Let’s take a look at how shafts are made and whether they can really justify these massive prices that we are seeing from some of the top brands.

How is a Graphite Shaft Made?

There are a couple of different methods that shaft manufacturers use to make shafts. The two most popular are table rolling and filament winding.

Table Rolling is where a sheet of graphite is literally rolled around a mandrel (long metal spike). It is the same process that is used to make most fishing rods and has been the basis for shaft production for quite a number of years. The more modern system of filament winding is generally how the more expensive shafts are made.

Filament winding allows more control over the technical specifications of the finished shaft. The machine is programmed to roll graphite strands up and down a mandrel slowly building up the form of the shaft. The tighter the graphite is weaved the stiffer the shaft will end up and the opposite also applies. Complete control over the kick point of the shaft is also calculated using software so that the finished product will be exactly as planned in the design. To help you understand a little bit better have a look at the image below of how the filament winding process works.

I have been to the factories in Taiwan and actually seen these machines in action. It is fairly impressive, especially the accurate control they have over the finished product. The raw material was made by the Mitsubishi Corporation and came out of the box looking like giant liquorish strands on reels!

But, are they worth the money?

The point of explaining all of that is so you can see the process involved in making a new shaft. The raw material can vary in quality but when I was over there it all looked the same in the same boxes!

Over my many years fitting Golfers and testing shafts it was always a fact that one companies Regular Flex shaft did not match any others. There are no standard or default specifications in the Golf business and as such specifications have big variations between manufacturers and products. This in itself is confusing enough for the average golfer and most would hope that spending a lot more on a shaft would mean that the flexes would be more accurate. The problem is, accurate compared to what?

Summary

Personally I believe that as long as you avoid the real cheap shafts and buy something decent (let’s say within the $50 – $100) range then you should be fine. I really do not believe that spending hundreds (or even thousands?) of dollars on a golf shaft will really make any difference. Most of it is just marketing hype………….

As always, please leave your comments below.

The most obvious reason is due to the fact people find putting practice boring and many golfers couldn’t be bothered to practice anywhere near as much as they should. We all prefer to smash drives than sink putts!

If we could change this mentality then we may just find our Handicap starts to drop and our scores will improve. The short game is where the we can save some shots.

One way to brush up on your putting is to spend some time at with a home putting green, this way you can practice when you have some spare time or when you are stuck indoors due to bad weather.

There are lot’s of different models and makes to choose from, the one at the top is a Starpro green that requires a professional and permanent installation will set you back above $1500! You can find out more about these types of professional installations by clicking here.

Not everyone will have space or the budget for an all out installation like this but there are many cheaper home putting greens that can be rolled up and stored away in the garage. The model I currently use has a nice ball return feature which helps prevent back strain. You back does take a pounding when you keep bending over to fetch the ball. It is called the ProActive ProCircuit Putt Return System. This can be adjusted for length and works for right and left handed golfers.

As you can imagine there many more to choose from, with the majority of models being a plain synthetic turf mat. Which ever you decide if you find a few minutes here and there you can vastly improve your putting and that will go along way to lowering your scores and ultimately your Handicap. A nice Home Putting Green can be bought from around $50 right up to $1700 (like the one at the top) so there is a model to suit every Golfers budget. Click here for an awesome selection of home putting greens.

There have been a few changes in golf club finishes over the years with many of the early irons finished with a tumbling machine.  If you remember the old Ping Eye models then you may remember what they looked like, they had a tumbled finish – essentially the club is put into a “washing machine” (known as a tumbler) full off small rough pellets that gave the club a random finish. Most clubs are finished by simply polishing the stainless. The Taylormade R11 as seen in the picture as the top has a PVD finish on the face and the sole. The white crown is actually a plastic wrapped technology which is quite a good idea for the top of a driver.

What Is PVD?

PVD stands for Physical Vapor Disposition. One of the main benefits of PVD is the manufacturer can choose what color of finish they would prefer. Nearly every color you can imagine is available.

This video shows you some of the equipment needed to implement this finish – best video I could come up with

PVD is applied in a vacuum with the target material, special gasses (nitrogen for example) and electricity. The finish is applied in a chamber where a voltage is applied which changes as the chamber gets heated up to between 100 and 600 degrees. Finally a plasma cloud is ignited which sticks the finish to the club. Different types of finishes are achieved by using different materials and gasses. Depending on the quantities of gas and materials the finish will end up with different properties.

So What’s the Problem?

When the club is brand new it looks really awesome and sort of space age! After hitting a lot of golf balls though the finish tends to get scratched and almost looks like it is wearing off. If you tend to play in conditions with a lot of hard ground or sand just under the surface it can act as a sort of sandpaper and literally take the finish right off the club.

After a few months you can end up with irons that look terrible and I even know a few people that sent their clubs in for sandblasting to have the PVD completely removed!

