Rvick82
New member
I am in the market to get a driver in the next few months. I don't have one in the bag right now since I hit my 3 wood further than my current driver. One of the articles in the newest scorgolf newsletter got my attention. I read this article and it really got me thinking. I really think I feel the same way. As cool as it is to have the newest and best I really don't think there is that much "more" in the newest drivers. Although, if I had an unlimited budget, I'd definitely have the newest and best every year. However, it's not my driving distance that will improve my game, but much of the marketing today says otherwise. My next $400 golf purchase will be new wedges as that will help improve my game much more than hitting the ball further. Any thoughts?
Below is a link to the article but I will copy and paste it in the forum as well. Just wanted to give credit to the author for his work.
http://blog.scorgolf.com/2012/02/21/smoke-mirrors-of-drivers/?utm_source=SCORzone&utm_campaign=a04c9c03aa-2012_01_24_SCORzone&utm_medium=email
Article from link:
"OK, you all know that I’m “the wedge guy”, and that I’m a firm believer that your route to lower scores is going to be at the short end of the set rather than from the tee. But this industry is driven by the noise around drivers and big companies’ endless promises of hitting the ball further. I received an email the other day from Pat in Yorktown, VA, a reader who is trying to make sense of the claims by the driver makers. It is so good, that I’m going to re-print it here:
Recently, driver technology has been working on generating more clubhead speed to get more distance by improving aerodynamics to lighter clubs to shaft length, etc. If we look at the simple physics formula: F=ma (Force = mass times acceleration), by increasing clubhead speed of a standard driver head mass, I can see how distance can be increased. But if we can increase our clubhead speed by 3-4 mph with a mass that may be 25 grams lighter, I can’t see how the math works out to increase the force we put on the ball to get more distance. Besides that, swingweight would change and that can affect the rhythm, tempo, and timing to square the clubhead and strike the ball solidly and accurately. I hope you can elaborate on this topic before I run out and buy the latest and greatest driver with all the promises and marketing hype. Thanks.
Well, Pat, I think you nailed it pretty well here. If we make the driver lighter so you can swing it faster, we’ve also reduced the mass with which you are making impact, so what’s the gain? For weekend and other regular-guy golfers, I’m betting it’s not much. The driver market has been driven by technology for decades now, and they have all pretty much pushed the envelope as far as the USGA will allow. But they surely cannot admit that, can they? They have drivers to sell.
In my opinion, unless your current driver is over 5-6 years old, there’s not going to be much distance improvement available to you with the newest whiz-bang model. In fact, I’ll bet that each and every one of you hits drives with some frequency that are super-long, and that’s because every once in a while you get all the hitches and idiosyncrasies of your swing just right and make dead solid perfect impact. And it’s no secret that even with the most advanced drivers in the market today, a miss by ½” will cost you 7-9% of optimum distance. And a miss by ¾” will increase that loss to 12-15%.
But just for fun, you should see what 15 more yards would really do for your scores . . . if that was even “for sale” out there in the marketplace. The next time you play a recreational round, after each drive, pick up your ball and walk it 15 yards further down the line it was traveling when it came to rest. Whether it was headed straight down the fairway, or towards the OB stakes, water or bunker . . . 15 more yards, OK?
My bet is that it would not change your scores even one stroke for the better. But I’d sure like to hear what you guys find out with this little experiment.
Any takers?"
Below is a link to the article but I will copy and paste it in the forum as well. Just wanted to give credit to the author for his work.
http://blog.scorgolf.com/2012/02/21/smoke-mirrors-of-drivers/?utm_source=SCORzone&utm_campaign=a04c9c03aa-2012_01_24_SCORzone&utm_medium=email
Article from link:
"OK, you all know that I’m “the wedge guy”, and that I’m a firm believer that your route to lower scores is going to be at the short end of the set rather than from the tee. But this industry is driven by the noise around drivers and big companies’ endless promises of hitting the ball further. I received an email the other day from Pat in Yorktown, VA, a reader who is trying to make sense of the claims by the driver makers. It is so good, that I’m going to re-print it here:
Recently, driver technology has been working on generating more clubhead speed to get more distance by improving aerodynamics to lighter clubs to shaft length, etc. If we look at the simple physics formula: F=ma (Force = mass times acceleration), by increasing clubhead speed of a standard driver head mass, I can see how distance can be increased. But if we can increase our clubhead speed by 3-4 mph with a mass that may be 25 grams lighter, I can’t see how the math works out to increase the force we put on the ball to get more distance. Besides that, swingweight would change and that can affect the rhythm, tempo, and timing to square the clubhead and strike the ball solidly and accurately. I hope you can elaborate on this topic before I run out and buy the latest and greatest driver with all the promises and marketing hype. Thanks.
Well, Pat, I think you nailed it pretty well here. If we make the driver lighter so you can swing it faster, we’ve also reduced the mass with which you are making impact, so what’s the gain? For weekend and other regular-guy golfers, I’m betting it’s not much. The driver market has been driven by technology for decades now, and they have all pretty much pushed the envelope as far as the USGA will allow. But they surely cannot admit that, can they? They have drivers to sell.
In my opinion, unless your current driver is over 5-6 years old, there’s not going to be much distance improvement available to you with the newest whiz-bang model. In fact, I’ll bet that each and every one of you hits drives with some frequency that are super-long, and that’s because every once in a while you get all the hitches and idiosyncrasies of your swing just right and make dead solid perfect impact. And it’s no secret that even with the most advanced drivers in the market today, a miss by ½” will cost you 7-9% of optimum distance. And a miss by ¾” will increase that loss to 12-15%.
But just for fun, you should see what 15 more yards would really do for your scores . . . if that was even “for sale” out there in the marketplace. The next time you play a recreational round, after each drive, pick up your ball and walk it 15 yards further down the line it was traveling when it came to rest. Whether it was headed straight down the fairway, or towards the OB stakes, water or bunker . . . 15 more yards, OK?
My bet is that it would not change your scores even one stroke for the better. But I’d sure like to hear what you guys find out with this little experiment.
Any takers?"