It's my bag, baby - the fairway wood

When asked about the particulars of golf equipment these days, I often find it's easier to explain a facet of club design or fitting by drawing comparisons to my own set. So, just for fun, I'll take a few paragraphs and talk about why I play what I play, in the spirit of addressing a few of the fundamental and quirky facets of club equipment decision-making and fitting.

The fairway wood is, for me, the "go for it in 2" club. Sure I'll use it off the tee here and there, and I play a 16.5 degree 4-wood by the way, but more importantly, this club fills a spot in the bag for that all important, "I think I can get there in two and I'm dreaming about a tap in birdie" shot.

With that in mind, I had to consider a few very specific technical aspects in a fairway wood with this playing purpose in mind. First, distance, with a hint of control. The Tour Edge XCG head is packed with technology. 58 degree lie angle and 16.5 degrees of loft with a cup face designed 6-4 titanium face of variable thickness, brazed to a titanium body. A lot of pop for a small 165cc head. The COG is low, but not too far back that the shot will balloon or hook left. It sets up square with a face that's considered low profile (34mm deep) but deep enough to work well out of the rough and off the tee. The bulge and roll is 10" x 10", which means a lot of both bulge and roll to help offset gear effect. The sole has 4-way camber, which allows for smooth gliding through the rough, and a low leading edge at contact from the fairway and off of side hill lies. The leading edge is rounded for that additional help in cutting through thick stuff just off the fairway. The shaft I've chosen is the Aldila DVS 75, stiff flex. It's tip soft with 2.8 degrees of torque, translating into a shaft tip that bends a bit more at impact to add a bit more loft and hence, launch, but does so with out too much twisting around the shaft axis to maintain accuracy (squaring at impact). It's a mid kickpoint at 42.5" in length, D0 swing weight. All said and done, a mid trajectory, with a lot of distance and accuracy. Tough to move the ball, at least for me, but as far as hitting it where it needs to go, and in a hurry, tough to find a better wood...again, for me that is.

Ok, so with distance and control as the primary drivers, here's what's of prime importance in selecting a fairway wood:
Loft
Club Length
COG
Shaft Weight
Total Club Weight
Lie (sort of)
Face Angle

There are other factors but these are primary. I say "sort of" for lie because with clubs less than 20 degrees in loft, lie because significantly less important. Still, depending on swing speed and angle of attack, one must account for a phenomenon known as "shaft droop". It happens most with drivers and woods, where the head, at impact, will literally cause the shaft to droop downward. It's a product of the shaft weight, length, and head weight, along with the swing. The end result is a flattening of the lie angle at approach. Accounting for shaft droop can make all the difference between the accuracy effect of a fairway wood whose lie angle is 60 degrees and one that's 56. It may be minor but something to consider if perhaps the other variables are a fit but you're still having trouble hitting the sweetspot or getting your shots to go straight.

let's talk about the cup face and what that does for performance. You read it in the brochures and know that it's a big selling point. But what is it exactly? In short, the face of the wood or driver is made in one piece, where the ends of the face are wrapped around at a right angle. Flipped over and rested on a table, face down, a cup is formed. The ends are then welded to the body, but note that traditional bead welding and plasma welding cannot be used given the 90-degree angle created by the cup face edges. Brazing techniques are used instead, which is better for maintaining the proper COG location as designed.

A cup face can have variable face thickness, and ultimately will provide for a more forgiving face with mis-hits (less distance loss). The face DOES NOT have a larger sweet spot! No such thing can happen. Physics allow for one spot, the size of a pin point, to represent the line leading to the head's center of gravity (COG). That's it. What a cup face can do is lessen the effect on distance loss for mis-hits. Helpful, yes, but in no way do you maintain the same ball speed as when a shot hits the spot directly in front of the COG.

