Crossing a Threshold

Most golfers who play and practice regularly find they eventually reach a scoring threshold that's difficult to break through -- lower scores become increasingly difficult to achieve. Golf media often define milestones as breaking 100, breaking 90, breaking 80, or breaking 70 depending on the skill level of the golfer. And there seem to be distance barriers for the driver often seen as 200 yds or 250 yds or 300 yds. How do we cross these thresholds?

The usual recommendation is to take a series of lessons from your local pro, or get a new set of clubs with the latest technology -- which is often little more than decreasing the lofts on your irons and getting longer shafts in everything else. And it's not uncommon to decide a health club membership and some regular exercise might do the trick. However, just about everyone who takes their golf game seriously realizes that something is still missing because the average scores in golf haven't changed much in more than a generation.

We think what makes these golf thresholds so difficult to cross is that they arise from the combined effect of multiple causes. Part of what makes golf a complex game to play is that lots of things need to work well together to score low. Getting better is likely to require combining improvements in several areas at once. However, following individual paths to improve each phase of the game separately has not been particularly effective in producing lower scores for most players.

The TPI approach is built on the concept that a better game depends on improving three general areas: technique, equipment, golf fitness. That all three are needed to result in lower scores. Regular lessons from your local teaching pro, custom clubfitting from a skilled professional, and a physical assessment and fitness plan from a certified professional trainer who understand the basic mechanics of the golf swing. In other words, apply an integrated approach with the goal of helping you to achieve lower scores -- in golf, that's what counts. Lower scores means more satisfaction and enjoyment from playing the game.

The goal at JTClubs has focused on integrating our expertise in the three major foundations for better golf to provide a comprehensive way for helping golfers improve. All three foundations of your swing are analyzed together -- we understand how each phase interacts with the others and contributes to your performance. We think it's the most efficient path to crossing a threshold in golf. 

Analyzing Yourself

The proliferation of wireless motion sensors that can be attached to your golf club or golf glove and send information to your cell phone has initiated a wave of swing problem self diagnosis. The idea is that by looking at numbers for tempo, some angles, club speed, and perhaps a few other metrics generated by the motion sensor that a golfer can diagnose a swing fault and determine how to fix it by consulting the software. There is no shortage of self help books and phone apps in the golf industry sold for that purpose.

Oh, if it were only that simple -- a lot of golf instructors would be out of a job in a hurry. But it is not that simple. And top instructors remain in demand. Here's an example of why it's not simple. Consider the over-the-top swing fault, a common problem -- more than 40 % of all golfers have it. The "simple" cause is an open clubface that may be due to swinging the club from outside to inside on the downswing. It's worst with a driver because the club is long and the outside-to-in path angle is wider than for shorter clubs.

Next come some "easy" fixes ranging from good ideas that seem reasonable to the truly bizarre. However, these remedies almost never actually fix the swing fault and most golfers after a few lessons and much frustration conclude they have a swing problem that can only be resolved by divine intervention or at the very least by a driver that looks like it's always making a left turn at address. 

But, what actually causes the over-the-top motion? Until you know the cause it's not likely you'll fix the swing fault. That's where professional swing analysis with the right instrumentation can help. We've described on several pages of our website the motion capture technology and use of high speed video that attack swing fault problems.

And more importantly, we've described how range-of-motion limitations are the real root of the swing fault problems in just about every case we've seen. And that's where the fix must originate. It's not likely to come from a quick tip generated by adding a small electronic weight to your club.

Fixing a swing fault begins with a professional analytical approach refined by years of experience and by using genuinely effective ways of measuring the fault. Then comes the range-of-motion analysis and the swing technique analysis that comes from having a professional eye look at the problem. Next comes the tough part: connecting the right range-of-motion improvements with a thorough swing fault analysis -- rarely if ever does one swing fault exist by itself. Misery loves company. There are always multiple problems.

The price point on this new class of club motion sensors seems reasonable. For about the price of a golf lesson you can buy a piece of equipment that promises to help fix the problem without a formal lesson. That's like asking your friend if he's a qualified surgeon because you have a small tumor you would like to have removed -- and he responds by telling you no, but he read the book yesterday and he's ready to help.

