"Loft creep" the manufacturers other tool...

I was away last night and this thought crossed my mind while coming home this morning. First thing I did was check the lofts on the Cobra Fly z irons online. No matter how great the irons felt etc I just could not blissfully accept this much of an improvement. The #4 iron in the COBRAFly Z -19*, #5 23*, #6 26.75*, #7 30.5, #8 35.25, #9 40*, PW 45* The #4 iron Taylor Made RSi 1 -20*, #5 23*, #6 26.5*, #7 30.5, #8 34.5, #9 39*, PW 44* All is good as the Cobra still out performed the Taylormade with accuracy , 'feel' work-ability, club head speed and distance when doing the testing. In comparison to the PowerBilt Citation FZ - 1 Irons I have been playing with the #7 iron is 35* hence the 5-10m difference in distance. The ease and comfort in ball striking is still chalk and cheese in comparison with the Cobra's lighter club head and measured and fitted shaft. PowerBilt Citation FZ - Lofts 3 21, 4 24, 5 27, 6 31, 7 35, 8 39, 9 43, PW 47, SW 54. http://www.leaderboard.com/loftinfo.htm This shows you a chart indicating nominal loft angles for a modern set of irons. Realize that over the last forty years, manufacturers have changed these values considerably in order to make their models more attractive. By slightly reducing the loft angle of a club, the ball travels a bit farther. Distance sells. This is called "creep". The following are typical loft angles for a set of irons. However, there is considerable variability across manufacturers. 4-Iron 25 9-Iron 41 5-Iron 28 Pitching Wedge 45 6-Iron 31 Gap Wedge 50 7-Iron 34 Sand Wedge 55 8-Iron 37 Lob Wedge 60 Thankyou for your time and attention, Geoff

Club Fitting today better equipment and better swing...

Several days between posts with a lot happening golf wise to keep me occupied. Increasing the playing time is the major change, getting a minimum of 6 holes in every day and nine is the target most days. Whilst still limited with course time available during the holiday season and work commitments, the benefits of the previous practise in the nets has helped significantly. The major change came today, after 5 years of play, was fitted for new irons. Choosing the Cobra Fly-Z gold, after a session including Taylor Made's new selections and Callaway irons. Starting with the irons in my bag of late the reliable PowerBilt FZ-1's as the bench mark, then on the range with each club's results registered and analysed with the Club Professionals electronic equipment. First surprise was the confirmation that I had picked up swing speed, 76-78 mph was my last reading in mid 2014. Now with an 82-84 mph swing speed, this is the definitive proof of how effective strengthening/fitness training can be. The nuances of club fitting today are much easier to settle with as a player. The ease of changing shafts, lies etc with the one club head are a major boost in my opinion. The Taylor Made irons felt great in the stance and did hit them well. Yet the Cobra iron was comfortable, yet felt much different in the stance. The effort to hit the ball was the significant difference and the 'feel' preference in my hands went to the Cobra Fly-Z. Then the defining factor, which took another thirty minutes of hitting balls to convince myself that it was true. I was getting an extra 5-10 metres (155-160 m) hitting balls with the Cobra 7 iron! Dear readers those of you who have followed my last five years of game details know that I am not a big hitter. Of late I had gained distance in the past three months, using a six iron for 150 metre shots. Now in the space of 12 months with improved technique, fitness and now fitted for clubs I have moved two clubs from a #5 to a #7 iron for the distance. The entry form and fee has been sent for the Southern Ports Golf Week 28th Feb to 6th March. After a 4th place in handicap in the A Grade after the three rounds last season, this year my capability has improved. Now for another crack at the title. Thankyou for your time and attention Geoff

"Two sides to every Swing"

