Time to start some golf mechanics discussions…
2023 Golf Digest Hot List at AK CHIN Southern Dunes in Maricopa, AZ on Thursday November 3, 2022 . When in-the-know golfers hear the phrase “distance gapping,” their first and only thought is about getting the proper spacing of lofts and distances between their wedges. Fact is, the problems with...
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Using data from the Rapsodo MLM2Pro at this year’s Hot List testing summit, we looked at five of our Hot List panelists with driver swing speeds just slightly under 90 miles per hour. The average distance between the 7-iron and 5-iron for that group was just five yards, and none of them showed an adequate distance gap between the 5- and 7-iron. Two actually carried the 7-iron farther than the 5-iron. Only one in the group recorded a yardage gap between the 7- and 5-iron in double-digits, but even then the 16-yard gap would not be nearly enough to accommodate three clubs (5-, 6- and 7-iron).
The problem has become more prevalent in recent years because iron lofts have gotten much stronger. A decade ago, the typical loft for a 7-iron was around 30 degrees or higher. Now, it’s often as low as 27 degrees or lower. And 5-irons today have the lofts of 3-irons not that long ago. Lower loft might yield more ball speed, theoretically, but without sufficient swing speed, those shots will not generate enough launch or spin to carry far enough to create proper distance gaps. In fact, research from Mizuno showed that at 7-iron swing speeds between 70-80 miles per hour (again, LPGA level and better), a slightly higher lofted 7-iron (like 31 degrees) is going to carry farther than a lower-lofted 7-iron (28 degrees).
I’m a numbers guy on the course. I’ve started practicing at an indoor facility that has like 7 Trackman bays…..LOVE all the numbers you get from Trackman.
Just saw this. Was going to post some neener neener link about LIV's ratings sucking vs the Honda but this is much more interesting. lol
The wisdom for years has been for slower swingers to replace the long irons with hybrids to deal with some of the gapping and distance problems. 15 or so years ago when I was doing a LOT of fittings, sets with hybrids included all the way down to the 6i were even starting to come out. Adams was famous for these.
As mentioned in the article, the delofting of clubs over the years has made 3-5i almost impossible for most golfers to hit, because they're the same as the old 1-3 irons! OEMs started doing this to sell clubs to people who hadn't upgraded in a while. If you see your 7i flying 8-10yds farther than your current 7i you just think "I'm hitting my 7i longer" instead of "this isn't really the same as my 7i, it's basically like my 6i".
Now that most golfers have upgraded in the past 10 or so years they don't get the same sales boost from that contrast (though merch has been selling fine the last few years with the pandemic boom). So OEMs have been trying other tricks like hollow heads, more weights, more face inserts, different materials, foam filling, etc.
The clubhead design & weighting aspect helps some but there's more than just swing speed and MOI or COR to worry about. The quality of the contact and angle of attack are also important.
Sidespin can also rob distance by reducing backspin needed for carry, or just expending ballflight energy sideways instead of forward (meaning the carry is curved to the side a bit and puts you in a front guarding bunker instead of just on the green 5yds further up).
Sidespin is also potentially the product of a glancing blow that reduces smash factor and ball compression, which sacrifices even more distance.
As another example, if someone is flipping the club in order to help the ball into the air they're going to add loft and lose distance vs making a clean strike on the sweet spot with a slightly descending or even level clubhead path.
If their flex, kick point, and weight in the shaft are wrong they're also not going to optimize their contact or numbers. This is a whole other long discussion.
So in general, people hitting the 5i shorter than the 7i is a problem similar to what we saw 20+ years ago before the driver tech really went nuts, when people hit their 3w farther than their drivers. This happened simply because they got better contact and launch conditions with the slightly higher lofted, shorter shafted club...even with the same slower swing speeds.
If you're playing around with launch monitors like Trackman you know all about this. But the numbers are only as good as the interpretation.
I know my swing pretty well, and recently I was hitting in an LM while shopping for a new driver. I was getting high backspin numbers and the guy manning like 8 LMs at the same time gave his half-assed 3 second interpretation: it was because I was cutting across the ball and fading it as a result which was adding backspin.
I was hitting with what I knew to be draw swings so that wasn't it. The ball should not be showing as a cut.
The main problem was the bays were not aligned with the LM correctly so the aim point on the screen was almost all the way to the right near the corner instead of directly in front of the tee. So the LM thought I was cutting across on every shot.
I also know his interpretation is based on an old myth: that draws go farther because hey have less backspin than fades. It's not exactly what happens.
The shot shape alone doesn't add more backspin. The curved shape is determined by spin around a slightly diagonal axis tilted to one side or the other.
Adding loft by keeping the face open might add backspin, but you'd see that in your angles of attack and probably dynamic loft and launch. Conversely, if you close the face in a draw swing you might deloft it a bit and get more distance as a result of the lower launch angle (not always good) or even some added power from the contact or a bit of hands in the release. But not the spin alone.
A clubhead path with the same loft that's either cutting inside or moving a bit outside will have the same amount of backspin but produce a fade or draw of equal curve. And around 85% of the starting line will be from the face angle (image not 100% accurate but close).
I can tell you from what I've measured and calculated wrt golf physics that the shot in the above image would start a bit right or straightish and hook like a bitch with that much gap between FA and clubhead path. The margin for error is WAY way WAY way smaller than that.
Anyway, tangent aside, the point is that people can draw weird conclusions from LM numbers. The people in this "study" should be looking at all the factors, especially smash and angles of attack, to diagnose the problem. Swing speed and carry are the superficial factors.
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