Purchase a Swing Speed Radar and I'll throw in a complimentary pair of Putting Glasses AND Swing Like a Genius T-shirt. Both are valued at $29.95.
IT'S NOT HOW HARD YOU SWING, BUT How well you sequence your swing!
The Swing Speed Radar® is a small, affordable microwave Doppler radar velocity sensor that measures the swing speed of golfers.
Optimize your clubhead speed with your own personal Swing Speed Radar® as you practice on your own in the backyard, garage, basement, etc, as well as on the driving range or during practice rounds.
No need to hit an actual golf ball -use a wiffle ball, Birdie Ball, sponge ball or equivalent to simulate a real ball, but swing at a ball replica to release the club properly.
No need to attach device(s)to the clubhead or shaft. Use any club-switch clubs conveniently and keep swinging.
This is Masters week. Since Tiger won his first in 1997, the course has been lengthened considerably, thus making it difficult for shorter hitters to compete. Luckily, over this time, new technology has enabled the "average hitters" to hit it farther. Continue to read below.
Clubs that use the Trampoline Effect
There is no disputing that technology in recent years has increased how far golfers can hit the ball, especially the professionals. There is countless stories of older PGA players hitting the ball in their later years the same or farther than when they were playing in their youthful prime.
There have been improvements in the golf ball as well as the golf club. This newsletter will focus on the improvements in the golf club. Check out my last newsletter for more on the golf ball.
The significant gain in distance with the Driver came with the invention of hollow, metal face "woods." The hollow metal made possible a "trampoline effect" with the impact of the club face on the ball. This in effect increased the collision time between the club face and the ball (although still very short in the order of micro-seconds), which increases the efficiency of energy transfer, resulting in higher ball speeds.
The measure of efficient transfer is call the coefficient of restitution, or COR. As soon as manufacturers realized the effect, they began to experiment with larger club faces (thus increasing the trampoline effect), so much so that the USGA had to place a limit on it. The old wooden Drivers had CORs on the order of about 0.75 (75% efficiency). The limit set by the USGA is 0.83 (83% efficiency).
Imagine yourself jumping on a trampoline. The flex of the trampoline tarp enables you to bounce and gain significantly more height, especially from the center. Move off towards the outer edges, and the effect is not as greater, plus, you are forced towards the center of the trampoline instead of straight up.
This is an exagerated image of how much the club face flexes as the ball collides with the face.
With the larger faces also came further distance on mis-hits (when the ball doesn't make contact with the sweet spot of the Driver). Effectively, the sweet spot size was increased, which really benefited those that have the greatest number of mis-hits (higher handicappers). So, distance gained on sweet spot shots and on mis-hits, thus the average distance increase.
Low Handicap Misses
Mid to High Handicap Misses
Research with golf robots has shown that there is a significant loss in distance when the ball strikes even 1/4 inch away from the center of the sweetspot, especially when towards the toe of the club. Below is a graphic which shows those losses for a 100 mph swing speed.
Manufacturers today are experimenting with variable thickness club faces to increase the sweet spot even more. This is most beneficial to higher handicap golfers.
So, if you haven't bought a new Driver in the past 5 years, I'd suggest you do so this year, even if it'one of last year's models. But, make sure you test some Drivers using a golf ball monitor (such as Trackman or Flightscope), because the launch angle and amount of backspin is crucial for maximizing your distance (this is influenced with weight placement in the head to alter the center of gravity).
Proper alignment can be learned. It can be mastered. You just need to know how you're aligning. You need a measuring tool to let you know.
You need a Laser Putting Alignment System.
Take a look at the Laser Putting Device that I use and consider getting one for yourself
Order yours TODAY! Regular Only $49.95 ..... Masters Weekend $29.95
Only $29.95 Post Masters 2 Days Only
Loft, Launch Angle and Driver Length
Other than club head speed (which is a consequence of your swing), the distance you hit a Driver depends on:
*the amount of trampoline effect due ot the flexible face
*the loft angle of the face
*the location of the center of gravity
What's important is your combination of launch angle, backspin and ball speed. Lower ball speeds will go farther if launched at higher angles than high ball speed. Even many professionals are switching to higher loft Drivers which now are able to launch the ball with lower backspin than before.
I really encourage you to stay away from the long shaft Drivers. Longer shafts will enable most golfers to have higher clubhead speed, but at the same time there will be a change in launch angle and a greater number of mishits. So, when you hit one off the sweet spot, the ball will go farther, but, you'll hit less balls off the sweetspot and end up in the rough (trees and water) more often.
Fellow Canadian Don Irving publish his study last year called, "Driver Test Study," for his Masters Degree. He tested a full range of handicap golfers and found very few benefited from the longer Driver. If you'd like to read the study, email me, and I'll send you a copy.
If you play with a long Driver, please let me know if you find it beneficial to your game.
Below is a table from research done by Tom Wishon, golf clubmaker guru. Note that there is no significant distance gained by using a longer Driver, regardless of handicap group. This would be due to the fact that even if the golfer were able to increase clubhead speed, the golfer would hit the sweetspot less often, and thus lose any distance gained by increased clubspeed. But, there is a signficant amount of increase in lateral dispersion (hitting the ball right or left of the center of the fairway).
