Part I: 3jack.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-road-to-golf-club-fitting-nirvana.html
Part II: 3jack.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-road-to-golf-club-fitting-nirvana_3.html
Part III: richie3jack.proboards.com/thread/4180
Part IV: 3jack.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-road-to-golf-club-fitting-nirvana_16.html
Part V: 3jack.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-road-to-golf-club-fitting-nirvana_23.html
Part VI: 3jack.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-road-to-golf-club-fitting-nirvana_29.html
Part VII: 3jack.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-road-to-golf-club-fitting-nirvana.html
Part VIII: 3jack.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-road-to-golf-club-fitting-nirvana_22.html
Part IX: 3jack.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-road-to-golf-club-fitting-nirvana.html
While I had been pleased with the overall performance of the MOI and MOI Balance Index (MBI) clubs I actually have accomplished to this point, I felt that the performance of the driver turned into of the maximum importance. If MOI/MBI works nicely with the driving force and the irons and the wedges, then I felt it may work with genuinely any club and is some thing that golfers want to recall and this could sooner or later revolutionize membership fitting and possibly membership designs. If it does not paintings for the driving force, then we've some thing this is limited to operating properly for irons and wedges.
I had determined to get a new driver head. My Wishon 919THI head changed into sporting down from a lot use, so I determined to get a new head with the equal loft (10 tiers) and face perspective (0 tiers). I also planned on just removing my driving force shaft (UST Mamiya ProForce VTS Red 7x) and installing it into the new motive force head.
First, permit's talk the shaft and shaft duration in this series on closing fitting.
In initially had a lighter model of this UST Mamiya VTS Red 7x shaft within the Silver 6x model. That turned into due to the fact I had a 45-1/eight" driving force period.
I see a variety of golfers on the internet speak shortening their shaft due to the fact the common Tour motive force is forty four-half of" long. The problem is that they don't recognize that the static weight of the driver has to trade so that you can get the heft of the membership to fit the golfer's swing. Furthermore, this will alter the distribution of the weight of the components inside the club that could adjust the feel and ball flight.
Remember, this became my first try to use a forty four-3/eight" motive force. This membership became NOT Balance Index matched. But so as to get the heft (MOI) to suit to the longer forty five-1/eight" driving force, the static weight was 13 grams heavier.
I became a bit skeptical of how this would work due to the fact due to the fact that we're using a shaft that is three/4" shorter and a membership this is thirteen grams heavier, there was a worry that I might lose quite a few club head velocity. Instead, while the use of Trackman at the Marriott Golf Academy (previously the Faldo Golf Institute), I found that I most effective misplaced 1 mph of membership head velocity. But, I commenced to hit the ball similarly than the old forty five-1/8" motive force shaft.
Why?
Because my launch perspective advanced by nearly 2-degrees. I changed into additionally making more steady contact. That went at the side of being an awful lot extra accurate and particular with the shorter motive force shaft.
I would say that the *ability* distance changed into higher with the 45-1/8" driving force. But the common distance become higher with the forty four-three/eight" driver. And the standard deviation in motive force distance was MUCH higher with the 44-3/eight" driving force. I discussed this in short in 2012 Pro Golf Synopsis and I plan to further problematic at the importance of consistency in DISTANCE whilst a golfer is hitting a driver in 2013 Pro Golf Synopsis (which need to be out in November).
I established that I ought to use a 44-three/eight" driving force based totally on Tom Wishon's 'wrist-to-ground' chart on page 22 of 12 Myths That Could Wreck Your Game (wishongolf.Com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/12mythsPDF.Pdf). If you observe the chart, you can see that golfers generally use way too long of a driver shaft and likely a touch too short on the iron shafts. I stand 6'3" tall and I'm the usage of a 44-three/eight" shaft. Granted, I do have quick legs for any individual my top (best a 29" inseam). But, I fantastically doubt most golfers should be the usage of a driving force that is extra than forty five inches lengthy.
***
The subsequent a part of this becoming is the Bend Profile of the shaft. I fantastically recommend Tom Wishon's Shaft Bend Profile software program if you need to determine what the fine shaft is for you. First, it is able to shop one a number of money on shafts as I've visible lots of $300 shafts that are absolutely the EXACT SAME as a $50 shaft. But, we also can use the Bend Profile software to better understand what shafts we hit first-class. And if you're doing MOI Balance Index, you will need this as you will in all likelihood need to adjust your shafts in your irons.
