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What's new on the West Coast
Golf Equipment Chronicles 2006 (Part 5)
Copyright 2006 by Leith Anderson
All rights reserved
Originally appeared in August 2006 issue of Golf Today
Driver Discoveries - Summer 2006
Updating the “Search for the Magic Driver”
By Leith Anderson
Almost five years ago, I started this article as the “Search for the Magic Driver”.
That search went on for many months and we broke new ground when it
came to understanding what made drivers work. In those days, the
electronic equipment was primitive and our understanding wasn’t that
great either. It was before launch monitors and shaft profiling –
two breakthroughs that have changed the way that we think about driver
fitting. Driver heads were still under 300 c.c. In the
early days, we pretty much went with shaft length, flex, weight and
loft and hoped for the best.
In the meantime, there has been a sea change in technology.
Launch monitors are still pretty expensive, but in comparison to five
years ago, they’re dirt cheap. It’s gotten to the point where
most serious golfers won’t buy new clubs unless they’ve tested and
compared the results of their proposed purchase with clubs they already
have. For the first time, you can be sure that your new clubs
actually perform better than the ones you’ve got. That eliminates
a huge source of embarrassment – buying new clubs only to find out that
they aren’t as good as the ones already in your bag. Wasting
money sucks.
Clubfitting today involves finding out about three variables.
What is the player doing? What is the club doing? And, what
is the ball doing? When you know those three things, you can
figure out the right combination of club and ball to match a player’s
swing. Then, with the new crop of drivers and shafts for 2006 you
might find one that works better than what you’ve got – especially if
you’re willing to try something different. I’ve got a few
suggestions for you.
The Player
You can’t overcome your physical limitations – your “talent” in the
overall equation. Remember, it’s “Talent, Technique and
Technology – in that order.”
The first question to answer is “how much power do you put into your
shot?” That power is measured by ball speed. The distance
you achieve is governed by the laws of physics. All launch
monitors today do a good job of measuring ball speed. Pretty good
players (index 6-15) will likely swing a six iron at about 80 MPH and a
driver about 90 MPH. Those swing speeds more or less match up to
“regular” flex. The laws of physics tell us that you can expect
somewhere between 2.2 and 2.5 yards of carry distance per MPH of swing
speed depending on how square you hit the ball. A player who
swings a driver at 90 MPH is going to carry his drive between 198 and
216 yards. If you want the ball to go farther, you have to hit it
harder. When you’re trying to determine your best potential
distance, ball speed is the place to start – it’s much more precise.
You also have to know your swing path, face angle at impact and
angle of attack. There is an “almost perfect” swing. A
swing path that’s 2 to 4 degrees inside-out, a face angle that’s 1 to 2
degrees open and a slightly upward angle of attack produces that nice
high draw without too much spin. Knowing your own swing is an
important starting point. It is especially true if you have
imperfections that you can’t cure that you expect to counteract with
your equipment.
The Club
All players have idiosyncrasies in their swings that stress the golf
club differently. I’ve described the virtues of the Shaft Max
electronic gizmo for several months. The Shaft Max is an
instrumented club that measures the force that a player puts on the
club, recording shaft deflection in the horizontal and vertical planes
and charts that deflection against a timeline. There are two
important things that the Shaft Max allows us to find out. An
efficient swing accelerates smoothly, producing maximum speed at the
moment of impact. The Shaft Max graph is like an EKG for your
golf swing. Your graph is either a sign of health or a tool to
help you improve your technique.
The Shaft Max also tells us about a player’s tempo and how and where
the shaft is bending. Players with a quick tempo who load the
shaft early do better with heavier shafts. “Swingers” with slow
tempos do better with lighter shafts. Players whose swings
produce a lot of “toe droop” do better with very stiff tips. The
Shaft Max gives us both the insight and confidence to make radical
recommendations.
Players with slow swing speeds can load the shaft very
heavily. We have fitted senior players with “extra stiff”
shafts. Without the Shaft Max data, we would never have the
confidence to make those recommendations. The bottom line:
shaft fitting by swing speed alone is unreliable.