Now, you may be questioning the need for 6-4 titanium. Quite frankly, I wasn't concerned about the type of Ti in the face for a wood, or if it was Ti at all. But, I will say that if you're looking at a non-Ti fairway wood face, stay away from 17-4 stainless. You get MUCH more ball speed with carpenter steel faces such as 450 and 455. They're thinner, for steel, and stronger at the same time. A lot of pop for fairway woods. Maraging options are out there as the hardest of the steel face options, but don't be misled. Harder doesn't make better with respect to ball speed. As a matter of fact, 6-4 Ti is softer than Maraging Steel AND 450, 455 and 17-4 stainless according to the Rockwell Hardness Scale, but...has more elongation than all of them which in the end, will make all the difference in sound, feel and performance. Note too the size of the head the face is affixed to. I would stay away from fairway wood heads 190cc and bigger. The face gets too deep with the sweetspot starting to creep above the mid point of the golf ball. This means impact below the center of the face off of tight lies, where the ball hits low on the face and below the middle of the roll, where the loft is LESS than stated. You think you have trouble getting a 15 degree 3 wood off the ground? Try it when you hit is low on the face where the roll de-lofts the club to 9 degrees.

The last thing I'll mention is swing weight. A lot of points of view on this, but I've found that the closer the swing weight mirrors the hybrid and irons in the set, the better. It'll help as you transition from irons to woods, and back again, in maintaining a consistent tempo and feel throughout a round.

And the very last thing I'll say is pay attention to shaft weight. In my case, the DVS is 75g, which is 10g heavier than my driver. A nice progression as I go to the hybrid which is 108g. Beware of super light fairway wood shafts. A heavier shaft will do well absorbing the shock of the head hitting turf. It matters.

And the very, very last thing I'll say is beware of the shrinking loft disease with fairway woods. If it has a "3" on the bottom, it may be something LESS than the standard 15 degrees! If you have a swing speed over 115 MPH, give a 13 a try, and I'll look for you at the press conference after you finish your opening round at the Masters in April. If you're a mortal, consider shying away from a 15 degree option too. Ask yourself how often you truly get a 15 degree off the ground and you might find 16 or 17 degrees a better fit. I did and 250 yards off the deck is automatic (ok, 230 is automatic with 250 on those good swinging days). Remember, ball speed and launch angle my friends get the job done.

See you in the fairway, going for it in 2.

It's my bag, baby - the driver

When asked about the particulars of golf equipment these days, I often find it's easier to explain a facet of club design or fitting by drawing comparisons to my own set. So, just for fun, I'll take a few paragraphs and talk about why I play what I play, in the spirit of addressing a few of the fundamental and quirky facets of club equipment decision-making and fitting.

I should start by saying that I've been working on getting my set right for about 7 years. It started with a bug to read up on what was new with drivers back in 2003 as I prepared to replace my war torn Callaway Big Bertha from 1996. I landed on a few websites that revealed interesting information in what was new technologically and in fitting. It steam rolled from there as I started to tap into the various websites and compare model specs to what I was reading about as ideal for me in a new driver.

So, let's start with the "in play" club, as it used to be called. My driver is a KZG (www.kzgolf.com) SP700 model, 355cc, with 12 degrees of loft and a 1 degree closed face. It has a traditional pear shape (high toe), with a 22mm face progression, 11" x 11" bulge and roll, and 50.8mm face depth. It weighs 198g stock, with proprietary brazing welds connecting 3 pieces (head, sole, crown) and a 58 degree lie angle. The face is forged SP-700 titanium, with progressive face thickness (similar to variable face thickness), is 2.7mm thin (thinner than 6-4 Ti faces usually are), and a CT (Characteristic Time, or another measure for COR - Coefficient of Restitution) of 247, which is right near maximum. The shaft I use is a Grafalloy Comp NT, stiff flex, 64g weight, with a mid kickpoint and firm tip flex. The torque is on the low end at 3.1 degrees, and the length is a butt trimmed 44". The grip on all my clubs is Golf Pride Tour Wrap, 1/16 oversized, with one wrap of tape underneath. Overall, the swing weight is C8.

