Читать книгу The Lazy Golfer’s Companion - Peter Alliss - Страница 7
ОглавлениеWith most sports and many pastimes, the equipment you use can be of prime importance to the way you perform and enjoy yourself. You would not, for example, go jogging in your highly polished brogues; nor would someone of 50 enjoy playing tennis with the heavy wooden (and probably by now decidedly warped) racket he wielded when he was 20. By contrast, he would find playing with a modern large-headed, graphite or aluminium framed racket very much easier. Not to mention much less tiring because of its lighter weight. Shots are crisper, more accurate and accomplished with less effort.
The same can be very true of golf clubs. Yet considering the amount the average golfer ‘invests’ in the game (in terms of subs or green fees, clothes, shoes, bags, trolleys – and time) it is very surprising how little he or she knows about the clubs they play with. The right clubs for a player, suiting his height, weight, age and shape of swing will boost confidence and shot making – although they alone will not cut his handicap. The wrong clubs, however, will certainly affect his game adversely and hinder, or even stop, any improvement.
But very few golfers know the swing weight and shaft flex of the clubs which suit them best, or the lie essential to their swing. Clubs, it would seem, are often acquired spontaneously or by chance. What often happens, as with our fourball, is that Matt will ask Brian on the eighth fairway if he can “try out” his 4-iron. Now Brian had bought his latest ‘bargain’ set of clubs from the sports department of the local department store just five weeks ago. He’d been enticed by adverts that focused on investment cast, perimeter weighted heads, high-torque graphite shafts with good vibration dampening properties – and a sizeable discount on the set. Since he had bought them, he had been telling anyone who would listen that his shots, particularly the irons, had become much straighter and longer, something he certainly felt even if his scoring had not noticeably improved.
NEVER PLAY WITH THE WRONG CLUBS FOR YOUR SWING SHAPE.
His enthusiasm was most probably due to a) the need to justify the cost of a new set and b) the initial confidence that any new club brings. Buying a bargain set of clubs from a sports department is not to be recommended, unless a golfer knows his personal specifications exactly (especially swing weight, flex and lie) and can match them to the clubs. The store’s staff may know about equipment in general but it is most unlikely that they would be able to fit out a golfer correctly.
So what happens on the eighth? Matt takes the proffered hightech club and swings it a few times reflectively. Disregarding the fact that he’s a solidly built six foot three, while Brian is a slim five foot five, so the club might not suit him anyway, he addresses the ball and hits it a hundred and fifty odd yards, high and slightly right. “Hmm,” he says, handing the club back, “I like the feel”. Mentally he makes a note that he might just drop into the sports department next week to see if it had any others of the same make in stock.
Brian, who has watched the flight of the ball goggle-eyed, mutters “shot” admiringly. He has never managed to hit a ball so high (it is strange how whenever someone ‘borrows’ one’s clubs they produce results with them very different from one’s own). He basks a little in the compliment. Matt likes the ‘feel’ of his new clubs.
Distance or Control – That Is the Question
The feel of a club clearly seems to be all important. But just what is feel? Well, there is no scientific equation or formula that defines it. All one can say is that the way a golfer feels a club when he swings it depends on its swing weight and the flexibility of its shaft.
Now swing weight is a concept that balances the weight of the grip end (and shaft) of the club to its headweight. It is expressed as an alphabetical and numerical number, such as C8 (a standard for lissome lady players) or D0 (for active men over 50) or D5 (which is about the top limit for powerfully-built under-35s). It is at least an attempt to produce a uniform ‘feel’ in a set of clubs, despite the difference in their length, which is a major factor in a matched set, the other being the flex of their shafts.
Steel shafts were initially graded by flex, which was defined only by weight. ‘L’ and ‘A’ flex shafts were the most flexible, or whippy and the lightest; then came ‘R’ for regular, ‘S’ for stiff and the ‘X’ flexed or stiffest shafts that were the heaviest. Light-weight alloy shafts, which appeared with the high-tech developments in the 1970s, brought other dimensions. Shafts could be stiff, yet light-weight and they had a range of ‘flexpoints’ (a low flexpoint apparently whips the head of the club through impact giving a higher ball flight). Graphite shafts, the lightest of all with vibration dampening properties, have added new variables. Torque for one. This is the twisting of the shaft as club meets ball. Too much, or too little, torque can make straightening that slice much more difficult. One wonders what Bobby Jones would have made of it all.
