News from GAME IMPROVEMENT GOLF

vol. 1, number 8

In This Issue

Putting Stats, and Belly Putters

"FLO" and Your Shaft Logo?

More Putting - AimPoint?

Game Improvement Golf Newsletter

Information to improve your golf game (September 2011)

Greetings!

So - What About the Harrison Shotmaker?

Last month I mentioned a new club improvement technology that I had just heard about - the Harrison Shotmaker, offered by Harrison Golf. This device is a very light (4 gram weight), approximately 1 foot long insert, that goes inside of a golf shaft through the butt end of the club. The intent of the Shotmaker is to "stabilize the tip section" of the golf club, and to decrease the dispersion of golf shots. As of now, the only use of it is for drivers, but I suspect if it works it could be used in fairway woods also. There are different Shotmakers for different club swing speeds and intensity of club loading.

So - does it work? To me the jury is still out but the results continue to be promising. I know of one major clubfitter in California who has reported good results with the Shotmaker. This past weekend I put one in my driver (the "E" version) - and I hit 12 of 13 fairways with my driver (missed the last fairway, think I was nervous about going 13 of 13). So far, then, seems like a technology worth considering!

Some Interesting Putting Stats - And Belly Putters

There was a very interesting article published in the September 12, 2011 issue of Golf World titled "The Stat That Does Not Lie." It is well worth reading if you can find this issue. It discusses a new putting statistic that, I believe, truly identifies who are the best putters and the not so good (see, politically correct?) putters on the PGA tour.

Of more interest to me and hopefully to you are some statistics presented on averages for how many putts are made from different distances from the hole. Here is some of that data:

3 foot putts - 95% made

4 foot putts - 86% made

6 foot putts - 65% made

10 foot putts - 38% made

20 foot putts - 14% made

40 foot putts - 4% made

So, most likely for us mere mortal golfers, we will not achieve results better than these statistics. We should, though, I think, want to concentrate on getting our short game shots inside of 3 or 4 feet as much as possible. And when we do not had have 6 to 10 foot putts, give our best effort and then realize that even the best golfers in the world are not likely to make more than 60 or so percent of their putts from these distances.

Regarding Belly Putters (and long putters) - well they are all the rage right now since so many recent PGA tour winners have used them. While I have only built a few of them, and none recently, I do want to pass on an important tip if you are interested in taking your conventional putter and making it into a belly putter. Conventional putter heads usually weigh from about 340 to 350 grams to get the right weight feel. Belly putters are different because the stroke is different - head weights are usually in the range of 380 to 400 grams. So if you extend a conventional putter to a belly putter, look into adding weight to the head.

"FLO" - And Your Golf Shaft Logo...

If you put a golf shaft into a shaft frequency analyzer and rotate the shaft to different positions around its circumference, you will find that the frequency measurements that you make at different locations vary. There are some locations where the shaft is stiffer, some where it is less stiff.

As a result of this, the video link below shows how a golf shaft actually vibrates in different planes. If you have never seen this kind of video before, you might be surprised!!

Golf Shaft FLO

The term "FLO" related to golf shafts stands for Flat Line Oscillation. There is a plane of the shaft where it will not oscillate but vibrate straight up and down. It only make sense that one would want to orient the FLO plane of a golf shaft in the plane of the target line for the clubhead. I have talked with a number of players who have felt seen greater consistency in their ball striking just by this modification.

There are a number of techniques for FLOing a shaft. One you may have heard of is the copyrighted process known as "SST Puring" of shafts. Clubfitters also have other ways that they can FLO a shaft. It is also interesting to note that the location of FLO in a shaft can change when you butt cut a shaft to its final length.

Bottom line for you - perhaps the next time you get your clubs regripped, you may want a clubfitter to check to see if you shafts are oriented in the FLO plane. If not, you may want to consider having the shafts pulled and reoriented - you will like the difference.

And back to the Golf Shaft Logo - you should not expect that because the Logo is facing up that your shafts are FLOed. Oh well......

Coming Next Month - "AimPoint" Technology

Today, I will receive from Amazon.com the new Dave Stockton putting book titled "Unconscious Putting." I have read his previous book and if this one is as good it is worth putting on your game improvement reading list.

I am working to find out some information on a putting improvement system called "AimPoint." This technology is the one you see used on TV when they show you the line that putts need to take to go into the hole. There are classes offered around the U.S. and the world on how to use this technology to read putts well. More coming...

As always, any ideas for future newsletters always welcome!

The Fit Is IT!

Tony Wright (The Golfer's Clubfitter)

GAME IMPROVEMENT GOLF

Oak Ridge, TN

tony@gameimprovementgolf.com