Golf Equipment

Using the Ask Terry button, John asks:

Is there any “real” difference between x100 and s300 shafts ? I have heard people say yes and say no.

As I am looking at acquiring new clubs, I want to make sure that the shaft is right for me. I have no trouble getting the ball in the air, and my 5 iron swing speed is typically between 82-88 mph on any given day. Your input on this question is greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

John,

The “textbook” answer is yes. The X100 is somewhat stiffer than the S300.

That said, however, every manufacturer seems to turn out clubs with the “same” shafts that are very different when you examine them closely on a frequency machine.

This is a huge problem for the golfer in trying to purchase golf clubs that will work properly for them. For any golfer who is seriously interested in getting better, I strongly suggest having your clubs made by a qualified professional clubfitter/clubmaker, rather than to purchase from a major factory.

At the very least, have your clubs checked and measured by a qualified professional so that you know exactly what you have. You might be surprised.

If you’re buying a new set of clubs, you should demand the set be put on a frequency machine and loft/lie gauge to make sure they really are what you “think” you’ve purchased.

If the store doesn’t have that equipment on site, get a promise that the clubs are returnable for full refund if you find out they are not to the specs and tolerance you expect for this major financial outlay.

I don’t want to “rain down” on the major golf companies, but the facts will bear out that the consistency of product the big ones produce is not very impressive.

I’ve seen actual random testing of clubs purchased that reveals many things:

An “R” shaft can range from soft ladies to strong “Stiff”, even within what are supposed to be the same make and model; irons that have variance of up to two full flexes within a given set (this is much more common with graphite shafted irons that with steel); loft and lie angles that are off by as much as 2-3 degrees, almost a full club !

The only way to know what shaft you should really be playing, and what shaft you are getting, is to be professionally fitted and have your clubs built specifically for you by a qualified clubmaker who can show you right there what you really have.

Using the Ask Terry button, Jason send this for us to think about:

Turned pro in 02 and have struggled with pitch/chip shot around the greens. I have a big problem with the sand wedge/lob wedge sticking into the ground, and my technique is not bad. My current lob wedge (Mickelson grind) has 11 degrees of bounce. Any ideas on equipment changes and or technique/drills ?

Thanks for the question, Jason.

Regarding the sand/lob wedge sticking into the ground, my thinking is that your technique might need a bit of tweaking; try to shallow out your angle of approach to the ball, possibly moving it a bit further forward.

Also, make sure the clubhead is moving down the line and left at impact to make sure the bounce can work to its best advantage.

That all said, the bounce of the wedge has a lot to do with that. In my assessment, the “Mickelson grind“, like all other “tour grind” wedges have way too much of the functional bounce removed to work for anyone but a golfer with Phil Mickelson’s skills, which are rather unique.

The rest of us, including the bulk of tour pros, could benefit from wedges that have more function in the sole.

Bear in mind that this grind was designed for PM’s skills, the tight turf of tour courses, firm packed sand the pros are spoiled by, and for golfers who spend hours a day with their wedges.

In other words, they are NOT for the rest of us.

I rarely use this blog as a tool for selling EIDOLON wedges, but I can tell you that more and more golfers are finding that what we are doing with wedges is a cut above everyone else in the industry.

Until you try one, you can’t believe what that little patented improvement in the sole is capable of doing for your short game.

Thanks and good luck in your career !

Using the Ask Terry button, Steve asks:

What’s your opinion on wedges with lofts greater than 60 degrees ?

Any advantage/disadvantages for the average golfer ?

Steve,

I am kind of amazed at these wedges with lofts over 60 degrees, actually.

There’s one that’s 73 degrees for Pete’s sake ! In my experience, most amateur golfers cannot properly handle the 60, and adding loft more than that seems like just adding another way to lose strokes.

The higher loft a wedge has, in many ways, the harder it is to hit it properly, as the face is making a more and more glancing blow to the ball.

Most courses do not have the kind of shots where a well hit shot with a 60 won’t get the job done, in my opinion.

I think that if any golfer would really work with a good 60, he would find that there would be very, very few instances when he wishes he had more loft at his disposal.

A good 60 can allow you to open the face from a reasonably tight lie, and hit good bunker shots. It also allows you to hit flop shots with little or no roll after landing, with practice of course.

If the goal is to provide full swing distances less than their 60 flies, there are other ways to achieve that. I have written a book called “The SCoR Method” that outlines just such a method that is very simple to learn.

So, to me, until a golfer has a short game with their 52, 56 and 60 that is the envy of their friends, any wedge with more loft than that should stay in the stores.

Brian used the Ask Terry button to send this in:

Hey Terry ,

Just now checking out your site after hearing you on with Peter Kessler last week, good stuff.

