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Is Club Technology Maxed Out?

SuperStroke
I think the technology will continue to advance. It is impressive how good the new clubs are compared to 5-8 years ago. I especially hope PXG is successful and major OEM's will follow their lead and use better, more expensive materials in their future designs. If PXG can sell drivers at $800 and irons sets at $2500 I'm sure Callaway, TM, etc. could too.
 
Great interview and a conversation I have had with some golfing buddies. It was good to hear his honesty and thoughts on this topic.
 
What a great interview. Just listening to him makes you want to try/buy a new product, knowing that what he says is factual. Too bad he can't package some of his knowledge and give it to the people selling the equipment.
 
I think the new JGR irons would be a great one to test how lofts and launch interact. They are aggressively lofted at a full club stronger than most SGIs currently on the market, and if that 7i launches and lands the same as most other 7i's there is some legit tech in there.

Regardless, you certainly cannot blanket the entire industry with jacked loft accusations. Most are innovating and some are "jacking".
 
blugold said:
I always thought that callout was justification for:
1) not understanding the new design technologies
2) disregarding the distance gains made by playing partners
3) justification to hate an OEM, regardless of how legit a claim it may be.
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Summed up nicely.
ArmyGolf said:
I think the new JGR irons would be a great one to test how lofts and launch interact. They are aggressively lofted at a full club stronger than most SGIs currently on the market, and if that 7i launches and lands the same as most other 7i's there is some legit tech in there.

Regardless, you certainly cannot blanket the entire industry with jacked loft accusations. Most are innovating and some are "jacking".
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The JGR irons were what I was thinking of when I made my post. Bridgestone even posted that they had to change the lofts because the launch was way to high. However, I would bet that a large portion of golfers only see the loft change and can't/won't get past that.
 
ArmyGolf said:
I think the new JGR irons would be a great one to test how lofts and launch interact. They are aggressively lofted at a full club stronger than most SGIs currently on the market, and if that 7i launches and lands the same as most other 7i's there is some legit tech in there.

Regardless, you certainly cannot blanket the entire industry with jacked loft accusations. Most are innovating and some are "jacking".
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I kid you not, if they did not move the lofts down on the JGR, I think I would hit the bill of my own hit with the shorter clubs. Crazy high launching.
 
JB said:
I kid you not, if they did not move the lofts down on the JGR, I think I would hit the bill of my own hit with the shorter clubs. Crazy high launching.
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That's awesome and quite frankly it's fascinating.

All the clubs I want to hit this year aren't released in Canada...bah!
 
ArmyGolf said:
That's awesome and quite frankly it's fascinating.

All the clubs I want to hit this year aren't released in Canada...bah!
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Sitting and talking to people such as Michael give you an insight into club design that I never thought imaginable a decade ago (before THP). Our biggest goal has been achieved, which is to pair the brilliant minds of the industry with a community of people (THPers) to gain the knowledge to make the game more fun.
 
I really enjoyed this as it was not about a company but about golf and that was cool to hear.
 
Great interview ddec.

To hear a OEM admit that there are companies simply "jacking" up lofts and lengths was good to hear. I agree that there may be gains over a 3 to 5 year period, but I still just don't see it from release to release. Most of the major OEM's are publicly traded companies that have to sell clubs or they fire everyone and go under.

Will there continue to be gains, yes, just not as large of gains as there once was. Unless the USGA lightens up on limits, sooner or later, the gains will not be as huge and think we are already seeing that.
 
Another great interview with a great man. Tech has come so far the last few years and i like hearing the people using it to design clubs for us talking about it.
 
Finally got a chance to watch the video. Vrska is so easy to follow along when talking technology. Well done dean
 
Great interview and awesome interviewee!
 
Great interview and he said a lot of what I was kind of thinking. There are so many ways left to advance technology that we don't even know about and I can't wait to see what the companies come up with next!
 
greggdrews said:
Great interview and he said a lot of what I was kind of thinking. There are so many ways left to advance technology that we don't even know about and I can't wait to see what the companies come up with next!
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Agree here. The one line that stands out here is that they are doing things now that they simply couldnt do even 2 years ago.
 
I think everyone can agree that shaft technology will probably show the most advances, for example Grandura introducing nano technology on a wider scale. However with the newer, or possibly more affordable, alloys and composites available as well as the advances in manufacturing techniques there will still be advances in clubhead design.
 
Great interview Dean, but idk, I think clubs are starting to reach a point where you've gotten the distance but not the forgiveness. But I'm interested to see what the next big thing is
 
Thechosen1 said:
Great interview Dean, but idk, I think clubs are starting to reach a point where you've gotten the distance but not the forgiveness. But I'm interested to see what the next big thing is
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Interesting. Can you explain further, Im genuinely curious here.
 
Nice interview. With advances in materials, I concur that there remains room for further development. I also accept that it is not healthy to fixate on loft. The one aspect of modern club design which remains to be justified is the increasing shaft lengths. In my humble opinion, the use of these inordinately long shafts will not improve anyone's game. Is any designer prepared to say that a golfer is likely to improve their accuracy and consistency by increasing their shaft lengths? If so, this would truly constitute a sea change in club fitting. Not only would it be foolish not to use the longest driver shaft available, it would behoove you to start maxing out the length of every iron in your bag.
 
The only thing I wish companies would do is use lofts on their irons and not numbers. No one seems to have a problem putting lofts on drivers, fairways, and hybrids.

I believe that technology has pushed launch angles off the charts when comparing the same loft of clubs from years ago.

But when someone talks 5 iron, I have no clue what that is anymore. When someone talks loft... 23*, 24*, 25*, 26*, 27* I have a reference point.

John
 
Great interview here. I don't think it's maxed out but eventually they're gonna hit a wall of what is allowed performance wise. We certainly don't need much more distance as the courses are already too long for practical maintainence costs.
 
JB said:
Sitting and talking to people such as Michael give you an insight into club design that I never thought imaginable a decade ago (before THP). Our biggest goal has been achieved, which is to pair the brilliant minds of the industry with a community of people (THPers) to gain the knowledge to make the game more fun.
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And we all appreciate your achievement. I've learned more about golf equipment since I joined THP, than I thought was possible. Thanks

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
The testing of different materials and being able to do things they couldn't do 2 years ago intrigues me. I wonder what materials they are testing and where they are looking at their placement in the club they are looking to use them
 
From my YouTube comment:

Love that Wilson recognizes the value in making clubs that will improve your game but still "look" like golf clubs. The visual component of a club is super important to me, and I'm sure many others.
 
Youtube comment:

Love the fact that he doesnt think irons are maxed out. Wilson set the bar high this year with the C200's and to think they will only improve from there
 
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