Why this driver works for me: first, the length. I played it at 45" for a while. My miss was a push and I was, at best, hitting the center of the face 7/10 swings. The shaft felt a little "boardy" as well, so I decided to gain additional control and feel by butt trimming the shaft 1". That immediately changed the swing weight by 6 points, which I offset with lead tape on the sole of the driver. It still plays at a somewhat lighter than standard swing weight of C8 (most off the rack drivers are D0-D2), but the proof is in the center strikes (better), less pushing of the golf ball as the primary miss, and in my ability to still get the distance the 45" afforded (funny how improving center strikes will do that). The shaft feels better too as it's slightly less than stiff as butt trimming will do that, plus the added weight on the head adds a bit of lag to the shaft and swing.

The feel at impact is unparalleled and I attribute this to the SP-700 Ti face. It's very thin, and can be, given the tensile strength of SP-700. It has a high elongation too which adds to the spring-like effect. Sound and feel are terrific and we all know they go hand in hand. SP-700 is an alpha/beta grade titanium manufactured in Japan. It's expensive, and can be found in many of your high end component clubs from KZG, Alpha, Bang, and Nakashima, but will also show up with a few of the mass market OEM's such as Titleist and Nike, in select models.

Having a pear shape, 355cc size and slightly closed face gives me the straight ball or draw I look for most days. I release the club later in the swing, and with a larger head or square driver, it's tough for me to have the face "catch up" on the downswing. With a smaller head, the COG is closer to the shafts axis of rotation, which helps square the face, and the closed face affords that extra split second too. The generous bulge of 11" helps too offset gear effect just enough to keep the shot on line. Remember, the lower the number, in inches, the more bulge in the face.

I come in steeper than average on all my shots which explains the 12 degrees of loft. I likely de-loft 2 degrees and need the extra loft to get me to the ideal launch angle. The face depth is certainly less than a 460cc head, helping me to shape shots when I want to, but i'm not good enough to count on that. My next driver might have a deeper face to offset the occasional curvy hook or slice. The downside to a deeper face can be aerodynamics, which is a hot topic today with Nike's new MachSpeed and Adam's Speedline series. There's proof in the pudding with recent testing showing that certain shapes add swing speed as others reduce it. From what I've read, square and slope back drivers slow down swing speed. Something to consider as a trade off to a deeper face and increase in MOI due to shape.

Face progression of 22mm is about right for a driver designed to be worked a bit, which this model is. A face progression that's less than 22mm, say 18mm, is generally found in drivers designed for high launch and for those that tend to come over the top a bit and slice. There's no such thing as offset in drivers! You'll never find a driver that has the front of the hosel ahead of the leading edge. What you will see is a driver with less face progression or more "onset", which is the measurement of the front of the hosel TO the leading edge. Face progression is the measurement of the CENTER AXIS of the hosel to the leading edge. There's a difference, and more onset or less face progression will help square the club a bit and move the COG further back for that high launch, squared-up shot "casters" crave.

With the butt trim, the kick point moved up an 1". Not a real factor but does help keep the spin manageable with a 12 degree driver where I swing about 100 MPH. The torque at 3.1 degrees helps square the face and reduce spin at this swing speed but too little torque can add to the push phenomenon, although that's lessened now with the 44" shaft. ultimately, torque is less a factor than flex profile (frequency) and length specs in a shaft.

Then there's welding. Here KZG uses a proprietary welding which isn't a traditional bead welding. Welding is critical for a driver's performance. You must look into how the 2, 3 or 4 driver head pieces are assembled and here's why: First, if you're looking for a driver that has a COG low and deep, it must have a brazing or plasma weld. I say this because it's likely the the face was constructed separately from the head and is attached by a weld. If it's a traditional bead weld, the weight of the bead welding can offset the effect of the weight used internally to move the COG back in the first place. Second, brazing and plasma techniques are superior in helping a driver maintain it's power, or said another way, in reducing power leaks. COR is key to distance and the proper welding will maintain energy transfer to the ball through the face.

