Adventures in Club Tweaking: Heavy Driver

[ronin74]

I often in my spare time will dink around with various items, form hypotheses based on what I observe, the test the hypotheses out.  One such case is my driver

[ronin74]

25 minutes ago, ronin74 said:

I often in my spare time will dink around with various items, form hypotheses based on what I observe, the test the hypotheses out.  One such case is my driver

Continuing on:

One day I boiler a swing trainer comprising of a driveway marker, a one pound block of wood and a golf ball.  After my first session with it, I reflected upon how easy I it was to control my transition which seemed to result in many good swings.  So I decided to build a driver based on the swing trainer.

The first one I put together utilized an A flex idrive shaft by integra and a 10° Great Big Bertha clone head 2with enough hotmelt to get it's weight to 454g - one pound.  As a proof of concept it worked well enough, 180 yard drives (about 30 yards of it was rollout) and only ever straight.  This resulted in the creation of various other weights of clubheads:

454g - the pounder  180y only straight

340g -  3/4 pound  200y   straight

300g - 2/3 pound 240y  within 5y of straight

So I decided to build my final driver.

Using a r5 dual N, I removed the head from the shaft.  I then set he head on its face and melted down two bullet fishing weights into the cavity on top of the weight screws.  After the lead cooled, I whacked the face of the head with a plastic pipe to shake the newly molded weights free.  I then set them back into their respective cavities using a layer of silicone to help with vibration.  

I installed a house brand shaft from a supplier that is now retired.  The shaft is an A flex 75g shaft with 2.8° of listed torque and a somewhat firm tip.  The playing length is 44.75".  The head weighs similar to what a 5 wood does.

 There is enough flex at the transition from backswing to downswing for me to keep my timing.  My typical drives are now 250 yards and within 10 yards of where I aimed.  It was a fun experiment that produced helpful results for me.

 

[boogielicious]

3 hours ago, ronin74 said:

Continuing on:

One day I boiler a swing trainer comprising of a driveway marker, a one pound block of wood and a golf ball.  After my first session with it, I reflected upon how easy I it was to control my transition which seemed to result in many good swings.  So I decided to build a driver based on the swing trainer.

The first one I put together utilized an A flex idrive shaft by integra and a 10° Great Big Bertha clone head 2with enough hotmelt to get it's weight to 454g - one pound.  As a proof of concept it worked well enough, 180 yard drives (about 30 yards of it was rollout) and only ever straight.  This resulted in the creation of various other weights of clubheads:

454g - the pounder  180y only straight

340g -  3/4 pound  200y   straight

300g - 2/3 pound 240y  within 5y of straight

So I decided to build my final driver.

Using a r5 dual N, I removed the head from the shaft.  I then set he head on its face and melted down two bullet fishing weights into the cavity on top of the weight screws.  After the lead cooled, I whacked the face of the head with a plastic pipe to shake the newly molded weights free.  I then set them back into their respective cavities using a layer of silicone to help with vibration.  

I installed a house brand shaft from a supplier that is now retired.  The shaft is an A flex 75g shaft with 2.8° of listed torque and a somewhat firm tip.  The playing length is 44.75".  The head weighs similar to what a 5 wood does.

 There is enough flex at the transition from backswing to downswing for me to keep my timing.  My typical drives are now 250 yards and within 10 yards of where I aimed.  It was a fun experiment that produced helpful results for me.

 

Thanks for posting. Any pictures of your experimental set up?

[ronin74]

No pictures at the moment.  But I have some fair weather today.  I will see what I can put together.

[ronin74]

Was a bit busy today but got off a couple of quick pictures.

The first is of the full club.  The grip is a Percise Protrac.  They are made by the AME grip company (think BMX and Motocross grips) with the same triangle pattern that AME is known for.  They are durable, have a tacky feel, and are made in the USA at a reasonable cost.

http://amegrips.com/precise-golf-grips/protrac

One might notice he small dash of white paint I placed below the grip.  This serves as a reminder for where the thumb of my bottom hand should be to increase the likelihood of a straight drive.  It makes for a slightly more aggressive than neutral grip.

The next pic is of the sole.  This head was from a driver I picked up from callawaygolfpreowned for very little money, there are blemishes that I will take care of in due time, eventually.

Notice the lead that I formed over the weight screws.  The white around the lead is silicone that I filled the cavity with before seating the lead weights.  This should secure the weights while also handling the vibration where more traditional adhesives might fail.

According to my swing weight scale the club weighs just shy of 330g and measures (for those who still use swing weight) F5.

The reason this works for me is that I have hands slightly softer than stone, maybe Maple or Bamboo, anyhow my hands are pretty insensitive. This setup lets me be able to sense the club's feedback from my inputs during the backswing and transition, my timing has greatly improved with this club.

In comparison, standard built clubs for my swing get lost in the backswing and transition resulting in great inconsistencies.  Maybe potentially longer shots, but definitely at the cost of turning the three holes near whatever tee I am using it at into a hard hat zone.

Thank you for your patience with this thread with broken links as I found a place to host images.

[natureboy]

2 hours ago, ronin74 said:

According to my swing weight scale the club weighs just shy of 330g and measures (for those who still use swing weight) F5.

Wow, that's like a whole row lower. Do you find it tiring to use on the range?

[ronin74]

39 minutes ago, natureboy said:

Wow, that's like a whole row lower. Do you find it tiring to use on the range?

Actually, no

But I also do circuits making small swings with a 30' logging chain.  

[ronin74]

My final driver pictures above's total weight is not unreasonable though.

Now, when I did the original full pound head, that was tiring.  Only had about 50 or so good swings in me with that one before my swing feel off the tracks.