The Ball
Projectile physics predicts the landing point of artillery shells in
warfare. In golf, the science helps determine the best launch
angle and spin rate to maximize carry distance for a given ball
speed. The most common launch monitor technology snaps a couple
of pictures of a ball marked with a vertical line. Speed is
measured by the distance the ball travels between pictures and spin is
measured by how much the line moves – all within a few
microseconds. Some sophisticated systems, like the Launch Max,
employ other marks on the ball to detect “sidespin” – or axial spin in
scientific nomenclature. The result is a prediction of how far
the ball will travel and on what trajectory.
More sophisticated and expensive launch monitor technology employs
radar to track the actual flight of the ball. Recent
breakthroughs allow radar-based systems to “see” the surface of the
ball and measure spin rate. Radar based systems can also measure
actual club head speed, swing path and angle of attack.
The final step in clubfitting is to bring a player’s launch results
as close to theoretically perfect as possible. After launch angle
and spin rate are measured, those measurements are compared against the
“optimized” parameters from projectile physics. If a player’s
driver is going too high or too low, it could signal a change in head
loft. If the ball is spinning too much or too little, other
remedies are indicated, ranging from changing shafts, changing heads or
moving weights in driver heads that offer that option. From time
to time, golf balls can change spin rates by up to 500 RPM’s, which can
make a significant difference in carry distance. Combined with
knowledge of a player’s swing and what he does to the club, more
radical actions might be required such as – God forbid – working on
your technique.
Tweaking Your Magic Driver
For players who have enough discipline to stick with the process,
proving a driver delivers the best possible results requires an hour so
of exercise, state-of-the-art technology and a clubfitter with a good
eye.
Once you have found the driver that works for you, and confirmed
that with launch monitor testing, you can improve your results with a
couple of time-tested “tweaks” to squeeze every last bit of performance
out of any club.
SST PUREing. One of the other changes that
has occurred in the last few years is the nearly universal agreement
among clubmakers that some kind of shaft orientation is critical to get
consistent performance out of your golf clubs. The most reliable
and repeatable method is the SST PURE technology which utilizes
sophisticated instrumentation and software to find the best and most
stable oscillation plane. It might only be that you strike the
ball a fraction of an inch closer to the center of the club a couple of
times a round, but when you’re trying to shoot par, that might be
enough to make the difference.
Balance-Certified Counter Weights. For
players who are looking for the last two or three MPH of ball speed, a
tested and proven way to do it is to add counter weights under the grip
of your club. The technique has been employed for years by
players as illustrious as Jack Nicklaus. The main virtue of the
Balance-Certified system is that it is easily adjustable. The
thing you can’t know about counter weights is “how much weight?”
That’s the beauty of the B-C system. The weights are easily
interchangeable. Once again, launch monitor testing is required
to detect the very small increase in ball speed and also to know which
weight produces the best results.
Avoiding Mistakes
For those of us who have at least half a dozen drivers in the
closet, we have to ask the question “why?” The problem is the way
players buy drivers. It usually happens with a “demo”. You
pick up a driver from a bag in the pro shop. Or, you find
yourself at a Demo Day. You take a few swings with one, then
another. If you’re unlucky, you make five good swings in a row
and stripe a few down the middle. Whatever driver you’re holding
when that happens becomes THE ONE. You forget that you’re hitting
range balls that don’t spin anything like the balls you play on the
course. You also forget that you can’t really see where the ball
is coming down. A little luck, a few good swings and you make a
custom order.
That leads us to one more truth about golf clubs. No two clubs
are ever exactly alike. If you find a club at a demo day that you
think is magic, buy that club. Don’t take “no” for an
answer. We’ve seen hundreds of players at the Golf Lab who found
a “Magic Driver” at a Demo Day and ordered one from a custom
department. They couldn’t hit the new club. Don’t ever rely
on anyone’s ability to match the exact performance. It never
happens. There are always subtle differences in weight and
balance. Our mantra: “Always buy the demo.”
Tom Wishon’s Common Sense Clubfitting
I’ve been plowing my way through the 485 pages of Tom Wishon’s new book, Common Sense Clubfitting
which has taken up permanent residence on my nightstand. It’s
dense. Each chapter seems to take two or three readings. At
my present rate, I’ll be done by Christmas. There are plenty of
gems buried in the text. The book is a compendium of Tom’s design
principles. To some extent, it is more a book about how to design
golf clubs than how to fit golf clubs. Over time, I’m sure that
it will be very helpful to clubfitters in helping their clients make
the right choice – at least those who have the energy to finish the
read.
