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Golf Equipment Chronicles 2004 (Part 7)

Copyright 2004 by Leith Anderson
All rights reserved
Originally appeared in July 2004 issue of Golf Today

Radical Ideas about Set Makeup

“He ain’t no drag, pappa’s got a brand new bag”--James Brown

I believe in constant experimentation with golf clubs. The last 10 years has been a period of invention and break-through in the golf equipment industry. The parade started in the early ‘90s with the first popular metal wood marketed by Callaway. Each year new products appeared that, for the most part, promised and delivered better performance.

When you get into that philosophical debate about whether it’s “The Indian or the Arrow” an interesting question is “What if you replace the arrow with a bullet?” Creative innovation is the history of the last decade in golf equipment. Bullets replaced arrows. Modern equipment makes golf easier.

I am playing better golf today than I did when I was young, strong and dumb. New equipment kept me in the game. Over the last three or four years I’ve improved enough to think that I can be competitive again in my age group. That’s a big improvement. Unfortunately, thinking that I can be competitive and actually being competitive are two different things. But any journey starts with commitment. This month I present some radical ideas about set makeup that might help you finish a few spots higher in your next tournament.

I’m trying to make a change in my playing philosophy. For the last few years, I really didn’t expect to win any tournament I entered. On the infrequent occasions that it happened, I was surprised. I think it was because I have been playing too conservatively. Rather than playing to win, I’ve been playing to finish without embarrassing myself. I chose my clubs not for the best shot I could make, but for the shot that would not produce a catastrophe. If you’re playing tournament golf at any level, the question you have to ask yourself is: do you want to win, or just finish?

The Tour Pros are talking about being “committed” to each shot. My interpretation of that idea is that you should try to hit the correct shot in any situation, regardless of the possible consequences. “Commitment” implies that you will make the right swing and hit the right shot as long as you’re in the right state of mind. Too many times in the last couple of years, I’ve chosen to hit the “commercial” shot that never gave me a chance for birdie. I proved I can play safe and still make bogey.

A good example is the way I’ve been playing par 5’s. I’ve made it a habit to lay up on my second shot. That condition is so chronic that I stopped carrying a 3 wood. I know that if I want to improve my standings, I have to carry a 3 wood, try to bust my drive and hit the par 5’s in two. There’s nothing more depressing than laying up, hitting a par 5 in three and then three-putting for bogey.

The desire to improve in tournament play is my motivation to continue playing, researching and writing the Golf Equipment Chronicles. This month is the 24th in a series that I hope will last forever. In some ways, writing the Chronicles is a fantasy. I’m sharing my opportunity to spend my time traveling, meeting industry personalities, testing all kinds of new equipment and then sharing my findings with readers. Many readers have taken advantage of my invitation to contact me by email (Leith@calgolftech.com) to discuss specific questions. Many of the subjects I cover in detail come from these email correspondence relationships. If you have a question or discovery of your own, I encourage you to get in touch.

Setting the Bag
Conventional wisdom says that it’s fine to experiment during the “off season,” but by the time tournament season starts, you ought to have your bag set.

That’s a good plan until you don’t perform up to your expectations. Then, it’s open season on swapping out the offending clubs. Alas, that’s the problem I ran into after I disappointed myself in the NCGA Net Qualifier at Palo Alto and the Amateurgolf.com Monterey Bay Classic at Bayonet and Blackhorse in Seaside, CA. Neither tournament was a disaster. At Paly, I followed a 77 with a 74 for a net score of 142 (2 under). Bayonet and Blackhorse was a pair of 82’s. But I was out of the money twice in a row and that’s not good enough for me.

In my tournaments and casual rounds, I’ve been playing with some very good players and watching closely, both how they played and the clubs that they used. With that experience and motivation I started switching with a vengeance over the last few weeks and, as of now, I’ve got a brand new bag.

I’m taking advantage of what I know works and I’m prepared to accept that a traditional set of clubs is no longer the right way to go.

Set Make Up
Set make up is clubmaker code for which 14 clubs you carry. The specific clubs you choose are important to make sure you have the right club for the shots you have to make on the course you’re playing. You will probably choose the 14 clubs for any round from an assortment of candidates.

Choosing your clubs implies that you will also “set your gaps,” which means to make sure you know exactly how far you carry each club, on average. Then you choose the clubs that give you the best chance to hit the shot you need for the course you’re playing. A trend in modern set makeup is swapping out long irons for high loft fairway metals and utility clubs. They go about the same distance, but the metals and utility clubs are easier to hit for a better average shot.

Over the years, there have been dramatic changes in set makeup. I have compiled an historical progression that charts changes in set makeup over the years.

A cursory reading of the chart leads to the conclusion that if you’re over age 30, golf clubs are not the same as they were when you learned the game.