Our advice is that after you've had fun with the new electronic devices, find a professional who has some well-documented expertise and sign up for a full analysis of how you swing a golf club, whether you have the physical ability to swing it efficiently, and whether your clubs will let you do it effectively. Analyzing yourself is done best with the help of a professional.

Do Retail Clubs Fit?

We are asked frequently by golfers about whether a particular set of off-the-rack clubs will fit them. Since we keep track of the products offered by the OEMs, we usually can provide some helpful information about clubhead design and stock shaft behavior that are not always accurately represented by the claims of heavy marketing. And we explain that a good OEM golf club design is not always the same as a good fitting club. We try to be helpful because everyone interested in buying clubs needs to start somewhere.

In our experience, it's not possible to answer the question in a meaningful way without one-on-one personal clubfitting. You need to compare how you swing your clubs with correctly matched demo clubs using a calibrated launch monitor that accurately measures clubhead speed, ball speed, launch angle, and ball spin directly. More measurements are helpful but you need those four numbers. And it's a great help to measure the angle of attack of the clubhead at impact with the ball. Measuring swing path and face angle are good too. You get the idea, the more that can be measured, the more likely the fitting will find the right clubs for your swing.

An important part of testing clubs is to do it under the watchful gaze of a clubfitter who knows how to recognize a wide range of swing faults and who understands what contributes to the problems. Swing faults and club properties are inter-related. Clubs that are too long, too short, too heavy, too light, too soft, too firm, etc will affect your swing: guaranteed.

Emailng or phoning in what you think is going on in your swing or with your clubs doesn't work sufficiently well. It's difficult for golfers to know if they address the ball incorrectly, stand a little too upright, or swing the club in a way that puts them too close to the ball and before they have fully released the club with mechanics that maximize clubhead speed. 

But the essential part of clubfitting is determining your golf swing range-of-motion. The golf swing involves movement patterns that are not part of normal daily living for nearly all of us. It means that the swing will be subjecting your body to forces and motions that you are not acustomed to having. If you swing too fast or to slow you will not get a good fit, and worse, you may hurt yourself. You need to know something about your physical capability to swing a club efficiently.

And that brings us back to the question we hear frequently: will the brand X club fit me? The answer is: let's measure and study how you swing it to determine what part of the result is due to the club's properties, the efficiency of your swing technique, and your range-of-motion capability. And then let's compare it to a club that the data indicates will be an effective fit to your swing. Give yourself the best chance possible to play well and get more enjoyment from the game.

Shaft Alignment

The alignment of a shaft in the clubhead has been a topic of controversy among clubmakers for many years. It originated with the observation that if you clamped a golf club at the grip end and deflected the clubhead downward followed by releasing it, the club would often be seen to wobble vigorously. But sometimes the club would oscillate smoothly up and down in a reasonably steady plane. Taken together the two observations suggested that oscillation stability of the shaft in the club might affect its performance.

The concept arose that if a shaft had a spine or a stable plane, it should be aligned along the target path to enhance consistency in shot dispersion. Articles were written about how shaft alignment could affect shot dispersion, accuracy, and distance. Debates followed about exactly how the shaft should be aligned and what technology best revealed shaft stability. Methods and equipment were patented, and competing procedures were developed for finding the stable plane of oscillation -- flat line oscillation (FLO) -- of a shaft. 

Eventually clubmakers realized the shaft production process leaves most shafts with a slight residual bend. Rolling a shaft blank over a smooth surface reveals a slight amount of wobble -- it's an indication of residual bend or "shaft spine". That spine can also be detected with a deflection machine that allows the shaft to rotate to the plane of least resistance when a load is placed on both ends of the shaft. This orientation has also been termed the natural (or neutral) bending plane (NBP).

We can clamp the butt end of a shaft in a vibration frequency analyzer, add a weight to the shaft tip, and deflect the weight. Measuring the oscillation frequency in different orientations typically shows two planes of stability. One plane will have a slightly higher frequency (the "hard" side) than the other plane (the "soft" side). We use this procedure as a quality control check on the construction of the shaft -- if we find a shaft with excessive wobble, we don't use it.

