{"id":304,"date":"2011-04-01T17:36:18","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T17:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jaystuller.com\/?p=304"},"modified":"2011-04-01T17:36:18","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T17:36:18","slug":"on-the-numbers-with-doctor-grip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/golf\/equipment\/304\/on-the-numbers-with-doctor-grip","title":{"rendered":"On The Numbers With Doctor Grip"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>

Doctor Grip, David Butler, putting the numbers to a True Temper shaft.<\/p><\/div>\n

For the past month the crew at Gear\u00adEf\u00adfect\u00adGolf has weighed in on a Forum ques\u00adtion<\/a> posed by Jan\u00adina Jacobs<\/a>: \u201cDo you really want to know all the launch mon\u00adi\u00adtor reveals?\u201d\u00a0 She won\u00addered whether golfers were get\u00adting too caught up in tech\u00adnol\u00adogy, at the expense of ath\u00adletic \u201cfeel.\u201d\u00a0 Some folks responded that the num\u00adbers acquired from a mon\u00adi\u00adtor were use\u00adful, so long as you under\u00adstood what to do with them.\u00a0 Oth\u00aders believe that an aver\u00adage player\u2019s swing on a range is rarely dupli\u00adcated on a golf course, which ren\u00adders the data meaningless.In any event, pro\u00adfes\u00adsional golfers increas\u00adingly use launch mon\u00adi\u00adtors for feed\u00adback on their swings, while pros and ama\u00adteurs alike rely on the num\u00adbers to iden\u00adtify what irons and dri\u00advers per\u00adform best for the indi\u00advid\u00adual.\u00a0 But accord\u00ading to a study spon\u00adsored by Golf<\/em> mag\u00ada\u00adzine, 70 per\u00adcent of core and avid golfers who bought clubs in the past year did so with\u00adout even the most cur\u00adsory fit\u00adting.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fact about golfers and the equip\u00adment indus\u00adtry that mys\u00adti\u00adfies and dis\u00admays David But\u00adler<\/a>, a California-based mas\u00adter Miura<\/a> club\u00adfit\u00adter.\u00a0 Rec\u00adog\u00adnized by Golf Digest<\/em> as one the nation\u2019s best fit\u00adters, the man widely known as Doc\u00adtor Grip was also recently pro\u00adfiled on The A Posi\u00adtion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI real\u00adize not every golfer is inter\u00adested in cus\u00adtom clubs,\u201d allows But\u00adler, who has made clubs as a hobby and a pro\u00adfes\u00adsion for some 50 years. \u201cI rec\u00adog\u00adnize that many employ\u00adees in golf shops that clear only $50 to $75 on a set either aren\u2019t trained or have incen\u00adtives to do fit\u00adtings.\u00a0 So the aver\u00adage guy who buys clubs does so because he sees them on some magazine\u2019s \u2018hot list,\u2019 the new design looks attrac\u00adtive, and the staff tells him that lots of other golfers are buy\u00ading the same thing.\u00a0 And when his game doesn\u2019t improve, he buys a dif\u00adfer\u00adent set in a year or\u00a0two.\u201d<\/p>\n

The turnover is good for the indus\u00adtry, not so much for player pocketbooks.<\/p>\n

Still, club man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtur\u00aders are rightly proud of their brands and pop\u00adu\u00adlar new designs.\u00a0 But as But\u00adler points out, most of the prod\u00aducts are assem\u00adbled in China, where qual\u00adity tol\u00ader\u00adances might not be as con\u00adsis\u00adtent as, say, at a Bavar\u00adian auto fac\u00adtory.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, since few of the shafts in a set have iden\u00adti\u00adcal flexes and kick points, one club will per\u00adform dif\u00adfer\u00adently than the\u00a0next.<\/p>\n

But\u00adler nat\u00adu\u00adrally rec\u00adom\u00admends cus\u00adtom fit\u00adting.\u00a0 But in an exclu\u00adsive GEG inter\u00adview, he reveals how a club-buyer with access to the launch mon\u00adi\u00adtors and a strike boards found in many golf shops can glean a basic analy\u00adsis of what dri\u00adver or set of irons is best for that indi\u00advid\u00adual swing.\u00a0 But first, a few words about the launch monitor:<\/p>\n

These won\u00addrous machines use Doppler radar to reveal swing speed, the veloc\u00adity at which the ball departs when hit, how much reverse spin the club is impart\u00ading on the ball, its launch angle and the tra\u00adjec\u00adtory on which the ball comes down.\u00a0 A sys\u00adtem like the Track\u00adMan also shows carry, roll, total dis\u00adtance and how much the shot strays from cen\u00adter.\u00a0 It can also reveal the all-important \u201csmash fac\u00adtor,\u201d which is a mea\u00adsure of the effec\u00adtive\u00adness of the head and espe\u00adcially the shaft, which But\u00adler calls \u201cthe engine of the golf\u00a0club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balls actu\u00adally depart at a veloc\u00adity that exceeds club\u00adhead speed.\u00a0 Divide ball speed by club\u00adhead speed and you get a smash fac\u00adtor ratio.\u00a0 A 1.1 or 1.2 rep\u00adre\u00adsents a poor trans\u00adfer of energy, while a 1.5 is close to per\u00adfec\u00adtion. As GEG read\u00aders will recall from a Dave Gould<\/a> inter\u00adview with pre\u00adci\u00adsion club\u00adfit\u00adter Brian Ander\u00adson<\/a>, the increased ball speed rep\u00adre\u00adsented by a good smash fac\u00adtor is more impor\u00adtant than increased club\u00adhead speed. While a one-mile-per-hour increase in club\u00adhead speed will get you a yard of extra dis\u00adtance, a one MPH increase in ball speed at impact pro\u00adduces nearly three addi\u00adtional yards.<\/p>\n

