Comparing the Taylor Made M4 to the M2

Every year Taylor Made launches a new driver. This year the M4 replaces the 2017 M2. A valid question is how much of a difference there is between the two. A couple of days ago we put this to the test. I compared both using a Trackman Launch Monitor.

I hit 24 drives with each club. Alternating from one to the other after 3 shots so not to get used to swinging just the one driver. The ball was teed at the same height for both drivers. Both drivers had 10.5 degrees of loft. The same Accra 372T M4 shaft was used in both drivers, which played at 45 inches. The ball that was used was the Titleist Pro V1. It was a nice May day, temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius and a helping breeze (around 8mph).

The main performance numbers that we looked are were club head speed, ball speed, carry, total distance, accuracy, launch angle and spin rates. Ultimately the main ones to be interested in are ball speed, carry, total distance and accuracy. Essentially a driver can be longer, more accurate or both. This is what we look for in drivers, there isn't much point in changing a driver unless the performance improves.

For the M4, the changes are the 'Twist Face' and 'Hammerhead' technology, the Twist Face changes the roll and bulge on the face potentially leading to more accuracy and the Hammerhead increases ball speed leading to more distance.

Here are the results.

Club	Clubhead Speed(mph)	Ball Speed	Launch Angle	Spin Rate	Carry (yards)	Total Distance	Height (feet)	Distance from target (ft)
M4	101.7	149.8	13.5	2745	245.7	271	94	33.42
M2	101.6	149.8	12.5	2730	242.1	268.3	87	38.95

The results are interesting.

Club and ball speed are identical. The M4 does give more distance and accuracy. It was 3.2 yards longer carry and 2.7 yards longer over all. It was 5.53 feet closer on average to the target which is 14.2% closer. Launch angle and height were both higher in the M4 too.

Conclusion

 

The M4 is this test does give longer distance and more accuracy. The distance is coming not from increased ball speed but a slightly higher flight, the launch angle was 1 degree higher and especially with a following wind this leads to just a little more carry. As the ball speeds were the same from the 2 drivers we can say that there is no real distance gain from the M4 over the M2. Distance ultimately comes from ball speed.

However there is an accuracy gain, 5.53 feet closer on average or 14.2%. This is a substantial enough improvement and does follow on from what Taylor Made are saying about increased accuracy from the Twist Face.

Should a golfer switch from an M2 to an M4? If they are looking for more accuracy, yes. If they're looking for more distance, no. The M4 does have a different sound then the M2 which can also influence the decision too.

If you have any questions, please comment.

Testing the Titleist 917 D3 Driver against the 915 D3 Driver

Titleist have just launched their latest driver, the 917. There are two models the D2 and the D3. Like every new driver the claim is that it's better, longer and straighter then the previous one. So, last week, to put these claims to the test we compared a 917D3 against a 915D3

 

According to Titleist the driver's benefits are;

• Faster ball speeds - Off-center provide more distance, more often, delivering superior forgiveness.

• Adjustability - Through industry leading SureFit® CG and SureFit® Hosel provide the best possible fit for every golfer of any skill level.

• Sound and acoustic - Frequencies have been Tour validated to inspire confidence and enhance feel.

• Trajectory and shot shape - Customization provide golfers a more consistent and repeatable shot from the tee.

Technology

• SureFit® CG - Allows the CG to be moved from a back, heel position to a forward, toe position through interchangeable weights, optimizing spin and launch conditions for every player.

• Active Recoil Channel™ 2.0 - Refined thickness through the channel reduces spin and increases speed.

• Radial Speed Face 2.0 - Enhanced with a thinner perimeter face width to promote a greater off-center ball speed for more overall distance across the face.

• SureFit® Hosel - 16 independent loft and lie settings, create a more consistent and optimized ball flight through precision fitting.

The Test

 

 

We had two players testing. While hitting, both players switched heads from 917 D3 9.5 degrees to 915 D3 9.5 degrees but used the same shaft. Player A used a Project X Handcrafted 6.0 and Player B used an Aldila Rogue Silver 60 S flex. Player A and Player B both used the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball. It was a beautiful day for testing with temperatures around 15 degrees C and little wind.

 

Both players hit 30 drives, 15 with each head, in the order of 5 with 915, 5 with 917, 5 with 915, 5 with 917, 5 with 915 and 5 with 917. Results were recorded on a Trackman launch monitor.

 

Initial Observations 

 

The 917 has a different look to the 915 almost going back to a similar look to the classic 975D driver. Also noticeable is the different sound from the 917 to the 915.

