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Golf Equipment Chronicles 2003 (Part 11)

Don’t Forget to Check the `Little Things’

By Leith Anderson

The last few months I’ve been exploring the technical issues behind matching the right golf clubs to a player’s unique swing. Every golfer wants to hit the driver as far as he possibly can as long as it stays in play. That’s why I’ve been “Searching for the Magic Driver” for almost a year. The search has been very helpful for me and for many readers who have told me they have found their own Magic Drivers. However, there are other subjects that are just as important as your driver if you’re trying to become a better player.

This month I’ll cover a bunch of the “small things” that can help you improve your game. Think of it as “tuning” your clubs. In most cases, tuning can be accomplished for a very small expenditure of money and effort. I urge you to take the time to have a close look at your current clubs and think about what’s working and what’s not. If you’ve been playing your set for a while, you might have overlooked some problems. I’ve fallen into that trap myself, avoiding the boring work of checking lengths, lofts and lies. In the last month, I’ve adjusted my own clubs and noticed the improvement immediately.

There are also some emerging trends that most amateur players shouldn’t ignore regarding set makeup. Having the right club to make the shot you need might mean that there’s room for a new tool in your bag. I’ll bring you up to date on a couple of ideas that I’ve been working on. We’ll get to that, but first, I have an update on the Magic Driver that I reported on last month.

The New Magic Driver is Alive and Well in Palo Alto

Last month I admitted that my motivation for experimenting with 48" drivers to gain extra distance was my friend Reed who used to be a mere mortal, but then bought a Titleist 983 E, reshafted it with an Apache 65P and immediately gained 40 yards with no loss of accuracy. It’s one thing to gain distance. It’s quite another to have that change your game. That happened for Reed. On May 9th, he won the Palo Alto Golf Club Match Play Championship 5 and 4. There’s a permanent trophy with an engraved plaque in the Palo Alto clubhouse and Reed’s got his name on that trophy. It’s kind of neat to think that 20 or 30 years from now that trophy will still be there and Reed can come back and remember the day he was the best. Not the Masters, but pretty cool, nevertheless. His Magic Driver was a major contributor.

I was a close observer, playing in the final group as a marker. I even brought my current 48" pretender to see if I could catch the E with a little more powder in the shell. Not to be, but I learned a few more important things about over length drivers.

Throughout the round, we continued to ask the question, “What happened?” The driver is truly Magic. His swing speed is still the same. He hasn’t been taking lessons. He doesn’t lift weights. The same player is just hitting the ball a lot farther. Once the match was over, every player in the group took a few whacks with the E. None had the same (miracle) effect. However, I felt an increase in ball speed off the face when I took my swings. I think that the conclusion is that there’s something going on with the E head. There’s a nice match with the shaft and somehow when you stir all of the variables together with Reed’s swing, the result is Magic.

Palo Alto is a fairly long course. The par 5’s are usually unreachable. On a cold day into a strong wind Reed hit a 5 wood second shot pin high on 12. That’s a hole that I’ve hit twice, both on hot summer days. It may not work for you, but if you’re looking for a “hot head” check out the E. (But be sure that you get the Titleist shaft tested because most E’s and K’s that come into the Golf Lab are much stiffer than advertised.)

Here’s the bottom line: I work with golf clubs all day every day and if someone told me that a golf club could add 40 yards of distance, I’d have said they’re hallucinating. But I saw it with my own eyes and “seeing is believing.” In case you’re wondering, I’ll be buying one next week.

Another Candidate: The TM 580

The Titleist E is going to be a big seller around Palo Alto based largely on Reed’s recent success. It’s curious that at other clubs, the driver that is inspiring a similar reaction is the Taylor Made 580.

There’s a cadre of young professionals who practice frequently at the Bridges in San Ramon. Over the last several weeks, most of them have adopted the TM 580 as their driver head of choice. Another good friend who hangs out with the kids on occasion has reported this nearly unanimous vote of confidence for the new TaylorMade driver. Of course, none of the players is sticking with the TM proprietary shaft. All have selected something more exotic, with a tendency to try the Fujikura Speeders, the Graffaloy Blue and the Graphite Design Purple Ice. It’s been the same at Shoreline. A couple of the better players bought the TaylorMade driver and improved their results a lot. Many other players noticed and TaylorMade drivers are showing up in more and more bags in Mountain View.

