In golf, the performance of the equipment used to strike the ball is dependent on the three components involved; the clubhead, the shaft, and the ball. Given the number of available heads, shafts, and balls on the market, there are well over one million combinations for the Driver alone. With this in mind, what are the odds that any golfer can find the equipment combination that will best fit their game.

With the quality of information that is currently available on equipment, the number of fitting options, and the typical fitting process, the answer is “pretty slim”.

In 2006, Dr. Ralph Mann began the research effort to attempt to understand the performance characteristics of golf equipment. The effort was divided into two major areas; mechanical testing and human testing.

Mechanical Testing, Part 1

To be successful, the research effort had to be able to determine the individual contributions of each of the three components (clubhead, shaft, and ball). In addition, the human factor needed to be included in the testing if it was a major contributor. These requirements quickly eliminated one major testing method, as well as one of the three components from this process.

  Although the mechanical swing machines like Iron Byron are used by some to evaluate equipment, those most familiar with their operation recognize their limitations. To a scientist, the fact that it uses all three equipment components at once, is difficult to reproduce results day after day, and has infinite swing settings    makes it an unreliable research tool. Perhaps more important is the fact that the swing machines grip the club with an inhuman metal grip, and swings the club on a path that no human follows. All of these factor serve to disqualify these mechanical robots from being use as means of testing golf equipment for human use.

Mechanical Testing, Part 2

The one equipment component that does not lend itself to mechanical testing is the golf shaft. The golf clubhead and ball do not care how the golf swing occurs; they only respond to the impact conditions when the head and the ball collide. The shaft, however, will perform differently due to differences in the swing path. Thus, if two golfers produce the same clubhead speed at impact using the same shaft, the shaft will respond differently if their swing paths are different.

Due to these conclusions, the mechanical testing was confined to cubheads and balls. Moreover, the mechanical testing was performed using a ball cannon. This device fires golf balls at a stationary clubhead, eliminating the problems inherent in the mechanical swing machines.

Using a rigid research process, SwingModel in conjunction with UST, has used the ball cannon to identify the performance characteristics of the top balls and clubheads in golf.

With this information, the last component, that of the golf shaft, was the only factor left to determine. For this, human testing was the only viable avenue.

Human Testing

The golf shaft is the wildcard in the equipment fitting process. Of the three components, it has the greatest complexity. From weight, to torque, to flex, to length; the shaft can be the greatest contributor to a successful equipment fit. These same factors, however, makes the shaft the most difficult to research.

Because the golfer, and how they swing, directly affects how the shaft behaves, all research was done using human subjects. Working closely with Baylor Medical Center, UST, and TPT Golf, the four groups brought together the resources needed to measure the complex interaction between the golf swing and how it affects the golf shaft.

Whereas the mechanical testing was straight forward, the complexity of the human testing was a much more difficult process. However, with a cooperative effort, the effects of golf shafts to swing performance was identified.

Application

With the individual characteristics of balls, clubheads, and shafts determined, the process of using this information to fit equipment was the next goal. In recent collaboration with TPT Golf , SwingModel has integrated this equipment research into the first true component based golf equipment fitting system. Applying the fitting techniques developed by Bill Choung of TPT Golf has produced a fitting process that will provide golfers with the ability to select the best components for their individual swing.