News
An inside look at the world of golf club design
The design process has always fascinated me, especially when it comes to golf clubs.
The ability to create something new while also making them distinctly recognizable within a brand is impressive. The most parallel comparison I can draw would be in the car industry, where new models are released on a yearly basis that both look familiar yet refined. Add in the technological improvements, and you create something worth upgrading to.
The keyword here is “improvement,” because when OEMs release new equipment, the ultimate questions from golfers are “How is this better, and how can it help my game?” There is no doubt we are seeing advancements in technology, but whether those advancements are designed for you or a different segment of golfers is up the engineers behind the products. I have had the opportunity to speak with designers and engineers from multiple OEMs, and they all have a few things in common.
Obviously, nobody is trying to design a worse-performing golf club, and the process to create something new always starts with goal setting.
Pulling levers and reaching goals
Like with any engineering project, end goals are mapped out, with performance and looks as key factors in the success of the project. Thanks to computer modeling, and a deep understanding of materials, it’s not overly difficult for engineers to design to the far outreaches of what’s possible—but the difference between possible and playable is massive.
For example, we have seen extremely low spin drivers enter the market and help golfers hit it further, but to build that Center of Gravity (CG) location into a driver, you have to sacrifice forgiveness. On the other end of the spectrum, you can create a driver that goes very straight with higher MOI but then you lose the potential to maximize distance – its a fine balancing act and engineers are very good at pulling the right levers to balance performance depending on the target demographic.
So to answer one of the questions from the top “how is this better?”, in some individual cases it might actually not be, it could be that a previous generation had all the design characteristics to perfectly match your game. That doesn’t mean designers haven’t actually created a better club, it just means that it’s not better for you!
One of the best examples is in modern-day fairway woods. Unlike drivers where the end goal is to continue to drive the ball as far as possible, with a fairway wood it is a fine balancing act between distance and control. A 3-wood that goes as far as your driver off the tee doesn’t make a lot of sense since you already had a driver, and if it can’t be hit from the fairway, then you are basically wasting a spot in your bag.
Who’s driving the technology?
When we look at the golf industry as a whole, it is a substantial economic driver, but compared to other industries that rely on using the same raw materials to produce products, golf is just a tiny fraction of that business. No other part of the industry better exemplifies this than golf shafts.
They are made from exotic raw materials, including various forms of carbon fiber that can be quite expensive, but when you compare the types and amounts of carbon fiber used in golf shafts versus commercial and military aviation applications, then golf is obviously a very small player. This is why we see golf shaft companies utilizing materials from the aviation industry—the most recent example is the ProjectX RDX line of shafts which uses HexTow® carbon fibers to add more stability to the already extremely stable line of HZRDUS Smoke shafts. Although you might have never heard of Hexcel before this, to put them into perspective, they topped over $3.25 billion dollars in sales last year–that’s near twice the sales of Callaway’s entire portfolio.
The same goes for club heads. Maraging steel, for example, which is used in both fairway woods and even some iron faces, wasn’t developed for golf clubs, it was developed in the 1950s, and was primarily used in military applications including rocket casings. We still use it today even though it was developed in the age or persimmon woods—How’s that for a mind-bender?
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 PGA Championship
GolfWRX is on site this week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the PGA Championship.
While we see fewer equipment changes and new gear seeding at major championships, we get a look at custom gear and looks into the bags of players we rarely see, which is just as exciting. In the case of the PGA Championship, this means a look at the gear some of the PGA Professionals who qualified for the tournament will be gaming, and LIV players, such as Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed.
Check out links to all our albums from Valhalla below and check back throughout the week as we continue to update.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Michael Block – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Patrick Reed – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cam Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Josh Speight – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Takumi Kanaya – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kyle Mendoza – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Adrian Meronk – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jordan Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jeremy Wells – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jared Jones – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Somers – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Larkin Gross – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tracy Phillips – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jon Rahm – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Keita Nakajima – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kazuma Kobori – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- David Puig – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Ryan Van Velzen – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brad Marek – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rich Beem WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
Pullout Albums
- Ping putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Bettinardi covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cameron putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Max Homa – Titleist 2 wood – 2024 PGA Championship
- Scotty Cameron experimental putter shaft by UST – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – new Ping putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka’s new Cameron putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s Cobra bag and Aerojet driver – 2024 PGA Championship
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News
Morning 9: Is it Rory’s time? | Stricker WDs | Why Valhalla is a great major venue
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News
Tour Rundown: Rose blooms, Rory rolls
This week last year, I found myself praying to the weather goddesses and gods that Rochester would be spared their wrath over the next seven days. The 2023 Oak Hill PGA Championship (that was slated for August when the contract was signed) was on the horizon, and I wanted my region to show well. Things turned out fine, with all four seasons making an appearance, a PGA Professional (Blockie!) stealing hearts, and a proven champion in Koepka (although I was pulling for Viktor.)
This year, no concerns. Louisville will shine this week at Valhalla, but we’ve matters to consider before we look to four days of coverage this week. Nelly did not win on the LPGA this week, so who did? The PGA Tour held two events in the Carolinas, and Tour Champions celebrated a major event in Alabama. Four noteworthy events to run down, so let’s head to RunDownTown and take care of business.
LPGA @ Founders Cup: Rose blooms
There was a sense that Rose Zhang might have a role in the 2020s version of the LPGA. After winning everything there was in amateur golf, she came out and won her first tournament as a professional. That was last May and, let’s be honest, who among us thought it would take 12 months for Zhang to win again? Rhymes with hero, I know.