The Rise of Specialty Clubs
“Game Improvement” used to be a taboo concept for good players. Twenty years ago, if you had a single digit handicap, your bag would consist of a 1-9 iron, pitching wedge, sand wedge, putter and 3 wood. For years, I wouldn’t buy a set of irons unless it included a 1 iron. It took a long time for me to replace the 1 iron with a 5 wood. I can’t remember a good shot I ever hit with a 1 iron, but there was a fabulous 2 iron on the 11th hole at the Savoy course in Champaign, IL for an eagle in the Illinois State High School tournament in 1961 that helped Hinsdale to the State Championship. It’s amazing how long you remember a great shot. And it’s important to remember how few and far between they are with certain clubs.

Think about all of the specialty clubs that are now available. The 60-degree lob wedge was one of the first to appear on tournament players’ bags. (I traded my 2 iron for a lob wedge.) Then as lofts strengthened, there was a need to fill in the gap between the strong 48¡ pitching and the 56¡ sand wedge with a 52¡ gap wedge. Dave Pelz focused us on the fact that most of our shots occur within 100 yards of the green so we started carrying four wedges.

At the long end of the spectrum, 7 woods were usually reserved for women and seniors. No self-respecting low- or even mid-handicap player would be caught dead with a 7 wood in his bag 10 years ago. Alas, times have changed. I play a couple of times a month with my friend Reed who tickles his 7 wood close to the pin. For most amateurs today, a 7 wood should be in the bag.

Then, there are the utility clubs. I spent some time a few months ago sorting out the differences in the myriad offerings of utility clubs. Many, if not most of my playing partners are going with a 21¡ or 22¡ utility to replace their 3 iron with an increasing number taking the 4 iron out of the bag and replacing it with a 23¡ or 24¡ utility.

Finally, there are the new putters. If you have not yet tried the new MOI putters, whether it’s a Bobby Grace MOI from MacGregor or any of the component offerings from Golfworks or Golfsmith, you owe it to yourself to try something new. In two years, I’ve never mentioned another putter for fear of jinxing my relationship with my trusty Odyssey White Hot decked out with a leather grip and Balance-Certified weight system. Sorry, old friend. There’s a new magic putter in the bag.

I hope you’re going to want to know how all these revelations and changes happened. If you don’t, you’d better stop reading right now.

The New Bag
I’ve got a new Big Dog. For the past couple of years I’ve taken the conservative course. All last summer I played the Magic Driver of that ancient era, a Titleist LFE (one year out of date) with a Fujikura Speeder 757 in R flex tipped to 252 CPM for my 110 MPH swing speed and counterbalanced with the Balance-Certified system. I played that club at 44.75” and that’s a good length to keep it in the fairway but a bad length if you’re trying to go long.

I’ve been working with some new products and found a head that looked great. It’s the Ashton X-1. Some players on the LDA long driver tour have been going to Ashton. I’m not sure that I need the strength of a long drive club, but it set up square and didn’t look as big as its 450 cc measured size. I was at Pin High trying out a bag full of new drivers and a funny thing happened. The tees were pretty far forward, which moved the close fence up to 250 yards. My normal drive was bouncing into the fence, a little wind aided. When I pulled out the Ashton driver shafted up with a 46.5” Harrison Striper 60 Tour, I started flying it into the fence.

Alas, I didn’t have enough confidence to put it in the bag for the Monterey Classic. But it was in the bag for a casual match with Bob, Iron Byron and the Stallion at Palo Alto the next weekend. The results were good; not the total miracle I was hoping for, but the launch monitor tells me that I have a little bit of upside with a 10.5¡ loft. I chose the Ashton X-1 for two reasons: first, it was designed for LDA competition and I’ve come to believe that’s an important indicator of quality. Second, I like the 450 cc size in over length drivers. Maximum size makes a long driver easier to hit.

If you’ve been following the custom driver story, the big news is that Ashton, Nakashima and a few other companies have the self confidence to put the actual loft, lie and face angle specifications on the head. It’s been common knowledge for a long time that the number on the bottom of the driver is not necessarily the actual playing loft of the head. Most OEM clubs show a much stronger loft than actual. Heads also come measured for face angle. Those of us who think we’re golf studs can find heads that are .5¡ to 1¡ open. Old timers know that if you want a driver head that appears to sit square, you need one that is actually at least 1¡ open.

If you want to know the true playing specifications on your driver, you need to find a clubmaker with the new Mitchell gauges. Driver heads can now be measured accurately in the shop.

Three Wood or Alternate Driver?
As I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realize that I need more versatility at the long end of my game. Most courses require a 3 wood from at least some tees to keep it straight or avoid hitting through the fairway.

