At 07:01 AM 2/6/03 -0800, Alan Brooks wrote:
...can somebody explain to me the emphasis on club length. This question has been floating in my mind somewhere for a while and the post is prompted by Dave T's graphite shaft question and his desire to not make the clubs more than 1/2" longer....Alan,
The convention wisdom seems to suggest that 'longer clubs are harder to hit'.... I put graphite shafts in my long irons, kept the swing weight the same which made the clubs maybe an inch longer, and they are EASIER to hit. The fact that my 4-iron is more than an inch longer than my 5-iron doesn't seem to bother me at all.
You raise good and interesting questions. I have a couple of comments, neither of which is really an answer -- I don't have an answer -- but will probably stimulate thought and discussion:
(1) Bernie's response that longer clubs play better contains a built-in caveat -- you need to train yourself to hit them. Clubfitting is usually thought of as the other way around; you build the club to get the best performance from the golfer's current swing. Bernie's approach is to build the club to get the best performance, assuming the golfer is willing to change his/her swing. That's a noble clubfitting ideal, and obviously works for some. It was not what I was after.
I point this out because my goal was not to get irons that play better than my current ones. Therefore, I'm not interested in altering my swing plane to use the new irons. If I were looking for more distance (or more name-your-favorite-performance), I would be more open to another inch of length.
(2) That said, I may experiment anyway. Some years ago, I made the jump from 37.5" to 38" five-iron with no effort and no ill effects. I haven't done any experimentation with length since then. So maybe it's time to try with my irons. Since there is no swingweight difference (lighter shafts but longer clubs for the same swingweight), I won't have to change my release timing, Bernie's big change for the long driver. And, as you pointed out, I'm changing the internal clubs (3i-PW), so I already swing SOME club at that length and swing plane. I know that shorter wedges and longer drivers are a problem for me, but this change should not affect those extremes.
Cheers!
DaveT
