If a golfer swings 2 exact clubheads with 2 different shafts, is there a difference in ball speed?

From the desk of Tom Wishon:



If the golfer's angle of attack, the ball speed, the launch angle, the spin rate are exactly the same between the two clubs with different shafts, the carry distance would be the same. The only distance difference could come from how much the ball rolls after landing, depending on the firmness of the actual points the two balls landed on the ground. Technically if the swing speed were the same, the distance would be the same as well, but in this case of talking about only the swing speed and not the ball speed, then the only possible variable would be if there were any difference in the balls used for the two shots. Hence this is why I mentioned ball speed before swing speed.



It is pretty well verified by several competent technical sources that a +1mph difference in swing speed equates to a +2.8yd difference in CARRY distance, given the same exact launch parameters.



Trying to nail all this down to a single yard or so is difficult because there are several variables in measuring all these things. There can be tiny differences in balls of the same make/model and it is a fact that no launch monitor is absolutely perfect in its ability to always record launch parameters within 1mph or fractions of degrees or small increments of RPMs. There can and will be small differences in launch parameter measurement from any launch monitor.



Where we believe golfers can see differences in distance from different shafts are with respect to how the golfer reacts to the bending feel of the shaft during the downswing. We believe strongly that when you have a golfer who does have the ability to feel the bending action of a shaft, when that golfer finds a shaft that bends exactly the right amount and at the right time that is pleasing to the golfer, this allows the golfer to swing with full freedom, with no manipulation of the swing, and with a completely full and free release through the ball. When that happens, the golfer will be able to achieve their absolute highest possible swing speed, and from that comes more distance.



We do not believe there is any real difference in what some like to call the "tip velocity" of one shaft versus another. Shafts are in essence, "dumb animals". What we mean is that a shaft can only react to the differences in movements of the golf swing. Yes, different shafts do bend differently in response to the various downswing moves of different golfers. So to us, when a golfer who has a very distinct type of bending feel preference for a shaft is able to find a shaft that does bend when and how much he prefers, this then allows the golfer to gain the confidence that he can really go after the shot on the downswing to hit the ball. And from that comes more swing speed and distance over what the golfer can achieve when using a shaft that does not deliver a bending feel that is right in the golfer's preferred manner.



TOM

Do longer length drivers really allow a golfer to hit the ball farther?

A golfer wants to use the longest length driver that he can hit it the center of the face most of the time. Some golfers who are more athletic and have good hand/eye coordination can use a 45 or 46 inch driver and still hit the ball in the center of the face a high percentage of the time. Those golfers who are less skilled are much better off with a 43 inch driver which was the length of drivers when Jack Nicklaus was in his prime. This shorter length allows the golfer to control the club better during the swing allowing for more on center clubface hits. The current world long drive champion can hit a 29 inch driver 405 yards. 29 inches is about 6.5 inches shorter then a standard Pitching Wedge. So if missing fairways is a big concern of yours, then going to a 43 to 44 inch driver will be of great help.

Beware counterfeit clubs bought on Ebay and other internet sources!!

Counterfeit clubs and shafts are now a 4 Billion dollar industry...that's right...Billion! I've seen so many counterfeit clubs brought to me for "fixing" because the owner is not happy with the performance. Sorry...I can't (and won't) "fix" them as they are truly just junk. Lofts way out of wack, swingweights all over the map, etc. These are counterfeit clubs with Titleist, Callaway, and TaylorMade stamped on them with counterfit shafts and grips as well. What did you expect when you paid $200 for an entire set?? Lately, the low price is no longer a tell tale sign as the counterfeiters have raised their prices to make them appear more legitimate....and they look very, very close to the real thing but perform very poorly. So buyer beware.

How does swing weight (head weight feel) and Moment of Inertia (MOI) relate when fitting a golfer?

Headweight feel is both related to and independent of, the swingweight and the MOI of a golf club. Let me explain.

No question if you take any assembled club and add weight to the head, you do increase its MOI and you also increase its swingweight. But if you were to lengthen the club without adding any weight to the head, you would also increase its MOI and increase its swingweight, and you would also end up with a little different headweight feel than if you just kept the length the same and added weight to the head.

In other words, it is very possible to have two clubs with identical MOI but they display a difference in headweight feel - just as it is very possible to have two clubs with identical swingweight that both display a difference in headweight feel.

Not to overcomplicate this, this is why in any fitting for any golfer, it is important to first find the best length for the golfer, and then to find the best shaft weight for the golfer based on your evaluation of their total weight needs for their strength + transition, tempo and release considerations. Finding the right length is much easier than finding the right shaft weight/total weight for a golfer.

At any rate, once the right length and best judgment for shaftweight/total weight is decided upon, then comes the search for the best headweight feel to go along with these first two.

This is why at present, I like the procedure of using a test club built with the right length and best judgment shaft weight, and then using gradual increases in headweight to try to find where the golfer both achieves a higher percentage of on center hits AND where the golfer also tells you they are liking the feel of the headweight versus their tempo and strength characteristics.

No question that much of the fitting of total weight + headweight feel is judgment and trial and error. I wish it were different, but at present there isn't any tried and true measurement that can tell us without a doubt what shaft weight and what headweight with it is going to end up allowing the golfer to achieve their best swing tempo and best on center hit performance.

I can use good educated guesses from my evaluation of their strength + transition + tempo + release, but we still have to experiment and observe the results as well as listen to what the golfer tells me.

