials used to make these clubs aren’t perfect, especially compared to those of expensive clubs. 

Value for the money : 

With this set, Callaway managed to make perfect mix of good quality and low price. Probably the best option among affordable golf club sets.

Golf clubs : 

Set includes just 8 clubs, which can be seen as advantage as well as a flaw. If you’re a beginner, not having many clubs is definitely an advantage.

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Callaway Strata 16 Piece

Quality and Materials

Just as with 12 piece set, to achieve remarkably low price, Callaway chose not to use premium materials when making this set. It is still very solidly built.

Value for the Money

Being slightly expensive than the 12-piece version, this set includes 2 more clubs, which might come handy for some people. 

Golf Clubs

Not only does this set include more clubs, but each club in this set is better designed and built as well. 

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Callaway Strata Ultimate

Quality and Materials

While still budget club set, Ultimate version is a bit more expensive and has much better build, being made of with much better materials.

Value for the Money

Quality of this set is much better than others i’ve reviewed here, but it is also a bit more expensive.

Golf Clubs

This set includes absolutely brilliant clubs that are useful not only for complete beginners, but for average golfers as well.

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Men’s and Women’s

In this article, i’ll generalize and talk about club sets in a way that applies to both genders. That’s especially important considering the fact that there are Strata series club sets for ladies as well, and they’re just as popular. In the individual Strata Club Set review section of this article, i’ll further elaborate on differences between these two types of clubs.

Why should beginners get this set?

 I’ve mentioned before that Strata series sets are the best option for beginners looking to buy quality golf clubs. I wanted to elaborate – that’s not always the case, but most of the time it is. Best option for you depends on your needs and circumstances you’re in. For most of the beginners, the dilemma when choosing golf clubs is that – you don’t want to pay too much for golf clubs because you don’t know whether or not you’ll like golf in the first place, so spending thousands or even half that isn’t an option. On the other hand, you don’t want to be cheap and end up with crappy clubs just because you refused to pay for quality products. Callaway Strata golf sets perfectly solve that problem – they’re very cheap, compared to most club sets, but they’re still good enough to let you fully enjoy playing golf without annoying distractions.

If you remain casual golfer forever, this set might be the only set of clubs you’ll ever need. On the other hand, if you golf skills radically improve and you notice that you’ve outgrown these clubs, you can replace them without second thought, as opposed to sets that cost thousands of dollars, they’re easier to let go of.

How many golf clubs do you need?

For most beginners, i’d recommend getting 12 piece or 16 piece clubs. As i’ve said before, number of pieces doesn’t represent number of clubs in the set.

(read Quick Reviews of three sets here)

 To be precise, 12 piece set comes with 9 clubs (the rest are headcovers and bag) and out of sixteen, only eleven are clubs. There isn’t much of a difference in price, so if you feel like getting 11 clubs instead of nine, you’re free to do 16-piece one.

 Ultimate set, on the other hand, comes with twelve clubs. It’s just one more than 11, but there are more varieties of clubs in this set. So if you’re a total beginner, you might get confused. With enough research though, you should be fine with this one as well. The bag it comes with, is much more stylish and sturdy than the bags that come with the other two. Clubs themselves are different as well, but we’ll discuss that in detail later on.

Strata Golf Clubs Review

Strata Complete Golf Set (12-Piece)

As i’ve probably made clear before, this 12 piece set comes with only nine clubs. One of them is forgiving driver designed to enhance your results, also four good irons, fairway wood, a hybrid golf club, putter and a wedge. The rest of the pieces consist of a stand bag and two headcovers for the clubs. In a way, the 9 clubs in this club set represent the basics of what you’ll ever need. There are all major types of golf club represented, even the hybrids. That is good because if you’re a beginner, using them will give you valuable experience that you can use to upgrade your club set later. There are many affordable club sets on sale today, because customers seem to love them. According to most Callaway Strata reviews both by golf club experts and customers, this Strata set is the best in the category. There are customers who’ve been using these for years and have little to no complaints. They are sturdy enough to last you for years, if you take care of it properly, of course.

 

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Individual clubs :

Driver

This set comes with large 460cc forged Callaway strata driver. It has excellent design, especially for beginners. It has large sweet spot, which makes it much easier to hit and achieve longer distance. There is headcover included in the set to protect this driver’s head. Honestly, golf drivers like these would cost around hundred bucks if you bought one on your own. By buying it within the package, you get great deal.

Fairway Wood

3-wood is nothing extraordinary, but it’s decent forgiving wood with outstanding design   that makes hitting long-distance and high-flying shots much easier. There is headcover included for this one as well.

Hybrid

I’m honestly surprised that affordable set like this one comes with hybrid as well. Most don’t offer that kind of luxury. Hybrid is very useful as an alternative to irons in some situations. For more details about using hybrids, do research on differences between irons and hybrids.

Irons/Wedges

Four irons and one wedge. They are made of stainless steel, which isn’t the best material for irons but it’s still very good. Especially considering the low price. Whether you are beginner or intermediate golfer, these irons by Callaway Strata brand won’t let you down. Callaway has struck great balance while making these clubs – affordable, yet still forgiving and useful.

