The Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic fairway wood continues a long line of classic short grass metals that deliver forgiveness and distance in a good looking and easy to hit head.
That could be all I need to say, but there is little bit more to the Epic fairway.
By association with the Great Big Bertha Epic driver, you would expect the same Jailbreak rods inside the head to increase the ball speed.
However as in the genetics of life, not everyone in the family comes out the same way and at present the extra performance comes from more tried and trusted technologies that make the Epic fairway special in its own way.
Firstly we have Triaxial carbon in the crown that weighs under 6g and enables Callaway to save weight upstairs and put it downstairs to help launch and forgiveness. It also gives the crown a dynamic look as the carbon lattice structure is revealed around the rear of the head.
There is also the Speed Step crown to improve the aerodynamics. In this size of head the effect of the Speed Step will be positive, but not as much as the driver and probably equal to its role as an alignment device.
Therefore we come to the latest version of the thinner faster Face Cup, which is what gives Callaway's fairways and the Epic its playability and forgiveness.
As always this feels and looks great and Callaway has almost perfected this style of head now.
At address the rounded head sits a little squarer than the XR 16 fairway and the top line maybe looks a little sharper.
The sound is maybe a little on the hollow side and maybe not as luxurious as Callaway's steel or titanium fairways, but it is still pretty good.
It is very easy to hit from a variety of lies and is as comfortable off the tee as it is from the semi-rough, which is a good achievement.
There is a good choice of stock shafts that you can be fitted for, but you probably won't have to look much further than the 65g Project X HZRDUS graphite shaft that is light, stable and suits the club very well.
Callaway Great Big Bertha Epic Sub Zero Fairway Review
If you prefer a smaller more compact fairway that spins a little less, then the Sub Zero version of the GBB Epic fairway could be for you.
Available in two lofts of 13.5° and 15° with the same OptiFit hosel as the standard model, this has a lower flight and a slightly higher pitched sound.
It is really all about the flight you want from your fairway. The flight on the standard Epic should be fine for most players, but the Sub Zero will give you more options.
As well as the head profile, the sole also has two weight ports for a pair of 3g and 22g weights to be swapped between so you can play around with about 250rpm of spin.
Testing it in the forward position was hard work as you will need a tour level swing speed to get any joy from it.
However good amateurs may get on better with the back position if they get the face loft right and then it could become a powerful, Stenson like, driving fairway.
Summary
Let me be clear that the Great Big Bertha Epic is a very good fairway. The squarer look than the XR 16 and the all round ease of play combined with excellent performance and forgiveness makes this one of the best fairways in the market.
With the carbon crown it is a little pricier than most and £90 more than the XR 16 and given the family name I was expecting the Jailbreak rods behind the face to see if that had the same effect on ball speed.
From the nudges and winks at the launch, it is seems likely that this will come at some point in the future. It's probably just too early at this stage for it to fit in the smaller head and they are just fine tuning it to ensure it delivers to the fairway what it does to the Great Big Bertha Epic driver.
Like two heavyweights on a collision course, the Callaway Jailbreak technology is taking a different approach to faster faces from the slot technology used by competitors like the TaylorMade M2 2017 fairway.
I hope this match up transpires in the future as I would love to see them go face to face on the fairway.
Because that would be epic.