GOLF CLUB DRIVERS

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  Go to: http://www.golfjoy.com/golf_physics/spec…
  Also go to: http://golf.about.com/od/faqs/f/clubleng…
  And: http://golf.about.com/od/faqs/a/golf_clu…
  And: http://www.usga.org/playing/rules/books/…
  Raw Materials
  Golf clubs are manufactured from a wide variety of materials, including metals, plastics, ceramics, composites, wood, and others. Different materials are chosen for different parts of the club based on their mechanical properties, such as strength, elasticity, formability, impact resistance, friction, damping, density, and others.
  Club heads for drivers and other woods may be made from stainless steel, titanium, or graphite fiber-reinforced epoxy. Face inserts may be made from zirconia ceramic or a titanium metal matrix ceramic composite. Oversize metal woods are usually filled with synthetic polymer foam. Traditionalists can even buy woods that are made of real wood. Persimmon, laminated maple, and a host of exotic woods are used. Wood club heads are usually soaked in preserving oil or coated with a synthetic finish like polyurethane to protect them from moisture.
  Club heads for irons and wedges may be made from chrome-plated steel, stainless steel, titanium, tungsten, beryllium nickel, beryllium copper, or combinations of these metals. Heads for putters may be made of all of the same materials as irons, plus softer materials like aluminum or bronze, because the velocity of impact is much slower when putting.
  Club shafts may be made from chrome-plated steel, stainless steel, aluminum, carbon or graphite fiber-reinforced epoxy, boron fiber-reinforced epoxy, or titanium. Grips are usually made from molded synthetic rubber or wrapped leather.
  Design
  The rules of the United States Golf Association (USGA) have only a few brief paragraphs regarding the design of golf clubs. There are no restrictions on weight or materials, and only a few restrictions on dimensions. Shafts must be at least 18 in (457 mm) long. The distance from the heel to the toe of the head must be greater than the distance from the face to the back of the head. The cross-sectional dimension of the grip must not be greater than 1.75 in (45 mm) in any direction. Of all the rules, however, the most important one requires that the club ‘’shall not be substantially different from the traditional and customary form and make.”
  It is this last rule that sometimes gives club designers the fits. It means, for example, that club heads may not have features like aiming fins or holes to reduce aerodynamic drag. Shafts may not have flexible joints, and so forth. In short, anything that is not “traditional and customary” is not allowed. All new club designs must be submitted to the USGA for review and approval before they may be used in tournament play.
  Within the USGA guidelines, many new features have been incorporated into golf clubs. Using computer-aided design programs and mathematical models of club and ball dynamics, designers have learned to utilize new materials, redistribute weight, and alter the general shape of the club in an attempt to help both professional golfers and weekend duffers improve their games.
  One common feature of modern irons is perimeter weighting, which places most of the club head weight around the edges, leaving the center with less material. This added mass reduces the amount of club twist when the ball is struck towards the edge of the club, rather than in the center. The effect is to increase the size of the effective hitting area, or the “sweet spot” as golfers call it. The hollow oversize metal heads on some drivers have the same effect.
  Another design feature of some modern clubs is the offset head, where the striking face is located to the rear of the centerline of the shaft. This places the golfer’s hands slightly ahead of the ball at impact, which tends to square the club face and give better direction control.
  Other design features help golfers make cleaner shots from uneven terrain, get the ball up in the air from grassy lies, and correct their tendency to hit to one side or the other. As with any product, some features offer more psychological help than physical help. Despite three decades of golf club design improvements, the driving distance of the best professional golfers increased only 12 yd (11 m) between 1968 and 1995, and the average winning score fell at a rate of only one stroke every 21 years.
  The Manufacturing
  Process
  Every golf club maker uses a slightly different manufacturing process. The largest companies use highly automated machinery, while the smallest companies use hand tools. Some parts of the manufacturing process may be unique to one company and regarded as trade secrets.
  Here is a typical sequence of operations used to produce a machine-made, perimeter-weighted golf iron.
  Forming the head
  1. The head is formed by a process called investment casting. A master die of the club head is made from metal. The die consists of two halves with a hollow cavity that is the exact shape and size of the desired club head. Molten wax is poured into the die cavity and allowed to harden.
