Dave, Yup, same clubs. Shafts and grips were from Hireko, heads from another supplier. The clubs seem to play better every week. I ripped something in my left shoulder a week and a half ago (probably anti-rejection drug related) and am having problems swinging the longer irons, but the wedges continue to be dead straight where I aim them...very unusual for me.
I believe Dan Neubecker described the NBP-COG alignment here a while back....softest side of the shaft aligned with the head's center of gravity...an idea proposed by Tom Wishon. As I remember it, Tom thought there might be some merit in this alignment when he was doing some computer modeling and mentioned it on one of the clubmaking forums. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Tom.) Dan did a set of irons and was very impressed with the results. Here's what he said: "Since I've started using these clubs my scores have been my best of the year. I've had two under par rounds of 70 and 68, holed a 90yd SW for eagle, chipped in several long ones for bird, etc. The day I shot the 68, I left two puts within 1/2" of dropping and at least another two within 6", dead center, so it was potentially better than the final score would indicate. Whether any of this has to do with the specifics of the club build (NBP/COG alignment, the rough MOI match,etc.) or is just a coincidence only time will tell. FWIW, I have documented a significant increase in greens hit and birdies made and my scores have been consistently lower. I can't recall the greens hit change, but I was averaging about 1 birdie per round before and about 4 per round since. My irons before had steel TT TX90 S flex, trimmed soft about two steps, with the same heads." Now, is that as good as any informercial you've heard, or what! :-) Had to try that one, so I built the inexpensive set to see how it would work for me. For the last five years, aligning NBP at 9 o'clock (to target) on all clubs, I had good solid hits and very accurate mid-irons, especially 6, 7 and 8, but constantly struggled with directional accuracy with my wedges. Long irons were almost all faded. I couldn't figure out why my swing was OK for the mid-irons, but not for the longer or shorter clubs. After 62 years of golf, I have a pretty consistent swing. Looking back, I don't know why I didn't realize a shaft alignment for a lighter, longer, thinner 3-iron might not work for a heavier, shorter, wider PW. I tried steel shafts, graphite shafts, different length shafts, etc., all with the same results. Figured it was just me getting old. Not any more. Though I don't begin to understand the physics behind NBP-COG, it works for Dan, me and a first-year golfer friend named Harry who says he ordinarily sprays the ball all over. He wanted to match a set of irons on his Neufinder and called me with some questions. We talked about the NBP-COG alignment and he built his set that way. The next day he called me to say he had never hit the ball as straight as that round. Everything went where he aimed it. Said he easily took 10 shots off his regular score. That was the first week I tried my set, so I began to pay attention to the differences in this set and my old ones...not only was I hitting the ball straighter, I was actually drawing many iron shots (I almost never did that unless intentionally set-up for a hook.), ball flight was lower and stronger. Only negative seemed to be that I was chunking a few more shots...short and straight where I aimed them. But, by the third week playing the new alignment, the chunks were far fewer. Then, I tore up my shoulder, so my observations are now waiting on the my slow healing. NBP-COG is fast and simple. Find and mark the NBP on a piece of masking tape around the shaft...don't bother with the spine. Mark the reverse side, 180� from the NBP. If you position your masking tape the same on every shaft, you can make a marking guide to do this accurately with a piece of old graphite shaft cut exactly in half. Prep shaft tip, install ferrule and epoxy on the head. Lay the shaft on your bench or a table top with the head hanging over one end and actual NBP straight down...use the reverse side mark as your guide.Tape the shaft so it can't roll, or just do all clubs and clamp a light board over the set to hold them all in place. Gravity will pull the COG straight down and align it with the shaft NBP. Let the epoxy harden and you've got it. I notice that on a 3-iron, in playing position, the NBP is about 12:30 and on a PW the NBP is about 2 o'clock. Every iron has a unique alignment which corresponds to the head's center of gravity...unlike NBP to target on every club. Maybe that does make the difference in accuracy...at least, it seems to make a difference. I hope everybody will try this alignment and report on their results. Bernie Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Rees" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2003 4:22 PM Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Expensive vs inexpensive components > > Hey Bernie, > > What's NBP-COG alignment? > > Are these the same clubs you talked about earlier that was built with > components from Hireko? > > -Dave