But\u00adler and Ander\u00adson agree that the trend to longer-shafted dri\u00advers for more club\u00adhead speed is coun\u00adter\u00adpro\u00adduc\u00adtive, espe\u00adcially when the nine-out-of-ten that aren\u2019t hit flush cost dis\u00adtance and accu\u00adracy.\u00a0 A shorter dri\u00adver hit on sweet spot more often, with a high smash fac\u00adtor, gets length and more often stays on the fair\u00adway.\u00a0 For\u00adget those nearly 46-inch long dri\u00advers, sug\u00adgests But\u00adler.\u00a0 For men, 44 inches is plenty and for women\u00a043.<\/p>\n

Fol\u00adlow\u00ading are additional \u00a0A Position ques\u00adtions and Doc\u00adtor Grip answers:<\/p>\n

TAP<\/strong>:\u00a0 So you\u2019re in a golf shop com\u00adpar\u00ading dri\u00advers on a launch mon\u00adi\u00adtor, what do you look\u00a0for?<\/p>\n

But\u00adler<\/strong>: If you can find a club that con\u00adsis\u00adtently gives you a launch angle of 14 to 15 degrees, a reverse ball spin rate of under 3000 rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtions per minute, and a descent angle of under 30 degrees, you\u2019re close to hav\u00ading the right club.\u00a0 That should give you the most carry and total dis\u00adtance for your nat\u00adural swing\u00a0speed.<\/p>\n

TAP<\/strong>:\u00a0 What about flex and kick points?<\/p>\n

But\u00adler<\/strong>:\u00a0 Once you get those three num\u00adbers you already have the right flex and kick point, whether it\u2019s high, medium or low.\u00a0 And there, I\u2019ve given away my secret formula.<\/p>\n

TAP<\/strong>:\u00a0 We\u2019ve been through one of your fit\u00adtings and know it\u2019s more com\u00adpli\u00adcated, but do appre\u00adci\u00adate the help for off-the-shelf club-buyers.\u00a0 What about\u00a0irons?<\/p>\n

But\u00adler<\/strong>:\u00a0 OK, take sev\u00aderal six irons to work with and try to find one that gives you a launch angle of 20 degrees and reverse ball spin of about 5000 rpm\u2019s.\u00a0 That should give your shot a 45-degree angle of descent, which means the ball will land and roll out about ten yards.\u00a0 You could go with a 14\u2013 degree launch angle and 3500 rpm\u2019s, which gives a descent angle of 35 degrees.\u00a0 That ball comes in low, hot and rolls out 25 yards or more.\u00a0 But if you want score, it\u2019s bet\u00adter to sac\u00adri\u00adfice dis\u00adtance with a pre\u00addictable club that keeps the ball on the\u00a0green.<\/p>\n

TAP<\/strong>:\u00a0 How about lie angle with off-the-shelf clubs?<\/p>\n

But\u00adler<\/strong>:\u00a0 Many golf shops have a strike board and either tape or spray that shows where you\u2019re get\u00adting the impact on the bot\u00adtom of the club.\u00a0 If it\u2019s right in the mid\u00addle of the bot\u00adtom, you\u2019re good.\u00a0 You can also look at the club\u00adface.\u00a0 Fig\u00adure a ball-sized cir\u00adcle at the cen\u00adter of the bot\u00adtom half of the face is your sweet spot.\u00a0 Many ama\u00adteurs hit it about a half-inch out toward the toe.\u00a0 Every one-eighth of an inch is a degree of lie angle.\u00a0 So, if you\u2019re a half-inch out on the toe, the club needs to be bent upright four degrees.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a half-inch toward the heel, it needs to go four degrees flatter.<\/p>\n

TAP<\/strong>:\u00a0 So you can get an off-the-shelf club\u2019s lie angle adjusted?<\/p>\n

But\u00adler<\/strong>:\u00a0 Well, yes if it\u2019s forged.\u00a0 Cast clubs break if you bend them too far. But at the least, take them to a club-fitter for the adjustment.<\/p>\n

TAP<\/strong>:\u00a0 And the Track\u00adMan and its information?<\/p>\n

But\u00adler<\/strong>: Before I could afford the mon\u00adi\u00adtor I stood at the side of a golfer and watched his ball and judged the angle of its flight com\u00adpared to marks on a board on the wall of the hit\u00adting area.\u00a0 In ret\u00adro\u00adspect I did a crappy job.\u00a0 The num\u00adbers are incred\u00adi\u00adbly use\u00adful when inter\u00adpreted right.<\/p>\n

TAP<\/strong>: \u00a0Watch for a future piece on the Total Quality Management approach David Butler applies to club-fitting and club-making.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past month the crew at Gear\u00adEf\u00adfect\u00adGolf has weighed in on a Forum ques\u00adtion posed by Jan\u00adina Jacobs: \u201cDo… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5355,3,7],"tags":[6095,1027930,6280],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-miura-golf","category-equipment","category-personalities","tag-david-butler","tag-miura-golf","tag-janina-jacobs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2011\/04\/David-Butler1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jaystuller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}