Golf Equipment• Anatomy of the golf club• Shaft function, composition, and length• Golf club head• Loft of irons• Distances with different clubs• Club matching – swing weight• Perimeter weighting• Ball-club impact characteristics• Recent innovations in clubs, shafts, and balls• References and websites
Shaft• Function is to place clubhead
in position for ball contact
• Composition, flex (feel), length
Golf Clubs - Head• Function is to impart velocity and spin to ball
• Important features: loft (fig 9.4, p 112), size of face, weight, moment of inertia, hardness (COR)
Loft of Driver, 3-, and 5-Woods
Club MatchingSwing Wt Conversion:
Some clubs are matched for “Feel”, or stiffness, or vibration frequency (driver -4.2, 2 Hz, 5 iron - 5.7 Hz, 9 iron - 6.8 Hz)
Recent Innovations in Golf Clubs• New materials allow larger clubs and perimeter weighting concept
to be applied to a greater degree• Results in more “forgiving” clubs• Titanium - greater strength/mass ratio• Putters - more variations and gimmicks than any other club (soft
face, curved face, offset head• Irons - investment casting allows cavity-backed, perimeter
weighting• Metal woods - are hollow, larger and perimeter weighted
• Claims of trampoline effect - more lively, or greater COR
Recent Innovations in Shafts• New materials allow stiffer, lighter shafts• Steel is still used by most golfers and comes in
different levels of stiffness,or flex• Carbon graphite is lighter and stiffer, but earlier
models lacked torsional stability• Titanium is popular, but expensive and too stiff
for most golfers• Some clubs are matched for resonate frequency
Golf Balls• For many years there were two main types: balata
(3-piece with liquid-filled rubber center, rubber winding, and soft balata cover; and surlyn (2-piece with plastic core and surlyn cover).
• Newer balls are either of two pieces (core and cover), or three pieces, as shown here.
A.Core B.Ionomer CasingC. Urethane elastomer coverD. Dimple design
Golf Equipment References
• Cochran and Stobbs. (1986) Search for the Perfect Swing.• Daish, C.B. (1972) The physics of ball games.• http://www.cobragolf.com/• http://www.titleist.com/• Tech Line Corp, Technology in Golf (
http://www.techlinegolf.com/)• DaveT's Club Design
(http://www.clubmaker-online.com/intro.html)
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