"Two Clubs Longer"

I couldn't resist examining this recent advertising claim "up to two clubs longer" from an OEM about their latest iron set offering. How can their new 7-iron model yield more distance than your 6-iron? Here's a brief summary of what can be done with clubhead design and a "smoke-and-mirrors" product philosophy and advertising that seems deliberately misleading.

Let's give credit first to a thin alloy club face welded into a sturdy frame to provide a spring effect. It will generate a few extra yards compared to a traditional iron with a thick face. It's proven technology found in many brands. However, it's worth noting that the "spring effect" iron face was originally developed and refined by a custom golf component company.

And now, the distance claim. The "two clubs longer" marketing push reveals the OEM decided the easy way to get more yards from a 7-iron is to design it with a lower loft. Make the 7-iron loft equal to a standard 6-iron loft specification.

Forget about technical innovation. Reducing the loft by 4 degrees is the lazy way to give a 7-iron the same distance as a competing 6-iron. Maybe the OEM thought nobody would notice.

Extending the decreased loft design concept through the entire set gives every iron extra distance. Of course, something must be done at the short iron end of the set to compensate for decreasing loft disease, and marketing folks will call it a "feature". It's the equivalent of "smoke-and-mirrors" in design.

It's difficult to trust a company that would try to trick you into believing that stamping a "7" on the sole of a 6-iron is their best design choice for achieving more yards from a 7-iron. We wonder what else the OEM is hiding behind the marketing smoke.

Shaft Bend Profiles

An important goal in clubfitting is to match the shaft bend profile to your swing mechanics. Selecting the best shaft for your swing benefits from understanding how stiffness is distributed along the length of the shaft. These stiffness variations are designed into the shaft to accommodate different forces exerted during the downswing. 

Shaft bending during the swing reflects how variations in stiffness along the length of the shaft interact with each other and with the way you swing the club (technique and mechanics). We can see evidence of these interactions by quantifying shaft deflection and comparing it to a direct measure of strain resistance at multiple points along the shaft.

The figure above shows deflection profiles of four shafts with identical flex measurements at the grip end. The shafts were made by the same manufacturer, have the same weights, and measured as regular (R) flex according to the widely used L,A,R,S,X shaft flex classification. The graph plots resistance to deflection at two-inch increments from the butt when a constant load was applied to the tip.

We see that each shaft deflects differently although they have the same butt flex measurement. The L,A,R,S,X shaft flex classification at the butt reveals little about how the shaft behaves during the downswing. The mid section point here is 26 inches from the tip. The deflection measurements predict different flex values for the mid section of each shaft. 

To understand what caused these differences in deflection we examined strain resistance to a constant load applied at one-inch intervals along the shafts. It's a measurement of the effects on stiffness of shaft wall materials, wall thickness, and shaft diameter. In shaft engineering terms, we measured EI at each point to generate an overall stiffness profile.

We see the EI stiffness profile is similar for each of the four shafts from the butt section to the mid section. But EI profiles diverge widely in the distal region from the mid section to the tip region. At 16 inches from the tip, the shaft represented by the red line is much stiffer than the other shafts.

The EI stiffness peak near the tip region of the "Red Line" shaft acts to increase the resistance to deflection seen in the mid section where the EI measurements show essentially the same values. The "Red Line" shaft at A flex will feel stiffer than the "Orange Line" shaft at R flex.

Taken together the results show that tip region stiffness affects deflection in the mid region through the butt region. Shaft deflection is the result of how all stiffness regions interact.

These four driver shafts perform differently for every golfer we've measured. And every golfer has a distinct preference for one of these shafts. The shaft transmits your swing energy to the clubhead -- your rotational power is the engine of the swing. The goal in shaft design is to find different ways to transmit that energy in response to loading forces in the swing.

Shaft bend profiles are an attempt to understand how differences in shaft engineering design relate to individual swing mechanics. But shaft profiles are no substitute for personal testing with a launch monitor and an understanding of your swing tendencies. The old cliche "if you don't test it's just a guess" still holds true. 

The 46-inch Driver

After re-shafting a few off-the-rack drivers recently that had an overall length between 45.5 inches and 46 inches, I wondered once again why golfers are buying clubs at this length. It's difficult to hit a tee shot with with any consistency and accuracy playing drivers at this length. A wide shot dispersion does no good to anyone's game.

Since many new driver purchases are influenced by endorsements from leading tour pros, we did a little research to learn how many of the top players use 46-inch drivers. We admit to not being exhaustive here, but we found less than 10% of the best players on the planet use these drivers. Pro long driver hitters were excluded from the group since they play a radically different game.

