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Golf Club Technology: In summary, lofts of both woods and irons have been becoming stronger over the past quarter-century. Where they go in the future will be interesting to see, but with advent of the "Rescue" type of club, which is an iron/wood or wood/iron hybrid, long irons labeled as #3’s or #4’s may soon be a thing of the past. These new designs may act as transitional clubs in place of high-lofted woods or strong-lofted irons, making the set of clubs probably more playable for most golfers. Lofts of shorter irons may be more incrementally user friendly in the form of a 50 degree PW, a 55 degree SW and a 60 degree lob type of wedge. The set will still have fourteen clubs, but they may not necessarily thought of as "woods" or "irons", but rather just as specifically lofted clubs...only time will tell. Club lengths have been on the increase as well. It is not uncommon in today’s world to have the same numbered iron being 1 1/2" longer than in the past. Twenty years ago, most #5 irons were 37" long; today there are #5 irons on the market at more than 38 3/4" in length. The reasoning behind this trend is twofold. One, players want to hit the ball longer. The longer the club, the longer the swing arc, and the potential for more club head speed and distance. But longer clubs may be more difficult to control than shorter ones. Here is where perimeter weighting comes into play again. While longer clubs may be more difficult to return to an on-center position, the perimeter weighting of cavity backed and oversized clubs make the results of less -than-perfect impacts not so poor. Plus, when the player does return the longer club to a square impact position, the ball does go longer. hence, the player feels he hits longer clubs a greater distance; his good shots go farther and his "misses" are longer and more playable as well. A second factor when discussing longer clubs today is a "material" one. Shafts are lighter today than they were twenty-five years ago. Back then just about all shafts were standard weight steel, having an approximate raw weight of 125 grams. Lightweight steel shafts debuted in the early 1970’s as did even lighter weight graphite's. The steel shafts used in most clubs today weigh at least ten grams less than they used to. Graphite shafts that weigh less than 60 grams - or half of what the "old" steel shafts weighed - are used on some of the best selling clubs in the industry. As the weights of the shafts became less, the lengths were increased to maintain the feel and balance of the golf club. A 37" #5 iron with a sub-60 gram shaft will not feel very good to a golfer and will be virtually uncontrollable in most instances. A little more than 35% of new iron sets sold are fitted with graphite shafts; adding length is an inexpensive and simple method by which to maintain balance and playability in a golf club, even though the total weight of the club is light when compared to clubs of only a few years ago. The length of the shafts in woods has increased by an even longer margin that 1 1/2" from many golf club companies. It used to be that wooden-shafted drivers were all 43" long. The first metal woods featured shafts slightly longer. Today’s best selling Big Berthas and Titleist 975’s have 45" shafts. A few years ago, the Killer Bee company offered a "standard" model at 52" long. The 43" driver, and perhaps even the 44" model, are things of the past. Nearly 90% of all new drivers and nearly 75% of all new fairway woods sold have graphite shafts; modern club lengths and lighter weights certainly reflect this trend. The lies of most modern clubs are more upright than in the past. There are two potential reasons for this trend. One is that people seem to be taller today than in years past. While it is not a blanket statement, most taller golfers are better-fitted with upright clubs. Hence the manufacturers have designed clubs a degree or two more upright than in the past. A second part of the upright lie equation relates to face plane. The more upright a golf club is, the more its face plane tends to angle to the left (for a right handed player) at impact. Where do most golfers hit the ball? They slice it. The fact that the face plane is positioned to the left helps to counteract the effect of a slice, benefiting the vast majority of golfers worldwide. The lies of irons seem to have increased no more than 2 degrees over those made in the 1960’s or 70’s, but the lies of woods have certainly become much more upright. A 43" wooden driver usually had a 54 degree lie angle; many of today’s drivers approach 60 degrees. Think about the fact that these modern drivers are longer; most clubs, when made longer, utilize a flatter lie angle. The 60 degree drivers of today at 45" are effectively as much as 10 degrees more upright than were wooden drivers of yesteryear. Assume an iron of today is 1" longer than in the past and is two degrees more upright. This indicates a club that is effectively 4 degrees more upright than before, not anywhere near as much as the dramatic change in the lie of woods. (Each 1/2" increase in length effectively yields a club 1 degree more upright at impact.) A recent national magazine article concerning the new-for-2000 golf clubs showed some interesting comparisons among various company’s standards. The average loft of #5 irons from twenty-six models sampled, showed 26.68", with the lowest lofted club tested at 25 and the highest ladies model at 29 degrees. The average length of the #5 irons was 37.68", with a range of 37 1/2" to 38.75". Most companies today are saying that 38" is the average #5 iron length, but many even exceed their own so-called standard. The average #5 iron lie today is 60.58"; the range is 59-62 degrees. Drivers measured showed an average lie of 56.64 compared to the former standard of 54 degrees. The range went from 54 to 60 degrees. The average driver length is 44.69", more than 1 1/2" over the "old" standard. The average driver today is an inch and a half longer an 1 1/2 degrees more upright than those of the past, effectively making it much more difficult to slice than before - at least on the drawing board. Standard. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines it as "something established for use as a rule or basis of comparison in measuring quantity or quality." What we find when we compare the standards of various manufacturers is a variety of different lengths, lofts, and lies used to identify their particular pieces of golf equipment. When talking about standards, it quickly becomes obvious that there is not "one" uniform standard in the golf industry, but designed-in standards used by specific companies in an attempt to make their clubs perform better than anyone else’s. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. Standards vary greatly and they may change nearly every year. Keep in mind the industry trends we discussed, study manufacturer’s specification charts and perhaps more importantly before choosing equipment based on standards, look to a custom fitting for your next purchase because, chances are, you are no more "standard" than are the other members of your foursome! Again Thank you Jeff |
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