The following is an excerpt from the latest Golf Link edition article, "Two sides to every Swing" by Sam Letourneau http://www.golflink.com.au/news/golf-magazine/2015/01/two-sides-to-every-swing.aspx I am no coach and since returning to golfing in 2009 have relied upon two coaching professionals for my education and lessons. Both of them taught the same principles of golfing and worked on various identified areas of my golf technique. As wel as reading assorted treatise's on golfing by playing and coaching professionals my golf brain has been informed and educated over time. This article is exactly what my informed opinion is of the way forward for a golfer through coaching is. For me with my physical restraints from the various broken bits, the same applies to other golfers injured or not. Every engine (body) which powers a golf club is different. Some are high performance turbo charged F1 or Indy class engines others are 1970's air cooled VW Kombi Van engines. They all work but have limits. Some have on-board computers and others don't and that is unrelated to this discussion. The essence of p[laying golf is getting the contact between the club and ball to a reliable and consistent standard. Once that is establish you have a solid base for your game. Thankyou for your time and attention "GOLF is a lot easier to get better at once you realise there are two distinctly different avenues to improvement. The trick is to find the one that suits your personality and learning approach best. Most people don’t improve at golf as fast or as much as they could. In teaching golf, I encounter an endless stream of students who are frustrated at their lack of progress, confused about what they should be working on, or how to go about it. These days I pick up pretty quickly on the best approach to take with a new student, and once I’ve sorted them into one of two categories, I can almost guarantee they will start to see real improvement. So, what are the two categories that golfers fall into, and, more importantly, how might you go about identifying the one that suits you best and maximise your chance of reaching your full potential in the fastest possible time frame? Before the grand reveal, please don’t let the simplicity of the following statements deceive you, as after ten years of giving over 50 golf lessons a week (yes that’s 2500 lessons a year, and double yes, that really is a total of over 25,000 lessons), I’m convinced that understanding this information, and basing your improvement plan around it, is the key thing to get right. What’s more, I’ve proven it over and over again to myself and my students. Now a second word of warning; I have to write one before the other, but in no way does that mean I have a preference, or should you, for one over the other. Remember I said that both methods of improvement have been used effectively by many good players. So here goes. In my opinion, to improve at golf you either have to: Totally disregard any perceived faults in your game and work only on making your technique as textbook and technically strong as you possibly can; that is, disregard your ball flight errors and contact issues and bring your swing—and techniques within every department of your game—as closely into line with accepted golf fundamentals as you can, work purely on making your technique better. If you’re not quite sure what these fundamentals might be, have a look at a lot of Tour players’ games and pick out the most common aspects. If you think this approach might be for you, later I’ll give you some well known player examples, and a psychological profile of who this approach generally suits so you can make an educated guess as to whether it suits you . Totally disregard accepted textbook technique and make improvements based only on the feedback your ball flight and contact gives you. Likewise, if you think this way might be the way for you, I’ll be giving you some famous players who’ve taken this approach, and indicate the sort of personality this approach tends to suit." Geoff

Zen Golf... maybe

Even though the 'Eureka' moments are not a feature of my golfing progress, it is still a great experience when the game comes together. On Sunday with a very easy 30 point score registered in the Stableford competition, my game approach was zen like experience. Dear Readers I had 5 birdie putts in the round, missed every one and three putted each of them. Did not even bat an eyelid in irritation, simply continued on to the next hole. This is perhaps the most rigid I have ever been in a golfing sense to sticking to a plan. The lesson of last season has reached deep into my golf psyche. Following on from Friday's 'wak f@k' at Penola, my focus was on the grip and nothing else was going to distract me from making this correction get established. Why did I three putt was not even attempted to be corrected in the round. I was dedicated to the correct grip which resulted in more power and eradicated the soft flapping at the ball, which was a result of the previous incorrect grip. Not to forget was also part of the cause of the shoulder agony. On Monday it was out for a social nine holes, with the highlight of seeing my cousin smack a 280 metre drive a bonus to my own performance. Again focus on the grip and again a par, par, par, start to a round. With two birdie putts just missing the cup and stopping 5-10cm past it. Yes, the new grip adjustment was established, as was the feel for distance. By not making that fatal error of trying to adjust a correction mid round to improve a score, I am much better positioned for future success. Today it is out for another social 'wak f@k' round to further establish the changes and have fun with friends on a golf course. To sit and write this, feeling calm and looking forward to standing on the first tee without any prior preparation is fun and why I golf. It is this effortless sense of the game, which has been realised from the experience of season 2014. Thankyou for your time and attention Geoff