1. Golf Equipment Anatomy of the golf club
Shaft function, composition, and length
Golf club head
Loft of irons
Distances with different clubs
Club matching – swing weight
Perimeter weighting
Ball-club impact characteristics
Recent innovations in clubs, shafts, and balls
References and websites

2. Golf Clubs - Anatomy

3. Shaft Function is to place clubhead in position for ball contact
Composition, flex (feel), length

4. Golf Clubs - Head Loft of Driver, 3-, and 5-Woods
Function is to impart velocity and spin to ball
Important features: loft (fig 9.4, p 112), size of face, weight, moment of inertia, hardness (COR)
Loft of Driver, 3-, and 5-Woods

5. Loft of Irons

6. Average Distances for Clubs

7. Club Matching – swing weight

8. Club Matching Swing Wt Conversion:
Some clubs are matched for “Feel”, or stiffness,
or vibration frequency
(driver -4.2, 2 Hz, 5 iron Hz, 9 iron Hz)

9. Perimeter Weighting - Irons and Putter

10. Perimeter Weighting - Driver
Larger and hollow, lighter &
stronger material on perimeter

11. Perimeter Weighting in Putters:

12. Shaft Flex During Swing:

13. What happens at impact with real ball?

14. What Happens if impact is with an inelastic ball (top) and perfectly elastic ball (bottom)

15. The “Gear” effect

16. Reason for rounded face on driver

17. Ball lift and Flight:

18. Recent Innovations in Golf Clubs
New materials allow larger clubs and perimeter weighting concept to be applied to a greater degree
Results in more “forgiving” clubs
Titanium - greater strength/mass ratio
Putters - more variations and gimmicks than any other club (soft face, curved face, offset head
Irons - investment casting allows cavity-backed, perimeter weighting
Metal woods - are hollow, larger and perimeter weighted
Claims of trampoline effect - more lively, or greater COR

19. Recent Innovations in Shafts
New materials allow stiffer, lighter shafts
Steel is still used by most golfers and comes in different levels of stiffness,or flex
Carbon graphite is lighter and stiffer, but earlier models lacked torsional stability
Titanium is popular, but expensive and too stiff for most golfers
Some clubs are matched for resonate frequency

20. Golf Balls
For many years there were two main types: balata (3-piece with liquid-filled rubber center, rubber winding, and soft balata cover; and surlyn (2-piece with plastic core and surlyn cover).
Newer balls are either of two pieces (core and cover), or three pieces, as shown here.
                                              
A.Core
B.Ionomer Casing
C. Urethane elastomer cover
D. Dimple design

21. Golf Equipment References
Cochran and Stobbs. (1986) Search for the Perfect Swing.
Daish, C.B. (1972) The physics of ball games.
Tech Line Corp, Technology in Golf (
DaveT's Club Design (

22. My Favorite Golf Hole: