MISCELLANEOUS
CLUB FACTS & INFORMATION (A)
Distance vs Driver Head Material
Golfsmith took all driver heads, Maple, Stainless, 300cc Titanium, Ceramic, Graphite, Maraging Technology, Persimmon Wood..All materials. Installed identical shafts, put them all in their Iron Byron Robot and hit them all on the "Vertical-Line Center of Gravity" and guess what?
The distances of the drives were all within 1% of each other, That's right 1%. The point being if you hit the center of gravity every time use any material driver you want. The benefit of different materials comes into play when you miss the vertical-line center of gravity.
Fact...All driver heads are the same weight. Titanium has a high strength to weight ratio which allows you to make a 300cc or larger head and still maintain the weight (200 grams) required by all drivers and not break when you hit the ball. A 300cc, 200 gram, Stainless Steel driver head would explode when you hit a golf ball.
If you miss the vertical-line center of gravity with a small Persimmon or metal (200cc) wood head by 1/4" you lose 12% of your distance and the shot will go right or left depending on which side of th CCG (vertical-line center of gravity) you hit. If you miss the VCG with a 360cc Titanium head by 3/4" you only lose 6% of the distance and the shot will still go straight.
It has to do with "Momentum of inertia", M=d*v2... Ya Da Ya Da..." and means that the larger the head is, the less it will rotate when the vertical line- center of gravity is missed, as proved by Golfsmith.
The bottom line is...300cc and bigger driver heads will always produce a longer straighter golf shot when you don't hit the vertical-line center of gravity (Thats me). I don't know about anyone else, but it works for me. Thats why I have a 360cc in my bag.
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Flex/Bend Point vs Trajectory
Shaft flex points (kick points) have virtually no effect on ball trajectory. Results from tests on 2000 golf shafts by Golf Smiths R & D department showed that there was only 1 degree difference in ball trajectory between a club made from the
lowest flex point shaft they found and a club made from the highest flex point
shaft they found. ONLY 1 DEGREE...Chalk up one more for HYPE.
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The Truth About Shaft Flex
Shaft flex letters on golf shafts A,L,R,S,X have little meaning because
there is no standard of measuring flex with in the golf shaft industry. They seem to all have their own way of determining shaft flex. Results from tests done on the same 2000 shaft above by Golf Smith not only showed that one companies "R" flex
equaled another companies "S" flex and so on,but there were even overlapping flex's with in individual companies.
Golf Smith tested these shafts torque, bend points, frequency's, etc and rated all these tested golf shafts by mile per hour so there is now a truly accurate method a flexing shafts for golf club-makers like myself.
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Distance vs Accuracy
Every golfer wants to increase distance and accuracy. Unfortunately,
an improvement in one usually creates a corresponding deficiency in the
other. As club makers, we strive to find an acceptable compromise. This job is made easier if we can convince the average golfer to consider distance as the key feature in the driver only. With all other clubs, consistency and accuracy are far more important than distance.
When we use the driver, we want to hit the ball as far as we possibly can while
keeping it within a "reasonable" range of accuracy. If it ends up anywhere in the fairway, we're usually pretty happy.With our fairway woods and especially
our irons, it is far more important to know laterally where, and how far away the ball is going to land each time we hit it. It really doesn't matter if
you hit your 5 iron 180 yards or 150 yards as long as you always hit it
approximately the same distance and are able to pinpoint the landing.
A quality set of clubs is made with consistently decreasing lengths and
graduating lofts. This is why each club will give you a different distance, but in fairly constant increments. as long as you have a fairly consistent swing, you will theoretically be able to pull the right club from your bag for any given distance. You may use an 8 iron for the same distance that your best friend uses a pitching wedge, but it makes no difference since you know when it's the correct time, based on your range of distances, to use your 8 iron.
So when you are selecting your new clubs, make distance a high priority with
the driver, but keep consistency and accuracy at the top of the list for the rest of your clubs.
The right set of clubs will greatly enhance your game. However, you will be disappointed if you think a new set of custom clubs will totally cure a severe swing problem and drastically lower your score.
I can help, but you have to be able to swing consistently and hit the ball squarely before you join the low handicap club.
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Center of Gravity
I really don't know how the golf industry gets away with some of the crap they advertise. Example: Our club has a "bigger Sweet Spot"..."BULL" The sweet spot they are referring to is the center of gravity. Now, I do not know what school they went to, but every physical mass in the universe has a center of gravity and it is were it is and does not get larger or smaller. Were the "Vertical-Line Center of Gravity" (VG) and the Horizontal-Line Center of Gravity" (HG) cross is the true "Center of Gravity" (CG). This being true, then the true CG of wood and iron heads can not be on the face of the club. The center of gravity of irons is near the face, however the center of gravity of wood heads is inside, around the middle some where, depending on its size and design. This is why I refer to the VG above when talking about the larger headed drivers.
The bigger sweet spot is referred to when talking about the larger Driver heads and Perimeter Weighted/Cavity Back irons. The larger the wood head and cavity back irons will rotate less around the "vertical-line center of gravity" vs smaller wood heads and blade style irons when it is missed. The true statement is "You will get longer straighter shots when you miss the "center of gravity" VG + HG. In other words, they are more fore giving on miss hits.
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Just the Facts
• Assuming a consistent swing, the two factors that affect club
head speed the most, are length of shaft, and your swing.
• Lengthening the shaft makes it much more difficult to hit the
ball squarely.
• A larger head on a driver is always more forgiving in terms of accuracy, and will give a higher trajectory than a smaller head with the same loft.
• The use of titanium, which is
lighter and harder than steel, has allowed club heads to become larger because
the same strength can be maintained with thinner walls. The overall weight of a titanium head is the same as a steel head, it's just bigger and more
forgiving. The increased distance that comes from titanium drivers is due to the longer and lighter shafts which increase club head speed, which in turn, increases distance. The main advantage of the titanium is the increased forgiveness on off-center hits which result from the use of longer shafts.
• A more flexible shaft will increase distance, but may sacrifice some
accuracy if to flexible for your swing speed and tempo.
• A stiffer flex will help a with accuracy but will sacrifice some distance if to stiff for your swing speed and tempo.
• Most average golfers play with too stiff a flex reducing their potential
distance.
• A low center of gravity will help provide a higher trajectory, which
will increase distance for golfers with lower swing speeds, who usually drive under 200 yards.
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