 

Results 

 

Player A 

Driver	Carry (yards)	Total	Dispersion (ft)	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Launch Angle	Spin	Height (ft)
915	243.5	267.1	34.22	101.0	150.8	12.3	2783	91.3
917	241.6	267.0	43.07	102.2	151.3	12.5	2560	86.5

 

Player B

Driver	Carry (yards)	Total	Dispersion (ft)	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Launch Angle	Spin	Height (ft)
915	215.5	235.6	53.78	93.3	139.2	14.0	3361	87.6
917	212.8	233.5	52.8	93.6	138.4	14.5	3400	86.2

 

Analysis

 

There really isn't a whole lot of difference between the two drivers. Player A got better dispersion with the 915, nearly 9 feet closer to the target and slightly more carry, 1.9 yards. Overall distance was the same. With the 917, there was a hint of more club head speed, 1.2 mph ball speed 0.5 mph and also less spin, 223 rpms less.

For player B, the 915 had a little more carry, 2.7 yards and more overall distance, 2.1 yards, everything else was similar.

 

What could help player B is changing the Sure Fit CG. The player was striking the ball towards the heel of the club, leading to higher spin and shots to the right, note the dispersion was 52-53 feet from target. Switching the weight more towards the heel and altering the centre of gravity as a result would lead to straighter and longer shots for this player. But as we were doing just a direct comparison of heads and keeping the parameters the same we didn't do this and left it for later testing.

 

 

Conclusion  

 

Should you run out and get a new Titleist 917? If you have a 915 and are getting good results and it's optimised for your swing, the answer is no. If you are in the market for a new driver the answer is yes, this is a driver you should look at. 

It performs well, is classical looking and sounds good. The Sure Fit CG is a good addition allowing for more customisation. Potentially giving players longer and straighter drives with an altered centre of gravity.

 

Ultimately, a player needs to test a driver before heading out to buy. The 917 is no different. Test everything and trust nothing is a good mantra when it comes to golf equipment.

Comments and questions are appreciated.

How to Gain 30 Extra Yards in 30 Minutes

CM came along yesterday looking to be fitted for a driver. He mentioned that a frequent shot of his was high spinning and left to right.

This being a typical poor shot.

The first thing that was looked at was the strike point in the face.

The strike point was towards the heel and low down on the face, which would lead to higher spinning left to right shots. He then focused on the strike point and moved it more to the middle, giving an immediate jump in distance and accuracy.

11 yards more carry and 13 yards more overall. 

Next his angle of attack was looked at. His angle was around 4 degrees down, which is not optimal. We looked at changing the angle of attack to see what would happen.

He changed his angle of attack from around 4 degrees down to 2 degrees up and a further 16 yards more carry and 17 yards more total distance. Giving CM an overall 30 yard jump in 30 minutes!!

To help him strike it more in the middle we gave him a slighter heavier and stiffer shaft. He was using a 73 gram stiff shaft and he went to a 76 gram extra stiff shaft which helped him feel where the club was more in his swing. He kept the same head.

To change the angle of attack CM teed the ball higher, placed the club a couple of inches behind the ball, added a slight more tilt in his shoulders and felt like he was trying to hit up on the ball. 

That's how he did it!!

If you're looking for more distance, two great tips are to be aware of where you strike it on the face and hit more up on the ball. Centred strikes and higher angle of attacks mean more distance!! 

Comments and questions are always welcome.

3 More Golf Equipment Terms Explained and How They Can Help Your Game

Centre of Gravity (COG)

Centre of Gravity heights, photo by @kirkoguri on Twitter

Centre of Gravity (CG) is a point in the head that represents all the mass of head. The above photo shows the position of the centre of gravity in 4 different heads by height. Only minimal differences but enough to make the heads perform quite differently.

The CG is sometimes referred to as the sweet spot of the club. The sweet spot is the projected position of the CG from inside the club on to the club face. It is quite a small spot and is not bigger in some clubs then other.

When the ball is hit on the 'sweet spot' the club face doesn't twist or rotate and the maximum amount of energy is transferred to the ball.

The CG can be moved around the club head by shifting weight, move weight towards the toe the CG goes towards the toe (a small bit, not a huge amount). Moving the weight around influences the flight of a ball by utilising gear effect to help the golfer. More weight in the heel will promote a draw from centred strikes and straighter shots from heel strikes. The spin rate can also be influenced by moving the CG higher or lower.

Moment of Inertia (MOI)

Moment of inertia (MOI) is the measure of an object's resistance to twisting. The higher the MOI the more the object will resist twisting. For a golf club this means for shots that are mishit a head with higher MOI will twist less offline then a club with lower MOI.

In golf heads weight is moved to the perimeter to increase MOI and make them more forgiving. So a cavity back will be more forgiving then a blade. This is also the process that makes a 'sweet spot' bigger, it's not making the 'sweet spot' bigger but the club head twists less giving more forgiveness and the illusion of a bigger sweet spot.

