Failed Experiments

[leezer99]

A lot of people talk down on the 'jacked lofts' of today's irons but in reality OEM's had to do this to maintain ball flight. The new tech is launching balls higher than the blades of the past.

[wildcatden]

I'm certainly guilty of talking down the jacked lofts of newer clubs. I was considering whether I should reshaft a set of 1999 Hogan Apex Plus irons I picked up a Savers for $32 into my junior's length (TS3-54 specs roughly). The thought would be to get him to learn to strike the ball well/better. Sounds like this might be a failed experiment before it even starts.

[heavy_hitter]

This is correct. Had this discussion with the kid's coach. The V6 is more like a blade though it does have some tech in it.

[yellowlover519]

I think it depends on swing/impact. My son is less toey and has more success with the players version of his clubs than the more forgiving ones. Playing players clubs the last couple of years also got him to stand much closer to the ball. In HH’s case, if his son tends to be toey, makes a lot of sense to go into GI/SGI clubs.

[heavy_hitter]

My kid actually isn't toey at all. It is the lie angle. His old clubs were an inch short and Ball mark is in the center. New clubs are standard length with no lie angle adjustment and ball is on the toe. Adjusted lie and the ball is in the center. He was the only one that used the club he was being fitted with (being left handed can be a perk) and it already started to wear a quarter off in the center of the face. When the course is extended to 6500 yards you need to etch out all the distance you can from every club. I don't think your kid has had to stretch out the course yet. A big difference going into a green with a PW rather than a 7i.

[leezer99]

GolfWRX in speaking with the TM guys regarding the "jacked" lofts:

[mattwalterpga]

So I'm a little behind on this thread but he's somethings I think every parent should know.

I don't put juniors in adult clubs until they are 5 feet tall and can swing driver easily over 70 mph. That's just like a rule of thumb for me. I never put them in ladies shafts because honestly they're not much stiffer than a juniors from the testing I have done. So I throw them in a senior graphite or a light regular steel depending on their strength.

For those that are trying to have your kids grow into clubs, please stop. That's just moronic. I'll give you a driver 5 feet long and see how well you "grow into" that driver. It's always better to play something to short and to light then to long and heavy. So let them grow out of their clubs instead of into an adult set. In this thread alone it's been mentioned how much easier lighter shorter clubs are to hit.

Also, the idea that you have to update them every few months to match growth spurts and what not. I've never had to deal with that. Every year go get checked to see. I've had kids grow 6 inch and only need a 1/4 of an inch added in length to their clubs. Huge speed changes will force your hand to upgrade shafts most likely. But even still I could go throw a round under par playing regular flex crap right now. To weak a shaft will hurt dispersion some but if your dispersion is way out of whack that aint the club. Know what I mean?

 

Also, in regards to SuperSpeed sticks. I love them. I have kids use them all the time. The only time you should train it is at the end of practice session with the understanding that you are not going to get the club face square the first few hits after because your getting to the ball sooner if your going 3-5 mph faster. I've never seen any long term (more than a single practice session) problems caused by training with super speed sticks. Most likely you are not using the correct set if you are having issues or not seeing speed gains. But if your kid is not training to go faster they will get left in the dust quickly.

 

Matt Out

[4rheel]

Good info on here by many but I think one of the best advice I received was (I think from heavy) to have my boy get into steel shafts early instead of babying him with lightweight graphite I wanted him to transition from. Soon as he started steel, he got stronger real quick.

 

A failed experiment was probably getting him into forged players irons too quickly (Miura PP-9003, then Fourteen FH900). Old pro suggested it as I received the same advice when I was a junior player. Eventually got him into some game improvement forged irons and he loves them.

[Kcct82]

Sorry, but Im gonna go off topic for a sec and ask a quick question. Would using clubs that are too heavy promote casting? My kid can’t get rid of casting, thanks.

[heavy_hitter]

Yep. No reason any junior your kids age should be in any club other than US Kids or Flynn!!

[BloctonGolf11]

Yes we just moved my 10 year old into adult heads this year and it was only after a lot of soul searching and thinking and making dang sure his swing speed justified it and he is BIG for his age (60" tall and is turning 10 tomorrow). Before that it was just his driver and fairway and that didn't go in until he was 9 and the USKids driver and fairway just weren't performing. Slow down on all the club tinkering with your 7 year old. Trust me plenty of time to mess with the equipment later on. Keep him in USKids or Flynn.

[hangontight]

@mattwalterpga - please elaborate on the last comment about speed. Very aware of why, but when? At what age? All ages?

[tiger1873]

I totally agree way too many young kids getting OEM drivers and making them as long as they can to eek out as many yards as they can. This is the worst thing you can do to a kid long term.

most kids could get by on US Kids or Flynn driver and score just fine for that age. The problem is when you do tournaments and you see these other kids with crazy long drivers driving the green. So like everyone else I end up buying an OEM driver so my kid is not blown away. I just keep the shaft more reasonable and little short. Honestly I beginning to think just having social play dates is actually better when there under 10 is a better way. Kids have way more fun too.

 

[mattwalterpga]

Well SuperSpeed has sticks for kids as young as 5-7 years old. Those sticks are tiny! But I personally don't see any issue with kids learning how to go fast and learning how to create speed. There's like a stigma behind going fast or swinging hard that I never understood. I understand that you can't play golf at 100% all out but holding your kid back to try and make them more accurate over distance in my opinion doesn't make sense. Especially little little guys/girls, because they can't hit it far enough to even hit it far enough left or right to be in trouble. I'll take the kid that can bomb it and hit 2-3 balls crooked in 9 holes over the kid that can't hit it out of his shadow but never misses a fairway.

 

The big thing behind speed development is that you have to understand that when your training speed your not training accuracy. If you try and blend it your screwed.

[leezer99]

Which is why the SS sticks have just a solid metal cylinder at the bottom instead of an iron head. Subconsciously people were trying to square the head during speed training and slowing down, so they kept it as is.