3Jack's Equipment to Look at for 2014

[Richie3Jack]

I’m coming up with some things I would like to experiment with when it comes to equipment for next season.

Gonzo Wood: I will go into what the Gonzo wood is shortly as 2013 Pro Golf Synopsis comes out. It’s an ‘invention’ I came up with for a club. So far the club works out quite well for me. However, I think I could make it even better as I will try to work out the kinks. I doubt more than a handful of people will take up the Gonzo Wood concept in the end, but it has had a positive impact on my game so far.

Back weighting: I am a believer in MBI. I think Doherty’s spreadsheet is probably a bit overkill and all I really need to do is to get the shaft+grip weight to be at 60% of the head’s weight.

Shafts, Shafts and More Shafts: I want to try out the Nippon Modus shafts. I also think I’m going to try out the KBS C-Taper .370 shafts in my shorter iron. Perhaps going something like the True Temper DynaLite Gold SL shafts in my 3 & 4 iron (currently in place now), Nippon Modus shafts in my 5-6-7 irons and the KBS C-Taper .370 shafts in my 8-9-PW. I think the lead tape on the shaft idea for MBI works, but I question if it launches shots a little too low. I will have to see how the back weighting works, first.

Hybrid: I would like to get the face angle of my hybrid at 1-degree open. I would need to find a clubmaker that can bend the lie angle. If not, I will just have to order another 775HS with a 1-degree open face angle.

New 5-iron & 6-iron: I would like to go from the Wishon cavity back 575MMC to the muscleback 575 MMC in my 6-iron and try it out with my 5-iron. The idea was to use CB in these irons to add some trajectory, but I really don’t see that as a problem now.

Next Model of Wishon irons: Rumor has it that a new model of Wishon irons will be up sometime next year. Wishon has discontinued his famous 555 model which was designed after the set he made for Payne Stewart when Stewart won at Pinehurst. This is supposed to offer a ‘pure’ blade design. Knowing Wishon, he will probably offer a CB and MB model. I have no idea when this will be brought into the market or what the design even is.




3JACK

[ericpaul2]

RE: MBI...are you feeling like the 60% value is golfer specific, or universal? I guess I'm tempted to believe that it could be swing specific, but that as long as it's consistent from club to club, the golfer would adjust over time through a little experimentation.

That said, does this mean the the club balance point should be a certain percentage of the length of the club (say, 20% of the total club length from the head to the balance point)?

This reminds me...you've mentioned before that once you get club MOI balanced by monitoring impact dispersion, you then adjust the lie angle to move the center of dispersion to the sweetspot. Am I correct in assuming that if the dispersion is towards the toe, the lie angle should be flattened to move it towards the center? Do you have a rule of thumb for how much (1 deg for a 1/4 inch for example)?

[Richie3Jack]

Swing specific.

I believe that Monte Doherty's is at 50%.

If it less than 50%, that means the concentration of mass in the club is more towards the head.

More than 50% that means the concentration of mass in the club is more towards the shaft and grip.

Better players will be at greater than 50%. They generate more club head speed and tend to have a later release (un-cocking of the #2 Power Accumulator). The aggressiveness of transition is also a factor.

I really think if you can fit yourself for a 6-iron, you will probably find what that percentage is.

I feel a major issue with club fitting is that with irons, we usually fit with a 6-iron (or a 7-iron). And in essence we are just fitting for our swing for that particular club. That's why we can hit the 7-iron and 5-iron well since they are both clubs next to the 6-iron. But once we get further away from the 6-iron, like a 9-iron or a 3-iron, the fit isn't nearly as good. The Balance is way off and with the long iron the concentration of mass becomes too shaft+grip oriented. With the short irons, the concentration becomes too head oriented. And that throws off the launch angle and spin rates. We end up launch the 3-iron too low and with not enough spin. We don't need to hit our 3-iron low, the low loft will do that for us. And with the short irons, we end up launching the ball high with too much spin. We don't need that with the short irons as the higher lofts will do that for us.



If the dispersion is towards the toe...the club needs to be bent more upright. If the dispersion is towards the heel, the club needs to be bent more flat.

I'm really not a fan of deviating much in lie angles from 60* lie angle with a 38" club (typically a 5-iron).

We know from Wishon that 1/2" in shaft length = 1 degree of effective lie angle.

And from devices like Trackman and FlightScope, that the Vertical Swing plane with the irons should be around 60-degrees.

So that's why many OEM's make 5-irons which are 38" long and at 60* lie angles. Then because the rest of the clubs are at 1/2" shaft increments, the lie angle changes by 0.5 to 1-degrees. Thus, if you're playing with 'standard' length clubs and bending your lie angle by +3 degrees upright to counter yourself hitting it off the toe, your swing is really malfunctioning. You're just adjusting your equipment to give a Band-Aid fix for that malfunction. And you risk ingraining those malfunctioning pieces.







3JACK

[ericpaul2]

If I remember correctly, Monte suggests that MBI can effect curvature as well (tending towards fades or draws).

Are you no longer making lie angle adjustments as part of MOI fitting, or just very little adjustment?

[Richie3Jack]

Monte suggests that, but I don't believe he is correct. I think he used anecdotal evidence. Not saying that I'm not doing the same thing, but I cannot see how the balance would affect the face angle and path to create a different curvature. Instead, I can see why it would change launch and spin rate (concentration of mass in different locations).

You have to bend the lie angle quite a bit to really affect the MOI. I don't make lie angle adjustments anyway because I don't have a bending machine.

If somebody insisted upon it...I would tell them to have at it with bending lie angles. I just think that if you're serious about being fitted for clubs AND progressing your swing mechanics...I would live by the 38", 60 degree lie angle rule.








3JACK

[ericpaul2]

I've seen other resources suggest modifying the club weight distribution between head and shaft based on ball flight. If I remember correctly, they suggested if you are pushing the ball, to make the head heavier/shaft lighter and if you are pulling to make the head lighter/shaft heavier. Obviously, there are a lot of swing flaws that do the same thing.