I was paired with Obie Anderson at the Amateurgolf.com Monterey Classic. Obie is a 60-something long drive aficionado who’s been a competitor for over 10 years. There have been years that he went to the Nationals thinking he could win, but that was in the days of the unlimited length drivers. These days, he feels like the 50” limit is going to put him out of the game. But he still plans on competing in amateur tournaments. He played with a 48” driver in Monterey and, unfortunately, hit a few shots deep into the trees. On Saturday he propounded his two-driver theory. One would be his choice competition club, the 48-incher that he’d pull out of the bag when the fairways were wide. For the holes that he had to hit it straight, he was thinking he would build out a 985 D in an 11.5-degree loft 43” long. In a way, that would be a very strong three wood with a very deep face. Most of us don’t think about carrying two drivers, but we think about driving every day with a 3 wood on tight holes. I’ll probably try one of those out, 985 heads are going begging on eBay.

NP-99 Three Wood
It’s been several years since I had a three wood in my bag. This is because I haven’t had one that I could hit reliably. I had an aggravating tendency to top a shot from the middle of the fairway when I was looking straight at a par 5 green thinking that I had a chance to get on in two.

A big part of the problem was bad technique. My friend Heather helped me a lot by noticing that my setup was bad. Over time, I had let the ball position creep forward until the ball was off my left instep. She got me to move the ball back in my stance and start thinking about hitting my fairway woods more like my irons. Remember, you can take a little divot with a fairway metal. If you’ve forgotten that tip, remember it again. It could put a 3 wood back in your bag.

I finally gave up on my old KZG CH II that was shafted up with a UST Proforce. Nothing against the head, the shaft was just too stiff and that caused me to make the usual mistake of swinging too hard. That’s the source of most misses.

I splurged and took one of our precious Sonartec NP-99 Nick Price commemorative heads and shafted it up with a Fujikura Pro 3 shaft in X flex (67 grams). This choice was going against the conventional wisdom which says you put a heavier shaft in your fairway woods. In any event, I put the Fuji shaft in the NP-99 head and haven’t topped a 3 wood since. If I end up taking the conventional route that leaves the Alternative Driver home, I’ll have a good option off the tee when a driver is too much club or I have to keep it between the trees..

Fairway Metals
One of the great things about a custom golf shop is that you run across all the dreamers before they’re “rode hard and put away wet” as we used to say in Indiana.

Advanced Golf Technology is the dream of Steve Solo, an engineer by trade and an inventor by desire. He’s created a short line of fairway metals based on Aermet, a special metal that’s very difficult to work with. His production is limited so you won’t find the Supernova line at your corner retailer. I hate to admit it, but several months ago I received a call from someone I didn’t know who said there was a new line of fairway metals that were great performers. I remember thinking “What could be so great about a fairway club?” Well, I was wrong.

I ordered a few heads from Steve and made them up for our Golf Lab regulars. We always know when we’ve got a great new product because the demos don’t come back. I made up a 5 wood for myself with a pulled driver Nippon GS-700 X Flex driver shaft that was too stiff for someone and it’s still in my bag. I still haven’t played enough with it to know for sure but it was showing 225 yards carry distance on the launch monitor. If that holds up on the course, it will be longer than any 3 wood I’ve ever carried.

For a 7 wood, I chose the Sonartec NP-99 again, this time with the proprietary NV shaft in S/X flex. Long time readers know that I when there’s no other way to decide on a club, I always take the most expensive alternative. Unfortunately, the stock shaft is working out great so I probably won’t take it over the top with a Fujikura Speeder or UST ACCRA.

Utility Clubs and Specialty Shafts
There’s one clear winner emerging. It’s the Sonartec MD utility club. Ever since the first player took one out and wouldn’t bring it back, the MD has been the choice in utilities. We’ve been decking the club out with a SST PUREd shaft and Balance-Certified counterweight system. The counterweights are especially good since they add to the length of a club. The stock length on the MD’s is a little short for our taste so the extra length helps. The most popular loft is the 21¡ which is a good 3 iron replacement.

Irons Loft Progression
At the beginning of this article, I said I would propose an idea that isn’t all that popular, to say the least. It came from thinking about how to make room in my bag for more fairway metals and more wedges. For many years, the conventional method of “gapping” irons is to allow for a 4¡ progression between irons. For most players, this results in a 10 to 15 yard difference, or “gap” between clubs on full shots.

When you think about your recent games, how many times have you played every iron in your bag? I’ll bet never. If you are like most amateurs, there is probably very little difference in the distance you carry your long irons. Many players will find that they hit their 3, 4, and 5 irons almost the same distance.

A common mistake made by most amateurs, particularly those who learned golf as adults, is to think that each club is made for a specific distance. When you really learn the game, it is a lot more fun to hit something other than a full shot. That’s what “feel” and working the ball is all about. My conclusion: you don’t need all of the irons that you’re carrying.