This month, I spent time with the section on moment of inertia in
driver head design. The practical result is to understand how
driver head shape might influence your own Magic Driver choice.
As for me, I’m a toe hitter. I can’t help myself.
When I miss a drive, it’s always on the toe.
Over the years, I’ve preferred pear shaped drivers like the Titleist
models. My rationale is that if you’re going to hit it on the
toe, you might as well have a driver with a fat toe. Tom’s book
illuminates why that was a good choice and why you might choose a
driver with an even longer heel to toe dimension. The longer heel
to toe dimension increases the Moment of Inertia. That’s the
natural resistance against twisting. Especially for players who
are inclined to miss to the left, the longer heel to toe dimension
could be effective. The reverse is true. Drivers that
follow the Taylor Made profile are a little rounder. They might
be better for players who lose it to the right. Just something to
think about. . .
“Best Bets” from the Summer of 2006
For the last couple of months we’ve been testing and experimenting
with all of the new 2006 driver designs. We’ve discovered some
setups that you will surely not find at the Big Box Retailer.
We’re always “Thinking outside the (Big) Box”. Everything that we
try is tested, indoors with our Launch Max launch monitor, on the range
with our Flightscope Cheetah and ISG Trackman, and on the course by
Bob, Leith, Iron Byron, Heather, Andrew and the Golf Lab Regulars.
When we make a recommendation, it’s because we know how a certain
setup performs with scientific electronic testing and with subjective
player testing. If you ask us what will work for you, we will
never answer your question unless we know your swing. At the Golf
Lab, we developed a method to take all of the guesswork out of finding
the “perfect club”.
One Weird Combination that Works
Who would believe a high loft driver with a short shaft delivers the
best performance for a low index player? If there’s a crazy idea
out there, that’s it.
For the last month, Bob has been playing a Nike “Lucky 13” Sasquatch
head paired up with a Fujikura Vista Tour shaft in S flex. He’s
out at the Stanford golf course most Thursday mornings playing with his
buddy Fitz and blowing it by the other players. Think about it,
this is a club that most low index players would be embarrassed for
their friends to find in their bag. You can suffer embarrassment
if you’re getting results.
Here’s our theory: we want high launch and low spin. The
13* driver solves the high launch problem. From the factory, the
SQ Lucky 13 drivers come with soft tipped shafts, aimed at getting the
ball in the air for high handicap players. It’s safe to bet that
Nike never imagined players with handicaps under 10 would be Lucky 13
buyers. To counteract the high spin bias, Bob chose the
lowest-spin, stiffest tip shaft that we know – the Fujikura Vista
Tour. The results, to say the least, have been explosive.
There’s one more twist. Bob is 5’11” and playing his driver at
43”. That’s two inches shorter than off the rack drivers –
probably the same length as your three wood. Time and again in
player testing we find that shorter drivers produce higher ball
speeds. Most players believe just the opposite. It all
depends on your swing. Players that have a very late release, a
pronounced “lag” are likely to produce higher ball speeds with shorter
drivers. It’s always important to keep in mind that the most
common driver length on the PGA Tour is 44.5”. Greg Norman uses a
44” driver. Meantime, amateurs can only buy 45” (or longer)
drivers. Go figure. . .
Alas, One Size Never Fits All
Jealousy is a great motivator. If it was that easy for Bob,
why not just copy his setup? Hoping for a similar miracle, I made
up my very own Lucky 13 and paired it up with the very same Fujikura
Vista Tour shaft. Frequency matched, SST PUREd, B-C
counterweighted, totally decked out. What a dud! It went
nowhere.
Whatever Bob is doing with his swing, it certainly does not
translate into success for me. Therein lies our next revelation
for the month. “One size definitely does not fit all”. Just
because your buddy or business partner kills his driver does not mean
that the same setup will work for you.
That still doesn’t answer the question “why it worked for him, but not for me?” I wish I knew.
MacGregor NVG2 – High Launch
The setup that worked its way into my bag is the MacGregor NVG2 –
the “High Launch” model. This is an interesting driver. On
the bottom, it says 10* loft. The MacGregor support staff readily
admits that the actual loft is at least 12*. MacGregor marketing
types know that putting a high loft number on a driver is more or less
a kiss of death for sales.
