The Golf Thread

#14,576
#14,576
Rishvol said:
What's getting me is seeing these guys hit a crappy tee shot and end up in some pretty thick stuff. Then hit it on the green 200+ yards away from that position
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I agree totally. Part of it is that are hitting a flyer with an 8 iron, versus a 3 or 4 iron 50 years ago, but they are really strong.
 
#14,577
#14,577
1972 Grad said:
A significant portion of the distance increase is the optimization of launch and spin. Part of it is the increase in the coefficient of restitution of the face of the driver. Part of it is the dimple patterns and material and construction of the ball. It no longer has a liquid center surrounded by rubber bands, and a balata cover.

Part of it is agronomy with different kinds of grass that are kept short with firm fairways. Part of it is the lack of spin on the ball, and the size and forgiveness of the driver head, allowing the player to swing harder without fear of hitting it off the planet. And, part of it is player fitness, and knowing what exercises are needed to increase clubhead speed.

I believe that the coefficient of restitution (c.o.r.) was about .77 for the old persimmon woods, and .78 for early metal woods. The max c.o.r. is set at .822 with a .008 overage allowed, making it .830. For each one hundredth increase in c.o.r., there is a 4 yard increase in distance for a 100 mph swing speed. So, you are looking at a 25 yard increase for the clubhead for a 100 mph swing speed. Since some swing at 125 or so, you now have a 30 yard increase from any driver today versus a wood head.
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What were Nicklaus's/Palmer's swing speeds in their primes? Do we know? Trying to figure out what percentage of the distance increase is due to better equipment and which percentage is due to faster swing speeds.
 
#14,579
#14,579
05_never_again said:
What were Nicklaus's/Palmer's swing speeds in their primes? Do we know? Trying to figure out what percentage of the distance increase is due to better equipment and which percentage is due to faster swing speeds.
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I don't know the answer, but I saw both Jack and Arnie play in their primes, and they took a pretty hard swipe at it. I also saw Hogan and Snead when they were still competitive, even though they were just past age 50. Nicklaus always had an extra 30 yards when he needed it on a reachable par 5.
 
#14,580
#14,580
1972 Grad said:
I don't know the answer, but I saw both Jack and Arnie play in their primes, and they took a pretty hard swipe at it. I also saw Hogan and Snead when they were still competitive, even though they were just past age 50. Nicklaus always had an extra 30 yards when he needed it on a reachable par 5.
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I just searched it. Nicklaus had his swing speed measured for the first time at age 58 and got it up to 118 which is pretty remarkable.
 
#14,583
#14,583
GAVol said:
I just searched it. Nicklaus had his swing speed measured for the first time at age 58 and got it up to 118 which is pretty remarkable.
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That's pretty high for age 58, I would think. I would guess that he would have been close to 10 mph faster in his prime. I was 107mph at age 50, and have lost 15 mph in the last 18 years. Jack is 10 years older than me, so he must have gotten measured first 20 years ago in 1998. My first time was about year 2000. I'm in pretty good shape for age 68, but have a lot of arthritis, and the stiffness cuts down my turn. Age has definitely caught up with me. When you lose both strength and flexibility, you are in trouble distance wise.
 
#14,584
#14,584
This is the best time ever to swing slow though. You probably have to drop down to 75mph or so before the ball and equipment stops helping you.
 
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#14,585
#14,585
GAVol said:
This is the best time ever to swing slow though. You probably have to drop down to 75mph or so before the ball and equipment stops helping you.
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I'm still at 92 mph, but I've lost about 30-35 yards in the last 15 years. It will get worse as I age. I read something the other day that said average swing speed players didn't get nearly the same help from equipment as the high swing speed guys. In other words, there is a bigger distance difference between 120 and 130 mph than between 90 and 100. It isn't linear.

If I was still hitting my clubs and balls from 40 years ago, I would really be hurt trying to play the members' tees like I do now. I played it all the way back until about 6 or 7 years ago. It was getting too long for me.
 
#14,586
#14,586
1972 Grad said:
. I read something the other day that said average swing speed players didn't get nearly the same help from equipment as the high swing speed guys. In other words, there is a bigger distance difference between 120 and 130 mph than between 90 and 100. It isn't linear.
.
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Great point! Good reason why handicaps haven't drop much in the last 25 yrs.
 
#14,593
#14,593
Highly recommend everyone tune into the US Amateur this week. I volunteer out there this week. On Tuesday I was walking scorer with a group including the sons of David Toms and Tom Lehman. David caddied for his son and Tom followed along the whole way at Spyglass. The famous caddie Andy Martinez was on the bag for Tom's son. Unfortunately neither made the cut to match play. Yesterday I scored for a match between a 16 yr old and a kid about to start his Freshman year at Wake Forest (younger brother of Matthew Fitzpatrick). Both hit it much further than me. Anyways, I think there is live coverage on USGA.com and FS1 in the evenings.
 
#14,595
#14,595
I've gotten to the point in my golf game where I can finally score in the 80's consistently. My iron and wedge striking is really crisp and solid with only the occasional push. However, as soon as I transition to driver, all hell breaks loose. I tend to slice it really bad even though I feel like I'm making the same swing I'm making with my irons.

Does anyone better than me have any suggestions?
 
#14,596
#14,596
Check ball position with driver...make sure it's played off the left instep or left armpit. And......Never, repeat never, let your sternum be in front of the ball at impact.

JMO without seeing you swing.
 
#14,599
#14,599
Orange Sunset said:
Yes
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The reason I asked is because I have always played stock length, lie, grip size, etc. I was once a 3 handicap, but hardly ever play now. I do practice fairly often though, and hit it as well as ever, just not as long at age 68.

I recently bought some used irons, Ping G30 orange dots. I thought they were red when I first saw them, looked it up, and found out red is .75 degrees flat. I figured that less than a degree wouldn't make a difference, so I bought them. On a static Ping chart, I fall into standard or 1 upright.. I'm 6 feet tall with normal length arms.

Anyway, I go to the range , not knowing they were that flat, and hit them really well, but have lost my normal draw, which is fine with me. After that time, I noticed they were orange dots, so I look them up, and find I have a 61.75 degree lie angle on the wedges. Before, I lined up right and often still lost it left. If I aimed straight, I would hit it left. Now, I don't worry so much about hitting irons, especially short irons, left.

I checked my divots and they weren't deeper on one side than the other. I had no lie board, so I put a vertical stripe on the ball with a sharpie marker, and the stripe left on the clubface is perfectly vertical. I am surprised that I can play flat irons, because a very small percentage of Ping fittings fit people into Orange dots. Usually, those guys are 5'4". Color me surprised.
 
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