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Your Driver is Obsolete
March 21, 2007
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in this issue:
-- 2007 – The Year of Moment of Inertia (MOI)
-- Subplot: The Industry Against Square
-- Industry Research
-- Tweaking Your Current Driver -- One More Tweak -- Our Opinion -- Mornings at the Muni
Last year wise men declared that significant improvements in driver performance would forever be prevented by USGA restrictions on technical innovation. Those of us who still hoped for a little magic from our drivers fell into depression. And then 2007 exploded. The year that the wise men predicted would be totally boring for drivers has produced the most interesting new drivers since Taylor Made perfected the screw in 2005. If you’re still playing the same driver at the end of 2007 that was in your bag at the beginning of the year, I’ll be very surprised. |
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2007 – The Year of Moment of Inertia (MOI) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The story behind the new generation of drivers
is “Moment of Inertia” – MOI for short. Moment of
inertia is measured by sophisticated electronic
gizmos and expressed in standard gobbledygook – g-
cm2 – where “g” stands for grams and “cm2” is
centimeters squared. The term is spoken as “grams
(pause) centimeters squared” which I prefer to
simplify as “MOI whatever units”. Most older drivers
measure in the 4000 to 4300 “MOI whatever units”
range. Last year, the Nike Sasquatch was the highest
at 4700. This year the new SUMO is 4950 and the
SUMO 2 is 5300.
High Moment of Inertia is touted as “resistance to twisting” around an axis through the vertical center of gravity of a driver head. The claim is that it’s easier to get your driver back to the ball in square position so you hit the ball straighter. That’s not pure hype. In a round at Poppy Ridge I surprised myself with the best (straightest) driving day of my life. That covers fifty-five years. I used the SUMO2. Additional anecdotal evidence is appearing daily. Of the SUMO2 drivers sold at the Golf Lab since February 3rd (SUMO Saturday), players have returned to report unusual accuracy. Some even call the new-found consistency “boring”
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Subplot: The Industry Against Square ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The easiest way to design a driver with high moment
of inertia is to change the conventional driver shape to
square. (MOI increases by moving weight as far back
and away from the center of gravity of a driver head as
possible.) That’s the route that Nike took. That’s also
the route that Callaway took with its new FT-i driver –
their version of square. So far only Nike and Callaway
are betting on the square shape for 2007. Taylor
Made, Titleist and the other manufacturers are acting
like they got caught with their pants down. It’s too late
for them to rush a square model to market without
looking like copycats so every company that does not
have a square driver is eager to explain why the
square shape will be a flash in the pan – at least
that’s what they’re hoping.
There are plenty of other high MOI models coming to the market. Not all are square. The new Adams driver looks like a Portobello mushroom and is rated at 5000 g-cm2 – before we doctored it up. There are treatments that will increase the MOI of your own driver. Read on.
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Industry Research ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is opinion and there is science. Tom Wishon,
one of the gurus of golf gear, described a research
project that he commissioned to try to determine if
square drivers could be proven to be straighter. The
research was computer modeled.
The finding was that the high MOI driver indeed held the face angle a little closer to square on an off-center hit. The amount was small - just half a degree. The research did not quantify what that half a degree would mean to a player. Would it be ten feet or ten yards straighter in the landing area? That’s still an unanswered question. Rather than hope for a miracle, Tom suggested some other ideas that might be just as effective as buying a new high MOI driver. Here are some ideas that we have adopted, modified and taken to heart in our daily work at the Golf Lab.
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Tweaking Your Current Driver ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MOI is influenced by driver head weight. Each 1 gram
of head weight added to your driver will increase the
MOI by approximately 35 g-cm2. Most driver heads
today weigh 200 grams or a bit less. Most drivers are
also 45” long, or even longer. Manufacturers target
swingweights to D-0 or D-1. If you want to improve the
performance of your current driver, here’s what you
can do:
Add eight to twelve grams of weight to your driver head with stylish lead tape – scientifically applied around the back. The head weight will now be 208-212 grams and the MOI will increase by 280 to 420 g-cm2. If your driver is average it measures about 4600 g-cm2 before treatment. With 400 extra “whatever units” it will be up to about 5000 g-cm2. That’s more than a brand new SUMO. At the same time, cut at least an inch off of your shaft. You may need to trim from the tip to stiffen the shaft to make up for the extra head weight. The inch you cut off will decrease swingweight by six points. But each two grams of additional head weight adds back one swing weight point. So, it’s a wash. You get a shorter driver, with higher MOI that you’ll hit straighter and maybe farther. Swingweight stays the same. If you want to have a little fun, schedule a driver fitting at the Golf Lab. We can tell you exactly how efficient your current driver is and how much distance you might be giving up. We will also test your swing for consistency and find out how you apply your power. If your driver will benefit from tweaking, we’ll do that during the fitting and the launch monitor will reveal measurable improvements on the spot. We will then tell you how close to your potential you are performing. If equipment changes will help, we will provide test clubs and compare performance to your current driver. If you swing is the problem, we won’t waste your money on new golf clubs. Rather, we will put you in touch with one of the PGA Professionals that we work with to help you fix first things first. Driver fittings at the Golf Lab are $125 and take about an hour and a half. Call 650-493-1770 to reserve a convenient time.
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One More Tweak ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t forget that before you’ve got your driver totally
decked out there’s one more step. Counterweights
under the grip add 2-3 more MPH of ball speed for
almost all players. You’ve got to test with a launch
monitor to find which weight works the best – there’s
no good way to guess. Above all, don’t trust your feel.
Just hit your driver without a weight. Install a 10 gram
weight, go again. Install a 20 gram weight, go again.
You will know if 15 minutes. The launch monitor will
tell you. At the Golf Lab, we use the Balance-Certified
system for its ease of use. Go to www.balance-
certified.com for more information. If a counter weight
produces another ten yards of distance, we’ll install it
during the fitting for just $40.
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Our Opinion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both Bob and I have played the new Nike SUMO2 and
Adams Insight drivers with a variety of shafts. We
know from experience that high MOI drivers deliver
better accuracy. High MOI is not about distance; it is
about hitting the fairway and avoiding catastrophic
misses. If you want to see for yourself, come by the
Golf Lab for a fitting. Then, check out one of our high
performance high MOI drivers to confirm our testing
results outdoors.
A logical starting point is to start out by testing and tweaking your current driver to improve consistency and add distance. There is a high probability that we can make your own driver work better for you. If you haven’t had a professional fitting for a while, you will be amazed by the current state-of-the-art electronics.
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Mornings at the Muni ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, join me for a
nine-hole: “morning at the Muni”. Most weekdays I
meet up with friends and customers to play the back
nine at the Palo Alto Municipal golf course. After that,
we have breakfast at Don’s Place. There’s a lot of talk
about golf equipment. There is no charge. You just
pay your own greens fee. Breakfast is “Dutch Treat”.
Give a call to the Golf Lab the day before to make sure
we’re on.
Leith Anderson is a partner in the Golf Lab, Palo Alto,
CA. Contact: Leith@calgolftec h.com
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
leith@calgolftech.com
phone:
(650) 493-1770
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