We’ve been watching the MacGregor turn-around closely. It’s
been a long row to hoe for owner Barry Schneider. They’ve been
touting the “cup face” design in their drivers with an expensive
advertising program. Surprise, it works. MacGregor drivers
deliver a little higher ball speed and a little less spin for most
players. For the first time, they’ve been selling at the Golf Lab
– not on cosmetics but on competitive testing.
The unusual thing about the HL is that it comes with a 2* open face
angle. That means that the 12* loft will actually play a couple
of degrees lower. Not only that, it looks square at setup due to
its open face angle. You can normally only find open face angles
in low-loft drivers. The HL is the “Tour” model which means it
has a little softer sound and a tall hosel that presents the option of
adjusting the lie angle. The default shaft is the expensive
MacGregor Speeder but you can order it with the low-end shaft if you
only want the head. It’s a little expensive going that route –
but if you’ve found your Magic Driver – who cares what it costs?
Why Do We Love Name Brands?
It used to be that Name Brand drivers cost around $500 - more
expensive than component drivers. Then, Ping released its G2 last
year, with a premium Aldila NV shaft priced at $299. All of a
sudden, the driver world turned upside down. Every major
manufacturer responded with their own $299 driver. All of a
sudden, drivers were cheap.
Well, some were cheap. The big guys redoubled their efforts to
inject “value” back into the equation that would bring prices back up
to a profitable level. Taylor Made’s brilliant marketing
strategy, holding the price of their “Tour Proven (TP)” line at the top
of the market is effective. Most of the players that I see with
TM drivers at tournaments have the little flags on the toe. It
just shows, when given the chance to buy golf clubs at a higher price –
most golfers will jump at the chance. In the summer of 2006, the
$299 “street price” point is now the entry level. At the other
end of the spectrum, the Taylor Made R7 425 TP is selling briskly at
$799.
So what is the lure? Do we really believe that the Titleist
driver we play is the same as Davis Love’s? If you play an R7 TP
will you charm all the pretty girls like Sergio? I suppose so . .
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“Component” Drivers - New for 2006
Collapsing prices posed a challenge for golf component companies and
put many custom clubmakers out of business. In the past, the
rationale for component golf clubs was that they were cheaper than name
brands. That is no longer the case. Now, custom clubs cost
more than name brands. Let’s have a close look at the value
delivered. A top quality titanium driver head costs up to
$150. A good quality shaft costs close to $100. Add those
numbers up, figure in assembly cost and a little profit. A top
quality component driver carries a fair price of at least $400.
Why would a golfer pay an extra $100 for a component driver?
For players pursuing perfection, component drivers can be worth the
money. Component companies measure the face angle and actual loft
of their heads. If you want to know the exact loft and face angle
of your driver, the only way is to have your head “hand picked” for
your exact specifications.
$299 drivers come with a narrow selection of shafts, often
proprietary – which is code for volume produced, low priced
shafts. For players who plan on custom fitting a high performance
shaft to their driver, the component option becomes economical.
$299 might be OK for a driver if you’re going to play it, but if all
you want is the head, the cost starts to add up.
Then, there’s the problem of “standard” specifications for all
off-the-rack models. If you want a driver that’s 45” or 45.5”,
you’re in luck. In our testing, we find that very few players do
well with long drivers. Keep in mind, even on the PGA Tour, the
average driver length is 44.5”. Why would an amateur do better
with a longer length? If you want to play a driver at a shorter
length, you’ve got to have a heavier head to maintain balance.
Typical OEM driver heads weight 200 grams or less. “Tour weight”
is always 204-208 grams. Many component companies allow you to
buy the exact gram weight you want.
Is the quality the same? Big companies surely get volume
discounts but there are only a few foundries in China that make almost
all of the Titanium driver heads in the world. Component
companies strive for high quality.
Finally, there’s the problem of what do you do if the driver you buy
doesn’t work for you. It’s impossible to know whether a certain
loft with a certain shaft will work on the golf course. Even with
extensive launch monitor testing, there’s always the possibility that
on the course the driver will go too high or too low or otherwise
disappoint. If you buy a custom component driver, your clubmaker
can swap out a head or a shaft to make sure you get a perfect
fit.
