The Adjustable Driver Fraud Finally Exposed

http://www.clubmakersguild.com/dmdocuments/twgt_adj_hosel_drivers.pdf

To mention nothing of the fact that:-

(i) Any adjusting automatically throws out the vital shaft spine alignment, and (ii) The equipment breaks up at high swing speeds.

Here's your chance to change the worsening fraudulent face of the golf industry. Return your driver to the sales outlet and demand your money back on the basis that it was mis-sold - head loft just doesn't adjust. If you are refused a refund then complain to the government dept. that handles bad trading practices.

Write to golf mags., forums, and other places carrying fraudulent ads. and ask them to stop.

Things must be made to change.

standard clubs are never spined anyway so unless you've had a custom driver that is spined then doesnt matter wether it is adjustable or not.

Makes very little difference to the average golfer anyway.

I read that report nad its quite interesting, however, I learned nothing! Loft and lies aren't what the manufacturer states?! shocker!

I also think the adjustable market has to be tread in carefully, although the nike and the titleiest drivers are both adjustable, they are intended to be used in different ways. The nike covert is designed to allow golfers to adjust face angles and loft to compensate for wind on that Saturday morning, for example. The titleiest is designed to be set up and left that way, titleist recommend the driver is set up by a fitter and left that way, and should it need tweaking, a pro or competent fitter should do it. Not the average joe who thinks he knows his way around a spanner. I actually hit both these before taking the 910 d2, not the 913 or the covert. simply because it gave me the best numbers and results from hitting balls. Whats it matter what the stated lofts and lies are? its just the platform from which we start.

Well, it's something I've banged on about for ages to anyone who'd listen (ie nobody) as it's complete marketing bull. Apart from it being physically impossible to change the loft and lie by adjusting something on the hozel, the addition of an extra element on the shaft will completely throw off the structural integrity of the club, not to mention the (polar) MoI, C of G, CoR and just about every other property that club manufacturers seem to think is important. The fact that the clubmakers guild chose to focus on the fact that it throws of spline alignment is a bit of a red herring, as I've yet to find any one who can actually put forward a valid case for why it's even necessary.*

• Long winded explanation as to why will be supplied to the first person who claims it's useful.

Dave

I know what spineing (or splining) is, I just question it's usefulness. I am an engineer and approach most golf related things from that standpoint (as a lot of people on here know, unfortunately!). Basically what you're doing is finding the part of the shaft that has the lowest harmonic resonance, which will be wherever the second moment of area (rather confusingly measured in mm^4) is lowest along the surface coincident with the long axis. This is the point where the shaft is most flexible normal to the axis and at it's stiffest perpendicular to that.

This is where I then have the start of the problems. First, marking it by eye. Half a degree out along the axis effectively negates the effect. Secondly, which axis do you use when fitting a shaft? Do you align the spine with the neutral axis of the club (ie with the spine uppermost as you look down on it) or at 90 deg to it (mostly pointless as the alignment marks are only done by eye anyway). If you do the first the shaft is more flexible but less torsionally rigid or the second the opposite. The most likely scenario is that the spine is aligned a few degrees off normal and the performance is, er, unpredictable.

Obviously there are also problems with different types of shaft, for instance, my Aldila DVS, which has been built deliberately with a low kick point, in other words the lower part is proportionately more flexible than the upper. By spineing as you describe, the lower part of the shaft has much less effect on the whole because of it's lower mass and may well have a different optimum spine axis. So unless the test is carried out with exactly the same mass as the intended head, with exactly the same C of G, then the whole exercise is pretty pointless in the great scheme of things.

And breath....

sorry, bumping this to the top of active posts due to me doing some tidying up

I understand what you guys are saying, what im questioning is the usefulness. I don't think if I went through this whole process of measuring all of these variables I would rock onto the first tee thinking " this is going to be brilliant no I have my spine angle to within a 10th of a degree" - whats it matter.

Im not saying this thread is redundant, I just think its overrated - as are adjustable drivers

Dave, since reading this article, how has your mindset changed? has it improved your golf (playing off 2 i suppose it might help) what did you change to know it works?

what i will say is, im glad i read it and knowledge is power, i just think an hour spent on a putting green or chipping would be far more beneficial than tinkering with clubs

Dave,

I do appreciate that when adjusting an adjustable driver the alignement of the spine is adjusted, therefore, affecting the characteristics of the shaft. However most peole adjust the driver to what they want and it remains that way from then on. I would imagine most people do not even make the first adjustment they just use it in the nuetral position.

I am however dubious about the benefits of spinning a driver unless it is done from the start, but then again i'm dubious about alot of the fitting process. Spineing a driver already built only serves to change the behaviour of that shaft, by how much no one can quantify untill done, would this change be for the better or the worse?

If done by the clubbuilder during the building process this may be better but unless a person gets fitted using the exact shaft they are going to purchase, that is spined to the exact degree of tolerence it will be in the head they purchase, then due to manufacturing tolerances etc they are getting a shaft with different characteristics to the one they got fitted with anyway.

Also no one in the world has a nuetral swing path so spineing the club neutral means its pretty ineffective doesn't it? Add to this face angles and swing paths are always different how on earth are we supposed to realistically align the spine to the required axis of bending?

I may be worng you probably have looked into this into alot more detail than me but i like Tim am very dubious. Do you have numbers for your empirical testing? Or is this purely bases on the feel people get after doing it?Like when someone buys a new driver or putter and for a week it makes all the difference due to mainly a change in confidence? I'd be interested to see the numbers.

And please don't think were ganging up on you, the original post was a good article and reinforces what some of us more practical folk already believed. Spineing is just something that is out there that just seems a bit like a mystical solution to your driving woes!!

Some good points Gary. Have just done a few rough calcs on bending on shafts in composites so not entirely accurate. Assuming a wall thickness of about 1.25mm the greatest variation in out of round I would expect to be less than 0.2mm, enough to create a considerable difference in harmonic stiffness, certainly when spineing. However, in terms of overall flexibility over the length of the shaft this would equate to a variation of less than 1%. I defy anyone to tell the difference between exerting 48ozs for a given deflection and 48.48ozs. This also assumes that the spine is linear along the shaft and not some sort of helical wind round the shaft.

Have just had a thought that adding a grip will also have a massive effect on the harmonics....

From what you chaps say, I am wrong in picking a driver because I like the colour then!!!.... He, he!!!

Sorry, sort of lost all credibility by claiming NTN bearings are the best in the world...

What about the hastily brushed over second spine?

What does the torque generated by the offset clubhead do to the spine?

Unless you truly understand the mechanics involved in a golf swing then tinkering with a static component like the spine is, at best, psychological. I can't play golf very well, but I do understand mechanics.

I think that the Open this year demonstrated that spines, playing by yardages and other gizmos showed that the skill currently on display by the worlds finest are pretty poor. Too many playing with game improvement clubs when shotmaking skills were necessary. The game is in decline and has been for a long time.

First I've heard of this 'spine' lark. Looked it up on YouTube for an explanation and I would assume that an aligned spine would be part n parcel of a well manufactured golf club.