The Big Ben C455 fairway wood really hasn’t had much love this year. It’s rare to find a review of it, it doesn’t appear on Tour, you don’t see it in many Hogan ads and customers don’t ask for it. I don’t know if many customers even know that it exists.
We thought we would shed some light on this forgotten fairway wood as we review the Big Ben C455.
There are a few things that really stick out when you first catch a glimpse of the C455… the traditional head design and the stock Aldila NV graphite shaft. The C455 features a stainless steel body and a C455 stainless steel face insert. This insert helps add forgiveness and feel while giving the club some “pop”. Hogan hasn’t resorted to crazy weighting systems with this club… it’s about as traditional as a club gets these days. The club is big enough that it can be used in all situations… off the tee, out of the rough and off the fairway. It is available in five different versions for right handed players (Strong 3, 3, 4, 5, 7) and three versions for left handed players (3, 5, 7). The stock Aldila NV graphite shaft is actually a slightly modified version of the original NV and is a great choice for the majority of golfers.
Talk about middle of the road… it seems everything about this club hovers right around average. The ball flight isn’t high and it isn’t low. The C455 isn’t the most forgiving fairway wood out there but it isn’t the least forgiving either. It didn’t blow our testers away in regards to distance but I wouldn’t say that it is the shortest wood we have tested. It’s not all bad though… most of our testers really enjoyed the feel that the C455 stainless face provided, they enjoyed the classic look of the club, they liked the stock graphite shaft and the price didn’t scare too many potential buyers away. Many of my customers try this club but only after I point it out to them. It seems that most don’t know that it exists. There just isn’t much buzz around this one…but I guess it’s tough to create buzz around an average club.