The hassle I determined with my swing I found out once I first were given the Bend Profile software turned into that graphite wooden shafts were regularly now not geared up for my swing.
I suppose what occurred is that for years and years the shaft industry made shafts with very gentle tip sections (don't forget how whippy graphite shafts frequently were?). I think to counter that, in the end shaft producers started to create very stiff butt and tip sections.
What could take place for me is if I went to a X-Stiff driver shaft, the tip phase changed into generally exact for me, however the butt phase became too stiff. Thus, I struggled to rotate the wrists and would depart the face open (occasionally referred to as 'not being able to get around on it'). Conversely, if I went to a 'stiff flex' graphite wooden shaft, the butt phase would paintings for me, but the tip segment would be too gentle, causing me to hit a completely spinny ball flight and lose distance.
Now we are starting too see wood shafts that are more 'stiff' in the butt section with a 'x-stiff' in the tip section. I discussed this with UST Mamiya Director of R&D, Michael Guerette, and he recommended the new VTS model shafts and I finally started to find a shaft that fit my swing.
Here's a look at one of the shafts that I struggled with, the Wishon S2S Black 65 (stiff) and comparing it to the UST ProForce VTS Red 7x shaft.
(CLICK TO ENLARGE)
As we can see, the Wishon S2S Black is much softer than the UST ProForce VTS shaft.
It's like one of my Top-30 Club Fitter Russ Ryden (www.fit2score.com) states; if we really want to be optimally fitted for shafts, we need to start thinking and talking like the designers of these shafts think and talk. We need to stop talking 'flex' because it doesn't mean anything. Instead, shaft design and analysis is about analyzing cylinders. Here we show that UST has a shaft labeled as 'X-Stiff' and Wishon has a shaft labeled as 'Stiff'. Yet, the Wishon 'stiff' is much softer from butt to tip section than the UST 'X-Stiff' shaft.
And that's why I couldn't hit the Wishon S2S Black shaft. It is not a 'bad' shaft. It just does not fit my swing.
***
Now, let's take a look at my 44-3/8" driver before it was MOI Balance Index matched:
So, the Balance Index is at 46.35. I want it at 38-42. Because the Balance Index is above the target, that means that I need to be able to match MOI while adding more weight to the shaft because the club is too 'head heavy.' So, this will require me to remove the lead tape from the head and either find a heavier shaft or add lead tape to the Balance Point of the club on the shaft.
Since I received a new driver head, the weight was not the same of the raw head. The original head had a raw weight of 202.5 grams. I had to add 1.3 grams from the epoxy and the ferrule. Thus, the 'raw head weight' of the original head came out to 203.8 grams.
The new head had a weight of 204.1 grams. Thus, the total weight of the head would be at least 205.4 grams (adding 1.3 grams for epoxy and ferrule).
We know from the simple formula that I showed in Part IX that this would mean that the trimmed shaft would have to weight roughly AT LEAST 73.2 grams.
205.4 grams * 60% = 123.48 shaft+grip weight
123.24 - 50.3 grip weight = 72.94 minimum trimmed shaft weight.
Well, I know that my shaft weighs 73.1 grams after it was trimmed. So I haven't gone too far over. When I dry assembled the club I found the MOI to be at 2,770. That means I had a good amount of room to add weight to the shaft to match the MOI and meet the target MBI.
Here is what the final specs of the driver:
So, we notice some change here.
Less Weight in the head (210.3 vs. 205.9). More weight in the shaft (73.1 vs. 81.0). This causes the total weight to be heavier (333.7 vs. 337.2). While the MOI stays the same (2,825). The Balance Index is practically on the money (40.09).
Of course, the big question is 'has it improved performance?'
I believe so.
Why?
For starters I hit this driver much longer now.
I believe what has happened is that since there is less weight in the head, the driver is now getting less spin. However, the trajectory has practically stayed the same. So the height has not lowered, but the landing angle is flatter and the spin is less, causing the ball to carry about the same (maybe a tad further), but a major increase in roll. This also helps with accuracy and precision as the ball doesn't hang in the air as much.
Therefore, I am even more pleased with the MOI/MBI concept and technique and feel that it is the final piece to the ultimate club fitting.
3JACK
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