Golf Technology [continued...]

The Club Head: Irons

The irons take up 70% of a typical golf set. This is why the irons are so important. The features in an iron head determine the playability of the club. Here is a list of the common features:

• Loft – The angle formed by the centre line of the hosel (centre of the shaft) and the clubface (more details about the Clubface here).



• Lie – The angle formed by the hosel and the base line of the club head.



• Offset - The measurement of parallel distance usually in mm. from the leading part of the hosel to the leading edge of the clubface.



• Camber Sole – The curve radius between the leading edge and the trailing edge or the heel and toe of an iron. It can be either two ways camber or a four ways camber.



• Bounce angle – The angle formed the leading edge and the base line when the club is placed in its playing position.

In general, loft has the most effect on the launch angle of the ball flight thus having the greatest influence on the trajectory of the ball. The reason why the shorter irons have a higher trajectory the longer irons. The higher the loft, the greater the backspin, overcoming the sidespin effect on the ball. The reason why most golfer can hit the shorter irons straighter than the longer irons. Loft angle comes in static and dynamic. Static is the angle measured on a gauge and dynamic being the angle that the ball was struck. The reason why the ball flight is higher when you put the ball during address nearer to your front leg.

Lie has a great influence on the direction of the shot. The shorter the iron, the more pronounce the effect will be. Hitting the ball with an iron that is too upright (contact of club head with the ground on the heel area) will then to send the ball to the left of the target if you are a right handed golfer and vice versa for the left handed golfer. A lie angle that is too flat will have the opposite effect on the ball direction. There are always 2 lie angles in a club. One is static and the other being dynamic.

Offset is to delay the impact of the ball by a split second to assist the golfer to square the clubface, the offset is to compensate a fade or reduce a slice. Delaying the impact will result in a slightly lower trajectory.

Cambered sole is to prevent excessive contact with the ground and thus increases the playability of the club.

Bounce angle is the greatest in the Sand Wedge, mainly to prevent it from burying itself into the sand in the bunker. Most irons have a very slight bounce angle so that the divot is not deeper than necessary, making it easier to swing through.

Woods

The features in a wood head are basically the same except for the following.

Bulge – The radius feature you will find on the clubface of wood head from heel to toe. This feature is to compensate for the direction of the ball in an off centre impact.

Roll – The curve from top to bottom of the clubface of a wood head. This feature has no effect on ball flight or direction. It is for the visual appearance of the club head to instill confidence as it will make the loft appear to be more than what it actually is.

Club face angle – This feature has an important effect on the direction of the ball direction. It comes in either closed, square or open. Most Wood head have a visual appearance of a closed club face but they are actually square, it is again a visual appearance. To determine the club face angle, a gauge must be used

Swing Weight is the measurement of clubs balanced at the 14” fulcrum. It is an industry standard. It ranges from A-0 to G-2. The average standard of the major OEMs are at D-0.

Swing Weight is actually more a feel of the club rather than performance. Clubs with different Swing Weight can feel the same due to the characteristics of the shafts that are assembled onto the club heads.

D-0 is the within the range that feels comfortable to the majority of golfers and that is precisely why OEMs make their clubs around this range. It does not necessary means that a person must use a particular Swing Weight. The higher the Swing Weight of the club, the more resistance you will find when you are changing from the Back Swing to the Down Swing. This means that those golfers who are stronger can handle higher Swing Weight. There is however a threshold for every golfer. The tolerance range differs between golfers.

Swing Weigh is constant from the 3 iron to the 9 iron. The pitching wedge and sand wedges normally have 2 to 3 swing weight points higher that the last. As it is measured at the 14 inch Fulcrum, extension of golf clubs in length will increase the Swing Weight.

Weight of shafts, club heads and grip affects the Swing Weight of a club. Changing to a lighter grip cause an increase in Swing Weigh but a reduction in Dead Weight which is a major factor in the performance of the clubs.

Click HERE to send this article to your friends

No feedback yet.

What about you? Add you own comment