  2. When the wax is hard, the die is opened, and the wax pattern is removed. This process is repeated several times. Several wax patterns are attached to a central wax column, called a sprue, to form a tree.
  3. The tree is dipped into a liquid mixture of powdered ceramic material, various chemicals, and a gelling agent. It is set aside until the coating dries. The tree is then placed in a container, and the container is filled with a liquid molding slurry, which is allowed to harden.
  4. The hardened mold is heated to about 1,000-2,000° F (550-1,100° C) in an oven to melt the wax patterns. The melted wax runs out the bottom and any wax residue is vaporized. The mold is then inverted.
  5. Molten metal for the club head is poured into the hot mold and allowed to harden. When the metal has cooled, the mold material is broken away from the tree, and the individual cast heads are cut off the sprue. The investment casting process produces parts with an excellent surface finish and no flash or parting lines to remove. The parts can be made from a wide range of metals and their weight is uniform from one part to another.
  6. Most iron heads are heated treated to harden the outer surface. The head is heated either with a flame or an induction coil, and then quickly cooled. This causes the steel near the surface to form a different grain structure that is much harder than the rest of the head.
  Forming the shaft
  7 If the shaft is made of steel or stainless steel, it is formed by a process called tube drawing. A tube of the desired length is pulled part way through an opening in a die slightly smaller than the tube diameter, which causes the drawn portion of the tube to neck down in diameter. This process is repeated several times. Each time the die diameter is made slightly smaller, and the length of tube pulled through the die is several inches less. The result is a tube that decreases in diameter from about 0.50 in (13 mm) to about 0.37 in (9.5 mm) in seven or eight small steps spaced along the length of the shaft. If the shaft is made of steel, it is chrome plated after it is formed.
  8 If the shaft is made of graphite fiber-reinforced composite material, it is formed by a process called pultrusion. A bundle of graphite fibers is pulled through a circular opening in one or more heated dies while epoxy resin is forced through the opening at the same time. The graphite fibers become imbedded in the epoxy and the heat makes the epoxy harden to form the shaft. The shaft is then cooled by air or water and cut to length. Graphite fiber-reinforced shafts are the same diameter along the entire length.
  Assembling the club
  9 There are several ways to fasten the head to the shaft. With some metal shafts, the shaft is inserted into the socket on the head and a small hole is drill crossways through both the socket and the shaft. A small metal pin is then pressed into the hole and held in place with an epoxy adhesive. With graphite shafts, the head is bonded to the shaft with an adhesive. This second process is becoming more common for all shaft materials, including metal shafts.
  10 The other end of the shaft is placed in a hollow die and a rubber grip is molded around its upper portion. The shaft may then be labeled with an adhesive sticker to show the manufacturer, brand name, degree of flex, or other information.
  11 The raised metal parts are polished to give the club a finished appearance. As a final step, any recessed lettering or logos on the club head may be filled with paint or another color finish. Adhesive stickers or adhesive-backed metal plates may be affixed to the club head for identification or decoration as well.
  Quality Control
  Golf clubs are treated with almost as much attention to specifications as components for aircraft. In fact most golf club manufacturers emphasize their specifications as a means of differentiating their clubs from the competition. Swing weight, lie angle, shaft torque, and a host of other specifications are not only important to the club designers, but are also important to the company’s customers. In addition to dimensional checks and process controls, clubs are randomly tested for a variety of specifications that affect performance.
  The Future
  The popularity of golf is expected to continue to grow. As the number of recreational players increases, there will be an emphasis on designing clubs that make the game more enjoyable for the average golfer. Despite objections from purists, oversize club heads and other game-improving features will continue to be offered.
  That was at: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Golf-Clu…

  Comment by dearchus — October 11, 2009 @ 10:13 am

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  usga in far hills NJ has a technical section with written specs for all clubs/balls/etc … next go to any local pro … or best is Frank Thomas at golf channel… former usga tech official (possibly … http://www.askfrank.com??)

  Comment by Spartan Golfer — October 11, 2009 @ 10:47 am

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  You didn’t say if you were interested in drivers, woods, hybrids, irons, wedges or putters. Here’s a starting point:

  Comment by lv2fq — October 11, 2009 @ 11:36 am

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