Conclusion: Hot Heads Are Real

I think that there is something going on with both the new Titleist heads and with the TM 580. I don’t know exactly what, because if there is a technical breakthrough, it has not been reported in the press. Or maybe it has. Remember all the buzz from early in the year when the PGA pros were marveling at the distance produced by their new drivers and balls. I think we all assumed that the new products wouldn’t really work for amateurs.

Last month in Golf Digest there was a special section on new technology with a focus on drivers. The story reported facts that we have not been able to confirm with the Achiever launch monitor at the Golf Lab. It has to do with “smash factor.” The smash factor is the ratio of ball speed divided by clubhead speed. For a simple example, if you swing at 100 MPH and your ball speed is 135 MPH, your smash factor is 1.35. In our testing with the Achiever, we have found many examples of players with smash factors in the 1.35 range. We have found no amateurs whose smash factor exceeded 1.4.

The Golf Digest article focused on Vijay Singh and quoted statistics that suggest much higher smash factor. His swing speed was reported at 113 and his ball speed in the high 160’s which would be a smash factor of around 1.5. The article made it seem like ratios around 1.5 were common. We don’t think so.

It goes without saying that all PGA Tour players have access to the best coaching and technology. Are they swinging differently? Perhaps. Do they have different or better equipment? Perhaps. However, there is nothing in the article that explains the difference in smash factor between the amateurs we have seen and the professionals profiled in Golf Digest. In the next month, I’ll do what I can to shed some light on this question. We’ll certainly get Reed and his Magic Driver on the launch monitor and compare results with his old driver. Is it the head? Is it the shaft? Where does the magic come from? We’ll try to find out. I’ll also have a chance to test my new E and 580 and find out if the head alone makes the magic.

The mystery is about the magnitude of improvement. It not uncommon for a player to improve his distance by 10 to 15 yards by getting the right shaft flex and a head that produces the correct launch angle. My experience covers several hundred players that we have fitted at the Golf Lab. There is simply no precedent for an improvement as dramatic as Reed’s. Stay tuned for this one, it should be interesting.

Update on the 48" Driver

The first test wasn’t too promising. It was the Celebration of Junior Golf scramble at Palo Alto. I brought both of the “Big Ones”: the Alpha Reaction 9.5¡ V2 400 cc head paired with the Accuflex Vizion shaft and the Nemesis 10¡ paired with the Assassin shaft. My special scramble setup didn’t deliver a “keeper” until late into the round. Lesson number one: don’t try to clobber the 48" driver. It will go sideways.

I chose the Alpha Reaction V2 400 and the Accuflex Vizion for the marker round with Reed. I wanted to see if the extra length could keep me in the game. The answer was a clear “no.” However, the 48" setup worked. I stayed with the other players. Although I didn’t add 40 yards, I did add 10 or 15. Plus, I found that it was easy to hit the 48" driver in play, and on a windy day I thought I got good results.

I learned that 9.5¡ was too much loft for the head. The ball went too high. This is because to make the 48" driver work, you have to hit it on the upswing off a tall peg. The result is that you add loft to whatever your head says. This is why the Long Drivers of America (LDA) Tour professionals use low loft drivers. They can take a 4¡ driver and launch it at 11¡. For the next test, it’s going to be important to bring the loft of the head down. I’ll certainly test the 8.5¡ and possibly the 7.5¡ heads from Alpha Reaction. I also feel ready to try the “Red Brick” -- the 455 Deep Bore from SMT, the current reigning World Champion. I’ll try it in an 8¡ head first. I also want to try some different shafts in longer lengths. But my conclusion remains the same as last month. If I had a competitive round on an open course like Palo Alto, I would put the 48" driver in the bag (and I did).

We had a few customers who decided to try the 48" drivers. It’s not a huge sample, but no one has said they don’t want to continue. The consensus is that it’s dangerous for an amateur, but not too hard to hit and definitely adds distance.

Final word on Alpha Reaction V2. This is a very interesting head for the finish. It’s a “smoky black” and the impression of the ball stays on the face, but can be rubbed off with a towel. It’s easy to keep track of where you’re hitting the ball. The face does not mark with sand like normal, indicating a very hard face. It is kind of a spooky look. The technology behind the head is that it is cast in a single piece with the face welded on. That is the most expensive manufacturing method, the same as Titleist, and LaJolla. This is a very interesting head and one you should pay attention to, especially if you like a slightly flatter lie.

Check Your Club Length

The first thing you should do to “tune” your current setup is to measure your clubs. Time and again, players come into the Golf Lab with clubs that are simply too long. How do we know that? First, we compare with what we have learned from the SST Tour Van that is out on the PGA Tour week after week. In the last year, the SST Tour Van has worked with hundreds of PGA Tour players. “Tour Van Jimmy” keeps track of the players he PUREs shafts for. He also keeps track of how long their clubs are.