This week in New Jersey, eyes were on Nelly Korda, as she made a run at a sixth consecutive win on the LPGA circuit. Korda ran out of gas on Saturday, and that was just fine. Madelene Sagstrom and Zhang had turned the soiree at Upper Montclair into a battle of birdies. Gabriela Ruffels came third at nine-under par. No one else reached double digits under par but Sagstrom and Zhang. They didn’t just reach -10…they more than doubled it.
Sagstrom had the look of a winner with five holes left to play. She was three shots clear of Zhang, at 23-under par. The Swede played her closing quintet in plus-one, finishing at 22-deep, 13 shots ahead of Ruffels. That performance we’d anticipated from Zhang? It happened on Sunday. She closed with four birdies in five holes to snatch victory number two, by two shots. Spring is a lovely time for a Rose in bloom.
Take a look back at hole No. 1… @rosezhang is living life on the edge ? pic.twitter.com/o6z6SK7TRA
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 12, 2024
PGA Tour @ Wells Fargo: Rory the Fourth is crowned in Charlotte
Xander Schauffele is a likable lad. He has an Olympic gold medal on his shelf, and a few PGA Tour titles to his credit. Even X knows that even par won’t get much done in a final round unless conditions are brutal. They weren’t brutal at Quail Hollow on Sunday. X posted even par on day four. It kept him ahead of third-place finisher Byeong Hun An but gave him zero chance of challenging for the title.
Paired with Xander in round four was the King of Quail, Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman had previously won thrice at the North Carolina track, and he was champing at the bit to gain some momentum on the road to Louisville. While Xander scored increasingly worse along the week (64-67-70-71) McIlroy saved his best round for the final round. Thanks to five birdies and two eagles, McIlroy ran away with the event, winning his fourth Wells Fargo by five over Schauffele.
HOLE-OUT EAGLE FOR RORY!!!
He now leads by SIX! pic.twitter.com/UE49lwfwNC
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 12, 2024
PGA Tour @ Myrtle Beach Classic: a little CG won the inaugural week
It always seemed odd that the PGA Tour had zero stops along the Grand Strand each season. This week’s event seemed odd in that the golfers played the same course each day, and there were zero handicaps involved. Most events at Myrtle Beach involve hundreds of amateurs at dozens of courses, with all sorts of handicaps.
The Dunes Club is a Robert Trent Jones Sr. course, down toward Pawley’s Island. It claims what used to be considered an unreachable, par-five hole, the watery 13th. Nothing is unreachable any longer, including a 22-under par total for a six-shot win. Chris Gotterup, a former Rutgers and Oklahoma golfer, played sizzling golf all week and won by a sextet of shots. Gotterup opened with 66, then improved to 64 on Friday. His Saturday 65 sounded a beacon of “come get me,” and his closing 67 ensured that second place was the only thing up for grabs.
Chasing the podium’s second level were a bunch of young Americans. In the end, Alastair Docherty and Davis Thompson reached 16-deep, thanks to rounds of 64 and 68 on Sunday. They held off six golfers at 15-under par. The victory was Gotterup’s first on tour and should be enough to get him a Wikipedia page, among other plaudits.
Leader by SIX!
@ChrisGotterup | @MyrtleBeachC pic.twitter.com/TVdA6ZPYc4— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 12, 2024
PGA Tour Champions @ Regions Traditions: Vindication for Dougie
Doug Barron, if I recall correctly, was suspended by the Powers That Be, way back in 2009, for testosterone. He was naturally low in the hormone, so he took supplements. This did not sit well with certain admins, so he was put on the shelf for 18 months. Not cool.
In 2019, Barron came out on the Tour Champions. He won in August. The next year, despite the craziness of Covid, he won again. Barron hit a dry spell for a few years. He kept his card, but accrued no additional victories. In late April, Barron showed serious signs of life, with a t2 at Mitsubishi. This week in Birmingham, he jumped out to a lead, lost it, then gained it back on Saturday. With major championship glory on the line, Barron brought the train into the station with 68 on Sunday.
Stephen Alker, the man who could not lose just two years ago, gave serious chase with a closing 63. He moved up 11 slots, into solo 2nd on Sunday. He finished two shots back of the champion. Two shots ain’t much. Cough once and you drop a pair. Third place saw a three-way tie, including last year’s winner (Steve Stricker) and runner-up (Ernie Els.) Despite the intimidating presence of the game’s greats, however, Doug Barron had more than enough of everything this week, and he has a third Tour Champions title to show off.
At the @RegionsTrad, all champions receive a green bike.
Doug Barron decided to take a victory lap ? pic.twitter.com/bEzENMjZwv
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 13, 2024
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Tank
Sep 23, 2020 at 10:46 am
“Obviously, nobody is trying to design a worse-performing golf club, and the process to create something new always starts with goal setting.”
IE: Marketing!!
Greg
Sep 23, 2020 at 9:58 am
Quote from Near the beginning “ is up the engineers behind”. Seems like it often is ????
Carolyn
Sep 22, 2020 at 12:20 pm
Low cost club design, you go to a club manufacture in China and tell them you want iron heads that are basically copies of a major OEM (they may make the head for them) use cheaper material stamp a name on it and export it. done.
Thomas A
Sep 22, 2020 at 9:49 am
Are you kidding me? You are seriously calling this an article on club design?
Rwj
Sep 22, 2020 at 7:17 pm
Little on the lite side for sure
A. Commoner
Sep 22, 2020 at 8:39 pm
It reads like an introduction to a real news flash.