I’m a leftie and play with a pitching wedge that is part of a set, KZG forged CB, and two Titleist wedges, 52 degree Vokey oil can (not spin-milled) and 56 degree Vokey oil can spin-milled.

This low bounce vs. high bounce talk has my head ‘spin-milled’.  Can you tell me about the bounce in the wedges I own and how they should play ?

Thanks for the comments on the interview. I look forward to being back on Peter’s show soon to talk about grooves and shafts in wedges, as those also affect playability.

Regarding your own wedges, it appears that the LH Vokey 52 has 8 degrees of bounce, and should be marked 252-08.  That’s quite a bit of bounce for a gap wedge, and I would suppose that it might not be that great from tight lies.

At the same time, it’s not that much bounce if you like to use it on longer bunker shots.  In other words, it’s kind of “average”.

As for the 56, it appears that it could have either 10 or 14 degrees of bounce, again, the number should be SM56-10 or SM56-14.

If it is the former, I’m guessing it’s not that great a bunker club. If the latter, probably tough to play from tighter lies.

That’s the problem with all the offerings from the major brands. Each wedge they make (over 150 models between Titleist and Cleveland) is a relatively specialized scoring tool – good at some things, not so hot at all others.

What we did with our V-SOLE, is produce in each loft, a sole that is great from nearly every lie you can find on the golf course.

I hope that helps you sort out and clear your head on this.

Using the Ask Terry button, in the right-hand sidebar, Rick sends this question:

I work with entrepreneurs and love people who bring integrity and passion to their work.  I just found your blog last night and it’s great.  Based on the reviews, I have ordered a couple of wedges to see how they work.

I have a question.  I currently play CG-10s, including a 60 degree low bounce and regular 56 degree.  While I think I understand your points, the graphic showing your V-sole between regular and low bounce clubs makes it look like a low bounce would be better at tight lies - the club’s lip is closer to the ground.  Also, it’s hard to visualize how your V-sole is different from the 56 degree when bounce is needed.

What am I missing?

Thanks for the kudos Rick. We take great pride in producing the finest wedges in the industry, which I’m confident you will find true once you get yours in the bag.

Regarding your question about the bounce, let me address that in two ways.

First, in your bag, you have a high bounce 56 and a low bounce 60.  That makes your 60 a much less-than-ideal sand club, and makes your 56 a tougher play from tight lies.

Regarding the graphic, it is true that the low bounce wedge will put the leading edge of the club a little closer to the turf, but if you forward press that club even a little, you have removed all bounce, possibly even producing negative bounce, so that the club will have a tendency to dig.

Our patented V-SOLE makes it impossible to forward press so much that you make the wedge into a “shovel”. That little “ridge” formed by our two bounce angles is the key to our versatile playability.

As far as the difference between our V-SOLE and your 56, let me explain it this way.

When you open your 56, which probably has about 12 degrees of bounce, you are geometrically increasing that angle proportionate to the amount you open it.

Simple math conversion. But with ours, you’re not increasing both angles, so that you have a more functional bounce, as you have turned the 30 degree leading portion of the sole into 40+, and the 7 degree trailing portion into 10-13 degrees.

What happens is that the two work together to produce excellent playability.

It is very difficult to compare our wedges directly to those with conventional soles, as we have these two angles always working together.

All I can tell you is that the difference is immediately appreciable, attested to by our bold 100% Money Back Guarantee – which has a return rate of less than one percent !

I hope that answered your questions.

I’m sure you guys have noticed that Terry’s been unable to post for a while.

Between speaking, travelling and golfing, he snuck in getting sick. Real sick.

So to try and make him feel better faster, I’m going to post a link to a discount offer for the readers of The Wedge Guy.

When you click the link, you’ll be taken to a landing page that shows a discount code I found.

Hopefully, several of you will be able to order from it before Terry gets off his sickbed and catches me.

Hurry up and click on this link :

Discount Offer For The Wedge Guy Readers

One of the wonderful things about this game is that you are always learning new things, many of which go against “conventional wisdom”. I had one such learning experience last week when I was in Virginia visiting one of our Certified WedgeFitters, Mike Fix.

Mike has an extremely successful Clubfitting and clubmaking business in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area, and uses the TrackMan launch monitor, which relies on Doppler Radar to track all pertinent data regarding clubhead speed, ball speed, spin rate, launch angle, return angle, carry distance, etc.

It’s quite impressive, and this is the unit used in the R&D centers for all the major golf equipment companies. Mike was explaining that he’s finding tremendous success with building drivers for golfers of all skill levels by having them play shafts that are much stiffer than you might imagine, fitted to heads with lofts that are much higher than normal. I watched him go through a fitting process with my partner, Ralph Thompson, who’s a 14-15 handicap, and is not that long. What I witnessed was amazing.

