Heya Bernie, On Tue, Dec 24, 2002 at 01:30:47PM -0500, Bernie Baymiller wrote: > > > > "One had a weak axis of 250 cpm (other axis at 258) and > > > the other a strong axis of 250 cpm (other axis at 242). I built two > > > identical drivers with both 250cpm axes pointed at 9:00. In one case the > > > strong axis was at 9:00 the other the weak axis at 9:00. I tried a blind > > > test and the weak axis at 9:00 was definitely the preferred alignment. " > > > > Do you (or hopefully John can pitch in...) know why that aligning the > > NBP towards the target was preferred? > > To me, it's because that's the way the shaft wants to load during the swing. > In a spinefinder, you can see the shaft immediately turns so the weakest > side is on the outside of the bend...and I know it's the weakest side > because I can read the deflection in thousandths and compare with other > points on the shaft. If you set up the shaft aligned with the S axis to > target, I feel the shaft may try to rotate to the weak axis, at least until > release...which might cause some ovalling. Don't know. Was just talking with > another clubmaker who had three shafts Pured by GS. He said all three were > aligned with the FLO plane near the S axis...so I guess you pick your > medicine and see if it does the job. I know that when I align on the S-axis, > I get a few more yards distance and, of course, the shaft reacts a little > differently. But, you need a pretty consistent swing to feel the difference. > I like a high A-flex shaft, and if I'm building me a 48" driver with a > middle A, it sometimes feels a little too flexible at that clublength...so > if there is any appreciable spine, I might go with FLO alignment on the > S-axis to stiffen the shaft up slightly. Seems to work fine, but doesn't > feel quite as good to me.
Thanks for the input. Any idea on what type of shot shape aligning the spine at 12oclock on a Type 1 shafts generally produces? Just trying to get an idea of whether my general shot shape is being influenced by the way my clubs are aligned, but I think it has more to do with swing than anything else, but if I can get it 1 yard closer to where I'm aiming in general it will be worth it to pull the heads on all my clubs and reshaft. > I read a report on spine alignment impact testing by GS in the > September/October 1999 issue of GS Clubmaker, authored by John Meng and with > a lot of reference to Tom Wishon's comments on spining. Interesting > conclusion in italics, though the following paragraph said there was not > enough of a sample for empirical proof. Here's the conclusion: "The test > golfers experienced between 20% and 60% improvement in their percentage of > on-center hits after spine orientation." Also said, "...players can actually > hit a ball off-center by as much as 1/4", 1/2" or more. At 1/2" off-center, > a golfer could lose up to five to seven percent of their potential distance, > plus the ball will have more sidespin." The article also comments on Weiss's > reason for placing the S1 at 3 or 9 o'clock...which he thinks is the > "neutral" position, and which I and others disagree with. Well, placing S1 at 3 or 9 might be agreeable to you depening on whether the shaft is a Type 1 or 2, right? Since if it's a Type 1 placing S1 at 3 would generally put N1 at 9 which is what you recommend. A Type 2 shaft would end up with N1 at 12 or 6... -Dave
