Jeremy, Roll is a big factor. Tom's trajectory software (which I'm just starting to look at) says "Actual results will vary with the green surface conditions, but data calculated here is representative"
Where I play the course is nearly always too wet and you frequently get one yard of roll. Recently played a course with hardpan fairways and hit a 300 yard 3w, which is about 80 yards longer than "normal" for me.
/Ed
Jeremy Ingle wrote:
Tom,
I got my copy of. golf digest last week( Canada gets every thing later than even than the freebies in US)
Very good article on loft, launch ,and trajectory.
Did you do any tests using slower swing speeds typical of Seniors or Ladies ?
Now here's a really tricky question as the Science is almost impossible to quantify WHAT ABOUT ROLL?
My own experience this year is interesting (to me anyway) I play with my son aged 28 , who is 5-10 " about 180 lbs ;very fit .has a good swing about 105 mph Uses a Teitlist 975 8 degree driver 44" S flex OEM shaft. Hits the ball very high gets almost no roll; finishes most times about 240 yds out.
He is not at all pleased that I out drive him fairly consistently sometimes by 20 yds ! because I get Roll and he doesn't
I swing about 90-95mph (age 68) use a Snake Eyes 420 Fire forged 9 degree with a Snake eyes Fujikara R flex
45.5" long. Ball position just inside left toe pointed outward gives me easier left hip clearance and allows the club face to square
and hit on the upswing.
I don't know what our launch angles are but he would love to get his down and I am loath to try a high launch as what I've got going now works pretty well ; with a bit of wind assistance and Florida dry fairways I can put it out over 300 yds.
We are working on getting him some extra roll
Regards Jeremy
Tom Wishon wrote:
Arnie:
Well since you asked for opinions, you probably know my opinion on this already!! This was a pretty interesting project to create and produce for GD. I have to say that their equipment editor, Mike Stachura, fights tooth and nail to get decent coverage in GD for equipment oriented articles, so the fact that he was able to convince his higher ups to make this a cover story filling 11 pages in the Nov issue was a pretty big commitment for the magazine to make, especially in a year where their total editorial pages are down because of ad dollars being down for the past 2-3 yrs. Normally they put all their major pages into instructional pieces, because their reader surveys tell them that instruction pieces are by far the most widely read articles. The add-on piece on A of A came because when Gene at Golf Labs finished the robot testing and human testing with our 915 drivers that we built with the different lofts for the testing, I told Mike that there better be something on A of A because it is the final determinant in the fitting for exactly what loft is going to generate what launch angle and in turn, what carry distance. Mike agreed to that when he asked Benoit Vincent from Taylor Made and Helmstetter from Callaway who concurred.
I think that the most important thing for clubmakers to do to be able to really make hay with driver sales is to keep a copy of this article around where you talk to golfers – I know that most golfers don’t want to believe that more driver loft can create more distance, so if you put this article in their faces and highlight key parts of it for them to register on clearly, like the info on what loft at what swing speed is longest, it should help push them over the edge to not be able to “argue with facts”. And since not very many avg players are using drivers with more than 9-10.5 lofts, it should be a decent way to be able to build a lot of drivers and in turn, both help your sales as well as make you guys heroes from what will result.
Now my next project with GD is to convince them they need to publish a booklet and side article on top clubmakers just like they do for top teachers of the golf
swing every year. The initial response on this idea from Mike is positive, but now it has to go to the higher ups, which is always tough in the face of remembering where their ad dollars come from. But I’ll keep plugging because this side of the industry deserves a lot more respect and things like that could help a lot.
Thanks,
TOM W
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 10:11 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ShopTalk: Golf Digest Higher loft articles
I read these articles with great interest since this advice will be followed by many customers. Interesting that in the charts an 11* driver with 115 MPH clubhead speed showed a carry of 259 yards. Of all my customers that have been fitted I have only found 3 who could acheive this kind of clubhead speed and they all claim at least 280 yard carry! Most have clubhead speeds in the 75-85 MPH range and claim carry distances of 190-200 yards! I guess everyone is lying!
Most interesting part of this subject article is the contribution by Tom Wishon which discusses the angle of attach. This part was unfortunately the LAST page of the entire article and had the most truth in it. This information will be (IMHO) the most overlooked because no 90 MPH clubhead speed player would fess up to needing a higher loft to acheive greater distance And a player with this clubhead speed "certainly" gets way more than 208 to 212 yards carry!
My conclusion is to fit "macho" players with "wuss" drivers...........now I need to find 11-12* loft drivers with just the number "1" on the soles! This head combination with shafts that do not have designations of L,A,R,S,XS will be future of successful selling!
Your opions please?
