Conference 7.286::golf

    
    The theroy is the longer the club the more club head speed and the
    more distance. More important of course is feel and accuracy. If
    the set you have are longer than standard nad you are of average
    height they are to long. Knocking a half inch off them will not make
    a huge difference. You will loose some swingweight but swingweight is
    highly overrated. anything from c8 to d3 is fine for the average
    player. One swingweight is about the weight of a dollar bill so take it
    from there. 

    
    Both swing weight and shaft length factor greatly into the distance
    formula.  Look at the equipment being used in long drive competitions
    and you will get an idea of what elements are important in hitting the
    golf ball far.
    
    Swing weight has little to do with actual club weight.  If you take a
    club shaft and put a 10 pound plug in one end and hold that end of the
    shaft in your hands, the club will feel light.  If you hold the club
    with the weight on the other end, the club will seem much heavier.  If
    you try to swing this club both ways you will see that you have more
    control of the weight when it is closest to your hands.
    
    Shaft length is directly related to club head speed and thus distance.
    If you took a 2 iron and 3 iron with the same shaft length, which would
    hit the ball farther? Answer is the 3 iron because both hit the ball
    below the optimum 45 degree angle but the 3 iron is closer and would
    therefor carry the ball farther.  The longer the club shaft the farther
    the clubhead travels before impact generating more clubhead speed.
    
    If you are new to golf,  I would not start modifying your clubs.  If
    the longer clubs are unwieldy, shorten your swing to gain control and
    gradually lengthen your swing maintaining control until you attain the
    results you are looking for.
    
    _Greg

    if all that was needed for more clubhead speed was longer shafts
    don't you think we'd see some l...o...n...g.... clubs by all the
    golf equipment people?
    
    	More important is "control"....
    
    	whatever you use you must be able to control it....
    
    	ever try hitting a 45" driver? try you'll then understand why
    control is the most important aspect of the swing...
    
    

    
    re .1:  optimum 45� angle
    
        in school we learned about parabolic trajectories and why 45�
    	gives the longest carry; but this is only an approximation 
    	due to the effects of air friction.
    
    	the trajectory of the ball (see the Top-Flite ads) seems to 
    	look more like a Poisson distribution turned backwards, i.e.
    	it drops more sharply at the end than a concave-down parabolic
    	curve.
    
    	i've wondered to myself whether it is as non-parabolic as the
    	Top-Flite ads would have us believe, so I just watched some
    	balls hit on the driving range (from the side) one day.  The
    	trajectory is definately not parabolic.
    
    	ergo 45� is not the angle that maximizes distance.
    

    I was standing by a green at this year's US Open at Baltusrol, watching
    guys hit 80-120 yard shots in. It was amazing. As the balls reached the
    front of the green, they looked like they were a mile in the air - then
    suddenly they'd drop seemingly straight down. You could almost hear the
    spin...
    
    __Jack

    Thank you for the replies.  Very interesting subject.
    
    I notice that I do have MUCH better control with a 3/4 swing with all
    my clubs.  One interesting point is, I do not seem to gain much (if any)
    distance with the longer irons/woods.  With my irons I top out at about
    150(?) yards with 7/6 irons and only my 5 wood gives anything much
    further.  I am consistantly 10/12 yards different with each iron
    between SW & 7 and then that is it.
    
    I am trying to replicate the same feeling in the swing that I have with
    my shorters (most of the time).  Hard to describe the feeling but much
    like swinging a stone at the end of a 3/4 foot piece of string.  When
    that happens, I do not have look, guess, or hope - I know it went as
    right as rain.  What a feeling!
    
    Of course that only happens on the range when I am by myself! ;-)
    
    re .1 Pardon but I do not understand 'c8 to d3'.
    
    Ralph

    	Swingweight is measured on a scale (a balance) with the fulcrum
    14" from the butt of the club.  The scale starts at 'A' for the
    lightest and proceeds through the alphabet.  Each letter is divided
    into 10 increments.  After C9 comes D0 (zero) etc.  Most clubs are in
    the range Pete mentioned.  It has nothing to do with the total weight
    of the club, just the distribution of the weight.  The higher the
    swingweight, the heavier the club will 'feel' because the weight is
    distributed more toward the club head.
    						JT

    One possibility that hasn't been mentioned is that your clubs
    aren't "matched".  When I started golfing, I was given a old
    starter set.  I hacked around with that set until I was under 100
    consistently.  I never could hit the driver or 3 iron.  It was
    always a slice.  Even the 5 iron gave me occasional trouble.  When
    I decided to get "real" clubs, I took them to Nevada Bob's in
    order to say, I want my new clubs to feel like this 3 wood.  I
    found out that each club had a different swing weight which
    increased with the club length.  What a relief!  I did have a
    farily consistent swing through the clubs.  The long ones were
    just too heavy and I couldn't get them around.
    
    If your clubs are fairly new, this probably isn't the problem.
    And it is just early swing mechanics that need practice and
    instruction
      
    WCIII