Well, getting home from yearly golf trip with 16 buddies and it was great.
No clubfitting goodies to talk about this week, but if you want to read an article on the physics of hitting the ball further here you go!
http://www.tutleman.com/golf/clubs/golfSwingPhysics.php?ref=
Tony
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Putter Swingweight - Rules of Thumb.....
I have been doing some putter length mods the past few weeks. I am learning that this again one of those "who would know?" areas of which club is right for a player. The Tom Wishon "Common Sense Clubfitting" book (one of the best references on key factors on fitting) suggests that in general putter swingweights should be between about C8 and D7 depending on the way a person swings the putter with best results. My personal bias for all golf clubs is that a player needs to somehow "feel the club head" to get consistent results.
Talking just about conventional putters now, there is clearly a relationship between what the clubhead weight should be for a specific length of putter. If a putter is a shorter length like 32 or 33 inches, the head needs to weight more than for a putter of length of 34, 35, or 36 inches.
I did swingweights for some specific putters before cutting them to length. While some of them turned out to be in the C8 - D7 range, others were in the mid E swingweight range and one tonight was F5 - really heavy! This putter should never have built as long as it was.......it would be very difficult to swing consistently.
The fix for a putter that has too low a swingweight is pretty easy - put some tungsten powder down the shaft to adjust the weight feel. Not as easy to adjust a putter that is too swingweight heavy. One good option for that is Opti Vibe weights down the shaft to change the weight feel of the putter.
Overall though - It is a good idea when you purchase a putter to buy one that has adjustable weights on the head so you can "tune" the feel of the putter. But if not that..........ask the person selling you the putter if he can measure the swingweight of it for you. And do not afraid to trust that if it feels either too heavy or too light for you it probably is - even it if has the most beautiful putter head know to man. You should not compromise on getting the "flat stick" fitted right for you.............you use it more than any other club in your golf bag!
Tony
Talking just about conventional putters now, there is clearly a relationship between what the clubhead weight should be for a specific length of putter. If a putter is a shorter length like 32 or 33 inches, the head needs to weight more than for a putter of length of 34, 35, or 36 inches.
I did swingweights for some specific putters before cutting them to length. While some of them turned out to be in the C8 - D7 range, others were in the mid E swingweight range and one tonight was F5 - really heavy! This putter should never have built as long as it was.......it would be very difficult to swing consistently.
The fix for a putter that has too low a swingweight is pretty easy - put some tungsten powder down the shaft to adjust the weight feel. Not as easy to adjust a putter that is too swingweight heavy. One good option for that is Opti Vibe weights down the shaft to change the weight feel of the putter.
Overall though - It is a good idea when you purchase a putter to buy one that has adjustable weights on the head so you can "tune" the feel of the putter. But if not that..........ask the person selling you the putter if he can measure the swingweight of it for you. And do not afraid to trust that if it feels either too heavy or too light for you it probably is - even it if has the most beautiful putter head know to man. You should not compromise on getting the "flat stick" fitted right for you.............you use it more than any other club in your golf bag!
Tony
Monday, March 15, 2010
Oops........But Thank You MOI!!
Tonight I was finishing a golf club for a client who will be going on a golf trip in Thursday. I went to a local golf store and bought the grip he wanted............well, not quite...... Bought a Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord..........but did not realize that this grip came in "0.580 core" and "0.600" core. The larger one is the one I wanted, and I did not think to check if there was a different one. And the weight of the 0.580 core grip is slightly higher than the weight of the 0.600 grip - by 1.5 grams.
In the "old" days I would have been pretty fussy about this (well I was not pleased to tell the truth, being a prefectionist....) but I quickly realized that I could make this grip work just as well for the player. I do all of my fitting now to MOI (Moment of Interia) rather than Swingweight - MOI is more of a dynamic measure of how a player swings a club, and Swingweight is a static measurement. When I did the fitting for this player we found that the best MOI for him was 2,833 (in metric units).
1.5 grams of weight in the grip makes a difference of about 1/3 swingweight points. But since MOI is related to location of mass relative to the distance of that mass from the butt end of the club, the small extra weight of the grip should have essentially no affect on the final club MOI. And so no real effect on how the club feels when the player is swinging it.
So I put the slightly oversized grip on, stretched it just a little (to get it back to Men's standard size), and measured the club MOI at 2,836.....................3 points off from 2,833 target which is essentially nothing.
So the player will get his driver back tomorrow, 44 inch length (more than an inch less than he was playing), butt flex about a flex softer (fitting his swing), and the MOI that we tested. And if, after his golf trip, he wants me to put the other grip on I will - but the club will swing the same. Pretty cool!
Tony
In the "old" days I would have been pretty fussy about this (well I was not pleased to tell the truth, being a prefectionist....) but I quickly realized that I could make this grip work just as well for the player. I do all of my fitting now to MOI (Moment of Interia) rather than Swingweight - MOI is more of a dynamic measure of how a player swings a club, and Swingweight is a static measurement. When I did the fitting for this player we found that the best MOI for him was 2,833 (in metric units).
1.5 grams of weight in the grip makes a difference of about 1/3 swingweight points. But since MOI is related to location of mass relative to the distance of that mass from the butt end of the club, the small extra weight of the grip should have essentially no affect on the final club MOI. And so no real effect on how the club feels when the player is swinging it.
