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Golf Equipment Chronicles 2009 (Part 8)

Adjustable Heads, Exchangeable Shafts Here to Stay

And, a “Harebrained New Driver?”

by Leith Anderson

There are two good ways to learn about golf equipment: try it yourself or get a first-hand account from a player you know. If you happen to be playing with your “buddy” – you might get a clue from hitting a club from his bag.

It is impossible to test every club personally so we rely on customer reports for a lot of our information. Sometimes that leads to surprises.

Our biggest surprise lately was the Air Force One driver from Powerbilt. But, hold that thought. Let’s start with a discussion of “adjustable” drivers.

A Failed Fitting Story

We’re so proud of our system to fit golf clubs – especially optimizing drivers – that it comes as a shock when we just can’t get it done for a customer. It is easy to write those experiences off to “some crazy guy” who just couldn’t make up his mind – or maybe isn’t good enough to appreciate our “professional services”.

We were inclined to think just that about the “Mechanic” – a formerly very good player coming back to the game after a long layoff. He’s working on getting his clubs and swing “right” before venturing back to competition. Our fitting promise is “satisfaction guaranteed – no matter what”. “We’re not done until you’re satisfied – ad infinitum”.

We conduct swing analysis to determine the “basics” – swing speed, ball speed, launch angle, swing path, face angle at impact and center face contact. Then, we test for shaft load – a foolproof way to get the shaft weight and flex right. We check the shaft profile database to make sure the shaft bends in the right places. Then, we focus in on “launch ballistics” nailing down ball speed, launch angle and spin rate and comparing that data against “theoretically perfect”. When a driver tests at 98% on all of those parameters, we’re happy to let the “demo” out for a range session or even a day on the course. The player confirms performance outdoors – he comes back and says “this is it” and the sale gets completed.

That’s the way it’s supposed to work.

The Mechanic builds some of his own clubs so he has his personal opinions about shafts and heads. After the first range session with his “98% driver” he came back and asked us to “tip” the shaft a quarter of an inch. We’re as precise as any shop around – but after ten years of fitting golf clubs, we don’t think that a quarter of an inch on a driver shaft is a meaningful tip trim. We did it anyway.

Another test, another request: how about trying a shaft with a little different bend profile, the first one is “making me hook”. Bite your tongue. Hooking is caused by an extreme inside out swing path with a severely closed face angle at impact. It is possible for a driver to exacerbate a hook if the shaft is too soft – or too maybe too stiff - but the player is making the swings.

So goes the fitting process for a couple of weeks. Eventually the Mechanic takes pity on us and keeps a “bargain” driver - $199. Our “investment?” Ten hours of fitting time, half a dozen shafts and more than a little frustration. No problem: we keep smiling even under duress. “100% satisfaction guaranteed, no matter what”.

We hoped we got the job done.

The Mechanic Returns

He called again to say he needed a new 3 wood. Flinch. We recommended our very successful Wishon 949 fairway metal with one of the new 75 gram ACCRA “Dymatch” shafts designed to be installed without tipping.

Total state-of-the-art recommendation but with maximum trepidation.

When the Mechanic stopped by to pick up the custom built demo he mentioned that “old” driver. The shaft didn’t work for him. He pulled it and put it into a three wood – not very good there either. Alas, the driver project was a bust.

Then the blockbuster: the Mechanic reported that he found and bought the perfect driver. How on earth did that happen?

It turns out he stumbled across the Nike Tour Van, in town for a Nationwide tournament. A day after the event there wasn’t much going on. That bad luck for business freed up two professional fitters, outfitted with hundreds of shafts and heads – primarily the new Nike STR8-FIT driver that allows the face angle and loft to be tweaked, and shafts to be exchanged.

The Mechanic described his fitting session - three hours with two Nike professional fitters – swapping heads and shafts and hitting balls until his hands blistered. They focused on getting the right driver loft first, then the right face angle and finally the correct shaft. The Nike Tour Van fitting system relies on the experienced eyes of the Nike fitters, reinforced by the Nike “talking” launch monitor. The two keys that they’re looking for? High launch and low spin. It was interesting that they weren’t overly concerned with the highest ball speed. The tools they have at their disposal is a nearly unlimited supply of shafts, stock to premium, some “tipped” to stiffen them up a little.

