How often do you hit it "pure"?

[acegolfer]

Thanks for the responses. I'll try to summarize what I learned from you.

1. A low single capper may hit 1 to 3 pure 6 irons out of 10 attempts at the range.
2. A double digit capper who claims to hit more than half pure shots is delusional. I suspect they have never hit 1 "pure" shot yet and don't know what it feels like. Hitting sweet spot alone is not a pure shot.
3. The lower the HI, the smaller the difference between slightly miss hits and pure shots.
4. More than 95% of the time, you will not hit a pure shot at the course. The miss hits matter more to your scoring ability.

[delav]

Thanks for the responses. I'll try to summarize what I learned from you.

Good consolidation of thoughts here. As said before by others, golf is not a game of "perfect" but more a calculation of imperfections. A good miss is still a good shot on the course, the those few pure shots are what keep you coming back :)

Also, keep in mind that the perception of pure contact may have an element of equipment too. Hitting a pure shot on a blade is certainly a different sensation than hitting one on a GI and SGI club. IT's possible the higher HCs playing GI clubs may actual hit more shots on the "sweet spot," not because they don't know differently, but because the margin of error is larger in those clubs.

[acegolfer]

Good consolidation of thoughts here. As said before by others, golf is not a game of "perfect" but more a calculation of imperfections. A good miss is still a good shot on the course, the those few pure shots are what keep you coming back :)

Agreed. If I play with blades, I won't be able to hit a single pure shot out of 10 attempts.

[CG031]

On the range with an 8 iron probably 6 out of 10 times.

With a 6 iron probably 4 out of 10 times.

[bplewis24]

Thanks for the responses. I'll try to summarize what I learned from you.

I would disagree with this, unless there is a long-established lexicon upon which "pure" in golf contexts can only mean one thing. Is this the case?

And why can't a 20 handicapper be lucky enough to hit 1 "pure" (in the strictest sense) shot with a blade? Anybody can get lucky enough to do so. Brandon

[golfro]

probably 2 o ut of 10, I get the absolute pure shot. Nothing like a nice long hit where you don't even feel the contact with the ball.

[sean_miller]

I would disagree with this, unless there is a long-established lexicon upon which "pure" in golf contexts can only mean one thing. Is this the case?

I agree - when I was a 20 capper I hit a few solid shots, and the odd one was probably "pure". Some days I likely hit more than one, but sprinkled in there were a lot of really really bad (penal) shots.

When a player is improving they likely pure one more often. As an aside, if someone plays a certain brand (or style) of irons based on they way the ball feels at impact, they're probably going to many enjoyable golf experiences.

[bunkerputt]

Hitting sweet spot alone is not a pure shot.

With this definition, I'll hit maybe 1 perfect shot out of 10. But I'll hit 9 out of 10 on the sweet spot. I have exactly one miss these days and it's a very playable one. Feel is the way I know when I hit it pure. A lot of this is club/turf interaction, and not just club/ball interaction. Of course it carries farther, but the trajectory is different. It looks like it wants to climb, but doesn't. It also looks like it wants to turn a shade left, but doesn't. It ends up carrying about a yard left of my target line.

[acegolfer]

I would disagree with this, unless there is a long-established lexicon upon which "pure" in golf contexts can only mean one thing. Is this the case?

20 handicapper can be lucky to hit 1 "pure" shot with a blade. You misread my quote.

I doubt a 20 handicapper can hit more than half pure shots. I said, if he think he is hitting 6-7 pure shots out of 10, he doesn't know what "pure" means.

[v1c70r]

Well it depends. Obviously not as much as I would like lol. I hit a couple a round. It just feels effortless. For some reason it feels like I go into slow motion and just plow through the ball. I actually feel almost nothing except power.


My favorite is a nice pured long iron. My normal 3 iron is like 225-235 with roll off the tee. Catching a flush 3 iron and rolling out to 250 is a nice feeling. When it is caught flush it doesnt curve to much for me. It turns into a pro looking trajectory with just a 5 yard draw.

[Shanks A Million]

Good consolidation of thoughts here. As said before by others, golf is not a game of "perfect" but more a calculation of imperfections. A good miss is still a good shot on the course, the those few pure shots are what keep you coming back :)

This is totally false. All clubs have the same size sweetspot, and it's one molecule in size. Game improvement clubs merely minimize the damage on mishits. Doesn't matter if it's a blade or a SGI shovel, pure is pure. Shovels make it easier to hit it solid, not pure.