It also helps with putters a big mallet style putter with weight moved to the extremes will not twist as much as a blade style putter meaning the ball will start more online with mishits.

Roll & Bulge

Roll is the curvature on the face of a wood from crown to sole.

Bulge is the curvature on the face of a wood from heel to toe

Bulge and roll are there to counteract what is known as gear effect. When a driver is struck off-centre, the head wants to twist, roughly about it's centre of gravity. In the period of time between impact and separation, the friction between the club face and ball adds spin to the ball in the opposite direction to the rotation of the club head. this is much the same way that in a 2 gear system, if one gear is rotated, the other rotates in the opposite direction (thus the name gear effect.) 

The purpose of bulge is to modify the initial launch direction to compensate for the shape in ball flight caused by an off centre hit. For example on a heel strike the ball will move more left to right and as a result we would like the ball to start further left to compensate for this.

Roll directly effects loft in the vertical plane on the face. A ball hit higher on the face will spin less due to gear effect but will launch higher due to the roll, a ball hit lower on the face will spin more due to gear effect but will launch lower due to roll. These compensations lead to better results from mishits.


Any questions or comments are appreciated.

3 Ways to Improve your Golf Equipment and Golf Scores for under €5

It's not uncommon to hear that golf is an expensive game. This is true at times, however there are many ways to lower your scores and improve your game and equipment for little or no money. Here are three of the best ways to lower your scores for under €5. Best of all they require no practice!!!

 

1. Brush (Under €5)

A brush or nailbrush is a great piece of equipment. Golf grips can get shiny and slippy from dust, sunscreen etc. As a grip is the only piece of golf equipment that you have contact with it's important to keep them clean, so you maintain a good hold on the club.  A good scrub with a brush and hot soapy water is a great way to get the grime out of grips and making them feel fresh again. If they still feel a little slippy after a wash a little rub with some sandpaper before washing can refresh them a little bit more.

 

Second use for a brush is to clean the grooves of the clubface. The grooves on the clubface are there to give dirt, grass and water somewhere to go when the golf ball and clubface impact. If grass, water or dirt get between the ball and clubface they can reduce friction between the ball and clubface reducing spin and causing a 'flyer' where the ball travels much further then expected.

A nice clean clubface like the one above will create the correct friction between the club and ball giving consistent spin rates and golf shots that are easier to judge.

A little note on friction, if there is a material like sand on the face of a wedge maybe you should not wipe it off if you're looking for a bit more spin on a shot. Sand increases friction between ball and clubface giving more spin. After a bunker shot it might be an idea to leave the sand on the face of the wedge, as the next shot you play with the club might require a little more stop.

2. Foot Spray (€5)

 

 

How can foot spray help your golf? It's great for finding the impact point on the clubface!! Other things like impact tape can alter the flight of the ball whereas foot spray has little effect on the flight.

 

Just spray some powder on the face, hit a few balls and see where the impact is. Impact point on the face has a big bearing on the flight of the ball due to gear effect. A simple explanation of gear effect is when the ball is hit off center the clubhead twists and imparts spin on the ball. When it is hit off the heel it starts further left and moves left to right, off the toe it starts further right and moves right to left, high on the club it launches higher and spins less and off the bottom it launches lower and spins more.

There is also a loss of ball speed and distance with off center hits.

If you notice a pattern in your mishits for example in the above picture the top photo has a pattern of heel hits then simply moving the ball/clubface alignment can lead to more centered strikes. For the above case lining the ball more towards the toe at address can lead to centered strikes. 

Length of the club can also be a factor, longer clubs can lead to heel strike patterns and shorter clubs can lead to toe strike patterns. Lengths of clubs can be adjusted easily.  

So, knowing your impact point on the face coupled with a simple adjustment or two can lead to longer and straighter shots.

3. Sharpie Pen (€2 and under)

A Sharpie Pen is a great way to find if the lie angle of the club is correct for you.

Use to sharpie pen to draw a straight line on one half of the ball. Place the ball on tee with the line vertically positioned so the line will contact the club face at impact.

It's not necessary but you can put some face tape on an iron. The face tape just makes it a bit easier to see the impact but normally you can see the impact on the club face. Then hit a shot with the iron.

Straight line, correct lie angle

Line from toe to heel, lie angle too upright

Line from heel to toe, lie angle too flat

 There are three possible results. If the line is straight like the first photo then the dynamic lie angle is correct. Ball should fly according to what the swing does. If the top of the line goes from toe to heel, second photo, the dynamic lie angle is too upright and the ball should fly more right to left then the swing would suggest. If the top of the line goes from heel to toe, third photo, the dynamic lie angle is too flat and the ball will fly left to right more then the swing suggests.