At the end, the winner was the Nike STR8-FIT in “High Launch” loft driver head paired up with a stiff flex Graffaloy Red shaft. The face angle was set at 2* closed. The Mechanic reported that he hit it straight, shot after shot and the ball “launched high and never came down”. Without doubt, the best possible driver and shaft combination for him on the face of the planet.

At least somebody “got it right”.

Then the “negotiations”. Quoted price? $450. Response? “The Mechanic doesn’t do $450” and he headed for his car. The Nike guys weren’t feeling too good after investing six man hours in the fitting with no scalp for their belt. Extreme motivation on a day that didn’t ring the cash register. The Mechanic was in his car with the engine running when the final deal got made. I won’t quote the final price – but Chronicles readers already know that “MSRP” (Manufacturer SUGGESTED Retail Price) is a concept, not a rule. But hey, the Mechanic is a tough customer. The Nike guys got his “scalp” – or maybe that was a hairpiece?

Lessons Learned

One truth is perfectly clear: outdoor testing is required to make sure that any golf club truly “fits”. You never know, for sure, that the recommendation is correct until you hit the club yourself, at the range or preferably, on your home course with the actual ball you play. On your home course, you know your distances.

Vanity plays a large part in choosing golf clubs. In all of our indoor fittings, we never seriously considered a “high launch” loft. The Mechanic didn’t want to think that a 12 or 13 degree driver could possibly work for him. We didn’t twist his arm – torture is so out of style these days.

Golf clubs train the golfer, not vice versa. Indoors, we can “coach” a more upward “angle of attack” to make the 10.5 degree loft we were testing - “work”. Lower loft, more upward angle of attack produces higher launch angles with lower spin. Indoors, that looked OK. Our ultimate mistake? Not accompanying the Mechanic to the range to see the ball flight. The loft was obviously too low. We would have seen that at the range – with a “natural” swing. Even the Golf Lab can make mistakes.

Outdoors, with the benefit of a driver head that could be adjusted for face angle and loft, an unlimited supply of test shafts and the experienced eye of a professional fitter, it became obvious that a higher loft head was mandatory. The Mechanic’s swing sometimes produced a “slice” - the result of an occasional outside-in swing path and open club face. The fix for that was to adjust the club face 2* closed. Then, there was finding the right shaft. The Graffaloy Red is an example of a shaft with a stiff tip – encouraging lower launch and low spin – even with a high launch head. All of that became obvious after hitting a few buckets of balls and testing twenty or thirty driver head and shaft combinations.

Conclusion? If you want to “dial in” driver performance by eye, there is no better way than an adjustable driver head, a bag full of shafts and an expert club fitter making the adjustments.

My advice? Never, every buy a driver that you haven’t hit outdoors. Exception: Good players who have been tested many times, bought and played a lot of drivers and absolutely, positively know their specifications can be very confident with indoor testing only.

Adjustable Drivers, Exchangeable Shafts, Are Here to Stay

It’s been a couple of years since the golf equipment industry introduced “exchangeable shafts”. The first generation was an acknowledged BUST. The reasons? Not enough true “customization” and the driver and shaft combinations were too expensive. The main problem - cost - was because the companies insisted on controlling the shaft business – clawing back a little money from independent club fitters. Callaway soon instituted “markdowns” until their exchangeable shaft drivers were no more expensive than their regular line. There is no “easy money”.

Taylor Made, having made the same pricing mistake, flushed their inventory of $999 CGB Max systems on eBay for about $250. I bought one of those.

The big Companies have refused to sell their “proprietary” shaft fittings – required to mount a shaft into their club head. That’s how they planned to control the shaft business. They insisted on selling all the shafts that went into their drivers.

Now, the “Market has spoken” and at least Taylor Made has listened. With the new R9 – mysteriously – the fittings have become available – despite Taylor Made’s claims that they don’t sell “fittings only”. Taylor Made figured it out. If you can get $50 for a part that costs you $5 you might as well let a few thousand show up on eBay. Players don’t want to be limited by buying all of their shafts from a golf club company. There are too many choices. No company can stock every shaft, in every length and flex that a customer might need. It’s a question of customer satisfaction.