Today, shaft selection is a highly confusing, esoteric area. There are more than 100 companies worldwide manufacturing over 10,000 types of shaft. Most produce data where the speed of a golfer’s swing helps to choose the ‘ideal’ shaft for him or her. With a speed of between 65–70 mph, there are some 31 different makes to ponder over. The whole process is far too complicated for the average golfer, who hasn’t the time or inclination to get immersed in such technicalities. Fortunately, there are some guidelines to simplify matters.
You should have clubs that you can swing easily and fast, which still allow you to control the clubhead within your ideal swing tempo. Now the lighter the clubhead, the faster its speed and the stiffer the shaft, the greater the control. This is why top Tour pros have light-headed drivers with stiffish shafts. They like to feel the club is a solid unit and if a club golfer swings one of their clubs (try one at your next Pro-Am) it’s like swishing a cut-down billiard cue. The ‘click’ as it strikes the ball has much the same sensation as hitting a billiard ball as well. These clubs are designed for powerful professional athletes who can generate high clubhead speed without any help from the flex of the club. They are not for the club player.
MOST CASUAL GOLFER’S CLUB ARE FAR TOO HEAVY.
Nor is the other extreme of a whippy shaft and a heavy clubhead. With this option, the club will flex more during the swing and you will get more “feel” (which was probably why Matt liked Brian’s new four iron). But your timing has to be spot-on. Powerfully built golfers may hit the ball miles with them, but with hardly any control. Heavy clubs are also not suitable for the club golfer and many Tour and teaching pros believe that golfers generally use clubs that are far too heavy (probably because clubhead weight gives a sensation of power).
Shaft flex, however, is important. The more senior, slightly-built golfer (like Brian) who plays an average of once a week, has a limited ability to generate clubhead speed and often has a slow swing tempo with little hand action. A whippy ‘A’ flex shaft, coupled with a light swing weight of C9, could give a good balance between clubhead speed and control.
Middle-aged sedentary golfers who play regularly (like Doug) often lack real clubhead speed despite having a more powerful physique. In such a case the best balance for performance is generally an ‘R’ flex shaft with a D0 – D1 swing weight. Finally, for the active players under 50 (particularly for those who have played hockey or cricket in their youth, like Matt) and who tend to hit hard through the ball, an ‘S’ or stiff flex could be O.K. An ‘R’ flex might be better, but the swing weight should be kept to between D1 and D3.
Once you have decided on the right specs for your clubs, you should be able to get a perfectly matched set easily. You should though be aware that few Tour pros use clubs that are matched, despite the manufacturer’s logos worn on bag or visor. Their bags might contain a very stiff, light-headed driver, or a 2-wood which several use for safety, (Bobby Locke setting the precedent,) plus a fairway wood of a different make. There would be a variety of makers’ names on the one, three, four and five irons and an equal variation on the soles of the pitching clubs. Locke has found through many hours of practice (which the club golfer abhors) what suits him best.
But are they matched? Well, there is the apocryphal story of Bobby Jones who won 13 majors with a selection of hand-crafted clubs gleaned from all over Britain and the US. Such was his feel for weight and flex that when they were tested, it was said they were perfectly matched – except for one club. “Ah yes,” said Jones, “I was never really happy with that niblick” (the equivalent of an 8-iron).
Golf club technology has evolved considerably since the days of Bobby Jones and golfers should be aware of the clubhead options in the 1990s. The shape of clubheads in the 1960’s and 1970s (still used by many today) were flat at the back. Forged from mild steel alloys, they were hand beaten out of a mould and gave a “soft feel” on striking the ball. Today’s heads are most likely to be cavity backed and investment cast from slightly harder metals. (Sorry if this all sounds too technical, but it has to be explained).
Now investment casting is a process where molten metal is poured into ceramic shells, which are broken when everything cools, resulting in more accurate heads. Cavity backed models are perimeter weighted (the weight is all in the rim) which is said to diminish the effects of off-centre impacts. Their lower centre of gravity gives a higher ball flight and most have a four-way radius (they are bevelled from front to back and heel to toe) which means they should slide easier through the rough.
