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Golfmats, Golfmatten, Limpiapiés de golf |
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See our countryside B&B, located adjacent the beautiful Golf Club Issum in Germany.
Clubmaker's Corner Club design and construction by Steve Long Long Golf
Note: This web page is a living document--it is updated as required. Unlike a finished book, it won't go out of date.
1. A convenient source of single component glue for shafting.
1. A convenient source of single component glue for shafting. If you have ever bought a bottle of single component glue for shafting, only to have it turn into goop or even harden after only one or a few uses, please note the following: the same type of product is now marketed in hardware stores, at least in small sizes, and probably in most of the industrialized world. What is it? Here in Germany it's called Superflex Gel by UHU. Another brand, Pattex, seems to have an equivalent version, based on the packaging, although I haven't actually tried it. Pattex is I think owned by an American company, so it may be widely available in the U.S. The packaging says its flexible, and vibration and impact proof. Well the UHU is, so far, on my three wood, driver, and four iron for many months now. We will see how long it lasts but it's probably as good as the black stuff I bought through a golf supply before. It comes in small quantities so even if it does go bad in the tube, it's not a big concern. The type of glue, by the way, is a type of CA, or cyanoacrylate, otherwise known as a super glue. It has been modified to make it flexible. These adhesives cure from moisture.
Heavier putters can give more control over short putt speed, and maybe all lengths of putts. Heavy putters have a bigger sweet spot. Putters with the mass moved to the outside and the back have bigger sweet spots. Mass moved to the back widens the sweet spot in the vertical direction. Some mass in the front of a very wide putter can be substituted by a shaft mounted toward the front, to stabilize the face vertically and horizontally. Mass added inside the grip end of the shaft can smooth out a stroke and improve the feel of a putter. I added about 250g to mine. Another factor for distance control that is probably not understood well, because it's pure physics, is the effect of dead face inserts. Dead inserts in the clubface reduce ball speed for a given clubhead speed, thus increasing control of distance. Use the deadest face insert you can find. This means using a plastic or rubber insert instead of metal, and one that acts as a damper. It would have a low coefficient of restitution (COR). The ball jumps off the insert more slowly than would be the case with a higher COR. By using a lower COR insert, you gain the advantage of using a greater force increment applied by your muscles to get a given increment in ball speed. This means that it will be easier for you to produce the ball speed you want because your muscles are using bigger differences in force for given increases in ball speed. The mistakes you make in muscle force become less noticeable, because the same mistake produces less difference in distance. Your distance control improves. This is especially noticeable on short putts, because the muscle forces are often very low, so it's difficult to produce the muscle force you want even if you know exactly what it should be. Soft inserts also take out of play the variation in golf balls that would otherwise produce distance variation for short shots like putting. I am referring to variation in ball resilience which is evident in various rebound heights of balls dropped on hard surfaces. With a soft insert, you can putt any ball and get the same response because the flexing is happening entirely in the insert instead of in the ball. The insert sort of slings the ball instead of compressing it. Caution: there is a minimum Durometer or hardness of the face of the putter according to the rules of golf.
If you have any questions or comments, please email me at the address on the home page.
What is the effect of swingweight differences? Lighter swingweights seem to require a later uncocking of the wrists. It is later in the downswing when the uncocking starts. If the swingweight is heavy enough, then not only is the uncocking moved all the way to the beginning of the downswing, but an additional compensation is required. Two possible compensations come to mind: 1) the pulldown force moving the arms can be lighter so as to give the uncocking more time, and 2) the amount of wrist cocking can be reduced so that there is less uncocking to do. Either or a combination of these two could be used. When I had golfer's elbow a lower swingweight definitely helped protect my elbow but I am not sure why. The pain was in the elbow where the muscle tendons that uncock the wrists are connected to the elbow bone. It had seemed that the stress on these tendons should be the same regardless of swingweight but that doesn't turn out to be true. Why would I expect the stress to be the same? Because the muscles create the stress, not the club. But if the club offers less resistance (lower swingweight) then perhaps the stress just doesn't have a chance to build up...or... I am using less force without knowing it. I don't know which it is. The lighter swingweight does make a faster swing for sure, and the uncocking starts later, but beyond that I cannot figure out what is happening.
Copyright 2009,10 Steve Long, Quote with attribution. |