And, the new price point is $399 – no premium for adjustability or exchangeability. That’s the recipe for a product that will be popular.

Keep a peeled eye to see how long Nike and Callaway hold out by refusing to sell their fittings separately. Hoping to dominate the shaft business is a lost cause. Before long, all companies will be selling the fittings – even if they employ a little subterfuge to obscure their strategy.

Adjustable Drivers are Really Good

I love adjustable drivers because they just make sense. Face angle is an important parameter of finding the “right” driver to fit your swing. In the “old days” we used to pick up every persimmon driver that we saw to waggle and check the face angle. In those days, every driver was noticeably different. Today, all drivers are still different, just not so noticeably.

Now, one of the last of the “stupid standards” – dictated by manufacturing convenience - is about to fall. You can pick a driver head with a shape that you like and change the face angle, just a little, to accommodate your “eye”.

Since the invention of metal driver heads, manufacturers have designed them with certain assumptions in mind. The principal assumption is the lower the loft, the better the player. Better players swing inside-out. Average and worse players swing outside-in. Eight degree drivers were designed with slightly open face angles, nine degree drivers with square face angles. And so forth. Higher lofts were designed with “closed” faces, assuming that high index players have outside in swing paths – and a closed face was the antidote.

What about the high index player who swings inside-out? Or, the low handicapper who wants a little more loft? Out of luck.

Adjustable face angles provide all players with fitting options that are long overdue. The Mechanic’s example is a great case in point. For him, a slightly closed face eliminated a tendency to “leak right”. But there are plenty of players with solid inside-out swing paths who might want to try the high loft head, low spin shaft option. Now, they’ll be able to adjust their high loft driver to a face angle that fits their eye and their swing.

With nearly unlimited fitting options, it’s going to become more and more important for a player who is planning to buy an adjustable driver to deal with a clubmaker who can measure each head to find the actual loft and face angle.

Here’s the underlying problem: Today, the “specifications” on driver heads allow for a “manufacturing variance” of two degrees each way. High quality manufacturers might try to cut that variance down – maybe by one degree but none guarantees that the number on the bottom of your driver is precise. That’s one of the “dirty little secrets” in the golf industry. Precision is not, really, precision.

Take a simple case: your nine degree driver could be one degree weak (10 degrees) and your ten degree driver one degree strong (9 degrees). That’s why 10 degree drivers sometimes go lower than 9 degree drivers.

What about face angle? When you “open” the face of a driver, you decrease the “effective” or “playing loft” by about the same amount as the change in face angle. “Open” the face angle two degrees, decrease the “effective loft” two degrees. Conversely, closing the face angle increases the loft. So what loft are you really playing? Suppose that your 10 degree driver is 1 degree strong and that you want to play it 2 degrees open – the position at which it will “look square”. Do the arithmetic. That 10 degree driver might be playing at 7 degrees. The only way to know for sure is to measure your adjustable driver with a precise gauge.

The same goes for players who want “high loft” options. Your 13 degree driver might truly measure 14 degrees. Play it two degrees closed and your effective loft could get up to 16 degrees. Once again, measure to know for sure. And then, watch the ballflight.

One more problem. Think about how the “adjustable hosels” work. Instead of going straight into the driver head, there is a little “knee bend”. That slight bend in the hosel adapter is what changes the angle of the clubface when it is rotated. Not all manufacturers have chosen the same angle for their “knee bend” and the adapters are subject to the same manufacturing variances as the driver heads. If the knee bend in your adapter is a little more extreme, turning it one way or the other will result in a more dramatic change in face angle and effective loft. At the Golf Lab we have found that the Taylor Made R9 drivers change specifications much more than the Nike STR8-FIT drivers. Conclusion: the Taylor Made “knee bend” is stronger than the Nike “knee bend”.

That’s another element that will require measurement to know for sure the exact specifications of the driver head that you are playing. As usual, more precision in adjustment requires more knowledge in preparation.

The Flood Gates Are Opening

It must be that the concept of changing the face angle and loft of a driver is “public domain” and the rush to patent every idea in the golf industry couldn’t be enforced against adjustable face angles in golf clubs.

