What happens when a club has too much offset?

[asca2]

Hi, I was wondering what exactly the consequences are when a club has too much offset? Is it only that you won't be able to work the ball or can it also have an adverse effect on the swing? I have the Burner 2009 irons and I feel like the offset of the 5 iron plays a major role in why I can't hit the club pure. I have tried to hit other 5 irons and they are much more easier to hit. Hope my question makes sense.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

 

[BamBooBender]

Depends on who you talk to really. My experience with irons that have a lot of offset is that I tend to hit them left(right handed golfer). If I get used to hitting irons with little offset, then hit one with a lot of offset, the ball will almost always go left until I adjust for it. OTOH, if I get used to hitting irons with lots of offset, then hit irons with less offset, the ball will almost always go right until I adjust for it. There seems to be different schools of thought on what offset is supposed to do and I don't know which is right, but the above is how it seems to work for me. Hope this makes some sense.

 

[Ca3L]

The idea behind offset is that 80% of amateurs slice the ball, so they design clubs with an offset so that they'll hit the ball straighter. If you're having trouble hitting your irons you should probably opt for something with a deeper cavity. What do you mean when you say that you can't hit the ball pure? Are you hooking it? That's what offset will do to a good swing, it'll cause hooks.

 

[d_in_la]

I always thought more offset gave you extra time to square the clubface right before impact.

 

[asca2]

Thank you so much for the replies. CA3L, yes, sorry what I meant is that I usually hit big hooks with my 5 iron, and just can't seem to be able to get the same ball flight as my other irons.

 

[pjcedog]

Offset is to help you get the clubface square at impact to help prevent a slice. Most players either need offset or they don't but a good player can learn to play with clubs either way. All you do is change your ball position.

 

[JF]

My irons have little offset (more than a blade, but far less than a GI). Honestly I like it where it is. I always thought offset was designed to help get the ball up in the air easier. I can also see how it's designed to help square the clubface. best thing you can do is try an iron with little offset and see how your results compare.

is it possible to use a loft/lie machine to add or subtract offset from a club?

 

[runpuddrun]

Offset is a design condition in clubheads in which the neck or hosel of the head is positioned in front of the face of the clubhead, so that the clubface appears to be set back a little from the neck of the club. (Put another way, offset is the distance that the forward side of the neck/hosel of the clubhead is set in front of the bottom of the face of the clubhead.)

When a wood or ironhead is designed to have more offset, two game improvement factors automatically occur, each of which can help the golfer. First, the more offset, the farther the head's center of gravity is back from the shaft. And the farther the CG is back from the shaft, the higher the trajectory will be for any given loft on the face. In this case, more offset can help increase the height of the shot for golfers who have a difficult time getting the ball well up in the air to fly.

Second, the more offset in the clubhead, the more time the golfer has on the downswing to rotate the face of the clubhead back around in order to arrive at impact closer to being square to the target line. In other words, offset can help a golfer come closer to squaring the face at impact because the clubface arrives at impact a split-second later than with a club that has no offset. Thus the second benefit of offset is to help reduce the amount the golfer may slice or fade the ball.

 

[tucsonsean]

Offset doesn't operate independent of other factors. Depending on the design of the club, the leading edge progression (LEP) might neutralize much of what seems to be a very healthy offset, placing the leading edge of the club much closer to the centerline of the shaft than the offset would suggest.

 

[JuKu]

I believe that the "more time to square the club" is mental (which doesn't make it any more unreal). How much time there really is in half an inch, when the clubhead moves several tens mph? The center of gravity vs. shaft is real.