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Why are there grooves on drivers?


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exactly.

Yes. I have a carbon fiber Yamaha from about 1991. They also made kevlar drivers. They weren't so great, they felt dull and they didn't have a good weight to them, hit the ball obscenely high. Basically metalwoods were regarded as something of a silly club, like many regard hybrids and mallet putters.

Drivers have grooves on them for the same reason metal drivers are called woods. If a driver had no grooves, it wouldn't look right.
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I bet the grooves help some in the rain. No?

In my bag:

Driver: Titleist TSi3 | 15º 3-Wood: Ping G410 | 17º 2-Hybrid: Ping G410 | 19º 3-Iron: TaylorMade GAPR Lo |4-PW Irons: Nike VR Pro Combo | 54º SW, 60º LW: Titleist Vokey SM8 | Putter: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7

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I bet the grooves help some in the rain. No?

Im guessing. I can see how grooves on a driver would be useful to channel away water from the center.

THE WEAPONS CACHE..

Titleist 909 D2 9.5 Degree Driver| Titleist 906f4 13.5 degree 3-Wood | Titleist 909 17 & 21 degree hybrid | Titleist AP2 irons
Titleist Vokey Wedges - 52 & 58 | Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 Putter | ProV1 Ball
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The grooves were cut right through the inserts on wooden woods. The insert was not flat.

Well I can't answer for all wooden drivers but I had drivers from a number of sources my first few years and all had inserts, but none of mine had grooves in the inserts. Some were glued in and some were screwed on. Materials varied, fiber, plastic even one had a metal insert, but none of mine had grooves.

1W Cleveland LauncherComp 10.5, 3W Touredge Exotics 15 deg.,FY Wilson 19.5 degree
4 and 5H, 6I-GW Callaway Razr, SW, LW Cleveland Cg-14, Putter Taylor Made Suzuka, Ball, Srixon XV Yellow

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Well I can't answer for all wooden drivers but I had drivers from a number of sources my first few years and all had inserts, but none of mine had grooves in the inserts. Some were glued in and some were screwed on. Materials varied, fiber, plastic even one had a metal insert, but none of mine had grooves.

what year are your's from?

Mine are from the 60's. Maybe things changed later on

My Clubs
Driver - LV4 10* R flex
Wood - sam snead persimmon 2 wood (for windy days)
Hybrid burner tour launch 20* stiff flex.
Irons - Tour Mode 3i,4i stiffIrons - FP's 5-PW R-flexWedge - spin milled 54.14Wedge - spin milled 60.07Putter - Victoria Lowest round 2010: 79 (par 70)Latest rounds at...

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what year are your's from?

1983-1989, changed to metal part way through 89, I played sporadically before 89, mostly Macregor or Wilson.

1W Cleveland LauncherComp 10.5, 3W Touredge Exotics 15 deg.,FY Wilson 19.5 degree
4 and 5H, 6I-GW Callaway Razr, SW, LW Cleveland Cg-14, Putter Taylor Made Suzuka, Ball, Srixon XV Yellow

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1983-1989, changed to metal part way through 89, I played sporadically before 89, mostly Macregor or Wilson.

Every wood driver I have from the 40s all the way to the 80s all had grooves. Some had a smooth part in the middle, but all of them had grooves, even on the insert.

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And they had screws...as in "I hit it on the screws"

Cobra LTDx 10.5* | Big Tour 15.5*| Rad Tour 18.5*  | Titleist U500 4-23* | T100 5-P | Vokey SM7 50/8* F, 54/10* S, SM8 58/10* S | Scotty Cameron Squareback No. 1 | Vice Pro Plus  

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And they had screws...as in "I hit it on the screws"

some did.

Mine didn't, the insert is just set into the wood somehow.

My Clubs
Driver - LV4 10* R flex
Wood - sam snead persimmon 2 wood (for windy days)
Hybrid burner tour launch 20* stiff flex.
Irons - Tour Mode 3i,4i stiffIrons - FP's 5-PW R-flexWedge - spin milled 54.14Wedge - spin milled 60.07Putter - Victoria Lowest round 2010: 79 (par 70)Latest rounds at...

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some did.

Probably some sort of epoxy..."hitting it on the screws" referred to hitting it on the sweet spot which is the center of that insert. The screws didn't really help...kind of like the grooves which are mostly for looks and face alignment. I remember a year when some manufacturers had smooth faced drivers, but people had a hard time with their looks.

Cobra LTDx 10.5* | Big Tour 15.5*| Rad Tour 18.5*  | Titleist U500 4-23* | T100 5-P | Vokey SM7 50/8* F, 54/10* S, SM8 58/10* S | Scotty Cameron Squareback No. 1 | Vice Pro Plus  

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And they had screws...as in "I hit it on the screws"

Yes indeed.

It’s interesting that baseball announcers use that expression when a hitter crushes one.

Driver: Ping K15 10°, Mitsubishi Diamana Blueboard 63g Stiff
Fairway 4-wood: TaylorMade RocketBallz Tour TP 17.5°, Matrix Ozik TP7HD S shaft

Hybrids: Callaway Diablo Edge 3H-4H, Aldila DVS Stiff
Irons: MIURA PP-9003, Dynamic Gold Superlite S300, Sand Wedge: Scratch 8620 56°
Putter: Nike Method Concept Belly 44"
Ball: Bridgestone Tour B330-S

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Yes indeed.

Yet if you hit any of those screws you would be missing the sweet spot.

In my bag:

Driver: Titleist TSi3 | 15º 3-Wood: Ping G410 | 17º 2-Hybrid: Ping G410 | 19º 3-Iron: TaylorMade GAPR Lo |4-PW Irons: Nike VR Pro Combo | 54º SW, 60º LW: Titleist Vokey SM8 | Putter: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7

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Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Note: This thread is 4999 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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