Drivers with “correct” face angles and loft will be required for true custom fitting. Whether that occurs because the relationship between the shaft and the head can be manipulated, or whether the heads are sold with measured face angles and lofts, it is clear to me that correct loft and face angle will be “required information” for all players who want a driver that fits their swing.

Nickent Evolver

Since the advent of “interchangeable shafts” our favorite has been the Nickent Evolver. The Evolver is a certified “Tournament Winner” the only exchangeable shaft driver that has actually made it to the winner’s circle on the Nationwide Tour.

The key to the Nickent system is that they have always been willing to sell the adapters – for $25. A player can use any shaft that he might have around the garage or basement with his Evolver head. We can recycle “pullouts”.

The Evolver has been a great shaft fitting club. At the Golf Lab, we have over 100 shafts set up with Nickent Evolver fittings. Our customers can take an Evolver head to the range together with a handful of shafts and see exactly how each shaft changes the launch angle and shot shape of the identical head.

Now, Nickent has released a new “adjustable adapter” that accommodates fitting for face angle as well.

Our view is that the Nickent driver continues to be the best option – right now. That is because it is much less expensive to build up a large library of test shafts. When testing “exchangeable shafts” the key question is how many shafts are available to test?

Club Conex Universal Adapter

With all of the proprietary systems on the market, you have to reserve hope for the “little guy” who created the only “universal adapter” interchangeable shaft system. That’s Eric Burch out in Rockford, Illinois. Club Conex sells a fitting for the head and another for the shaft. That makes any head exchangeable with any shaft.

We’ve been using the Club Conex system for over a year. Club Conex finally got the USGA to approve their adapter for tournament play. That made the system much more interesting.

Now, we’ve learned that Club Conex has a new universal adapter in development that permits changing face angle. They will be available in late June. So, whatever driver head you have, you can install a Club Conex adapter and use any head with any shaft in your bag, garage or basement.

Harrison Sports

“Everybody” is getting into the game. Harrison has been a well-respected shaft manufacturer for many years. As such, they have struggled to understand the relationship between the driver head and the shaft. It should be no surprise that the company has its own view of how the shaft should be mated with the head.

Harrison now has a shaft and head combination available. Here again, it has total adjustability and interchangeability. The combination is set to retail at $299 together with a premium Harrison shaft.

Is There a Downside?

The nagging doubt in all of the adjustable driver and interchangeable shaft systems is that the extra hardware required to secure the shaft in the driver head will raise the swingweight and change the center of gravity of a driver and consequently have a – presumably negative – impact on performance.

For what it’s worth, Michelle Wie was playing the Nike STR8-FIT in the Kraft Nabisco. Head and shafts that are designed to go together, like the STR8-FIT can be engineered to eliminate balance problems. Long time users of the Club Conex system report no negative “feel” changes. Time will tell.

PowerBilt Air Force One Driver – “Nitrogen Powered”

There are lots of harebrained (bunnies are stupid?) ideas in every industry. Golf is no different. A question I find myself asking is “Why would anyone think that would work?”

I ran across one of those products at the recent San Francisco Bay Area Golf Show. It is the PowerBilt “Nitrogen Powered” Driver – the Air Force One.

The “Science” behind the product is that the driver head is loaded with nitrogen gas under pressure. That permits the driver to be constructed with a “thinner face”. The thinner face compresses a little more on impact, allowing the ball to compress a little more against the face and result in a higher ball speed. Reinforcement for the thinner face comes from the nitrogen gas, not extra titanium. Higher ball speed = more distance.

The first question is “Is that legal?”

Answer: it is. The nitrogen reinforcement allowed the driver head to pass the USGA “COR” and “Characteristic Time” test sequence. The Air Force One is USGA legal.

The second question is “why would that work?”

The Air Force One driver is “speed rated”. For players with slower to average swing speeds, the face thickness is 2.6 millimeters. For players with higher swing speeds – defined as over 105 MPH – the face thickness is 2.8 millimeters.

The concept of “trampoline effect” is widely misunderstood. The nomenclature suggests that the face of the driver compresses and then “shoots” the ball forward. Not so. “Impact” happens much faster than that. If the face of the driver compresses a little bit, that allows the ball to compress a little more as well. It is the additional compression of the ball that leads to extra distance. The ball is long gone before the trampoline springs back.