On the strength of this I really didn’t think the major golf companies would continue using PVD as a viable finish for golf equipment but it seems I am proved wrong as plenty of clubs are still being sold with PVD applied.

Your Thoughts?

What do you think? Have your clubs been finished with PVD? Is the finish holding up? Leave your comments below.

The longer irons had an average swing weight reading of C9 and the shorter irons in the set had an average of around C8. These swing weights are much too light for the average golfer and I was not surprised that Mike was hitting the ball badly.

Mike and I chatted for a while, and he remembered he bought new grips a few months before and this was around the same time the problem started. I took one of the new grips off, replaced it with a lighter model (15 grams lighter) and then Mike went out to the range. Within minutes he had a smile on his face as he could now feel the club properly and get back to enjoying his golf.

How did this happen?

When a company designs a new golf club everything is planned out so that the swing weight will end up at specific figure. Swing weight was originally created to compare the “feel weight” of one club to the next. Club makers use it to work out where the weight is in the club, head or grip for example. It also represents a feel type reading, whether you will feel the weight in the head or not during the swing. Effectively you could swing weight the Eiffel Tower to D1 but you would never be able to pick it up. It is a separate measurement to the overall weight of the club. Nb – Not easy to explain! Ultimately you can also use it to check your whole set and see if they have the same balance or if any of them are out of spec to the rest.

Anyway,  clubs are designed and manufactured with a specific swing weight in mind. By changing the grips from a 55g grip to a 70g model the club’s swing weight became lighter and therefore Mike was struggling to feel the head through the swing and his golf started to fall apart.

Keep in Mind!

Be aware,  anything you change on a golf club has an effect, when you next need to order new grips check with the shop or club maker that the weight of the new ones are close to the weight of the old ones or you could end up with problems like Mike!

Even though OptiShot is cheaper than comparative simulators it is still packed with awesome features. This would also make a great gift for the golfer in the family! Let’s take a look and see how it works and what you can do with it.

OptiShot Product Features

• Right and LEFT handed players
• Measures Face Angle
• Measures Swing Path
• Measures Club Head Speed
• Very Easy and Quick To Set Up – 3 Steps Needed
• Choose Metric or Standard Measurements
• Easy Software Upgrading via Internet
• Selection of Golf Courses to Play
• More Courses Available Online
• Ships with 180 day Limited Warranty from the Manufacturer

OptiShot to Analyze Your Swing

OptiShot uses infrared sensors to track your swing and collect all the important statistics. The sensors are pretty accurate and really help you work on your swing as you can easily see all the information straight after you finish.

The results collected are fed through to your PC/TV Screen/Projector and displayed in a nice and easy to read format.

Optishot Swing Information

These are the statistics that will be displayed

• Head Speed
• Face Angle
• Swing Path
• Tempo
• Face Contact
• Visual Representation of Each Shot

You can quite clearly see how helpful this information will be to enable you to your game. Unless you can afford to spend hours with a golf coach you can often end up practicing your bad habits. With this level of information you can practice confidently knowing exactly what is going on.

Being able to get an accurate reading of your face angle at impact is an awesome feature, this will enable you to work on getting the club face square, after all, if your club face is out of alignment then you are going to have a hard time hitting the ball down the middle. You can use your real golf clubs to practice on this simulator and for residents of cold areas where it is hard to play in Winter the OptiShot can keep your game alive.

Using the Club Speed information you can also spend some time working out if you have your shafts correctly fitted, as you can now try different shaft flexes and see what difference it makes to your vital statistics and shot performance.

3D Software for Virtual Golf Simulation

Another top feature of the OptiShot is the ability to play golf in a simulated environment. The simulation is very accurate and the graphics are awesome. With support of up to four players you can challenge your golfing partners to a round of golf and have a nice day/evening of fun. Imagine a day of rain or bad weather, instead of canceling your round you can play from home.OptiShot essentially measures your swing dynamics via the sensors and superimposes the shot on to the screen as if you were outdoors and really hit the ball. You get a couple of courses to play as standard with the unit, Big Horn and Torrey Pines. Both of which I am sure you have heard of. Many more are available for download.

How Good is the OptiShot

To compare this Simulator to some of the models that cost thousands of dollars would not be fair. I do believe for home use it is perfect and will provide hours of entertainment. Obviously it will also be a great help to improving your swing and your game in general. In order for the simulator to work you need to connect it up to a computer (Minimum Spec – Windows XP, 2 Gig’s Ram). The real secret is the video card, to produce really good graphics you will need to make sure you have a fairly decent one. Setting up the OptiShot is really easy check out the diagram below.