While I am a decent ball striker at times, I personally cannot feel a big difference between a one flex difference (10 cpm's butt frequency) between two identical shafts or a 3 or 4 gram difference in headweight...but I know there are golfers who can.

The main thing I try to get across to a golfer when doing the fitting for total weight and headweight feel is to first explain that too light means you have more of a tendency to have your tempo get too quick or you have more of a tendency to think that you need to slow down. And Too heavy means you sense that it really takes more effort to swing the club or that after a few hits, you start to feel like it is too heavy or that you do have to make more effort to swing the club within your desired tempo/rhythm feel.

Putting those concepts into the golfer's mind as they go through the fitting then helps them to give me at least some feedback regarding what I need to know when it comes to increasing or decreasing weight.

Also with some golfers, usually the less experienced or the lesser skilled players, when I talk about these aspects of FEEL, many times they are not going to know what I'm talking about because they cannot themselves relate to these differences yet in their clubs. This is why when I talk to a golfer about the various aspects of feel, if they look at me like they have no idea what I'm talking about, or if they specifically tell me they don't notice such things, then I say "fine, that's OK" and use my judgment based on evaluating their strength + transition force + tempo to make these decisions for them. I then watch for improvement in on-center hits with an impact label while doing the test club thing.

How important is "image" when a golfer decides to buy golf clubs?

Unfortunately for me, very important. The big golf companies hire marketing firms that know exactly what buttons to push in the golfer's brain to get them to buy that particular golf company's clubs. If you've been watching and believe the golf ads on TV over the past ten years, we should all be driving the ball about 400 yards and hitting the ball in the hole from 150 yards on a regular basis. Every year the newest driver promises 10 more yards and the newest iron has never been more accurate. So as long as consumers by into this, they will be emptying there wallets for the next best thing and end up being in the same boat as they were in with their previous set. Where in reality, the best club or clubs they can have for their game is a professionly custom fit set that matches their size, strength, athletic ability and swing characteristics. Who wouldn't want their shafts spine aligned, frequency/flex matched, MOI matched, built to the most comfortable length, with the proper lie/face angles/loft, with the most comfortable total weight and head feel, and with the most comfortable and proper size grip? And if this club has a lesser known companies name tatooed on it, so be it....the golf ball doesn't know. As Tom Wishon says, "I'll put up my clubhead designs with ANY companies head designs, any time, any place, any where".

What's the reason for offset in irons?

More time to continue the rotation of the face around to be less open is one reason for offset. The other one is slighly putting the hands a little more in front of the clubface to supposedly allow the golfer to have more of a chance to hit down on the shot. And another one is that the more offset on the head, the farther back is the CG from the centerline of the hosel bore, which is a factor in launch angle for golfers with a later release.

But no matter what, the human golf swing very definitely can be quite different in many aspects from one golfer to the next. Not all golfers rotate the hands/arms the same way on the downswing through impact. Some golfers pronate and turn the right hand over the left at some point before, during or after impact. Some golfers do not pronate through impact and can leave the right hand under the left, so for these swings, offset won't do much of anything with respect to the rotation of the clubface at impact.

Also, some golfers release the club so early that no matter if you had 30mm of offset on the clubhead, this still won't bring about a downward angle of attack at impact.

But the fact still does remain there most definitely are many golfers who do swing in such a way with their release that the presence of more vs less offset can cause a difference in shot direction and shot height for sure.

Although the lofts of my irons are all spaced exactly 4 degrees apart, I'm still finding inconsistant yardages between clubs. What gives?

You have discovered something about fitting that the "TrackMan" people discovered exists even on the PGA Tour among pros who you would think are as consistent as can be in the manner in which they deliver the clubhead to the ball at impact.

The idea of irons being made so the change of loft from club to club is the same number of degrees only delivers the same distance increment between the clubs if the golfer delivers the clubhead to the ball with each club in exactly the same manner. Clubs do differ in length and in total weight and in lie. These things along with each golfer's own way they set up to the ball and swing each club can contribute to the golfer delivering the clubhead slightly different to the ball with the different clubs in the set.

If these things result in the clubhead having a little different dynamic loft at impact, the distance difference between clubs that are separated by the same number of degrees of loft will then be different.

TrackMan showed that in many cases with the tour pros because of these little differences, they had to bend the loft into quite a different spacing of degrees to end up delivering the same exact number of yards between each club in the set.

With average golfers who do not have that high of a level of consistency for ball position, for angle of attack into the ball, for swing path and swing plane with the different clubs, it very well may be that such odd types of loft adjustment may have to be done to end up giving the golfer the same number of yards between clubs.

However, the FIRST thing to do in these situations is to do a very accurate loft measurement on all the irons. As we have mentioned several times, the very best foundries in the world cannot and do not manufacture clubheads with better than a +/-1* tolerance for loft (and lie and face angle).

This is not to say that a very high number of heads actually are off by +1 or-1 for the loft - they aren't because what makes a foundry really good in this business is the fact that the number that are off by +1 or -1 is a pretty small number. But it still can happen. So start first if you can with a very accurate loft measurement to see where the adjacent irons are at, and then from that, work on making the fine tuned loft adjustments that result in a more even spacing for distance between the clubs.

Last point, do NOT rely on the loft measurement part of a loft and lie machine to do the loft measurements. This part of a L/L machine is not as reliable for accurate loft measurement as a specs measurement machine/gauge. For accuracy all spec measurements have to be done on a separate specs measurement machine or gauge.