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Driver Technology: Actual Results vs. Actually Hype


RealtorDC
Note: This thread is 4419 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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I believe the new balls have more to do with added distances and improved play than do the clubs you use.  Having said that the modern clubs are a lot easier to play with and no question are longer and more forgiving than the older clubs.  I am not so sure it changes much year to year but over a few years they seem to improve the clubs noticeably.  Getting the correct clubs for you and your swing, e.g.getting fitted, is more important yet to distance and accuracy.  But my last comment is that the swing is more important than either new clubs or balls.  Get lessons.

Butch

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Yes and no.

On the 'yes' side, golf is a very mental endeavor.  If you feel that having the newest and shiniest in your bag will give you an advantage, then it may help you to play better.

On the 'no' side, it's 99% marketing and there is very little difference between the clubs that are coming out today and what came out a couple seasons ago.

Finally, if you find a club that you really like, especially if it has a graphite shaft, buy it.  In our club building class, we had a visit from a Fujikura rep and I was amazed at the disparity and amount of variation that goes into laying down the layers for a graphite shaft.  So, if you've found a club you like, chances are, that another club with the exact same shaft may be feel/react completely different.

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I think the bigest key is getting more feel into game improvement clubs. If you look at the older drivers that were not player drivers, they had a very peculiar sound, the feel was very hot, not much there, just rip it. But now, your getting that sort of reaction with the clubface, but more feel. So your able to shape shots with clubs you were not previously able to do on a consistant basis. More and more pro's are playing drivers we do, but are able to shape them still. It goes down to feel on the club.

But if i had to say, driver's are getting close to maxing out distance. But you say, well pro's average is going up. Yes, but there are more athletes on tour, so your average will increase, because the number of players hitting longer is increasing, not really the ball is going farther. There's two ways for that average to shift, either everyone moves equally, or the number of occurances of in a certain range increases. Whats really helped that, golf fitting. I would say the driver head probaby adds 2-3 yards every few years at most. Its really fine tuning that swing, basically getting you to maximize that smash factor.

To me the keys of the future golf club design are,

Aerodynamics

weight positioning

new development of materials or use of composites

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Originally Posted by RealtorDC

Opinions from someone who has continuously upgraded their clubs throughout the years?  The Ben Hogan is really my first 'newer' driver.. with the oversized head, before that I was hitting hand-me-downs.. so I'm definitely impressed with the difference in technology from the early 90's to about 2003.. but wonder how much more progress can be made.. physics is physics.. right?



Take your current driver to a well stocked golf shop and try them out. I haven't upgraded every couple years like some guys, with my only "brand new" driver purchases being in 1986, ~1993, and 2009. In the past few seasons I have picked up older drivers that I was able to demo when they first came out. I was always at least 5 years behind the curve until the PING G10 I picked up in 2009. I hit the ball just as far with other 2008 era drivers I've purchased since. The other drivers are more player's drivers (whatever that means) and had pretty decent shafts, so I couldn't lose.

Basically, with the proper shaft matched to your swing, I have no doubt you could improve on a 2003 driver (I don't recall Ben Hogan drivers ever being considered long bombers but I could be wrong). Would it be a 30 yard increase? If your current driver is a poor fit for your swing, of course you could see a huge increase. People can tweak their adjustable drivers and see 30 yard changes, so why not?!?

Mizuno MP600 driver, Cleveland '09 Launcher 3-wood, Callaway FTiz 18 degree hybrid, Cleveland TA1 3-9, Scratch SS8620 47, 53, 58, Cleveland Classic 2 mid-mallet, Bridgestone B330S, Sun Mountain four5.

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I am wondering if you have ever seen stats on how much drag slows down clubhead speed? Lately there have been a lot of reduced drag by 20% claims which sounds awesome but I am wondering if that even adds up to an additional mph or so on the swing.

Originally Posted by saevel25

ing that swing, basically getting you to maximize that smash factor.

To me the keys of the future golf club design are,

Aerodynamics

weight positioning

new development of materials or use of composites



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Not a clue, i would say its something that might need improving. I think some companies claim that, but you got to think, there probably putting there golf club in a wind tunnel and seeing how much resistance is developed. But unlike a car, which drives in a straight line. The angle of the clubface changes, the lie changes, basically the whole orientation of the club head through out the swing is unique to the player, so one player might get more swing speed, some might not. Its a nice gimic right now, but i think more testing would be required first. Honestly i think smaller clubheads would be better. less surface area would mean less friction with the air. You might loose a tad bit of forgiveness, but with the restrictions on how hot a clubface can be, i doubt there is any significant difference in distance regarded club head size.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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The wind direction will always be perpendicular to the shaft so I am not sure if most of the stuff you mention really changes a whole lot between good  players. I did a quick google and there is a book called the"the science of golf"which is saying the loss is about 15 yards with half the drag coming from the shaft and the other half from the head. If that math is right, there is a bit of distance to be gained from aerodynamics but not a ton. Not matter how slippery you make something, a body moving at 100mph through air will have some drag.

Originally Posted by saevel25

Not a clue, i would say its something that might need improving. I think some companies claim that, but you got to think, there probably putting there golf club in a wind tunnel and seeing how much resistance is developed. But unlike a car, which drives in a straight line. The angle of the clubface changes, the lie changes, basically the whole orientation of the club head through out the swing is unique to the player, so one player might get more swing speed, some might not. Its a nice gimic right now, but i think more testing would be required first. Honestly i think smaller clubheads would be better. less surface area would mean less friction with the air. You might loose a tad bit of forgiveness, but with the restrictions on how hot a clubface can be, i doubt there is any significant difference in distance regarded club head size.



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Originally Posted by Shindig

The trick is to swing your previous driver in the monitor too.


This.  Went to the golf store after a round a couple months ago.  Goofed off checking out new irons, so I pulled a couple of 7i and took some hacks with each on the sim.  Carry numbers came back 185--190.  With rollout, had a couple break the 200 yard mark.  Went to the trunk of my car and pulled out my 7i and tested that.  Guess what?  Same numbers as the other clubs.  I guess my club didn't get the memo that it was supposed to hit the ball that far because on the course, it only went 165 yards.

:titleist: :scotty_cameron:
915D3 / 712 AP2 / SC Mont 1.5

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Note: This thread is 4419 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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