Selecting Choices of Clubs

The first order is to know what type of swing you have; the clubs that are made today can help correct some things with the contact of the ball. But having solid swing fundamentals can be a big key to your success.

You're on the tee box and you're in a situation where your five wood is too long and you just don't feel comfortable with a long iron. There are hybrid models of longer irons that are similar to utility woods and therefore, easier to hit than conventional irons.

We all want more distance off the tee, but what do we really want? Sometime more distance can get us in more trouble, especially if we have a slice or hook. The solution is getting the club that gets good distance and control, keeping us in the fairway and out of harms way.

Achieving More Distance

Getting more swing speed to get more distance - this can be accomplished by several different methods: increasing the length of the club, making the club lighter, or adjusting the loft.

Right now the USGA allows is 47", more clubs are now standard at 44" or 45", even in the last ten years they were usually 43".

Selecting a shaft than fits your swing speed can give you more distance and control. If you're a strong player (110+ mph), swinging with a senior shaft can get you more distance, but you can lose control of the flight because the flex may bend too much and possibly break the shaft. If your swing is more of a tempo speed (about 70+ mph), with too stiff of a shaft, you'll have control but not the distance desired.

Reducing the overall weight of a club can increase your swing speed. Which can be done by selecting shafts (usually graphite) that are lighter in weight (about 65 to 75 grams).

Another option is to change the loft of the head. With the newer head designs, they have a lot more volume than a few years ago. Most drivers had volumes of about 230 to 250cc, now they are up to 400+cc. The larger heads are made of special metals to help contribute to a trampoline or spring like effect causing the ball to fly higher (with lower lofts) and even straighter than before, being more forgiving. This is not to say that if you're using a 12° driver that you should change to 8.5° driver. In other words if you're hitting less than about 250 yards you should look at higher lofted drivers to be able to develop more hang time which can equate to optimum distance. The Maximum COR (coefficient of restitution) is .830, which means that if you swing your club at a 100 mph the ball will come off the face at approximately 83 mph.

Improving Accuracy

Find yourself lost in the forest all day and not on the fairways? Did the 300-yard drive help you or hinder you? Maybe the 275-yard drive in the fairway would be a better bet.

Getting too long or too short of clubs can make you feel uncomfortable and cause you to gyrate to overcompensate for clubs that don't fit and can even make your swing flaws worse than they should be. By obtaining your static measurements, we can get more predictable guidelines. This will give you more of an opportunity to hit the ball square or on-center.

There are several clubs that us a 1° close face angle to help to minimize certain swing faults (i.e. slicing and hooking), and by doing this, could change your position 5 to 10 yard laterally.

Shaft Flex

Shaft flexes vary depending on manufacturer, so a stiff may be a regular in one company and extra stiff in another. Avex goes by RSSR (Recommended Swing Speed Range) of each shaft. How do we know what shaft is right for you? If we know the right swing speed, distance of your drives, distance of your 5 iron, we can find the right flex for you.

Playing with too stiff of a shaft flex can cause you to lose distance and lower trajectory, although you may be more accurate.

On the other hand, playing with too flexible of a shaft can give you more distance, but usually less accuracy.

Playing with the right flex will give you the balance of both accuracy and distance. This is a time when you really have to be honest about your swing speed and the distance you hit the ball in order to get a proper fit. Now is not time to act super human.

Shaft Bend Point

A lower bend point usually works well with slower swingers, the feel is a little softer, produces higher flight launches, which can give more hang time to get more distance.

Higher bend point will give you lower trajectory, which is great for stronger swingers and helps them to get more control of the shot.