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I am confused.

Today’s equipment is better than any time in the history of golf. Great golf courses are becoming obsolete because of the high “technology” being built into golf equipment. The new 460cc drivers hit the ball so far and have the largest sweet spot ever. They have a super high MOI (moment of inertial), which keeps the head from twisting on off-center shots, so drives go straighter. It is nearly impossible to hit a poor drive with these things (according to the ads in magazines and on TV).

So, how come the #1 ranked golfer in the world can’t hit the best driver of all time in the fairway????? Why does he have to keep the driver in the bag and tee off with a 2 iron? He won the PGA last year with a 5-wood. The #2 player in the world is not even carrying a driver in his bag this week at the U.S. Open.

I don’t recall Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Arnie or Jack leaving the driver in the bag and hitting an iron off so many tees. (Jack occasionally hit a 1-iron off the tee, but not with the regularity of Tiger) And these guys were hitting those old persimmon drivers that sprayed the ball all over the place (I say that with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek). Does this mean that Ben, Byron, Arnie, and Jack were that much better than Tiger?

OK, I’m being sarcastic. But I am tired of sitting back and listening to all the hype about the new high-tech equipment. The major manufactures have duped golfers into thinking that their equipment will make you an instant golfer. Don’t practice or take lessons, just buy a new club. And, being a manufacture of Persimmon golf clubs it’s difficult to hear comments about how antiquated the “wooden” clubs are.

I’m willing to bet that Tiger or Phil could hit more drives in the fairway with Persimmon clubs than they can with their 460 titanium drivers. For one thing any shot hit on the toe or heel of a Persimmon driver is going to work back to the center of the fairway. Toe or heel shots on a titanium driver are going to continue to go right or left (remember the high MOI?). And, if they hit the Persimmon driver shorter than the titanium driver, it will because the Persimmon driver has a shorter shaft. Make the shaft length the same, and the distance will be very similar. I actually will give a slight advantage of 2% to the thin-faced titanium driver for those guys who can swing over 110 mph and hit the ball in the center of the face. But the Persimmon driver will ALWAYS have less dispersion and more shots in the fairway.

Mike Just, President
The Louisville Golf Club Company
The Spirit of the Game

“You would never think golf would come to something like this. But maybe it has.”

Don Hurter, head professional at Castle Pines, was quoted to have said this in the June issue of Golf Digest. What is he talking about? The context is non-conforming drivers. Callaway and Nike both have been flagged this year for bringing to market drivers that have been over the limit of C.O.R. as put in place by the USGA. Specifically he was referring to the possibility of having to test drivers for their C.O.R. before an event at his course. Right now, all courses rely on integrity.

Driver companies are pushing the limit so tight that “manufacturing errors” are producing drivers with tolerances above the limit and its buffer zone, necessitating the possibility that at some point a test to see if your driver conforms to the rules. Of course Coefficient of Restitution (C.O.R.) is a little-understood dynamic; past the soundbites that the larger golf companies talk about in their marketing, C.O.R. is not a feature that every golfer can take advantage of. First you have to hit the ball directly in the middle of the clubface cleanly in a direct angle of attack, then you have to swing at a rate of speed exceding 110 mph. When the ball hits the face at these conditions, something that a large portion of golfers simply cannot do, then the ball decompresses less, loses less energy and goes 3% farther. The face does not “spring” the ball forward, it cannot react that fast, and this is why you see the deaparture of golf companies using the term “sping-like effect.” It is nothing like a spring, it is more like golf companies marketing like it has forgotten that the game is built on integrity. Let us be clear here, golf is built on integrity and we feel it still has that, no questions there. But at times business is not based on integrity unfortunatley, it is based on stock prices, and over the course of the years, as the game and industry has changed, the business of golf has taken some unfortunate turns. The marketing term “spring-like effect” was one of them, totally misrepresenting what actually goes on.

We hope that mandatory testing at country club events does not happen, and that the golf industry realizes its power to influence this outcome.