 

The above photo illustrates how lie angle affects where the face is pointing. Correct lie angle, face points straight, too upright to the left and too flat to the right.

If the lie angle of the clubs is out they can be changed easily with a loft and lie machine. We have one here at Drive Golf Performance in Riverstown and a set can be altered for €30.

Summary

3 easy ways for under €5 to improve your golf are, brush to clean grips and grooves, foot spray to identify impact point on the face and sharpie pen to identify correct lie angle in your irons.

Golf improvement doesn't necessarily require big investment or a change in swing. Try these out to see if they help your game. Comments or questions are always welcome.

Understanding Ball Flight - Why Did the Ball Curve That Way?

In order to understand ball flight there are three questions to ask.

1. Why did the ball start there?
2. Why did the ball curve that way?
3. Why did the ball go that far?

In the last blog post, the first question, why did the ball start there?, was answered, in this post the second question, why did the ball curve that way?, will be answered.

Of the five impact factors, clubhead speed, club path, club face angle, angle of attack and centeredness of strike the main ones that affect ball curvature are club path, face angle and centeredness of strike.

Spin Axis

What causes a ball to curve is a tilt in it's Axis of Rotation. The axis of rotation is the axis in which the ball is spinning around. The ball spins around one axis, sometimes people believe there is a combination of backspin and sidespin, but this doesn't happen.

 

The line going from left to right is the axis the ball is back spinning around. The axis is also tilted to the right in this photo meaning the ball will move from left to right in the air.

Imagining an airplane turning is a good way to see how a tilt in the axis of rotation will affect the flight. With the wings tilted to the right in this photo the plane is turning right. A ball with a tilt to the right will move from left to right and a tilt to the left will have the ball moving right to left.

Trackman figures show that for every 5 degrees of tilt in the spin axis the ball will curve approximately 3.5 yards to the side for every 100 yards of carry.

Spin Axis tilt is caused by a difference between club face angle and club path, Trackman names this difference as Face to Path. If the face is open to the path, the spin axis will tilt to the right and the ball will move left to right. If the face is closed to the path, the spin axis will tilt to the left and the ball will move right to left. 

Gear effect on clubs, mainly woods, also has a major influence on spin axis. Heel strikes tilt the spin axis to the right, resulting in left to right shots. Toe strikes tilt the spin axis the the left, resulting in right to left shots.

Influence of the D-Plane on Spin Axis Tilt

The D-Plane or Descriptive Plane was coined by Theo Jorgensen in his book 'The Physics of Golf'. The easiest way to describe D-Plane is it is the plane that contains the initial flight of a golf ball after impact with the club face. The D-Plane is created by the club path and the club face orientation at impact.

This picture from www.brianmanzella.com is a good illustration of the D-Plane. The face is closed to the path, causing the spin axis to tilt to the left, the ball will move from right to left and initial starting point is closer to the clubface than the club path.

Gear Effect

Earlier on it was mentioned that the strike point on the face would affect the spin axis. This is due to Gear Effect. A golf club will rotate around it's center of gravity. A golf ball that impacts on the face in line with the center of gravity will have not have any face rotation due to the contact collision. Is the ball strikes more towards the toe the club face rotates open and vice versa for a heel strike.

Gear effect is the counter rotation inflicted on the golf ball due to the interaction of the rotating face on the golf ball. A toe strike causes the spin axis to tilt to the left and a right to left ball flight. A heel strike causes the spin axis to tilt to the right and a left to right ball flight.

For irons the center of gravity is close the the club face and irons exhibit minimal gear effect. With woods the center of gravity is quite far from the face and woods exhibit significant gear effect.

For a driver Trackman indicates that an impact that is 0.5 inch from the center will impart 20 degrees of spin axis tilt. This is quite a large number and is a major factor in ball flight. It can override the influence of the D-Plane at times.

Here is a photo from www.tutleman.com illustrating gear effect.

Face Closure Rate

One other factor that effects curvature is the rate of closure of the clubface through impact. If the face is closing around a point behind the face it will impact the spin axis like heel contact gear effect.

Summary

The factors that determine curvature of the ball are the difference between the club path and club face orientation at impact. The D-Plane illustrates this. Gear effect also has a big impact on spin axis and how the ball curves. The least known factor is the face closure rate, a the face is closing around a point behind the face it will impact the spin axis like heel contact gear effect.

As a result the main way to hit a straight golf shot is to have a centered strike with little face closure combined with a club path and face angle that are pointing in the same direction at impact. A straight shot can also be obtained when a non centered strike counteracts a face to path difference.




Any questions and comments are always welcome.