The lofts of today’s clubs (the angle of the club face to the vertical) are also quite a lot stronger than earlier models from the 1970s. Typically, a modern wood will be one degree stronger (a modern three has 16 degrees of loft, compared to 17 degrees for a traditional model). Equally a 1990s 3-iron will have 21 degrees of loft, compared to 24, while all the other modern irons from the four to the pitching wedge are four degrees stronger. This really means that a 1990s 5-iron, with 28 degrees of loft, is equivalent to a 1970s 4-iron. No wonder that modern perimeter weighted clubs with lower centres of gravity and stronger loft shit the ball straighter, higher and further – or at least are supposed to.
But take note – not all club manufacturers have the same loft standards so you must check before you buy. Your club pro should also check your lofts once a year or so, which is something Tour pros do constantly. You can see this whenever you visit a tournament. Parked, usually beside the practice ground, are two or three exotic converted ‘mobile homes’, provided by golf club construction companies, which follow the PGA Euro Tour. They are really mobile workshops and they have the club makers logos emblazoned on their sides, plus those of shaft makers and sponsors. There is a constant stream of Tour pros tracking in and out clutching various clubs, often when they’ve finished their round for the day.
Inside (if you could talk your way in) you would find a well stocked fridge (no alcohol), comfy seats and a TV with video. The rest of the space is a real golfer’s workshop, crammed with stacks of shafts, irons, drivers and putters. There is also a machine (often a digital one) that can measure loft to the tenth of a degree and it takes only a few minutes to check any club. Tour pros need to know if their clubs are performing as they should – and the club golfer should seek similar reassurance at least once a year.
After all, with regular play, you could develop a weak 4-iron, a perfect (modern lofted) five and a strong 6-iron which would mean you were carrying three 5-irons.
At least one, if not all, of the mobile workshops have machines ‘on board’ that will measure a club’s lie – a key factor in eventual performance; a point often totally neglected by the club golfer. The lie is the angle between the shaft and the head of the club when it’s soled flat on the ground and it can have a critical effect on the direction of the shot, especially with the irons if the toe or the heel of the club make contact with the ground before the ball.
To explain: a tall golfer (like Matt) who stands close to the ball and has a fairly upright swing needs an upright lie (which makes the shaft seem more vertical). If he were to use a club with too flat a lie for his swing, its toe would catch the ground first and its heel would move past it, opening the club face and shooting the ball off right. (This, indeed, is what happened when he tried out Brian’s 4-iron which had a one degree flat lie.)
On the other hand, if you have a flattish swing and use a club with an upright lie, its heel would dig into the ground first and the club face would pivot around it, closing through the ball which would be pull-hooked left. This is not to imply that all tall players have upright swings, while shorter ones have flatter ones. It all depends on the length of arms to overall height and the distance a golfer stands away from the ball. But lie is very important and every golfer should know if he or she swings, say, one degree flat or upright, and make sure that the club matches the swing.
One way to find out how steep a lie you need is to hit a number of shots with different clubs from a lie board. Hitting the board marks the bottom of the club at a certain point which, if not along the centre of the sole, shows what’s wrong. If the mark is consistently towards the toe of the club, the lie needs to be flatter, while if towards the heel, you need a more upright angle.
So where can you, a club golfer, find a lie board – and how can you determine the optimum flex and swing weight for your very individual swing? Well, your Club pro should be able to help, but he too is faced with a large variety of choices and not too much advice from club makers (who seem to believe that 95 per cent of all golfers are suited by a standard set of their clubs).
WITH TOO FLAT A LIE, THE TOE DIGS IN.
Incidentally, out of eight club manufacturers contacted in mid 1994 with a polite request by a golfer for background details or literature on how he could be measured to fit their clubs, only one had the courtesy to reply. This is not good PR considering the cost of a new set. Club makers could and should do a lot more to help golfers get the clubs that are best suited to them, but of course they have to rely on the golf professional; very much depends on his ability and interest in making sure that his clients get the right clubs.
Another option for the golfer is the ‘Saville Row’ or custom-made clubs approach. A visit to a high-tech fitting centre of a custom club supplier (e.g. Petron) is an interesting (and learning) experience for one and all and the resulting clubs, tailored to an individual’s swing, are surprisingly not that expensive.
You first make an appointment and turn up at the allotted time with your own set of clubs. These are used as a ‘benchmark’ against which the new clubs’ performance can be measured. You are greeted in a reception area where detailed pre- and post-fitting out analysis takes place and while you are discussing your game with the resident pro, your old clubs are all tested for swing weight, flex, loft and lie on special machines. The results are invariably surprising.