One thing to note is this home simulator will not work outside due to the infrared technology. Infrared does not work properly in sunlight. You need to make sure you have sufficient space inside your home, gararge or shed to set everything up. Your ceiling will need to be at least 8.5foot to allow for a golf swing. If you want to use real golf balls then you will also need a decent catch net, you can choose to use practice balls or just swing for practice. The OptiShot will still pick up your swing and display information without any golf ball.

Summary

Having weighed everything up I honestly believe this is one of the best buys you could make if you want to improve your golf. Just being able to spend some time at home working on your swing with all the information displayed nicely on the screen is worth the price to me. Not only that but you can also have some fun with the family playing virtual golf, if you can afford it or already have a projector then the experience becomes even more amazing. I have found the best price (with free shipping!) at Amazon.com and you can also spend some time reading the customers feedback.

Complete OptiShot Golf Simulator System

The OptiShot is also available as a full package with everything you need included.

• Complete Simulator Package,
• 10x10x10 Frame
• 3 x PC Mat
• 110×96 Impact Screen
• Hitting Net – Fully Enclosed
• Latest Optishot Software
• ViVitek Recommended Projector
• Compaq PC
• Adjustable Ceiling mount for the Projector
• Full Telephone Support

Although this is a lot more expensive it contains absolutely everything you need. Click here to find out more.

First Things First

Once the decision has been taken that your child would like to play golf many people’s first reaction is to think about getting some clubs. This is where the biggest mistakes happen. You will look around the garage and find that old set you have collecting dust and often covered with rust. Off to your local Golf shop to get the length adjusted and voila, you have your Junior golf set all ready to go! If your garage is empty then chances are you will phone around your Golfing mates and see what they have in their garage!

What are the Problem’s with Cutting down the Shaft?

When a Golf club is designed in the factory a lot of measurements and weights are taken into account. Every club is different and in order to get the best results the weighting needs to be set up so the club balances and feels good. This could be translated into Swingweight. When you take an old club and chop 5-8 inches off the top you completely mess up this fine balance. What’s left is a club that is exceptionally heavy and very hard to hit. This obviously does your child no favors and is one of the worst ways to start them off with a game that is difficult enough.

If that was not bad enough consider the shaft flex. Shaft’s are designed to be a specific flex at a specific length. By trimming the top to accommodate your Child’s height you are essentially changing the Shaft flex to an Extra-Stiff flex! With little or no flexing in the shaft throughout the swing the club will feel dead and the child will struggle to hit the ball properly.

The Lie Angle of a club is critical as this determines the direction. By chopping a significant amount off the top off the shaft you will see the toe of the club will be sticking right up in the air at the address position. In most cases a good swing would result in the ball going straight left.

If we add up the problems listed above you will see that we are doing our kids no favors by cutting down old golf clubs. You will end up with a club that is very heavy, super stiff in the shaft and a lie angle that on a good day will hit everything left! Even if your Child sticks at the game and does improve a bit you can guarantee plenty of bad habits will have been picked up by trying to get these out of spec clubs to perform.

The Correct Way?

I can understand that you do not want to go out and spend a lot of money on Junior golf clubs if you are not sure your Child will enjoy the game. In all honesty though you will be much better off to spend a lit bit of money and give your Child the best chance to enjoy the game and improve. At the end of the day if they do not like the game you can always sell the Junior clubs on to someone else looking to get their Children started. Check out the following link for some ideas and pricing Great selection of Children’s Golf sets

Over the last few years we have seen many changes in the rules for golf equipment with a special focus on drivers. In the early part of the last decade drivers started to get bigger and bigger with the widespread use of titanium. The ruling bodies were quick to act and a limit was placed on the maximum size a club head could be, 460cc. Several other measuring techniques have been developed since which enable the ruling bodies to limit the distance a driver will go. These are the COR and the MOI. COR essentially measured the amount of spring off the club face (trampoline effect) and MOI (read about here) which would take too long to explain.

Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with golf ball technology and the simple point is, as the ruling bodies enforce more and more limits on golf equipment companies have slowly moved their focus to the golf ball. Hoping that technology will assist, they may be able to squeeze a bit more distance out of the ball and therefore gain market share.

Golf Ball Technology

One of the leaders and innovators during 2011 has been Taylormade. Their R11 driver has sold extremely well and their Penta golf ball has been developed using a rapid advancement in manufacturing technology with this being the first 5 layer ball ever produced. Titleist have made some tweaks to their most popular ball, the Pro V1 with the Pro V1 X. Taylormade claims the Penta has one layer to help with each shot characteristic, so far, users have only good things to say and it seems this ball will become more popular over time.

USGA and R&A on Golf Balls

One of the hurdles faced by large companies is the way to innovate without breaking the rules. The ruling bodies have also caught on to this new focus on ball technology and have set some parameters to ensure no major advantages are given by using a particular golf ball. In order to have a ball approved for play it needs to be submitted for testing (last time I looked I think they require 24 samples of each ball!). Currently measured are spin, velocity, distance and quite a few other performance criteria. Bottom line, if the ball outperforms those specified benchmarks it will be declared illegal. This leaves manufacturers trying out new ball technologies and ideas to improve player feel and more importantly accuracy, with less focus on distance.