So I put the slightly oversized grip on, stretched it just a little (to get it back to Men's standard size), and measured the club MOI at 2,836.....................3 points off from 2,833 target which is essentially nothing.
So the player will get his driver back tomorrow, 44 inch length (more than an inch less than he was playing), butt flex about a flex softer (fitting his swing), and the MOI that we tested. And if, after his golf trip, he wants me to put the other grip on I will - but the club will swing the same. Pretty cool!
Tony
Monday, March 8, 2010
Shafts and More Shafts.....
A few years ago I purchased a copy of Tom Wishon's Shaft Profiling Software. Tonight I updated this software to the newest version.............and it includes quite a number of new shaft frequency profiles.
How a person swings a golf club can influence the shaft that is the best performance fit for him or her. Two people who have the same swing speed can differ greatly in when in their swing they "release" their wrist cock and how aggressively they swing at the golf ball. It is entirely possible that these two people would play shafts that have the same "butt flex" - the flex measured for the full length of the golf club - but one would play better with a shaft that has a soft tip flex while the other plays with a shaft with a stiffer tip flex.
So you should be asking - how would I know which shaft would work best for me? The best answer is to find a clubfitter who has test clubs with a range of test shafts with different flex profiles - and determine by measurements which shaft you hit better (launch monitor data can provide this kind of information).
Personally I often also find that when the "right" shaft is put in the hands of a golfer it simply feels right. The player can feel the shaft unload properly when he hits the ball and "he knows." It is great to be with players when this kind of experience happens, because you know that you are really finding a shaft option that will help them hit the ball further and more consistently.
Shaft profiles are one of the key variables in professional clubfitting.
Tony
How a person swings a golf club can influence the shaft that is the best performance fit for him or her. Two people who have the same swing speed can differ greatly in when in their swing they "release" their wrist cock and how aggressively they swing at the golf ball. It is entirely possible that these two people would play shafts that have the same "butt flex" - the flex measured for the full length of the golf club - but one would play better with a shaft that has a soft tip flex while the other plays with a shaft with a stiffer tip flex.
So you should be asking - how would I know which shaft would work best for me? The best answer is to find a clubfitter who has test clubs with a range of test shafts with different flex profiles - and determine by measurements which shaft you hit better (launch monitor data can provide this kind of information).
Personally I often also find that when the "right" shaft is put in the hands of a golfer it simply feels right. The player can feel the shaft unload properly when he hits the ball and "he knows." It is great to be with players when this kind of experience happens, because you know that you are really finding a shaft option that will help them hit the ball further and more consistently.
Shaft profiles are one of the key variables in professional clubfitting.
Tony
Monday, March 1, 2010
Remembering The Beginning.....
Tonight I was talking with a friend who reminded me of the first person who ever did a "club fitting" for me. It was the start of my journey to become a clubfitter...............
I went to a club demo day and a club OEM rep fitted me for a driver. This was about 10 years ago. A 7 degree driver that when I hit it "right" I could hit it pretty well but had to really hit it perfectly.
I had known about a great local clubfitter and clubbuilder in Oak Ridge - Richard Hess (a great person and clubfitter, who died a few years ago) - and I thought what the heck why not take the club to him and see what he says the flex of the shaft is. I thought that I was playing with a Stiff Shaft - but he told me it was actually an XX Stiff shaft based on his PCS standard for shaft flex. Internally I hit the roof and said can you build me a driver that fits me which he did - and I sold the OEM driver on eBay. A few years later I also had him build me a set of irons and they worked well for me for a number of years.
The truth is though that if this had never happened I would never have known what it was like to have clubs that REALLY fit me and my game. And would have never become interested in clubfitting as a second career.
The other interesting thing is that this same story keeps repeating itself in my efforts to create great golf clubs for players. Tonight I did specs on a driver shaft - after doing a driver fitting this weekend - and the shaft butt flex was at least 2 flexes too stiff for the player. See some similarity to what happened with me? It is a great feeling to be able to help people get clubs that truly fit their games and their golf swings. So thank you Mr. OEM fitter for teaching me where I ultimately needed to go!
Tony
I went to a club demo day and a club OEM rep fitted me for a driver. This was about 10 years ago. A 7 degree driver that when I hit it "right" I could hit it pretty well but had to really hit it perfectly.
I had known about a great local clubfitter and clubbuilder in Oak Ridge - Richard Hess (a great person and clubfitter, who died a few years ago) - and I thought what the heck why not take the club to him and see what he says the flex of the shaft is. I thought that I was playing with a Stiff Shaft - but he told me it was actually an XX Stiff shaft based on his PCS standard for shaft flex. Internally I hit the roof and said can you build me a driver that fits me which he did - and I sold the OEM driver on eBay. A few years later I also had him build me a set of irons and they worked well for me for a number of years.
The truth is though that if this had never happened I would never have known what it was like to have clubs that REALLY fit me and my game. And would have never become interested in clubfitting as a second career.
The other interesting thing is that this same story keeps repeating itself in my efforts to create great golf clubs for players. Tonight I did specs on a driver shaft - after doing a driver fitting this weekend - and the shaft butt flex was at least 2 flexes too stiff for the player. See some similarity to what happened with me? It is a great feeling to be able to help people get clubs that truly fit their games and their golf swings. So thank you Mr. OEM fitter for teaching me where I ultimately needed to go!
Tony
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