Handicap
Driver Length (in)
Average Distance (yds)
Average Lateral Dispersion (yds)
24 - 36
45
44
43
206
207
207
25
21
17
18 - 23
45
44
43
214
215
216
26
23
17
12 - 17
45
44
43
221
223
223
24
18
15
6 - 11
45
44
43
227
228
228
18
16
12
0 - 5
45
44
43
239
238
238
16
12
10
Another good example of this is single length golf clubs. I play a set of single length irons, with every club being the same length as a standard 7-iron. I hit all of these clubs about the same distance as a regulation set of irons, that vary in length. By far the most significant determinant of distance with irons is the loft of the club. And, the single length clubs are also all the same weight, thus they all feel exactly the same to swing.
Looking for a new start this season. How about a set of irons that are all exactly the same length and weight? You'll only need one swing and one swing plane.
Enter the code 10504 and receive a complimentary e-book
For a short time, One Iron golf clubs will have free worldwide shipping. And, notify me of your purchase by email, and I'll send you a complimentary 2 Swing Like a Genius T-shirts AND 2 pair of "Putting Glasses."
Free shipping ends soon! Save $125. Get your 30-day free trial.
Club Dispersion -- What's yours?
If you were to hit 50 balls with the same club (say a 7-iron) and then covered the ending position of all the shots with a large tarp, how big would the tarp be? What would be the shape of the tarp?
If you then did the same with an 8-iron and a 6-iron, would the tarps overlap?
Dr. Lephart has a Ph.D. in Biomechanics and has been in university teaching in that field for over 35 years. He spent 28 years at the University of Melbourne in Australia in the Human Performance, Physical Education, Zoology and Psychology Departments. His last two years have been as a Lecturer in P.E. at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
In his study, he analyzed the variability of golf shots for a 45 year old male golfer with a 12 handicap. The golfer hit irons 1 thru 9. Below is a sample of the resulting shot pattern of the 3 iron and 4 iron. The vertical axis represents the amount of lateral (left/right) variability in the shots. The horizontal axis represents the amount of variability and distance hit by the club.
The average distance for the 3 iron was 172 yards while the variability of distance ranged from about 151 yards to 193 yards. The variability in lateral (left/right) error was from about 19 yards left to 10 yards right.
From his research, Dr. Lephart concluded that:
† The distance interval between clubs was about 10 yards, the the amount of variability in length was about 20 yards and nearly the same for each club.
† The angular error for all clubs remained relatively constant at just over
+/- 3 degrees.
† Almost all clubs showed the tendency for balls that were left of the target to travel further and those to the right to fall shorter.
† The dispersion could be shown as an elliptical pattern.
Another interesting finding was the high degree of overlap in the distance that different clubs can be hit. For example, although the golfer may estimate that he could hit a 5 iron a distance of 158 yards, he would do well to remember that only about two thirds of his 5 iron shots will fall within a distance of 148 to 168 yards, while fully one third will fall outside this range. The 6 iron shot would fall in that same 148 to 168 yard range about half the time. The 4 iron shots would also fall into the 148 to yard range. For most shots, more than one club could easily be selected which would get the job done.
This study confirms that understanding one's shot patterns is essential to choosing the best club for each shot. Sometimes, one can get away with hitting the "wrong club" (because it is hit unusually far or short of average). To achieve the lowest average score, however, one must "play the odds." Since most golfers underclub, it's best to select the longer hitting club, especially if the trouble is in front of the green. In some ways, golf is like a crap shoot.
I've written a little spreadsheet program to keep track of your putting statistics. Make a purchase of anything I sell from my site and I'll send it to you as a BONUS. Just send me an email after your purchase to let me know you'd like it. OR, you can purchase it for only $9.99.
The slope of the green is the single biggest factor in how much your putt will break on the way to the hole, but the fact is: most golfers have a hard time reading break.
The number one tool chosen by more and more Tour Pros and Caddies to measure greens is the BreakMaster Digital Green Reader.
1. Go to my Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. There's a link to it on my pages from the left hand menu near the top of the page, just below the Search icon. It's called "FAQs." You then click on the graphic icon and you'll be taken to my database page. For your convenience, here it is: FAQI've answered hundreds of questions over the past 6 years and have created a fairly large database. You can search it out. If you can't find the answer you're looking for, submit a question and I'll answer it.2. On all of my web pages, there is a search feature in the top left section, right underneath my LOGO. Just place your search keywords in the search box, select "This Site" below it, and then press "Search." What will come up is a Google search of the pages on my site with relevance. You can also search the entire internet by selecting "Web" instead.
Go to my main page now: Home or just check the top left menu of this page. 3. Also, directly under the Google Search area, you'll find a pop down menu called "Your Topic." Select the topic of interest and press "Go."I would suggest you bookmark my main page and/or your specific areas of interest so that you can find them easily in the future. On each page at the very top, there is a link you can click on:
"Click here to add this page to your favourites"Hope you find all you're looking for.You can learn more from NEW Titleist Pro-V1 by clicking HERE.
A list of resources that have been used to produce
this newsletter can be found on my web site here.
Hope I provided some useful ways for you to
become better prepared for you best golf season
ever.
Ken Tannar
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This is an exagerated image of how much the club face flexes as the ball collides with the face. 
Low Handicap Misses 
Mid to High Handicap Misses 