Some of the longest hitters on tour play drivers that are 44.5 inches long. When a 6-ft 3-inch pro in the top echelon of the game plays a 44.5-inch driver and routinely achieves well over 300 yds distance, we think it's telling golfers that clubhead speed is more important than club length. Golfers forget that swinging a long driver takes measurably more effort/energy than swinging a shorter driver. 

Why buy long drivers? In a word, marketing. The OEMs would have you believe that to hit the ball a greater distance, you need a longer driver. Again, let me emphasize, it's not length but clubhead speed that determines distance when considering key driver specifications. All of the important technology designed into a driver is there to increase clubhead speed and accuracy. Speed yields distance.

There are some key advantages to playing short drivers. First and foremost is finding the fairway -- it's usually easier to have a safe approach to the green from the fairway than from the rough. It's another way of saying that accuracy and consistency with the driver is needed to give you the benefit of greater clubhead speed. 

Our advice to amateur golfers is do not buy drivers over 45 inches in length. Focus your decision on the technology that improves your accuracy and consistency. Knowing your swing tendencies is a hugely important part of the process. For example, do your swing mechanics cost you distance and accuracy? Are you buying a driver that reinforces poor technique? Are you buying a driver longer than you can control? One correctly fit custom driver costs less than replacing one off-the-rack bargain after another.

Knowing Your Swing

Most golfers today understand that it helps their performance on the course to have clubs that fit their swing. The search for new clubs often begins with a plan for club fitting. But there is an essential component of the process that's usually missing from the process.

Knowing your swing is the essential missing piece. Effective club fitting depends on an understanding of your swing mechanics. Clubfitting without meaningful swing analysis is not likely to take a player's game to a higher level. Let's look at a common problem to illustrate the point.

A slice -- power fade for those of us in denial -- is probably the most frequent swing fault in the game. It often comes from an over-the-top outside-to-in swing that's characterized by a dominant upper body and dominant arms in the downswing.

Or perhaps your swing plane is actually pretty good but you cup the lead wrist a little bit in the backswing and at the top you start the downswing with an open clubface. Not an over-the-top problem, but a face angle that asks -- what am I looking at? it's more common than you think.

Poor balance, poor weight shift, a weak grip, and flat shoulder plane also can contribute to the slice. And who looks at poor spine and hip mobility? We've seen it as a major problem underlying the slice for many players. And let's not forget poor swing concepts. And what if your clubs are too long and too heavy?

What do you fix first? Is there an underlying problem that leads to everything else? We think you should know the answer when you are buying that new driver. Knowing your swing is a key part of our approach to clubfitting.

We don't think clubs can be fit to your swing without understanding your swing mechanics. That's what we do, and that's why our clubfitting is unsurpassed. By anyone. When you're ready for a new golf club, be sure to get a full swing analysis to help you get the right club specifications.

New Shafts for Irons

Re-shafting your irons is one of the best ways to rescue performance from your irons. It's because most stock shafts in OEM irons are not selected for optimum performance. Low cost usually dictates the choice of shafts in factory-built clubs. The other main factor is producing a product that is usable for the "average" player.

I like to think that there are no average golfers. Our genetic makeup and life experiences make each of us unique. Golf equipment that works properly when matched to individual player requirements makes a huge difference in our enjoyment and satisfaction in playing the game. Golf should be fun, not a compromise.

Every player at any skill level from beginner to scratch should have irons they can swing with a degree of control that enables consistent shot making ability. In irons, getting the right shaft makes a huge difference.

There is no rule that says an iron -- or a wedge -- should be built with the equivalent of heavy stiff rebar-like shafts. There is no rule that dictates flex or weight for a particular swing speed. Swing mechanics and preferences for feel and posture should be the main factors in shaft selection.

Modern light-weight steel and modern graphite shaft technology give us a wide range of options that can fit anyone who plays golf. Getting the length, weight, and stiffness profile right in a shaft can change a frustrating uncomfortable experience on the course into a fun game that you want to play as often as you can. Properly fit shafts enable you to control the ball and make targeted shots.

We recommend that golfers consider the softest flex and lightest weight they can control to achieve the accuracy they need. These parameters affect how you load swing energy into the club on the downswing that is released to maximum effect through the impact zone. 

Swing analysis is definitely recommended if you want to match the shafts to your game. Knowing how you swing a club -- your swing mechanics -- makes a major difference in proper fitting. Understanding how your particular range-of-motion affects your ability to swing a club is the other key piece of the fitting experience.

You can take the guesswork out of the process by getting professional clubfitting with a launch monitor. High speed video and 3D motion capture complete the process.