Friday, April 30, 2004
Women Need Equipment Tailored To Their Game
One of the most upsetting statistics in golf is that one out
of every two women who take up the game quit after 24 months.
There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the most
common is that the game is made hard for women because many
of them play with inferior equipment. Sometimes it is the
arrow and not the Indian that's responsible for a bad shot.
Many women players have difficulty generating enough club
head speed to consistently get the ball airborne with the
longer clubs, which have less face loft. They have no trouble
with the 5-iron through pitching wedge, but they hit the rest
of their clubs all about the same distance. This begs a ques-
tion from an inquiring mind: "Why do I need all those other
clubs in the set if they all go the same distance?" I've
asked club manufacturers about this, but they have always
responded with a shrug -- until now. Finally, using the
information provided by modern-day launch monitors, club
manufacturers such as Callaway are making sets available
this year that are more suitable for golfers with slow swing
speed. Here's how it works. A woman who hits her driver about
120 yards spins the ball at about 4,000 rpms (revolutions per
minute). Her spin rate for the pitching wedge is about 5,000
rpms. The rate is fairly constant throughout the set, meaning
she has only a 40-yard gap between her longest and shortest
clubs (by contrast, the average man hits his pitching wedge
100 yards and his driver 220 yards -- a 120-yard gap). The
strategy for these women is to have fewer clubs (more woods
and fewer irons) and to space the lofts far differently than
the spacing in a traditional set. For example, a woman's set
of clubs would include: a 14-degree driver, 18-degree 3-wood,
20-degree 5-wood, 24-degree 7-wood, 28-degree 9-wood, 32-
degree 7-iron, 38-degree 8-iron, 44-degree 9-iron and a 50-
degree pitching wedge. Throw in a sand wedge and a putter
and you have a set that numbers 11, but fills in the 40-yard
gap more evenly (and with more versatility).
of every two women who take up the game quit after 24 months.
There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the most
common is that the game is made hard for women because many
of them play with inferior equipment. Sometimes it is the
arrow and not the Indian that's responsible for a bad shot.
Many women players have difficulty generating enough club
head speed to consistently get the ball airborne with the
longer clubs, which have less face loft. They have no trouble
with the 5-iron through pitching wedge, but they hit the rest
of their clubs all about the same distance. This begs a ques-
tion from an inquiring mind: "Why do I need all those other
clubs in the set if they all go the same distance?" I've
asked club manufacturers about this, but they have always
responded with a shrug -- until now. Finally, using the
information provided by modern-day launch monitors, club
manufacturers such as Callaway are making sets available
this year that are more suitable for golfers with slow swing
speed. Here's how it works. A woman who hits her driver about
120 yards spins the ball at about 4,000 rpms (revolutions per
minute). Her spin rate for the pitching wedge is about 5,000
rpms. The rate is fairly constant throughout the set, meaning
she has only a 40-yard gap between her longest and shortest
clubs (by contrast, the average man hits his pitching wedge
100 yards and his driver 220 yards -- a 120-yard gap). The
strategy for these women is to have fewer clubs (more woods
and fewer irons) and to space the lofts far differently than
the spacing in a traditional set. For example, a woman's set
of clubs would include: a 14-degree driver, 18-degree 3-wood,
20-degree 5-wood, 24-degree 7-wood, 28-degree 9-wood, 32-
degree 7-iron, 38-degree 8-iron, 44-degree 9-iron and a 50-
degree pitching wedge. Throw in a sand wedge and a putter
and you have a set that numbers 11, but fills in the 40-yard
gap more evenly (and with more versatility).