Here is a quote directly from the USGA’s website:

“Golf ball distance has been regulated since 1976 and golf ball rebound characteristics have been regulated since the 1940s. In 2004, the USGA updated its testing methodology to more closely reflect the athleticism and clubs of today’s Tour pros. All golf balls played on Tour and the vast majority of golf balls sold have passed the USGA’s distance limit test.”

As you can see the chances of a brand new golf ball being launched to the market that will go significantly further is unlikely.

How to find A Good Golf Ball

If you are on a constant mission to improve your golf then selecting the correct golf ball can make a huge difference. Some of the more advanced golf retail shops and driving ranges have adopted BLM technology. BLM stands for Ball Launch Monitor and is used by a qualified person to analyze your swing and work out which golf ball is the best suited for your game. BLM uses complex radar tracking tech and high speed cameras. Sensors are able to capture your distance, spin rates and launch angles. Using this information a recommendation is made and this in theory should help you to get the most out of your ball. If you have the time I would highly recommend you find one of these facilities and check it out.

Golf Ball Trends in the Future

It will be interesting to see in the coming year what sort of advances with ball technology we are likely to see. We have the PGA merchandising show coming up soon and this is often where all sorts of new products are launched.

Do you have any theories on golf ball tech? Leave your comments below.

Modern Clubs are Much Lighter

Modern drivers have hovered in weight around 300 grams, thanks to Titanium giving manufacturers an easy way to make bigger heads that weigh less. The bigger the head the easier it is to hit and that has made the game of golf slightly easier for the average player. As the trend to increase the head size gained momentum the USGA capped the size at 460cc, I can only imagine the size of golf clubs we would be seeing today if they hadn’t!

Shaft Companies Looking to Drop Extra Grams

Shaft technology has also made major advances over the last ten years, steel shaft commonly weight over twice as much as a modern light graphite shaft. With companies trying everything they can to shave a couple more grams off the overall weight. A good example is the Fujikura Blur 60, this shaft has a new type of finish achieved by using a low density paint, this has allowed them to drop the shaft weight to around 56grams! You can see from this example just how far the top brands are willing to go to drop some weight off their finished products.

What Benefit do I get from Overall Lighter Clubs?

Most large companies have proved after extensive testing that the lighter the golf club the more swing speed you will generate, this is in turn leads to longer distances. This works for many people but not everyone would agree as many will find a distinct loss of control. With a lighter club you can loose feel and find it harder to keep control of the head throughout the swing. It is no good if you get a slight distance increase but loose accuracy and end up in the rough. Again, as with most things in golf you will need to try different specifications of clubs and see if less weight gives you any benefit.

Lightest Golf Club Ever

The new Cobra Long Tom is probably the lightest club ever to hit the market from one of the leading golf equipment companies. The long tom is named after a powerful canon that was used in the second world war! As standard this club is 48″ in length (which maybe too long for the average golfer) and has an overall weight of only 269grams!

If you are looking for a light club then this is the one to test. The USGA has set a maximum allowed length is 48″ s(4feet) for regular play so this is as long as it gets. So far I have not managed to find a demo to hit but I can only imagine if a perfect swing is placed with one of these it could give me one of the longest drives I have ever seen. If you want to find out some technical information and available models then click here.

We will see in the coming months if the lighter club trend continues and it will interesting to see the new models that are launched at the 2012 PGA merchandising show in January. As with most things in golf trends come and go, if you have any comments about playing with lighter clubs then please feel free to comment below.

I have been custom fitting golf clubs for over 18 years and I have seen many trends come and go. In fact, this year has seen some of the most technical advances in golf equipment and club technology that we have ever had in this business. With the USGA and R&A relaxing some of their rules on club adjustments there has been a huge jump in the ability to customize your clubs by simply changing a weight or setting.I can only imagine that in the years to come we are going to see more and more golf equipment with ingenious features that will make it easier for the golfer to hit the ball straight and achieve lower handicaps. On the flip side  we have the ruling bodies of golf limiting everything from golf ball design to club head sizes purely to preserve the integrity of the game. After all, we do not want the golf courses of the world becoming too short as many golfers find it easier to achieve longer distances.

The past year has also seen many up coming golfers play some truly amazing golf which has given some of the great golfing names a run for their money! Many of the traditional players are going to find it harder and harder to compete with so many talented new players arriving on the scene. The days of Tiger Woods domination are over and I think he has a long road ahead if he wishes to get back to the world’s number one.

I hope you will spend some time on my site and find it interesting and useful. Please feel free to comment using the comments section below or shoot me an email if you have spotted something of value that I may have missed.