How much BS are we being fed by the big brands?

[gators78]

I've found similar results when comparing and old wooden driver to my recent one and it's probably the industry's dirty little secret, I think the modified James Carville quote is appropriate when talking about golf equipment.

 

"It's the economy ball, stupid"

[Ri_Redneck]

Printed drivers...how long will that head stay in good shape?

 

Yeah, will it outlast all those drivers with cracking faces?

 

BT

[2putttom]

o p, try the same club when your swing is not in the groove.

[bobcat]

The best way to improve your driver skill is to pay the initiation fee at a club with super-wide fairways.

 

Sorry pinestreet, but you are speaking only for yourself with that 'rather lame' comment! :taunt:

 

This may come as a 'shock', 'but 'Big Brand BS', (the topic), has nothing to do with "driver skill"... :swoon:

 

 

:golfer:

[ChipNRun]

Getting new clubs?

 

I just turned 68, and I have different clubs than when I was 58. Part of it is a decline in raw strength.

 

I played with one set of irons (fitted component clubs) for 14 years before switching in 2009.

 

I changed to the Calla X20 irons for two seasons, and then switched to X20 Tours - got a good deal, and I had hit the Tours several times in 2009. Good iron play.. But after three seasons, the PX 5.0 shafts on the Tours became hard to handle. So I had them reshafted in lighter NS Pro 8950GH shafts. The lighter shafts gave me a 12 yard gain on distance, and more consistent shots. I was fortunate to get a X20 Tour demo 6i for cheap, and used it to test out different shafts before going with the NS.

 

In recap, I bought the slightly used X20s for $300, and then traded them for the Tours for a net $200 extra. The reshafted irons ($320 parts and labor) worked for four seasons, and now I switched to the CB Pro irons. (Also, probably about $500 of regripping). So, I spent $1,320 total on the X20 family and got 9 seasons of golf out of them (spreading cost = about $147 a year).

 

But, I made incremental adjustments rather than trying to buy the next big thing.

[carrier street]

There's a TON of bs in golf marketing. But most of what they're selling is hope. Hope that players can recreate that one great shot per round that keeps them coming back. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[mds5062]

Tiger was hitting 300 yd drives with a tiny metal wood in the 90's but how was the accuracy? Over the course of a full round, and with bad and good swings, would you have the same results? Love the idea and awesome that you have the knowledge and skill to do this. Keep tinkering with it and maybe try putters next?

[NRJyzr]

I've found similar results when comparing and old wooden driver to my recent one and it's probably the industry's dirty little secret, I think the modified James Carville quote is appropriate when talking about golf equipment.

 

"It's the economy ball, stupid"

 

 

You mean the ball that's been regulated for decades, and was actually rolled back by the new ODS parameters?

[BeerPerHole]

Neat job printing that up! Very cool. To answer your question - yes. There's a lot of malarkey in equipment marketing. Seems to me that if you get the right shaft for your swing, head(s) that look good to your eye, and grips for your finger lengths you're golden...

[dalehead]

Well I'm not going to be 3D printing any clubs for myself, but if it works for you...

[Cwebb]

Wow, that is an interesting design. Nice work.

 

To your question of "how much bs are we being fed by the big brands?". The answer is loads and loads

[Payton1020]

What is it actually made of? Titanium or ??

 

And wtf is "printed"??

[ThinkingPlus]

What is it actually made of? Titanium or ??

 

And wtf is "printed"??

I believe it was 3D printed (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing) using ABS (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_butadiene_styrene).

[calfan36]

Woah. What is ABS

[dunn]

So your a company right, nothing has really changed much but you still have to come up with new clubs to sell every year or 2......what would you do to sell these new sticks?

 

Exactly what the big companies do

 

 

[swing33]

Cool stuff!! I was hitting drives just as long or longer 15 years ago with my 983e and supposedly inferior golf balls - of course I was 15 years younger :) But here is the thing for me, I would also hit some balls pretty sideways, much more so than with drivers made over the last few years.

[cp.vanvuuren]

Printed drivers...how long will that head stay in good shape?

 

LOL, good question. Only one way to find out :-) Hopefully at least long enough until the next M5, M6 and M7 is launched....

[cp.vanvuuren]

Interesting thread! I looked at some of the clips that you posted on Youtube. The one where you interview the guy with the Volvik cap, what golf course is that?

 

Thanks Mukster. It's a lovely old Country Club close to my office. It's Wingate Park Country Club in Pretoria, South Africa.

[jll62]

Here's the thing...I would pay a lot of money for a 7 yard increase over what I'm playing now. People think drivers are currently maxed out. They're not.

[cp.vanvuuren]

I believe heads for the last 8 years or so are the same distance wise. They have however made them straighter on shots hit off the heel and toe by quite a bit. Some of the newest TM stuff and Ping heads really eliminated the toe sniper

 

Agree with your sentiment, yet I still hit more in the thick stuff than in the fairway

 

By the way, so impressed with your 3D work. Cool post of the month !!!

 

Much appreciated. I've been practicing on putters for a number of years.

 

How large is that head you made for your wife?