I did once hit two pure shots in a row on the course. Both were 5 irons to a par 3. Both flew up into the wind and got pushed way off line. Both flew the green into OB, made triple.

[sean_miller]

I pured more shots yesterday than I usually do in 4 rounds - so busy fighting off the swarms of mosquitos trying to keep the ball out of the long grass, I was taking less and less club and still going long on every other hole.

[delav]

All clubs have the same size sweetspot,

Didn't know you were a mechanical engineer. Do you care to back this up with anything other than your opinion?

and it's one molecule in size.

There may be only spot on the club where the horizontal and vertical COG intersect, but this it not what is commonly accepted as "the sweet spot." Hitting a shot "in the sweet spot" means hitting it close enough to this spot that the end result is indiscernable to the golfer, and does not affect it's line or distance. The size of this region is not the same for a blade or mb as it is for a large perimeter weighted club.

[acegolfer]

Didn't know you were a mechanical engineer. Do you care to back this up with anything other than your opinion?

+1.

I think what Shanks referred to as sweet spot is COG, which by definition is a molecule in size. If his definition of sweet spot is COG, then what he is saying is correct. But I think your definition is more common among golfers.

[Shanks A Million]

Didn't know you were a mechanical engineer. Do you care to back this up with anything other than your opinion?

Sure can:

http://www.peakperformancegolfswing....-1-sweet-spot/

The first myth that I’d like to cover is that “bigger heads have larger sweet spots and are more forgiving”. First, all clubs have the same size sweet spot. The sweet spot is equivalent to the club head’s center of gravity. This spot is about the size of the tip end of a needle.

http://www.wtsp.com/sports/story.asp...101127&catid;=4

"Sweet spot" should technically be called the "center of gravity" and is actually about the size of a pinhead. It can't get larger or smaller no matter what you do to a club.

http://www.conquestcustomgolf.com/TwelveMyths.html

Sweet spot is a term that is commonly found in golf club ads and misused a lot by almost everyone in the golf industry. You frequently see ads boasting that this club or that has a ‘larger’ or ‘wider’ sweet spot. Technically that can’t happen because the actual sweet spot (officially known as the center of gravity) is a point that’s about the size of a sharp end of a pin. It can’t get ‘larger’. It can’t get ‘smaller’. It just…is”

http://www.golftipsmag.com/instructi...s.html?start=3

First, the sweet spot isn’t an area of the clubface; it’s actually a pinpoint on the strike area where the CG is optimized. Manufacturers can’t really increase the size of the sweet spot[...]

http://www.howtobreak80.com/blog/200...ct-or-fiction/

Unfortunately for golfers with high golf handicaps, manufacturers can’t expand the sweet spot on a club. That’s because the sweet spot isn’t really an area, but a pinpoint on the clubface where center of gravity is optimized.

http://www.rotaryswing.com/golf-inst...-spot-golf.php

The true sweet spot on a driver is the size of a pin point and simply CAN'T be made any bigger. There is only one true sweet spot on any driver where you will get maximum ball speed and no twisting of the driver head at impact. Missing this spot by the tiniest amount imparts sidespin on the ball and costs you ball speed and distance.

Need more?

[sean_miller]

Sure can:

Yeah. Where's the link that justifies people who are constantly yammering on about how high handicapper shouldn't be playing blades. If the effective sweet spot isn't any smaller for blades, a lot of people on the golfwrx site should be shutting the hell up ; ).

[Harmonious]

Sure can:

Now this is just silly, Shanks. Golfers know what the "sweet spot" is. Arguing semantics regarding center of gravity vs sweet spot by Googling "sweet spot" doesn't mean much. You're better than that, guy.

[delav]

Now this is just silly, Shanks. Golfers know what the "sweet spot" is. Arguing semantics regarding center of gravity vs sweet spot by Googling "sweet spot" doesn't mean much. You're better than that, guy.

Shanks, this was essentially the point of my post.

The usable "sweet spot" of the club is far more tangible and applicable for this, and most conversations of this nature, than it's absolute COG in the x,y,z plane. We can agree that this point exists, but you can't argue that clubs are engineered to mitigate misses to this spot, and expand the area of optimal contact. That was my point, and likely every poster in this thread aside from yourself. If you intent was to spawn some kind of armchair engineering debate, I simply don't have the time or interest to go there. Besides, a good portion of your support above is marketing propaganda for either golf instruction solicitation or various clubs. Kudos to you and for your abundance of free time.