Your driver, which you have never hit with any confidence, turns out to have a swingweight of D0 and is one degree open (no wonder you sliced) while your 5-wood is D2. What you thought was a matched set of irons is utterly inconsistent in weight, totally unmatched. The 4-iron has a swingweight of C3, the 6-iron is A6, the seven is B1 and the sand wedge is D4. There are 29 swingweight differences between them; no wonder your handicap has stayed so high!
The pro then measures you for three important dimensions. First is the distance from your fingertips of both hands to the ground when standing balanced and erect (there’s normally a difference of half an inch between them). This is to gauge the right length of club for you and it’s worth knowing that ‘modern’ irons are half an inch longer than those of the 1970s, which should lead to a wider swing arc and more distance, in theory.
Your ideal grip thickness is next assessed, which is not necessarily thicker for larger hands, by measuring how comfortably the club sits when you hold it. Grip size can affect performance and slicers could benefit from thinner grips than they normally use. This tends to make them hold the club more in the fingers, which leads to faster hand action. Conversely, the few golfers who are happy hookers should try grips thicker than their norm. They would find the club sits more in the palm, which slows down the speed the club face closes. You should try this when you next get your grips replaced by your club pro – which you should do at least every two years. Shiny, slippery grips don’t help your game and as most golfers are too lazy to wash their grips regularly (let alone sandpaper or scrape them) they have a limited effective life.
We’re talking about spending money. It’s common sense once you have spent money to look after your equipment and unfortunately golfers are very bad at that. They’ll buy a new £150 suit of waterproof clothes, and get them wet. When the sun comes out after about 12 holes, they take their waterproofs off and then, while the material’s still wet, stuff it in the golf bag, forget all about it and leave it in the back of the car. Then, of course, when they play the next week, the gear’s either got mildew on or it’s damaged in some way and they will then complain that they bought a faulty garment which need not necessarily be the case.
Finally, at the centre, you are measured up on a length and lie gauge to find the right angle for your clubs when you are in a comfortable address position. You then move to the driving range, where computers, linked to high-speed cameras, record the results of hitting a number of balls with a selection of carefully-chosen clubs. Typically, a 5-iron is used as a standard club and after a few warm-up shots (hitting balls off a mat into a net five yards away) the computer-camera machine is calibrated.
You then hit four balls, taking your time, with your old 5-iron. Each shot is displayed on a screen showing, by computer enhanced graphics, how far (and with what spin) the ball would have travelled down a fairway. The computer also measures the club speed at impact, ball carry, angle of the club face, swing path, impact point on the club – and tempo of each swing from start to impact.
Warming to the task, you then repeat the four ball series of swings with five different 5-irons, selected by the centre’s pro, and varying in flex and swingweight from D0 to C9, C6, C3 to flyweight. Then, perhaps a little impatient to see how you’ve performed, you return to reception for analysis and detailed explanation.
From the computer print-out of all your shots, the pro shows you that your old 5-iron has generated an average clubhead speed of 76 mph, giving a carry of 170 yards (which makes you feel like Ian Woosnam), a clubhead closed at impact by one degree (which, with your in to out swing, explains the hook) and an impact point in the centre of the club (well at least you’re doing something right). The C3 5-iron, with a graphite shaft, has a higher average clubhead speed of 79 mph, but its carry was less at 168 yards and the ball was generally struck near the heel. The featherweight club, strangely enough, only generated an average 75 mph speed and you didn’t really like its feel anyway.
One 5-iron in the series really does stand out. It’s a perimeter weighted club with a C9 swing weight, an ‘R’ flex steel shaft and a one degree flat lie. Giving a consistent impact in the centre of the club face, this is clearly the club for you.
So do you immediately reach for the cheque book and order a matched set? Well, there is no hard sell pressure to buy, curiously enough. Custom club suppliers generally like to sell their wares through your club pro – and prefer him to attend the fitting out sessions, if possible. What they do give the golfer is, above all, a feeling of confidence that his clubs really suit him and that if he does need a ‘Mulligan’ on the first tee, he will only have himself to blame.
CUSTOM-MADE CLUBS WILL SUIT YOUR SWING.
Armed with his personal club spec though, there are still other considerations for the golfer to ponder over when it comes to selecting the combination of clubs that he carries around. Being long off the tee, or having a short game, can make a difference. Let’s see how the members of our fourball could each pick the best mix.