 

Using the accurate(ish) water displacement in a cereal bowl and kitchen scale method. My Titleist came to 423CC. The 3D came to 263CC. The outer perimeters are fairly similar on the two though, so it looks a lot bigger. Using the concave surfaces makes a difference

 

Are you an engineer sir?

 

Indeed :-)

[cp.vanvuuren]

What is it actually made of? Titanium or ??

 

Pretty much Plastic. Same stuff that Lego blocks are made of, ABS for short. It's a polymer that is extremely strong and rigid, but weighs 70% less than stainless steel.

 

Most of the plastic inserts on the OEM clubs is ABS. It has a very high shock absorbance.

 

"ABS combines the strength and rigidity of acrylonitrile and styrene polymers with the toughness of polybutadiene rubber. While the cost of producingABS is roughly twice the cost of producing polystyrene, it is considered superior for its hardness, gloss, toughness, and electrical insulation properties."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_butadiene_styrene

[chadly643]

Awesome! I’m sure this method of construction will be used by the mainstream oems for at least some components soon enough. It’s amazing what this type of technology can do. Thanks for sharing.

[cp.vanvuuren]

I've found similar results when comparing and old wooden driver to my recent one and it's probably the industry's dirty little secret, I think the modified James Carville quote is appropriate when talking about golf equipment.

 

"It's the economy ball, stupid"

 

It's the first thing I want to test. The drive I hit with the 3D was with a "soft compression ball". I'm wondering if the more solid bat requires a softer ball to get the performance.

[cp.vanvuuren]

o p, try the same club when your swing is not in the groove.

 

That won't be difficult :-D

[cp.vanvuuren]

Over the course of a full round, and with bad and good swings, would you have the same results?

 

Probably not. I'm keen to find out though. Working on my own one. Will share the design for some input from the group as I see there are some valuable opinions here.

 

Keep tinkering with it and maybe try putters next?

 

Putters is where I started. I've been putting with my own putter for about 3 years now. The advantage of the lightweight material is that I can move a lot of the weight to the outer perimeter of the club. I have 140g tungsten weights on the sides. Putter is extremely stable and very soft feel.

 

Since then I've made quite a few for my friends who all love the putter.

 

 

 

[cp.vanvuuren]

Neat job printing that up! Very cool. To answer your question - yes. There's a lot of malarkey in equipment marketing. Seems to me that if you get the right shaft for your swing, head(s) that look good to your eye, and grips for your finger lengths you're golden...

 

I agree. Maybe I should invest in a proper tour shaft for my test driver and see what the result is. The great thing about the material I use is that it is so light, I can add a lot of weight on the sides. This might increase the MOI above anything else currently in the market leading to..... Straighter drives on miss hits.

[cp.vanvuuren]

Well I'm not going to be 3D printing any clubs for myself, but if it works for you...

 

Putters for sure. Drivers... I'm intrigued :-)

[cp.vanvuuren]

Here's the thing...I would pay a lot of money for a 7 yard increase over what I'm playing now. People think drivers are currently maxed out. They're not.

 

In my case, I would pay a lot of money to hit 10% more fairways, even if it comes with a 7 yard sacrifice in distance. So maybe I should just cut 4 inches from my driver shaft...

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

I've found similar results when comparing and old wooden driver to my recent one and it's probably the industry's dirty little secret, I think the modified James Carville quote is appropriate when talking about golf equipment.

 

"It's the economy ball, stupid"

 

It's the first thing I want to test. The drive I hit with the 3D was with a "soft compression ball". I'm wondering if the more solid bat requires a softer ball to get the performance.

 

Maybe. If you think back, they were hitting persimmon with balatas...but high compressions (90~100). Also, not everyone played balata because it was so expensive.

 

I have noticed a bit of a difference in distance between my modern driver and my regular persimmon (carbon shafted, but not sure of shaft length), but I play a softer compression ball with my persimmon. The driver I'd like to really test properly against my modern is a Wood Bros Corker. Persimmon filled with cork, like a corked baseball bat. When I hit that out of the screws, it seemed to fly forever (by the way, your driver reminded a bit of the Kool Kat driver, which I think was also filled with cork).

 

That said, there's no doubt that the larger heads of modern drivers are a heck of a lot more forgiving on mishits than persimmons. What's your 3-D printed driver like on mishits?

 

Interesting project, anyway. I look forward to hearing more on it.

[NRJyzr]

Here's the thing...I would pay a lot of money for a 7 yard increase over what I'm playing now. People think drivers are currently maxed out. They're not.

 

 

J, you're also a plus. Your game is such that adding the few extra yards is the only real improvement to your tee game, your accuracy is already quality level. For others, mid cap, high cap, even single digit, consistency is a more necessary target.

 

Of course, consistency is usually ignored as distance is chased, LOL.

 

Edited to add: It's interesting to note the printed driver is several inches shorter and considerably lighter. I would hazard a guess 7 yards could be found by merely making the driver slightly longer. It's also possible the relative lack of difference could be related to a less than ideal fit with the current Ti stick. ;)

 

Agree that drivers are not maxed, other than by the rules. The rumors about the never-brought-to-market Nike driver may illustrate that fairly well.