CARLSBAD, Calif., Sep 16, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Callaway Golf Company (NYSE:ELY) today announced the introduction of the Great Big Bertha(R) II Titanium Drivers, an exciting new line of titanium drivers with a legendary name and revolutionary performance. The new Great Big Bertha(R) II Titanium Drivers have all the playability and forgiveness that golfers loved in the original Great Big Bertha line -- plus a hot new face and exciting performance enhancements.

"The original Great Big Bertha was the best-selling titanium metal wood model of all time in the U.S. and around the world," said Ron Drapeau, Chairman, President and CEO of Callaway Golf. "It was recognized as one of the main contributors to the enjoyment of the game for amateur and professional golfers alike, and made Callaway Golf the recognized leader in golf club technology. We are proud to bring golfers this fabulous new Great Big Bertha II Driver that exceeds the performance and satisfaction of the legendary Great Big Bertha -- and is worthy of carrying its name."

"We've taken a modern classic and revved it up," said Richard C. Helmstetter, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief of New Products for Callaway Golf. "We started with the design concept from the original Great Big Bertha -- to use titanium to make a driver that is large and forgiving. Then we brought it into the future using everything we've learned about hot-faced drivers from our experience with the ERC(R) II Forged Titanium Drivers. The result is a vastly improved series of drivers that lives up to the Great Big Bertha name while taking titanium driver performance up to yet another level."

The Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers fully conform to the Rules of Golf as published by the United States Golf Association, which stipulate a 0.830 limitation on Coefficient of Restitution (COR) in drivers. Callaway Golf also will offer a new higher COR driver intended for use in countries where there are no limitations on COR through 2007 as stipulated by the Rules of Golf set by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. This unrestricted version will be designated as the Great Big Bertha II+ Titanium Driver and will be widely available in international markets, but only available by special order in the United States.

The Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers feature a powerful 380cc clubhead that measures more than 130cc larger than the original. That's a remarkable size increase of 52 percent over the original Great Big Bertha Driver that leads directly to a high Moment of Inertia (MOI) and enhanced forgiveness. Callaway Golf employed an advanced cold-forming process to create the clubface of the Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers - each of which is precisely designed to maximize allowable performance. This technology allows the clubface to be both extremely thin and strong without any impurities that could impede performance. This combination of maximum COR and high MOI enhances ball speed and potential distance on shots hit across a large area of the clubface, potentially increasing ball speed even on off-center hits.

The Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers have also been designed with a precisely located center of gravity geared to produce the most favorable launch angle and spin rate for each particular loft. This is accomplished through advanced production processes that tightly control the wall thickness and weight placement within each clubhead. As a result, the Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers help golfers hit drives with high launch angles and optimized spin rates to create a distance-enhancing trajectory and greater potential distance.

"There's much more to building a great driver than just a high COR," Mr. Helmstetter said. "I think we really nailed every design aspect with the Great Big Bertha II. Each loft is designed with the most beneficial combination of bulge and roll, center of gravity placement, COR and MOI to produce a hot, strong ball flight and forgiveness across the face of the driver. If you miss a shot a little to the left or right of center, you're still going to see the benefits of using a Great Big Bertha II Titanium Driver."

Amateur and professional golfers alike have extensively tested the technology built into the Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers. Feedback has been very strong from golfers of all skill levels -- including tour professionals, who have embraced the new driver in large numbers. More than 100 Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers have been put in play across the world's major professional tours in each of the last three weeks with victorious results. The new driver has already been used to win four tour events, including the NEC Invitational and a pair of record-setting victories yesterday by Callaway Golf Staff Professionals Bruce Fleisher and Annika Sorenstam. Sorenstam has won the first two events in which she played since switching to a Great Big Bertha II Pro Series Titanium Driver.

"I loved the Great Big Bertha II right away," said Sorenstam, who bettered her driving distance average for the year by 22 yards during her victory at the Williams Championship. "It's given me extra distance, which is a lot of fun. Now I know how Tiger Woods feels every week when he's 40 yards ahead of the other players. It's a wonderful feeling. I think this new Great Big Bertha II is the greatest driver Callaway Golf has ever made." Other prominent Callaway Golf Staff Professionals who have already switched to the Great Big Bertha II Titanium Driver include Charles Howell III, Rocco Mediate, Jesper Parnevik, Jim Colbert, Emilee Klein and Kelli Kuehne.

Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers are available in standard lofts of 9, 10, 11 and 12 degrees for right-handed golfers and 9, 10 and 11 degrees for left-handers, while Great Big Bertha II Pro Series Titanium Drivers are available in 8.5-degree and 9.5-degree versions in right hand only. The standard versions are designed with progressive draw bias to help golfers square the clubface at impact and hit the ball with a strong, drawing ball flight. The Pro Series models have neutral weighting and face angles designed to help more skilled players shape their shots with greater ease.

All of the Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers feature patented Callaway Golf technology, including Short Straight Hollow Hosel (S2H2(R)) and Tru-Bore(R) Technology. These longstanding design principles play a large part in the performance of these new drivers, helping to optimize the clubhead shape and increase the MOI and forgiveness of the drivers. Meanwhile, the drivers utilize a proprietary series of high-performance graphite shafts. The GBB System 60, GBB System 60 Pro Series and GBB Gems 50 shafts are lightweight, low resin-content graphite shafts with high strength and exceptional responsiveness. The standard shaft for the regular Great Big Bertha II+ Titanium Drivers are the GBB System 60 -- available in Light, Regular, Firm and Stiff flexes -- and the GBB Gems 50, a ladies flex shaft. The Great Big Bertha II Pro Series Titanium Drivers are available with the GBB System 60 Pro Series shaft as the standard shaft offering. Great Big Bertha II Titanium Drivers are scheduled to ship to retail accounts in September at a suggested retail price of $500 for the standard and Pro Series models.

Callaway Golf Company makes and sells Big Bertha(R) Metal Woods and Irons, including Great Big Bertha(R) II Titanium Drivers, Big Bertha C4(TM) Compression Cured Carbon Composite Drivers, Big Bertha ERC(R) II Forged Titanium Drivers, Big Bertha ERC Forged Titanium Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Hawk Eye(R) VFT(R) and Big Bertha Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Drivers and Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Steelhead(TM) III Stainless Steel Drivers and Fairway Woods, Hawk Eye VFT Tungsten Injected(TM) Titanium Irons, Big Bertha Stainless Steel Irons, Steelhead X-14(R) and Steelhead X-14 Pro Series Stainless Steel Irons, and Callaway Golf Forged Wedges. Callaway Golf Company also makes and sells Odyssey(R) Putters, including White Hot(R), TriHot(R), and Dual Force(R) Putters. Callaway Golf Company makes and sells the Callaway Golf(R) HX(R) Blue and HX Red balls, the CTU 30(R) Blue and CTU 30 Red balls, the HX 2-Piece Blue and HX 2-Piece Red balls, the CB1(R) Blue and CB1 Red balls, and the Warbird(TM) golf balls. For more information about Callaway Golf Company, please visit our Web sites at www.callawaygolf.com and www.odysseygolf.com.

CONTACT:
Callaway Golf Company, Carlsbad
Larry Dorman/Patrice Hutin/Millie Speirs, 760/931-1771

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