Saturday, July 31, 2004
metal woods face angles
Lellan sent this tip by T.J. To masi
The term "face angle" refers to the direction of the club
face when the golf club is placed in its normal playing
position, i.e., how the club comes to rest on the ground
when the player assumes the address position. Typically,
face angles are described as "square" (looking at the target),
"closed" (looking to the left of the target for a right-
handed player) or "open" (looking to the right of the target
for a right-hander). However, when I fit golfers for metal
woods, I find they often misperceive the face angle at
address. This misperception is a product of the rapid changes
in technology. Before woods were made of metal (they actually
were wood) and before the advent of huge metal woods (over
300 cc), the center of gravity of these clubs was near the
front of the face, close to the shaft. Since a club head
tends to rotate around its center of gravity, manufacturers
built clubs with varying degrees of open face angles to
prevent the face from closing too quickly through impact.
Thus the standard club face, which was actually open at
address, was termed square by golfers. Now that the center
of gravity has changed on metal heads, the face angles
required to square the club at impact have also changed --
to square or even a bit closed. These angles look terrible
to many long-time players, so they do one of two things:
(1) they don't put big metal woods in their bag, or (2) they
manipulate the club face open so it looks square. Either way
they are doing themselves a disservice by not taking advantage
of the latest technology. My advice: Get used to it. Once you
get by the closed look of the club face at address and allow
it sit on the ground the way it was designed, you can boom
them out there farther and more accurately than you ever have.
custom golf clubs
custom golf clubs
The term "face angle" refers to the direction of the club
face when the golf club is placed in its normal playing
position, i.e., how the club comes to rest on the ground
when the player assumes the address position. Typically,
face angles are described as "square" (looking at the target),
"closed" (looking to the left of the target for a right-
handed player) or "open" (looking to the right of the target
for a right-hander). However, when I fit golfers for metal
woods, I find they often misperceive the face angle at
address. This misperception is a product of the rapid changes
in technology. Before woods were made of metal (they actually
were wood) and before the advent of huge metal woods (over
300 cc), the center of gravity of these clubs was near the
front of the face, close to the shaft. Since a club head
tends to rotate around its center of gravity, manufacturers
built clubs with varying degrees of open face angles to
prevent the face from closing too quickly through impact.
Thus the standard club face, which was actually open at
address, was termed square by golfers. Now that the center
of gravity has changed on metal heads, the face angles
required to square the club at impact have also changed --
to square or even a bit closed. These angles look terrible
to many long-time players, so they do one of two things:
(1) they don't put big metal woods in their bag, or (2) they
manipulate the club face open so it looks square. Either way
they are doing themselves a disservice by not taking advantage
of the latest technology. My advice: Get used to it. Once you
get by the closed look of the club face at address and allow
it sit on the ground the way it was designed, you can boom
them out there farther and more accurately than you ever have.
custom golf clubs
custom golf clubs