I created charts that show two options I’m thinking about for my “new bag.” The first option spreads the gaps between irons, leaving lots of room at the top end of the bag. The second option thins out the top end a little bit, but leaves plenty of room for the four wedge system. I suggest that you go through this exercise for yourself. Get your clubs measured and charted. Make sure you know your gaps. Then, verify your carry distances on the range or with a launch monitor. After you do that, you can start putting your own new bag together.

New Wedge Choices
Every time I watch a professional tournament on television I’m reminded about a big difference between “them and us.” Any time a player has a wedge from a 100 yards in, the announcer is going to say, “If he doesn’t get this within 10 feet, he’s hit a pretty bad shot.” Every once and a while I think about what it would do for my game if I got every wedge shot inside 10 feet. I’d be shooting in the 60s.

I’ve got a bag of wedges. I hang on to them forever. I can remember when each one was in the bag, and for most of them I remember a few good shots. I’m economical with my wedges; I never had a wedge that I wore out. (Tiger wears out three or four wedges a year.)

Wedge play is unquestionably a “feel” shot. As usual, the two theories about how to get the right feel are polar opposites. If you believe the Dave Pelz theory, “flex equals feel.” Pelz advocates soft shafts and even ships his own line with Rifle Spinners installed.

The more traditional theory is that “stiff as a pipe” is the way to go. Many tour pros use standard True Temper shafts in their wedges; X-100, S-400, S-300, all good and stiff. Occasionally, a manufacturer will take the middle road and install an eight iron shaft in their wedges to get a little flex into the player’s hands.

And it’s interesting that John Daly is becoming one of the poster boys for wedge play. He’s using the Penley 115 gram graphite shafts. Finally, there’s a Golf Lab regular, Shane Dews, a serious aspiring tournament player who’s tried everything. He likes Royal Precision Project X’s. If that’s not enough choices for you, you’re beyond golf nut.

Exotic wedges: Zodia and Scratch
It’s no secret that most amateur golfers misplace their priorities. I think that about 90% of players’ attention is spent on drivers, 5% on putters and the rest on irons and wedges. In the last month, I’ve had the chance to try models from Scratch and Zodia. Scratch is a company that brings true meaning to “custom.” You can buy their wedges in about 27 different custom grind and custom finish options. I took Shane’s advice and shafted mine up with a Project X. First round: two kick-in birdies. I don’t do that. I hope it was a sign of good things to come.

Zodia wedges are hand ground in Japan. It’s almost a shame to put a shaft on them and start digging the dirt. But they are beautiful. They are the kind of wedges that the Tour players use. They are expensive. But then, what’s a birdie worth when you need it?

New Age Putters
You’ve stuck with this story long enough to find out what it was that took my old reliable Odyssey White Hot out of the bag. It was the Saturday at Bayonet during the Monterey Bay Classic. I was playing OK, hitting the greens but a long way from the hole. If you’ve played Bayonet, you know that some of the greens have a lot of break and those that don’t are a little mysterious, usually breaking toward the Bay, except when they don’t and you have to know when.

I couldn’t get the ball on line to the hole. I was OK for distance but I was leaving 10-foot second putts for par. That’s how you shoot 82 instead of 75. Toward the end of the day, I began to blame my putter. (What else?) After the round, I found myself at the Golf Mart in their putter corral. As luck would have it, I picked up a MacGregor Bobby Grace MOI and promptly holed ten 10-footers in a row. If you’re like me, you’ve got at least a dozen putters that did that one time. It’s kind of like going to the pound to adopt a puppy. You fall for those big brown eyes and then you get him home and find out he’s not housebroken.

It was only $200 and I had some money burning a hole in my pocket. I drove up to the practice green on Sunday with my Odyssey in the bag. I took a few practice putts and then, in a fit of inspiration, went back to the car and put the MOI in the bag. After all, what did I have to lose after an 82 on Saturday? Result: I had a good putting day until the last two holes. Then I found out that the shaft had come loose. It’s nice to have an excuse.

If you’re playing a conventional blade putter, you can find one that will make more putts. I don’t know where I will end up, but I know I’m going with the new MOI technology.

What’s Coming?
Next month I’ll follow up on my experiment setting gaps in irons. If you’re thinking about changing your set makeup, the best way is to thin out your irons a little bit to make room for wedges and fairway clubs.

I’m also excited to see how I will improve my putting with a new MOI model or belly length. After a disastrous first experiment with the belly length, I’ve got a nice used Cameron Mid Sur on the bench. With all the pros complaining about long putters, there’s got to be some fire behind the smoke.

And the shaft saga will continue. We got our first shipment of the new ACCRA shafts and started working with them. ACCRA is positioned to compete with Fujikura. For players, competition is great and that includes when companies are competing for our business by making great products.

That’s all for now, see you next month.

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.