THP Tech Talk - Driver CG Location

Completely dependent on the product, but much longer than people think. Sometimes years.

We asked this on our visit to TMAG last year and they said 18 to 24 months is not uncommon at all. Sometimes a bit quicker, but it's a lot more involved than many of us realize.
 
Looking forward to sitting down with TO on our next trip. This one was a lot of fun.
 
Looking forward to sitting down with TO on our next trip. This one was a lot of fun.


Could have spent the whole day in there, casual conversations loaded with info
 
Good stuff. Very enlightening.

I know many dislike Maltby and his MPF (and I understand this as he tries to aggregate things), but it really helps drive home the value of his COG measurements. It'd be great to see his public data about iron heads applied to driver heads.
 
Nice piece right there. He explained in such away that most will understand.

I am not bashing new technology or marketing with my next statement. I am wondering what we did prior to technology advancements. Or is everything relative to the times. I have had outstanding drivers in my bag going back to the mid 90s. The technology today is so much more advanced yet I hit great drives in '95 with a smaller head and low profile face. Why are companies pushing the envelope so hard? I have my answer but am looking for others perspective. And again this is not an invitation to bash marketing. Just seems the wheel may not have been broken but companies have found ways to make it better.
 
Nice piece right there. He explained in such away that most will understand.

I am not bashing new technology or marketing with my next statement. I am wondering what we did prior to technology advancements. Or is everything relative to the times. I have had outstanding drivers in my bag going back to the mid 90s. The technology today is so much more advanced yet I hit great drives in '95 with a smaller head and low profile face. Why are companies pushing the envelope so hard? I have my answer but am looking for others perspective. And again this is not an invitation to bash marketing. Just seems the wheel may not have been broken but companies have found ways to make it better.

My guess, you have a consistent repeatable swing and are going to find the center of the clubface regularly, so the difference between a 280 cc head from 20 years ago, and a 460 cc head of today is not going to affect you all that much.

For a hack such as myself, I need all the help I can get, and I think the technology has definitely helped me considerably on my poor swings.

As to why companies are pushing so hard, they have to so they can sell next years model as better then this years model, as well as better then everyone elses model from this year. As has been discussed, golfers are dying breed so to speak (there are less of us every year) so these companies have to as Odyssey says "innovate or die." The marketplace is incredibly competitive, and will only get more so are the pie shrinks year after year.

My $0.02
 
Looks like THP TV will be doing a lot more of these videos.
 
Looks like THP TV will be doing a lot more of these videos.

I like it. Bringing knowledge to the people. Directly from the source.
 
I like it. Bringing knowledge to the people. Directly from the source.

To be fair, its the same thing we have been doing for years. They just chose to ignore it, so we decided to have the source say it into a camera. :D
 
To be fair, its the same thing we have been doing for years. They just chose to ignore it, so we decided to have the source say it into a camera. :D

What does T.O. know about metal woods anyway?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk.
 
To be fair, its the same thing we have been doing for years. They just chose to ignore it, so we decided to have the source say it into a camera. :D

Hell to the yea. It's hard to Internet yell when the people making the gear is speaking the truth and science directly to the users. I love it.
 
More videos like this are going to be great. I understood gear effect before, but just that little visual of it made it all the more easy to understand. I'm looking forward to more of this.
 
Does driver depth have creat more gearing affect?
 
Nice piece right there. He explained in such away that most will understand.

I am not bashing new technology or marketing with my next statement. I am wondering what we did prior to technology advancements. Or is everything relative to the times. I have had outstanding drivers in my bag going back to the mid 90s. The technology today is so much more advanced yet I hit great drives in '95 with a smaller head and low profile face. Why are companies pushing the envelope so hard? I have my answer but am looking for others perspective. And again this is not an invitation to bash marketing. Just seems the wheel may not have been broken but companies have found ways to make it better.

Given that average distance on Tour is about the same, and the average driver distance as studied by the USGA and RA of amateurs has only gone up 6 yards (3%) in the past ~ 20 years, I suspect that max COR is max COR and thus length is length. I think that is a large part of what you're getting at.

I personally think the fact that the averages have gone up points to increased forgiveness across the face, a better ball, etc.. Something is driving the distance up (even if it is only 3%), and I don't think it is the average fitness of the player (worse if one factors in the increase in obesity), the time dedicated to golf (probably less), etc.. I think the industry is making minor iterative improvements, but that physics are physics.

I've been struggling mightily with driver distance over the last year. Even though my swing speed is the same (and actually higher with some clubs), I'd lost distance with the driver due to some bad ballooning problems. It's a swing issue clearly, but I've just not been able to dial in the right ball height and club combo to maximize the swing that I have. I recently snagged an older driver head/shaft combo that I'd always had good luck with (my dad plays a variation in more loft) and was the longest I'd been off the tee this past weekend that I had been in over a year (and we're talking 30 yards on some holes). This is a 6 year old head with what's arguably a 10 year old shaft. :confused2:
 
This was a fantastic watch. I knew nothing about CG until seeing this and understanding why heads are designed a specific way.

That little tidbit about CG across the face and center/heel for amateurs versus toe for pros due to face closure was really cool and makes sense.

Great job TO!
 
that guys pretty smart! great video love learning more about the game and the technology in the equipment.
 
Looks like THP TV will be doing a lot more of these videos.

Missed this post somehow, but very glad these will continue to help clear up some mis-nomers out there.
 
I'm still getting caught up over the last two weeks, and just saw this video. Man, it was incredible. Six minutes of knowledge bombs that blew me away. As others have said, TO appears to be a very smart man with a knack for explaining them so anyone can understand them. I look forward to move stuff from him.
 
Tech Talk - Driver CG

Tech Talk - Driver CG

Nice piece right there. He explained in such away that most will understand.

I am not bashing new technology or marketing with my next statement. I am wondering what we did prior to technology advancements. Or is everything relative to the times. I have had outstanding drivers in my bag going back to the mid 90s. The technology today is so much more advanced yet I hit great drives in '95 with a smaller head and low profile face. Why are companies pushing the envelope so hard? I have my answer but am looking for others perspective. And again this is not an invitation to bash marketing. Just seems the wheel may not have been broken but companies have found ways to make it better.





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Tech Talk - Driver CG

Tech Talk - Driver CG

Not sure of you age, but I was 20 in 1995. Since then I am sure my swing is less powerful and courses on average have moved back the tees. But I can typically drive it in the same place. I think the tech helps with this. Also, bad misses today for me still get out there where I can approach a par 4. Was not the case with the Ken Venturi Tour Block in 1995. Although that club certainly looked a hell of a lot cooler than modern drivers.


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Enjoyed the video and learned a lot. Looking forward to more topics.
 
Great video. Probably one of the best explanations of CG placement as its impact on the swing, as well as the gear effect. Really looking forward to more of these.
 
Thanks for that video, that was a great explanation of CG in drivers for both sole and face, really great stuff!
 
Brilliant video.
Just out of curiosity, could anyone with BBA measure the vertical COG difference for the two Gravity Core positions? It could really drive home how small a difference we are talking about in terms of COG distance (low/high)
 
I love learning about club design tech. I tried for a number of years after college to get a job doing that.
 
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