The only player in the last many months that committed to a driver over 45" is Scott McCarron. Jimmy almost never sees a 43" 3 wood. On the other hand, practically every amateur who comes into the Golf Lab has a 45" driver and a 43" 3 wood. Many 3 woods are longer. The first thing we do is encourage our players to trim their drivers under 45" and to cut their 3 woods down to 42.5" or less. I’m 6' 5" and play a 44.75" driver and a 42.75" 3 wood. (If you’re going to go long, go real long.)

As a rule of thumb, unless you need an oxygen mask to breathe, keep your driver length under 45" and your 3 wood around 42.5". Most players would do better with clubs that are even shorter. The rest of your woods should decrease proportionately. So why do manufacturers make their clubs too long? My cynical take on the subject is that they understand psychology. They know that golfers remember their “home runs,” but don’t pay too much attention to their batting average. It is true that once in a while you will catch a long club on the sweet spot and the ball will go a long way. You remember that. What you don’t remember is your misses. If you want to test your consistency, all you have to do is find yourself a clubfitter with a launch monitor and hit a series of 10 or 20 shots. Pay attention to your average and your accuracy and you’ll choose the shorter club length.

If you want to prove the length argument for yourself, you might need a little help from a clubfitter who has plenty of demo clubs. The time-honored way of determining playing length is to take three clubs, one of the length you think is right, one 1/2" longer and one 1/2" shorter. You hit a series of shots with impact tape on the face of the club. It will not be close; one of the clubs will give you the tightest pattern on the sweet spot. You are likely to find that the tightest pattern comes from the shorter club length.

How About Your Iron Length?

I love graphite shafts in irons. This is for a good reason. Since making the switch a little over a year ago, I became a much better player. I became more consistent. I’m trending down from a 5 handicap at the moment, leading into summer. The most important result of graphite shafts is that I don’t seem to have the high scores any more. Somehow, a bad round stays in the high 70’s or very low 80’s. No more embarrassing 85’s.

So why is it that all manufacturers make their graphite shafted irons 1" longer than their steel shafted irons? The lame excuse is that graphite is lighter and you can “handle” a longer graphite club. That might be true, but if a set based on a 38" 5 iron is correct for you, there is absolutely no reason that your clubs should be longer simply because they have graphite shafts. A club that fits lets you stand up to the ball with the correct posture. There is one length that fits you best and it’s not different just because the shafts in your irons happen to be graphite.

The real reason that manufacturers make their clubs 1" longer is simply that their heads are all the same weight. When you put a “standard” weight head on a graphite shaft, you lose five swingweight points, more or less. That takes a D-1 down to a C-6 or thereabouts. No one (except Ping) is going to sell a club with a swingweight in the “C’s” so they simply make the clubs an inch longer. Plus six swingweights; solves the problem.

If you’re going to play graphite shafts in your irons, you simply have to find a way to get clubs with heads heavy enough to let the club lengths come out right with the right swingweight. This probably means you’ll have to go the custom route. In a pinch, you can always buy a roll of lead tape.

Take a close look at the length of your irons. The “standard” length has changed over the last few years. Most of us grew up playing steel shafted irons based on a 5 iron length of 37". Over the years, that standard inched up to 37.75" for steel shafts. Lately, that standard has moved up to 38". That might be OK if you’re strong. It might be OK if you’re playing lightweight shafts. But, it’s a good idea to try the impact label experiment with a set of demo clubs to make sure you’ve got the right length.

At a minimum, grab a yardstick and slide it under the shaft of your 5 iron in the playing position. If it’s over 38" to the top of the grip, think about buying a hacksaw at Home Depot. If your 5 iron is 39", it’s just plain too long unless you buy your pants at the Big and Tall.

Loft and Lie

We had a shock last month at the Golf Lab. We like to think that our record is perfect, but one of our best customers for whom we performed a reshaft on his X 16’s with tour flighted Rifles brought them back. He couldn’t hit them as well as the X-14’s that his son was using. Not only that, they were “leaking” to the right. We were perplexed because there was no reason the Rifle shafts we had installed should be weaker than the Callaway lightweight shafts that were in his son’s clubs.

We asked him to hit some shots on the Achiever launch monitor while we did a quick loft and lie test on his X-16’s. Side by side, the X-16’s were six yards shorter on the launch monitor. They also showed a left to right pattern.