And finally, with welding comes face design and we all know about variable face thickness and cup face from the advertising. Great designs all in helping maximize those mis-hits that are sure to happen. VFT has the outer edges of the face thinner than the center to maintain ball speed. Cup face uses a pull face construction of sorts to improve the face's spring like effect across the entire face, with brazed welds beyond the face as it wraps around the head, to ensure energy transfer to the ball. Look for such designs. My driver has progressive face thickness and it's a big help. How do I know? For a 1/2" off-center hit I lose about 7 yards. That is, from what I've read, better than average and this with a 355cc head that is sure to have an MOI less than 4000 g-cm squared, unlike you're run of the mill 460cc. It's in the face!

I'm tapped out on the driver...for now. More on the other clubs in another blog entry.

"True" bounce

You bought a wedge. It says 10 degrees of bounce on the back but is it actually 10 degrees? Perhaps, but it depends on something called camber, and when that's accounted for, you get your "true bounce" for a club.

We all know what bounce is, so i'll jump ahead. The degree of camber in the sole of an iron or wedge will determine a club's true bounce, meaning, how much the club's flange and sole are truly exposed to the turf during a swing. Camber is the degree to which the sole is rounded - front to back, or from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the sole, and heel to toe. More camber, or more rounding, means the bounce measurement (in degrees)is actually less than stated, because the sole's width is reduced with respect to initial turf interaction. If you have a sweeper type swing, irons and wedges with more camber are preferred, helping to keep the leading edge closer to the ground. If you're a digger who comes in steep, more camber can be a problem as it lessens bounce and can cause an iron or wedge to dig deeper than one would want, leading to fat shots and poor contact.

So what to do? Finding the degree of camber that's right for you can be done one way for sure. The next time you're hitting irons at a pro shop into a net, grab a lie board and lie tape and tape up the sole of the club. Pay attention to where the lie board mark is on the tape after a few swings. Ideally, the mark should be in the center of the sole, between the leading edge and trailing edge, representing the optimal bottom out point for the swing and that particular golf club. If it's closer to the leading edge, you don't have enough bounce with that particular iron or wedge. If it's towards the trailing edge, there's too much bounce and the flange is catching too much turf towards the back, which can raise the leading edge.

With wedges, there's a caveat that has to do with how wedges are used outside of full shots. We know what bounce does for soft sand shots. It's a good thing in that case. Consider, however, the tight lie flop and how you approach this golf shot. If you like to set the face up square for this type of shot, you'll do fine with less bounce and less camber. The leading edge will stay down close to the ground under the ball. If you like to roll the face open however, look for a wedge with more camber as the rolled sole will help to keep the leading edge close to the ground as you add bounce by opening the face.

Finally, one last word on heel/toe camber and that is the effect is has on side hill lies. It's helpful to have a little more camber heel to toe for such lies. Less of the sole will grab, allowing for solid contact. Pay attention to how you do on such shots with your current irons and where you tend to play.

And, if you do evaluate your irons and wedges and realize you have too much or too little bounce, but don't want to spend the money to replace your equipment, consider changing the loft to get the optimal bounce angles you need. Decreasing or increasing loft by one degree will lessen or increase bounce by one degree at the same time. Be mindful of distance gaps of course and the bending tolerances of your clubs as it'll vary depending on the steel type.

There it is. Good luck bouncing along.

My irons are forged, right? It says it right on the club!

Well yes, it says it right on the hosel, but not "truly". "True" forgings are billet forged, meaning, the iron is struck from a solid piece of carbon steel. "Grain Flow Forging" and "Form Forging", as used by Mizuno and others, is not a true billet forging. What happens here is an iron is investment cast via the lost wax process, then struck with a hydraulic hammer to compress the iron material and round out the shape. There's a big difference, and here's where it gets a little technical, but I'll do my best to explain.