Ralph has been playing an R-shafted Nike driver and hits it pretty well, but his accuracy is inconsistent. His normal slight fade is regularly interrupted by a push-slice or a pull-hook. Mike explained that in his experience, higher handicap golfers do not have consistent enough swing speed and hand speed to control the softer shafts, though conventional wisdom would prescribe them for slower swing speeds. He proceeded to have Ralph hit various drivers until he found one that was significantly more consistently straight, though the launch angle was too low.

Mike then proceeded to put a driver head on that shaft that gave the optimum launch angle. I’ve played golf with Ralph for 15 years, and have never seen him hit it that long and straight.

The club ? An ‘X’ flex shaft with a 15* loft head !!!!

The moral of this story ?

If you are struggling with driver accuracy, it might be an interesting experiment to try one with a much stronger shaft than you’ve been playing, but make sure the head has plenty of loft.

In other words, set aside the ego for a moment.  I think you just might be very surprised.

Paul used the Ask Terry button to submit this question.

Q:  What is your opinion on concave sole wedges like the old con-sole wedge or the new solus products ?

A: Well, I don’t think they are that effective, because Con-Sole didn’t make it, and no one until Solus much copied it.

I have tried the Solus product, like almost every other wedge on the market and didn’t really find it to be that effective.

I don’t really like “slamming” other company’s products, but I believe EIDOLON has created the ultimate wedge sole design and we complement it with our CNC-milling of face and grooves, Rifle Spinner shaft, our new SCoR grips and our eagerness to custom build wedges for our customers.

Those things set us apart.

BC John used the Ask Terry button to submit this question:

Q: I have never been able to hit driver well.  Therefore, I use my 3-wood off the tee.  I can usually hit the 3 wood 210-220 off the tee.  What are your thoughts about making my 3 wood the same lenght as my driver (44 1/2 inches) and only using that off the tee ?  Would that add 10-20 yards to my “drive.” I would probably not be able to use the longer 3 wood off the deck, but I rarely hit the 3 wood well off the deck anyway.  Thanks.

A: I commend your creativity, but think you will defeat the purpose by making your 3-wood driver length. 

There are two reasons for difficulty hitting driver, and one of them is the length, probably more than the loft.  The longer a club gets, the more unwieldy it becomes – that’s simple geometry. 

That’s why most tour players are still favoring drivers in the 44-45” range, while most amateurs are trying to figure out how to control that length and longer. 

Regarding making a 3-wood that much longer, you will also have trouble with the balance changing, as the swingweight will get quite heavy.  But if you hit it well, you might experiment with adding ½” or so to see if it gives you more distance.

I had a rather eye-opening demonstration last week when I was in Virginia with one of our Certified WedgeFitters.  He’s been prescribing stiffer shafts for his golfers than most would think they could handle, and then managing trajectory with the loft. 

I watched my partner, who’s a 14 handicap player and doesn’t hit it too far, have tremendous success with an X-shafted driver with 15 degrees of loft !!!  Who would have thought that ?  His accuracy was way better than he normally experiences, and the loft gave him the launch angle he needed.  Distance was as good or better than ever. 

To confirm that theory a bit, I just picked up a Sonartec NP-99 4-wood, which happened to have an X shaft in it (I play my woods at about 5.8 frequency).  My intention was to have it re-shafted, but I’m killing this thing, and hitting it laser straight, so I’m not touching it. 

My whole point here is that there are so many variables to distance and accuracy, one needs to proceed cautiously.  But in general, you ability to hit the ball consistently is very much a function of shaft length.

John sends in this question via the Ask Terry button :

Q: How do practice range 85% distance balls work and how does that correlate to real life play ? Is the 85% consistent for all clubs, or just for maximum distances ? I know that Lady balls tend to go farther for short irons, but do not improve the long game, so are these balls similar ? Are they softer ? Any info would be great because I love the way they play. I don’t believe that I can hit a 7 iron over 200 yards when I add 15% to the 175 yards (sky high) I hit on the range.

A: This question, or rather set of questions, asks a lot. First of all, I don’t get the “85%” thing on range balls at all, so I can’t comment.

But in general, range balls are for practicing your swing, and since you don’t play those on the course, they are of no use whatsoever in trying to determine your actual distances.

When on the range, just focus on contact consistency and general trajectory.

You really puzzled me on the 200 yard 7-iron question, and I can’t even imagine anyone hitting one that far.

By my math, if you hit your 7 iron 200 yards, then you hit your driver at least 325, right ?

And your pitching wedge goes about 150 or so ?

Do you realize that the PGA Tour average for a 6-iron is 168 ?