Guys. Look at the last Wishon book and take what Dana U has to say as gospel truth. The head is the deal. Fit it and you can play. The shaft which at one time was deemed the "engine of the club" can be made to work by most golfers. Fact in point - there is really not much to argue about.
In-kind, Mike "myKey" Phelan -----Original Message----- From: Don M <[email protected]> To: ShopTalk <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Jun 28, 2011 4:17 am Subject: RE: ShopTalk: More Critical, head or shaft? I'm thinking drivers and in that case, I'll definitely stand by my opinion. :) -Don M --- On Tue, 6/28/11, Davy Hoffman <[email protected]> wrote: From: Davy Hoffman <[email protected]> Subject: RE: ShopTalk: More Critical, head or shaft? To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, June 28, 2011, 7:02 AM Sorry to sound unyielding but you could not be more wrong. I can put any head on a shaft that is correct for you and you can play golf, but I can put whatever head you deem best on a shaft that is not correct for you and you will play h***. Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:43:58 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: Re: ShopTalk: More Critical, head or shaft? To: [email protected] I'll go with Harry... Both are very important but head trumps shaft within reasonable parameters. -Don --- On Tue, 6/28/11, Allen Humphrey <[email protected]> wrote: From: Allen Humphrey <[email protected]> Subject: Re: ShopTalk: More Critical, head or shaft? To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, June 28, 2011, 5:42 AM shaft.....then head.... From: Harry F. Schiestel <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, June 28, 2011 1:12:47 AM Subject: ShopTalk: More Critical, head or shaft? There is always an advantage to be gained unless as a playerhis equipment is already optimized and this is rarely the case. Even if anew club fits your eye better it generally instils extra confidence. A lot of limits placed on a driver head or they fall withina narrow band from a design standpoint. Factors like COR, Volume, MOI,Loft, Face Height, etc. BUT they perform quite different when shafted (accuracy,distance, trajectory). I do not think swing speed (116 vs. 86 or 136 mph) limits aperson’s ability with today’s golf equipment to get closer to anoptimized fit. At 116, mph they might be a stronger candidate to use whatis played on tour. I am not suggesting they can benefit from GI irons. Some players do not benefit from using game improvement irons, as they have tohit it thin to hit it low, but with shallow cavity back irons they can hit highor low on command. My son fits your profile more or less. Never been on alaunch monitor and hasn’t had his mph swing speed check with dropperradar in over 10 years. He wasn’t interested in what the numbershad to say. Self fits based on ball flight. When he gets a new club he always fields tests it with rangeand then game balls side by side against his baseline, the current club in hisbag. When he gains an advantage it becomes his new standard and theprevious club is then sold. Clubs always shafted with identical shaft, grips and spec’s. Standing 5’ 10 inches, he can hit 290 yards into the wind all day. His longest on the flats no wind on a good hot summer day is a few in the 365to 375 range. Don’t laugh but during driver testing his launchmonitor is a row of 150 year old mature maples. If he can’t clearthe tops to cut off the dogleg he claims a driver is not worth sh*t. Heused this method for driver testing since he was 15. His last year of university he got his game to a + handicaplevel with a course record ‘64’ to a club 55 years old, and hispersonal best under tournament conditions is a respectable ‘66’. His clubs are all ‘balanced & blueprinted’. My guess he is in the 116 miles an hour category like John’sfriend. He just changed his 45” driver from a Callaway Ti 454 to anAdams 9064LS using the same 62 gram 7 year old graphite XX flex shaft. Retail on shaft was $85. I bought a few at $25. Regarding lofts of irons old vs. new it is pointless tocompare a 39* 9-iron to an older 44* iron with the same numberdesignation. This is akin to comparing a 10* driver to a fairway metalmarked 15*’s, both built to 45 inch playing length. I accept the theory that woods are meant to be hit long withno loss of dispersion, while irons and wedges need to have pin point accuracy asthey are the scoring clubs and their distance is a function of loft not what ismarked on the sole. Even my MX-23’s with their cheated lofts, I bent themback to a more traditional loft of 40* for the 9 iron, followed by 44 (9), 49(PW) and wedges at 54 (SW) and 59 (LW) with no GW. All wedges madeidentical frequency and length as 9-iron. As I continue to get older I will accept the fact that Iwill begin to hit slightly less distance for a given loft, as a function of havingless swing speed. I will not cheat my lofts to hit my 5-iron the samedistance as before with less swing speed. Let meask this of the members. What do you feel is more critical, thehead or the shaft and why? I am not suggesting a 15* high loft driver whena player needs 8*’s or L flex when he needs an XX flex shaft. Whatfactor head or shaft should you pick first to begin to optimize performance? Thanks, Harry Golf Clubs: www.myGolfDNA.com Improvement-4-ElitePlayers ™ From:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Allen Humphrey Sent: June-27-11 10:40 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Equipmentquestion at that swing speed....total club weight and location ofimpact on the face plus optimum shaft flex selection as well as length....willdictate optimized distance. High spin rate [ above 3200 ] will limit potentialdistance; too light or too long may inhibit ability to maintain constant swingpath and optimum release point. Probably will need a firmer tip.....somethingin the ACCRA S2 ST range....... Swing technique is paramount to a proper fit. Dana Upshaw is a proponent of 2.5X driver SS = max potential CARRY distance. At 116...that relates to about 290CARRY....when everything is optimum.....swing path; angle of attack; impactabove horiz C/L of face, etc. I work with 2 guys in that ss range...one 115-117and one a steady 120. The 120 hits a 75g XS shaft; the 115-117 hits a 65gS.....the 65S profile looks like an XS....both are at 46"....and bothcarry the ball close to 300....and with proper roll out...up to325-330...sometimes more. The correct ball selection helps....but .....matchingthe shaft to the correct loft is critical. From: BradleySmith <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, June 27, 2011 10:04:12AM Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Equipmentquestion Today's golf equipment helps nearly everyone. Alldrivers today are maxed out at the highest allowable coefficient ofrestitution. Higher moment of inertia in drivers make them more forgivingon off center hits. Some drivers are being offered with higher lofts tohelp low ball and slower swinging golfers to achieve more distance. Graphite shafts are lighter allowing slightly higher swing speeds at"normal" swingweights. Golf balls stay in the air much longerwith a flatter (= longer), less ballooning trajectory than they usedto. Multi layer balls and cover materials have reduced spin that helpshigher swing speed golfers. As far as irons are concerned, I personally thinkthat Ping 's implementation over 30 years agoof cavity back, perimeter weighting in irons was the last really big improvmentin irons. Whether or not there are proportionately larger improvementsfor higher swing speeds such as you mentioned is probably just a function ofhow the ball reacts to the impact and how it then handles the aerodynamics offlight as opposed to how the clubs influence these factors. my two cents Brad From:"[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, June 27, 2011 7:43:59AM Subject: ShopTalk: Equipmentquestion A friend of mine sent me this questionand I thought I'd pass it along to the group, any ideas? John Is there any evidence that a playerachieving a certain swing speed (say 116 miles an hour or more) can gain anadvantage with today's golf equipment?