True forging are pure forgings, meaning, it's one piece of steel hammered to hell by massive 50 ton hammer equipment. The end result is less discrepancies, if you will, in the end product with respect to how the iron head materializes. True forgings have tighter compression, and the less carbon overall in the billet, the tighter still. So, for example, a 1020 carbon iron head is a head with very little carbon (.2%) and hence, is less brittle than a 1030 head (.3% carbon), which means it's a head that's highly compressed and dense. Translation: better feel and balance in the head weighting, and more accurate COG location. 1030 heads in this case are also forged but have that .3% carbon which makes them slightly more brittle that 1020 and 1025, as defined by metallurgists. Then there's 8620 steel, such as that used by Titleist in their Vokey wedges, for example. This is also carbon steel with .2% carbon in the mix, but it's cast and not forged, as indicated by the U.S. coding of "86" and not "10" (side note: Japan 1020 forgings will read "S20C"). Iron heads that say "flow forged" or "form forged" are actually 8620 that is likely hammered after being cast. Good heads I'm sure, especially from the major companies with heavy R&D and quality control, but not true forgings, so don't be misled.

Ultimately, if you can feel the difference on a struck shot, good for you. Tough to do really, but it is valuable to know how your irons were manufactured when you think about two things: tolerances in adjusting lie and loft, and durability of grooves. True forgings are more malleable and easier to adjust for loft and lie, and to a wider degree. But, if you're a range rat hitting off mats all year, a true forging will require frequent lie and loft checks as impact on range mats will certainly shift lie more upright over time. Note too that forged grooves wear down quicker than 8620 cast grooves, which is why, for me, I don't buy forged wedges as I like to get another year or so out of my wedges before having to replace them, so I go with 8620. Still great feel with added durability.

Lastly, a word on non-carbon iron and wedge options, such as 17-4 stainless. Here too, the most astute might be able to put a finger on the feel difference between forged carbon and stainless, but more importantly, if you're playing 17-4 irons and your swing changes due to lessons, only the best of the best golf pros will be able to adjust 17-4 for lie angle. Much easier to do so with carbon steel. The flip side, tough to rough up 17-4 over the long haul. Something to consider.

Forge ahead my friends (you know I had to say it).

My Putter Isn't Groovy

Yes! No, I'm not shouting. The Putter company Yes! has proprietary grooves on their putters - very fancy grooves that claim to impart forward spin sooner for better accuracy, roll, something else, and something else. I'm in marketing and that's good marketing. Nothing against Yes! putters here as they are highly rated and very well made with superior CNC milling and 303 stainless options, but their claim is well, a claim and likely only that.

There are myriad tests done about putter grooves. Ultimately, the best, most thorough tests, with empirical data, reveal that grooves do nothing but change the feel of a putt. Putter loft is MUCH more important than grooves to get the ball rolling as intended, and here's why:

The ball isn't on the putter face long enough to take advantage of grooves. Period. We don't compress a ball with a putter like an iron or driver. We merely "hit" it. There's no grab, per se. Loft, however, is critical to getting the right roll and lifting the putt out of depressions.

The right loft is very much contingent on our hand position at impact and the type of greens we play on. Get the loft right, and you'll get the roll right. If you want a softer feel than perhaps your 17-4 stainless putter from yesteryear, then grooves might be a good call. But that's about it. So let's talk about loft.

Out here in Northern California, it's Poa Annua country. The greens are bumpy later in the day, and can be rather plush most of the year. That means the ball tends to sit down into small depressions and a putt will need to navigate small bumps and mounds on the way to the hole - a clear need for more loft. But, that's only part of the equation. If you forward press your stroke, you're delofting the putter face, and will require more loft. If you have your hands somewhat back at impact, ie. Zach Johnson, less loft is needed. For most of us, we need at least 3 degrees of loft, and in some cases, 4 or 5 degrees. Putter neck type plays a role as well, so, for example, if you need 3 or 4 degrees of loft but don't forward press, a plumber's neck hosel is one ideal option that will put the hands in a good position to maintain the ideal, stated loft of the face. But, don't forward press with a plumber's neck hosel. Try a flare tip or shaft over hosel design if you're going that direction.

All said and done, pay attention to putter loft with respect to the greens you play on and how you stroke a putt. It's not the grooves that will help you here but how much the face is angled. Get this right and you'll be feeling groovy without, well, you know, grooves.

My Driver Says 9 Degrees of Loft...Damn I'm good!

