Smaller Club Head to Increase Consistency

[Tommy_Boy14]

I was walking through a used sporting goods shop today looking through bins of older golf clubs and I noticed some drivers and woods with much smaller heads like from the 80’s and 90’s and I got to thinking, I wonder if that wouldn’t be be a terrible thing to buy in order to improve consistent ball striking especially with longer irons and woods. I just thought you’re getting the same length as a stock driver but with a much smaller head which would force you to be more consistent with your ball striking. Is there any truth to this thought? Honestly with this “drill” or “experiment” I’m not looking for distance as much as trying to be more consistent with my ball striking 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Tommy_Boy14

[Piz]

I have some older clubs that I take to the range, on occasion, just for the hell of it.  Whether that promotes consistency, or not, is difficult to say.  A thirty old driver may have a head roughly the size of a modern 3 wood but why would swinging it be anymore beneficial than using the modern 3?  

[RayG]

"30 year old" drivers aren't meant to hit the soft balls of today. It might help drill a consistent stroke, but it will cost distance. The old clubs do not have the 'springiness' of the thin faced drivers of today. The balls will not react the same, and generally just fall out of the sky. At least when I tried it 2 or 3 years ago. 

Weight distribution is another thing. I "think" I hit better drives back then because I could FEEL where that compact head was during the swing at all times. The newer lighter heads, to me anyway, seem to get lost and I don't have the same confidence in where it is at any one time. So a difference like that might effect your "feel" during the swing.

[saevel25]

10 minutes ago, RayG said:

"30 year old" drivers aren't meant to hit the soft balls of today.

Where golf balls that much harder 30 years ago? Wasn't balata a soft golf ball?

 

[RayG]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

Where golf balls that much harder 30 years ago? Wasn't balata a soft golf ball?

 

the skin was, but they were either 90 or 100 compression. (But that was on a different scale than is used these days- new balls may be rated as "90", but likely compared to the old balls are probably closer to 60) They were meant to be smashed with that plastic insert in Persimmons (or early metal woods) as hard as possible to transfer as much energy from the club to the ball. The springy faces of today mean a softer ball can be used and fly as far if not further. 

[Moxley]

It might help, but If I wanted to focus on centered face contact, I'd just grab a 2 or 3 iron, and that'll force you to be consistent. 

[RayG]

1 hour ago, Moxley said:

It might help, but If I wanted to focus on centered face contact, I'd just grab a 2 or 3 iron, and that'll force you to be consistent. 

Maybe mount a hammer on the end of a shaft... might be easier to hit than a 2 iron...<rimshot.wav>

[Hacker James]

well......the smaller the head, you may hit the sweet spot more often, mainly because if you miss it, you whiffed!

(not really, but you get the idea).

I sometimes carry my Persimmon  and have found it helps me get sync back for some reason  or other.

As for ball compression, it had indeed changed. IIRC the last truly 90 or 100 that Titleist put out was "The Professional".  The ball that was most common before that was the DT wound. 

[billchao]

On 10/1/2018 at 5:46 PM, Tommy_Boy14 said:

I was walking through a used sporting goods shop today looking through bins of older golf clubs and I noticed some drivers and woods with much smaller heads like from the 80’s and 90’s and I got to thinking, I wonder if that wouldn’t be be a terrible thing to buy in order to improve consistent ball striking especially with longer irons and woods. I just thought you’re getting the same length as a stock driver but with a much smaller head which would force you to be more consistent with your ball striking. Is there any truth to this thought? Honestly with this “drill” or “experiment” I’m not looking for distance as much as trying to be more consistent with my ball striking 

I'm thinking no. If you're using a different shaft (especially with the driver or 3w) than you play, the feel may be different and you may react to the club differently.

There's some value in learning the feel of where on the face you're hitting (some woods I have a hard time picking out when I toe it by feel), but I don't think different clubs are going to make you change your swing any faster.

I used to use vintage blades for practice and while hitting the ball off the toe feels like complete crap, it hasn't stopped me from missing off the toe when I play.