When we measured the lofts and lies, we found that the X-16’s were two and a half degrees weaker than the X-14’s. Not only that, they were also one and a half degrees flatter. We bent the X-16’s to match the X-14’s and all of a sudden the distance came back and the shot pattern straightened out.

The lesson was obvious. If you are noticing differences in performance between two clubs that should be the same, be sure to check the lofts and the lies. If you’re coming up short, it’s likely the lofts are weak. If you have an unexplained fade and loss of power, make sure your lies are not too flat. On the other hand, if you’re missing left, make sure that your clubs are not too upright.

For the last year, I have been noticing that I’m cutting divots “toe heavy” with my irons, a sure sign that they are too flat. But I was playing well so I left them alone. After the experience with the X-16’s, I was building a new set of irons for myself and I checked the lies dynamically on a lie board and made the lies more upright. The result was that I’m straighter with my new irons and they hold the line into the wind better. The lesson? Pay close attention to your divots. If they are anything but level, be sure to have a dynamic fitting for every club in your bag. You will find yourself hitting the ball straighter.

One more insight. If you are making a change to your clubs, give them a fair chance. When I moved my lies more upright, I started missing most of my shots left. It took two or three rounds and some range time to make the change. If you’re taking new clubs to the course, don’t expect the first day to be a miracle.

Set Makeup

Long irons present a problem for most golfers. Unless you’re a very low handicap player, it’s likely that your three and four irons go the same distance. It’s not uncommon for an amateur to hit a five iron as long as a four or three. For most of us, the two iron stays in the closet. You can learn a lot from looking in the bags of LPGA pros. For most of the women, the longest iron in the bag is the four, for many the five. They make up the rest with an assortment of woods, sometimes nine and 11s.

Recently, I’ve been experimenting with the “hybrids” or utility woods. They come in a range of lofts and all I can say is that they’re awfully easy to hit. I put a Snake Eyes 22¡ Quick Strike in the bag with great results. I’m planning on adding an 18¡ and will probably continue experimenting from there. I’m impressed with the utility clubs offered by Sonartec, as well.

It might be time for you to do a little soul searching. If you are having a hard time with your long irons, I highly recommend trying out a couple of utility woods, especially if you just can’t see yourself putting the nine and 11 woods in your bag.

Wedge lofts and gaps

The conventional wisdom about loft progressions is that there should be a four degree gap starting with the wedges decreasing to three degrees from the five iron down to the two iron.

This means that if your set is based on a 48¡ pitching wedge, your lofts will decrease by four degrees through the five iron and then three degrees from the four through the two iron. Going up, your gap wedge will be 52¡, sand wedge 56¡ and lob wedge at 60¡.

The problem is that this doesn’t give you a lot of room at the “long end” of your set. I noticed that Jim Ahern was using a set that went 48¡, 54¡ and 60¡ when he won his last Champions Tour tournament. I have had good experience with a 54¡ sand wedge and 60¡ lob wedge. If you’re thinking about how to get a few more long clubs in the bag, especially a utility club or two, you might want to compress your wedge gaps at the top.

Grips

Finally, I have a comment about grips. If you’re one of the old time players who likes the heavy tour wrap cords, you should be asking yourself, “why?”

The most important change you can make to your clubs is to reduce the overall weight. I think that the best way to do that is to switch to graphite shafts or lightweight steel shafts. If you do that it doesn’t make sense to stick with heavy grips. If you tried Winn grips years ago and couldn’t stand how the felt or how they wore, you can come back. The quality has improved a lot. Also, Golf Pride has introduced a lightweight grip, the Whisper. Both are highly recommended.

Another benefit of lightweight grips is better head feel. Swingweight will increase by a couple of points and the balance of the club improves.

Next Month

I’ve been talking about the performance benefits of graphite shafts in irons. Next month I’m planning to do an exhaustive test and review of the top iron shafts. I know that this a controversial subject for most players. I think that graphite is better and that we’ll be able to prove it with data from the Achiever.

Correction

I got an email from Stacey Shinnick, the two-time women’s’ LDA Champion. She pointed out that the nomenclature I used was incorrect. The Re/Max World Championships is the correct title of the “Big Show”. Also, she was the winner with a Callaway GBBII with a 48" Callaway shaft in firm flex.

Leith Anderson is a partner in the Golf Lab in Palo Alto. He will answer all questions related to clubmaking and clubfitting personally. Contact Leith Anderson by email: Leith@calgolftech.com. Cell phone 650-743-2816.