If you spend any time in your local golf shop I am sure you will have seen this modern darker finish that seems to be applied to many of the new models that were released in the last year or so. This finish is called PVD and seems to keep growing in popularity.

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.