Most of the time, the hard side corresponds to the plane of the spine, and more than 90% of all shafts we test have a measurable frequency differences between the two sides. The hard side and the soft side are often found 90 degrees apart. Some expensive patented equipment has been developed that shows the same thing as "FLOing" or "spining". There are frequency variations in different vibrational planes of just about any shaft you test.

We could keep going with this description, but at some point it's fair to ask what does it mean? The reality is that after more than a decade of testing by lots of folks in the industry, there is no definitive unbiased study that proves the shaft spine affects accuracy or distance. At best there are only anecdotal observations that argue for a positive effect of shaft spine or FLO or anything similar on ball trajectory. However, many players find a shaft feels slightly better and reduces dispersion when one or the other stable FLO plane is oriented in the direction of the target line. There have been no negative effects associated with aligning the FLO plane with the target line.

We don't take sides on the central issue, but we lean towards accepting the anecdotal evidence in builiding clubs. We like to build clubs with the FLO plane and natural bending tendencies aligned parallel to the target line for a reasonably stable shaft orientation in the direction of the swing. It's a worthwhile step that may enhance consistency in feel and promote improved ball dispersion.

Criteria for Clubs

Here are specific criteria for clubs that govern my choices for the equipment I want to play.

First, the clubs need to feel like an extension of my swing. I don't want to feel that I'm working hard to swing them. They need to feel effortless and smooth and stable. It's important to focus on the next shot, not on how to compensate for club characteristics that are not quite right for me. Feel is important to me. When the club feels right, I swing it better.

Consistency is an essential performance factor. I need to know that each club will perform as expected. When I judge the distance and trajectory needed for the next shot, the club should give a result that corresponds to what my swing is capable of delivering. I don't want to think about overcoming a limitation of the club. 

The clubs should help me execute good swing technique. The irons should have a sole width, shape, lie angle, and bounce that are right for me. The iron should help me attack the ball for an aggressive shot and hit softly for short delicate shots. The length, weight, and balance should be comfortable for my swing. I don't want to make subtle compensations for poor club design.

Wedges need a sole design that enables me to control chips, short pitches, and full swing. Most other criteria for playing irons also apply. It's a lot to expect of a wedge, and knowing how to select the right specifications is essential. I expect to spend as much time fitting my wedges as any other club because wedges can convert a missed approach shot into a scoring opportunity. 

The putter needs to fit me correctly because it's the only way to be consistent. The clubhead should not fight my putting stroke and it should complement the way I see the target and align the putter face. Subtle deficiencies will cost a stroke. If I have made a great approach shot to get onto the green, the putter should not let me down.

The fairway wood and the hybrid need to be absolutely reliable. They are in the bag to perform. I want to hit them equally well off the turf and off the tee. The ball needs to get into the air and float down to the target. A club that always sends the ball on a low trajectory will not produce acceptable distance. An excessively strong loft makes the club too difficult to hit consistently well. The length needs to be short enough to facilitate a repeatable swing that yields solid contact and the optimum trajectory.

The driver should be reliable off the tee. I want the ball to be in the fairway on target and as long as a good swing will allow. I don't like to hit my second shot from the rough or from behind a tree. I want to be in position to make the best possible second shot. The length and weight of the driver needs to match my ability to swing it with full control. 

Craftsmanship is important to me. I want the clubs to look good and have a professional-looking finish. I want to be inspired by how the club sets up at address and how it looks when I hold it. I like a beautiful finish and great looking graphics on the shaft. 

What is a reasonable price to pay? Cost was a major factor when I began playing golf, and it ruled my buying decisions. It wasn't untill I had played for awhile that I realized that the fit of the club should rule my buying decision. I play the game to enjoy the course and score low -- how the clubs perform matters more than cost -- it's why I don't shop out of bargain barrels at the "discount" store, or buy dogs that won't hunt from online auctions. OK, I know there are great values to be had but I don't want to work through too many misses before making that great purchase otherwise the value isn't there.

And finally, where do I get my clubs? When I began to appreciate the technology and design features that seemed important to getting optimum performance from my clubs, I approached buying them in a different way than through the usual retail outlets and sales promotions. I did not want to fit my swing to the club, I wanted the club to be responsive to me. It's what I looked for in custom clubfitting, and it's how we approach helping other golfers find what's right for them.