Top Picks – Summer 2006 Component Drivers
America is a country that supports the underdog. In the golf
industry, small companies are an endangered species. Component
drivers came into their own in the Long Drive Competitions. No
LDA competitor could possibly succeed with a “standard” driver.
The custom component industry gave us interesting breakthroughs – like
the lifetime guarantee of quality from SMT. For players who want
to try something truly different – the only way to find a surprising
performance breakthrough – the component driver world is a good place
to start your search for your own Magic Driver.
KZG GF4 – Adjustable weight driver. KZG
is known for producing high quality components and standing behind
their quality. We’ve had good success with their new adjustable
weight driver. You can think of it as a competitor to the Taylor
Made R7 – 425. It’s similar in concept but not similar in
shape. The GF4 is a pear-shaped head, distinguishing it from the
TM version.
Fine tuning driver performance requires finding the perfect spin
rate. Time and again, we have been able to move weight forward or
back to decrease or increase spin. This is a technology that
works for players who are looking to optimize the spin rate of their
drivers. www.kzgolf.com.
Advanced Golf Technologies Aurora – Owner Steve
Solo made his mark with fairway woods, employing carpenter steel on the
face for the longest fairway woods we have tested. It took him a
long time to perfect his driver design. The new Aurora is a
low-hitting club with a round shape and a deep face. The 10.5*
plays a little more like 9*. I mounted one in a fancy ACCRA SE 70
shaft and stayed in sight of Iron Byron during a Sunday round.
You’re going to want to hand pick your head as the default is a little
bit too closed to suit most good players. The finish is
beautiful. www.advancedgolftechnologies.com.
Versus Golf – owner Scott Son has produced what he
considers to be his best designs ever. He was the creative force
behind Nakashima before going out on his own. The Versus drivers
are a little longer head to toe than any drivers you have seen so
far. I really like the shape and recommend it particularly for
players who are trying to fight the “lefts” based on Tom Wishon’s MOI
analysis. I paired mine up with the new Aldila VS Proto
shaft. It’s in the permanent rotation, although I might try it
with an ACCRA Tour shaft to get a little higher trajectory. www.versusgolf.com.
SMT – the 455 DB. One of the true pioneers in
the component golf business is Mike Tait. A former PGA
professional, he cut his teeth supplying drivers that wouldn’t break –
or if they did, came with a lifetime guarantee to the Long Drivers of
America. His original mega-hit, the 455 DB was a
trend-setter. Three years later, it still competes for
best-of-class. SMT has released a couple of new designs, fleshing
out their 460 c.c. offerings. A little more economical than some
alternatives. www.smtgolf.com.
Geek Golf – Fail Safe and Dot Com This.
Another component industry founder is Steve Almo who built the Bang
Golf brand before starting his own company. His two drivers are
top quality – aimed at the competitive Long Drive industry as well as
consumers who want a custom fit. www.geekgolf.net.
Nakashima Golf – One of our favorites in past
years, Nakashima has experienced some production problems. They
have an innovative design that permits swapping shafts.
Unfortunately, the first release was non-conforming, making it not too
popular with serious players. By the time you read this, the
Nakashima interchangeable shaft system should be available in a
conforming model. Worth a look. www.nakashimagolf.com.
Notice for Miura True Believers
We received our allotment of the new limited-edition Miura “TF”
blade. There are only 101 sets worldwide. We have five of
those sets and Eric Jones joined the Miura staff so that’s the model
he’ll be playing. These might be the most beautiful blades of all.
Mark Your Calendars
The Pleasanton Golf Show is scheduled for October 13-15, 2006 at the
Alameda Fairgrounds. I’ll be there with most of the Golf Lab
regulars, showcasing our technology. The Golf Lab Tour Van will
also be on site. Keep your eyes peeled for enough special events
to make the Show a very worthwhile event.
Next Month: Summer 2006 Shaft Roundup. Fuji
Rombax, True Temper BiMatrix, Stulz Nano Arrow, Aldila VS Proto,
Mitsubishi Bassara and Red Board, Accuflex Evolution and others.
Leith Anderson is a Partner in the Golf Lab, Palo Alto, CA.
He will answer any and all questions relating to club fitting and club making.
Contact: Leith@calgolftech.com.
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