You're about to buy a new driver after finally retiring old faithful that you bought 10 years ago. Good for you! So you grab a fancy new driver off the rack and make sure it's a 9-degree like old faithful. You take a few swings into the net and drop down the Visa. Purchase complete. Good, er..bad for you!

Here's what just happened: you fell for outdated convention. Your old faithful worked well 10 years ago because at that time golf balls spun more. Multi-piece, non-wound balls of today spin much less. Hence, 9-degrees today ain't going to cut it...unless, of course, you swing 115 MPH or more, with an upward angle of attack, and if you do, say hello to Michelson on the first tee at the Masters.

We mortals need more loft, partly because of the less spinny balls of today, but also because even 10 years ago, 9-degrees of loft was too little. For swing speeds in the "normal human being range" of 105 MPH and less, serious loft is needed, where 10 degrees is a MINIMUM. The caveat here however is angle of attack, which is seldom referenced by the guy with the name tag at the 'mart' who's "helping you". If you're steep, you need more loft. If you hit up on the ball, less will do. For example: I swing 100 MPH most days with a 2 degree angle of attack. I use a head with 12 degrees of loft and a 1 degree closed face angle - which really means the true dynamic loft is 13 degrees! (one degree hook adds loft, visa versa for one degree open). 12 loft gives me the 1:4 smash factor i'm looking for and the mid trajectory I crave, with roll on the end. I couldn't get a 9 degree off the ground unless I seriously changed my swing, which assumes I would know how to do that effectively to begin with.

One other note...the major OEM's have been tricking us. A "9" on the sole, might mean 10 or 11 degrees of loft. A decent shop can measure loft for you before you buy. A good idea before you plop down the Visa.

Net, net...go with more loft and keep in mind two primary metrics right off the bat: (1) ball speed, and (2) distance. After 1 and 2, tweaking spin rate and launch angle will be negligible as 95% of what you're looking for from a driver will reveal itself in measuring ball speed (smash factor 1:4 or 1:5 if you're damn good) and distance through loft.

Movable Weight Will Not Move You

Are you the guy on the range every weekend with a wrench in one hand and a handful of attachable weights in the other, desperately searching for that optimal trajectory and launch angle for your drives? I've seen you my friend, fumbling around with 2g, 5g and 10g weights like a Price Is Right contestant on the clock to find the perfect fit, to win the washer/dryer combo. I've seen you drop the wrench from the upper deck onto the driving range and ask the guy below you to fetch it and not get beaned at the same time. I've seen you slice one into San Francisco Bay and replace the 10g toe weight with a 5g toe weight thinking that will solve the slicing problem when you're still coming over the top like you're chopping wood at your cabin in Tahoe. And, I've see you check your receipt half way through a range session to familiarize yourself with the return policy at Golf Mart in the event there's still time to head back before they close. Oh, I've seen you.

Ultimately, I applaud your efforts, but for 95% of you out there, the only thing you're really doing with those weights is changing swing weight, which is very important but not in the brochure. Sorry to say it, but it's true. You are, at best, lessening your hook or slice by about 5 yards, from that 25 yards or more. You will, however, do MUCH better seeking out the right FACE ANGLE and COG location for your driver, to mitigate those hooks and slices and find that optimal trajectory. If you are in the 5% that swing above 115 MPH, then yes, there's some benefit to moving weight from the heel to the toe, so that purchase you made is a good one, and best of luck on tour.

So, that said, as you size up new 460cc drivers this year, take a good look at face angle and COG location. Tom Wishon says avoid 460cc drivers that are square. I agree. With high MOI comes the added challenge of squaring the club face given the COG moves further away from the shafts axis and wants to stay open a little longer. A 1 or 2 degree hooked face angle will certainly help. I've tried it. You should too. A COG closer to the heel can help as well, but some in the business claim that best performance has COG aligned with the center of the face, with no exception. You'll have to play around between the "draw" version and the "regular" versions out there.

So leave the wrench at home, unless it's for changing face angle, and stick with using those movable weights to find the optimal swing weight. A nice option over lead tape, so you have that going for you...which is nice.