Putter

Last, but nonetheless very important club – putter. It is simple and plain putter, but very accurate nonetheless. Neither materials or design are top notch, but unless you’re professional golfer, you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Stand bag

Plain and simple, yet useful Callaway Strata stand bag. It doesn’t come with many fancy features, but it gets the job done. Pockets are convenient for storing the clubs. The thing i like the most about this bag is how light it is.

 

Strata Complete Golf Set (16-Piece)

Generally, you can think of this set as slightly improved version of 12 piece set. It also includes more golf clubs as you may have noticed. The difference between this and aforementioned 12 piece set is 4 pieces – two golf clubs and two headcovers. Golf clubs themselves seem to be better designed and made of better materials. Style of this set is different as well – while with 12 piece set the dominant color in bag and club design is red, with this one, it’s blue. It is a bit pricier than 12 piece callaway strata set, but i’d say if you’re looking for something good for beginners or intermediate golfers and 12 piece set seems too basic for you, you might want to give this one a chance.

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Driver

Clubhead is exactly the same size as the one in 12 piece set. There are some minor improvements that are worth mentioning though. Unlike the other driver, this one has graphite which is believed to increase the distance of your shots. Slight change in design as well. Very good for the price, overall, decent Callaway strata driver even for more experienced golfers.

Faiway Wood

Club heads on this one are made of stainless steel and coupled with graphite shafts, you should expect your swing speed and distance of your shots to increase.

Hybrid

Unlike the other set, 16 piece set comes with TWO hybrids instead of one. So you have more freedom in your choice of hybrids to hit. Set also comes with headcovers for both hybrids.

Irons/Wedges

Other than small tweaks in design and technology used in making these clubs, no noteworthy changes.

Putter

The same as before.

Stand Bag

Same as before, except for the fact that this set has more pieces, so stand bag is larger to accommodate all these clubs and accessories. Design has also changed, from dark-blue/red to dark blue/light blue. Very stylish Callaway strata bag overall.

Strata Ultimate Complete Golf Set (18-Piece)

 Unlike with the other two sets, changes in this set are quite apparent. First of all, the bag and clubs are styled in beautiful black and white fashion. It also comes with one more club than 16 piece, but price is considerably higher. Higher price is indicator of higher quality of clubs in this set. 12 and 16 piece sets are great sets if you’re looking to buy your first set of clubs and get introduced to golf and it’s basic concepts. On the other hand, Ultimate set takes quality of the clubs to whole new level. The mere fact that it comes full titanium driver signifies that change. It sends the message that this set is not only for casual golfers, but also for experienced people looking for best golf club set for the money. It’s sales and reviews are both testament to it’s amazing quality, especially considering the low price (at least compared to other club sets of similar caliber). That’s why i think it’s the best Callaway Strata golf club set i’ve reviewed today.

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Driver

The driver in this set is vastly different and better than drivers in other two Callaway Strata sets i’ve reviewed here. The most significant change is that driver in this set is made of titanium. Titanium is premium, more expensive materials and titanium drivers perform much better. It also has same ergonomic design that is likely to improve your distance significantly.

Fairway Wood

Unlike the other two sets here, Ultimate set comes with two Fairway Woods – 5 and 3 woods. They’ve also improved upon aerodynamic design of club heads, making them even better than before.

Hybrid

This set comes with two hybrids that are practically the same as before. Only minor design changes.

Irons/Wedges

Irons, similarly to irons that come with other sets, are made of stainless steel, but their design and technology is dramatically improved upon. High flight technology made these irons more forgiving than before.

Putter

The design is different and better, but personally, i didn’t notice much difference compared previously reviewed putters.

Stand Bag

Gorgeous black-and-white stand bag. It is functionally similar to 16 piece’s stand bag, except for the fact that this one comes with tee holders as well. Just like the other two, it has back strap that makes carrying the bag very simple and easy.

Club sets for women :

 Except for these three sets, Callaway Strata series also offers three sets for women as well – 11 piece, 14 piece, and Ultimate. Differences between those three are pretty similar to differences between these three. 11 and 14 piece sets are good for golfers with beginner to intermediate skill level, while Ultimate set is great bargain for everyone looking for an upgrade. In general, women have slower swing speeds, so differences between women’s and men’s golf clubs are usually centered around that. Women’s clubs tend to be lighter and easier to hit. They are also shorter, because women tend to have shorter arms as well. Other than that, men’s and women’s sets are rather similar. Ladies’ strata sets are very good for their price and are very popular among women. Whenever female golfers ask me for advice on golf clubs, i recommend one of these three, depending on their skill level.

Conclusion

Today, we’ve discussed finest golf club set series there is – Callaway Strata. Even though cheaper versions have enough shortcomings to make them impractical to use on professional level, Callaway has done really good job of making club set that is affordable and decent quality at the same time. Even though there are cheaper club sets out there, i think Callaway Strata is as cheap as it can be without sacrificing quality and it’s worth every penny.