The idea behind the Air Force One is to allow a micro-millisecond more time for the ball to compress against the face of the driver.

We borrowed a few of the PowerBilt Air Force One drivers at the Bay Area Golf Show and tested them with our Achiever launch monitor. Heather did most of the work. At some points, we thought that we detected a slight increase in ball speed, but without our rose colored glasses, the testing was inconclusive. Then, we got tired.

That “cooled our jets”. The whole idea of the Nitrogen Charged driver went on the back burner.

The “Ice Man” Cometh

We might have let the Air Force One sit on the back burner indefinitely if it weren’t for the “Ice Man”. He’s been a regular Golf Lab customer for years - mostly taking care of himself but stopping in every couple of weeks to see “what’s new” and catch up on ideas he might have missed.

Every year, the Ice Man and three friends make the trek up to the monster Demo Day at Haggin Oaks in Sacramento. This year they scheduled a round of golf after working the tee line.

If you haven’t been to the Haggin Oaks Demo Day, it’s worth going at least once – for the same reason you might want to be at Times Square on New Year’s Eve. You won’t believe the crowds. Vendors barricade themselves behind tables – handing out demo clubs in return for a driver’s license. You get to take a few free whacks before the players in line behind you begin to push you along with snide comments. Then, you run for cover and get in line at the next booth.

But don’t forget your driver’s license. Each year, dozens are left behind.

The Ice Man and his buddies stopped at the PowerBilt booth. After a few whacks one of the group decided that he liked the Air Force One. That opinion was met with unrestrained derision from the rest of the group.

Nitrogen under pressure? You’ve got to be kidding!! You could hear the laughter all the way back to the lemonade stand. “Sophisticated” golfers could never go for such a gimmick.

If you’re playing poker, there is time to call the bluff. The Powerbilt representative at Haggin gave the group a demo club to take out for their round.

That’s the source of our biggest surprise of the season. In the course of the round, each of the players hit the Air Force One against their current driver – once to start - and then hole after hole.

The Ice Man reported that he hit the Air Force One twenty to thirty yards past his own driver. Even misses were better. Side by side comparison, hole after hole, the Air Force One was longer – not a little, a lot. This is a guy who is hard to impress and who has played at least two dozen other drivers in the last year. If I had heard the story from a player I don’t know, I would have forgotten it immediately. From the Ice Man – I had to believe it was true.

This story might be just that – only a story – except for what happened after the players came off the course. Three of the four players in the Ice Man’s group went out and BOUGHT an Air Force One the next week. The Ice Man - himself? He bought one and wanted us to know about it.

Over the years, some of our best tips have come from customers. We’re forever thankful to the customer who told us to check out Aerotech shafts five years ago. That turned out to be one of the products that we’ve built our business on. So how about this tip?

We figured we’d better take notice of the Air Force One.

The Air Force One Challenge

This will be interesting for readers who live in northern California and are willing to “Donate Your Swing to Science”. We acquired several Air Force One drivers for testing – some in the standard configuration with the Fujikura shaft that comes with the club – and some “heads only”. We’ll fit the heads with our Club Conex adapters that allow us to attach any shaft to any head. You can get a “custom fit”. You’re not married to the 45.5” stock Fujikura shaft.

Bring your driver in to the Golf Lab. We’ll give you a “quick fit” to figure out where you should be with an Air Force One driver and compare the launch ballistics of the Air Force One against your current driver. If that is hopeful, we’ll give you an Air Force One driver that matches your “specs” for a two-day trial. Take it to the range; play with it for a round on the course. If you can, hit an extra ball every hole to compare your current “gamer” against the Air Force One.

Then, bring it back and tell us what happened. Your cost? Absolutely nothing except for your time.

This is a very early look at a product that most players would ignore. We can’t guarantee that it will work for you, but you heard from the Ice Man. We think this is a driver that is worth a look – and we want to find out if it’s a breakthrough or just another “Harebrained” idea. In a month, we’ll know for sure.

I’ll be back.

Leith Anderson is a Partner in the Golf Lab, Palo Alto, CA.
He will answer any and all questions about club fitting and club making. Contact: Leith@calgolftech.com. Or by phone (650) 493-1770