Bob, who is a confirmed slicer, should probably never wield a driver in anger. There’s nothing to be ashamed about this; it’s merely pragmatic. A 2-wood off the tee, with a modern loft of 13 degrees, will reduce his sidespin and slice. It should have a metal or graphite head, with an ‘R’ flex steel (or mid torque graphite) shaft. He could also consider carrying a three, a five and a seven wood of similar materials, while his irons should have similar shafts with perimeter weighted heads to aid off-centre hits. Finally, on all of them, he should fit (having tried out first) say one sixteenth of an inch thinner grips, which should increase his hand action.
Brian, who lacks length off the tee, constantly has to hit longer second shots to the greens, needs help from his clubs to gain as much distance as possible. All his shafts should be ‘A’ flex (or high torque graphite) to give as much ‘kick’ as possible. He should use a driver and try thinner grips to increase his clubhead speed.
Doug, the rare hooker in our fourball, could consider leaving his driver behind, a 2-wood giving him almost as much distance and probably being straighter off the tee. With ‘R’ flex shafts in all clubs, he should also carry a 4-wood, which is an excellent club from light rough. He should try slightly oversize grips to help him hold the clubs more in the palm and control his tendency to end up left.
Finally comes Matt, who has a handicap of 16, the lowest of the four. He may need ‘S’ flex (or low torque graphite) shafts on all his clubs and could sport a driver, three and five woods all with persimmon heads. He could also use forged traditional irons – if he could afford them and if he played more. But then we all need to play a bit more, don’t we?
Playing more with the right equipment would benefit, if not the Tour pro. It’s sobering to note that, despite modern technology, in mid 1994 the average drive of a player on the US Professional Tour measured some 264 yards, only eight yards more than the average in 1969, 25 years previously. Average US pro scores have fallen by one stroke (to 71) during this period – though many courses have been stretched. However, this has been credited to the fact that players are fitter today, more athletic and have benefitted from more intensive coaching. There is also the considerably greater financial incentives for each tournament. None of this applies to the social golfer, who probably hasn’t changed at all in the past 25 years – but high tech clubs would have a positive effect on his game, if only he played with them a more.
But what about that vital complement to any set of clubs, the balls that make the game go round? Well, they can make (or unmake) the player too. There is an enormous choice of golf balls on the market today and you can buy a type that both suits your game and the course you are playing. Too few golfers though know how to make that choice, or even think for a moment about the ammunition they use. Rather like motor cars, there are no bad golf balls now. Some are different and feel better than others, softer, harder, some last longer, some don’t cut as easily. But it is quite important and sensible to get a golf ball that suits your game. It can make quite a difference.
The proof is seen in most golfer’s bags: a mix of balls, two-piece and wound, with a few balata covers (often cut) and with a variety of compressions and trajectories. How can any golfer hope to play with any consistency with such a mixture? There is no need to.
All the ball manufacturers, in co-operation with golf magazines, regularly publish listings of makes with details of their construction, covers and compressions. There are also charts grouping balls suitable for traditionally forged clubs and perimeter weighted ones; high trajectory balls (if you normally hit them lower than you’d like) and low trajectory types; those suitable for courses with narrow fairways and others with wide open spaces. The weather is also catered for: certain ball types are listed for windy conditions, and others for abnormally dry or very wet ones.
A golfer can gain some useful information from these charts, but there are three points you should bear in mind:
A balata cover is very soft and if you’ve got any roughness on the face of your irons or if the grooves in the clubs are a little bit sharp, every time you hit it, even if you strike the ball correctly, you will rough it up as if you’ve rubbed a file or rasp over the cover and after two or three holes a ball can look very aged indeed. Surlyn is more durable, a little bit stronger.
You would probably find the use of a 100 compression ball downright off-putting (it’s rather like hitting a stone) so use a 90 compression ball and stick with it.
When you’ve decided on the optimum ball for your game and course, don’t buy any other type. If you find any others in the rough, use them for practice at best.
To sum up and to simplify advice to the club golfer on the tools of the trade, we could say that you owe it to yourself to:
make certain that your clubs are right for your swing, in terms of swing weight, flex and lie; and
choose and use only the golf balls that suit your game and your course conditions best.
This will bring you a certain peace of mind when you next tee off. Let’s see how you should use this equipment for the best . . .
