Wooden Drivers are just as long as metal ones!

[Shanks A Million]

Really, the answer is staring you right in the face here.

You committed a fallacy in your assessment, the fallacy of affirming the consequent, and also made a hasty generalization.

Lets look for a second at this one:

This particular persimmon driver is as long than this particular metal one.
Therefore, all persimmon drivers hit it as long as metal ones.

The fallacy is more clear if I use some other examples first.

• Affirming the consequent

If it rains, the ground gets wet. The ground is wet, therefore it rained.

• Hasty generalization

Every person I've met speaks English, so it must be true that all people speak English.


OK, so here's what happened. You compared two different clubs with different shafts, lengths, heads, lofts, and weights, and made a broad statement based on that. The reason you hit the new club farther is more likely multi-fold.

First, it had more loft. It could be your current 10° driver has too little loft. Also, the Cobra undoubtedly has a much longer shaft than the persimmon wood, so you likely hit the persimmon wood squarely more often. This will give you more distance. Persimmon 2 woods run about 43", where as modern drivers are around 46". Those 3 inches make a huge difference. As do 2° of loft.

In truth though, the actual science is quite well founded. Persimmon has a COR of roughly .79, while modern metal drivers have a COR of .83. However, some persimmon woods may have more COR, perhaps even more than .83, because no two pieces of wood are the same. So, what you've found is that your driver is not the longest one out there for you, but that's about all.

[guywoof]

I sometimes use a persimmon, and with the new balls get a much lower ball flight and thus tremendous roll. I hit the persimmon a few yards shorter, but am much more consistant and rarely mishit it. I think the weight of the head gives you a greater sense of what your doing. I never hit the sometimes insane, high fade with the wooden club like I do with titanium.

[DocParty]

All depends on the ball being the same, the loft being the same, the shaft being fitted for your swing and the grip on the club fitting your hands. If all is equal, and you can swing the club properly you'll have just as good results with the persimmon as with the metal. Remember having it fitted to you is paramount. Anyone can pick up a golf club and duff it. You have to be properly fitted to convert the horsepower from your body to the transmission that is your shaft and release it to the ball with the greatest COR.

[Patch]

I have a wooden Ping Eye 2 wood, that when I was at my best, was shorter than my 3 metal wood. It was more accurate, but still shorter. Now that my swing speed has dropped off, I can hit that Ping club just about as far as my 3 metal wood. Both have metal shafts.

I have always believed that Ping Eye 2 Wood (1983?) was one of the best forgiving clubs every made. I still have mine, and sometimes still use it just for kicks.

[Spitfisher]

I don't know where they got the statistic that wooden clubs are 50 yards shorter than the metal ones. I was playing today and I hit two 250m (275 yards) drives. Most of my drives are 240m with my cobra. The only problem is forgiveness, if you don't hit the centre you'll hit shorter shots. Driving distances haven't really improved over the years by much.

Back in the era of wooden drivers, it was the ball that often shortened the distance compared to today, also the machinery cutting, grass length, landing areas, irrigation, drainage all play a role in the driving distance today compared to the < 1960s Just one look at the old footage of balls being putt or rolling on the green during a. Chanpionship tourney will show you the difference.

[Lihu]

Back in the era of wooden drivers, it was the ball that often shortened the distance compared to today, also the machinery cutting, grass length, landing areas, irrigation, drainage all play a role in the driving distance today compared to the < 1960s

Just one look at the old footage of balls being putt or rolling on the green during a. Chanpionship tourney will show you the

These guys did a comparison with the same balls.

http://www.milesofgolf.com/blog/golf-clubs/vintage-vs-technology/

[flopster]

One element that is missing is the balata balls used for testing now are all very old and have lost some of their performance. It's too bad titleist couldn't manufacture some new balatas to get some real accurate results.

[Lihu]

One element that is missing is the balata balls used for testing now are all very old and have lost some of their performance. It's too bad titleist couldn't manufacture some new balatas to get some real accurate results.

I have a few 100 balata balls, but they blister sometimes. Probably just old. When I hit righty, I used some old persimmon the previous owner left in my garage. Haven't touched them in 2 years.