Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
About
Christology
Israel/Palestine
Publications
KermitZarley.com
Archives
Categories
- Angels
- Blog Description
- Book Reviews
- Christian Living
  - Unconditional Love?
- Christianity
- Christology
  - Deity of Christ?
  - Holy Spirit
  - Incarnation?
  - My Change
  - Trinity?
- Church History
- Current Events
- War on Terrorism
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Eschatology
- Ezekiel 38-39
- Last Empire
- Primitive Weapons
- Film Reviews
- God
- Golf
  - Billy Graham
  - Karsten Solheim
  - Lee Trevino
  - Major Championship Winners
  - Masters
  - Purpose
  - Ryder Cup
- Gospel Harmonization
- Interview
- Islam
- Jesus
- Literary Announcements
- Monotheism
- My Books
  - The Restitution of Jesus Christ
- Old Testament
- Politics
- Society of Biblical Literature
- The Bible
- Trinitarianism
- Uncategorized
FREE NEWSLETTER

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
Inventing a Better Golf Club (Part 3)

Inventing a Better Golf Club (Part 3)

Last updated on: December 4, 2013 at 12:26 pm by Kermit Zarley

Inventing a Better Golf Club (Part 3) 2013-12-04T12:26:16-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In late 1969 I told Karsten Solheim, otherwise known as MISTER PING, “I don’t think you’re using perimeter weighting in the golf club that would benefit from it the most.” He said, “what’s that?” I said, “the driver. It has the lightest club head and the longest shaft of any club in the bag. So, it produces more off center hits.” (This was decades before the long putter. And club heads are made lighter with longer shafts in order to have a uniform “swing weight” throughout the entire set of clubs except for the putter.) In other words, the shot pattern on the driver clubface has a wider disparity compared to that of other clubs. I said it results in more twisting of the clubface on ball contact, which results in the ball starting more off the target line and with more sidespin than with any other club. So far, I wasn’t telling Karsten anything he didn’t know. Actually, I was the pupil, and he was the teacher.

Well, MISTER PING was by now a very busy man. His company was starting to really take off. He was so involved in improving his irons. And he was constantly coming out with a new PING putter. So, he said to me, “Why don’t you do it.”

Wow! I was a young pro on the Tour, working hard at trying to succeed. I had just won my first PGA Tour tournament two years prior—the 1968 Kaiser International at Napa, California. I didn’t have time to do both. Nevertheless, I took this reply from my friend and mentor as a challenge. The first few months I worked on this with my pro friend on Tour, Joel Goldstrand, from Minnesota. Joel was a close friend of Karsten and was using his clubs. But Joel soon tired of the project, and I was left with it.

So, in 1970 I hollowed-out my first driver on the workbench in the garage of my house in Friendswood, Texas. During those days, wood clubs had plastic inserts that were glued into the club faces, and they had metal soleplates on the bottom of the club heads that were attached with screws. These inserts and soleplates were for the purpose of preventing wood clubs from deteriorating too quickly due to the harsh treatment of striking golf balls and perhaps the ground with them.

However, soleplates on wood club heads had another purpose: it was to add needed weight to the club head to get the proper swing weight. Without it, wooden club heads were too light. Fairway woods usually had brass soleplates to make them a little heavier, and drivers usually had aluminum soleplates. Brass is significantly heavier than aluminum. The reason for this difference in metals was that the shafts of fairway woods were shorter than the shaft of a driver. Thus, the fairway woods needed more weight added to their club heads than a driver did in order that the entire set of wood clubs would have the same swing weight. Actually, the metal soleplate lowered the center of gravity on the club face slightly, which was good, too.

But there was something about how wood clubs were made which was the exact opposite of perimeter weighting, and it seemed that no one knew about it except Karsten. Wood clubs had a big chunk of lead weight in the middle of the club head. Manufacturers would drill a fairly thick hole in the bottom of the wood and insert a lead weight in it of the same size. It was especially true of the driver. Club manufacturers could attach a thick, brass soleplate on the fairway woods that was heavy enough to achieve the desired club head weight, thus avoiding the addition of lead weight inside. But they usually didn’t do that, and therefore used a thinner brass soleplate and added lead weight inside the wood.

However, there were two manufacturers of wood clubs that usually didn’t put a chunk of lead weight inside their drivers. And pros generally believed that these two companies made the best woods, especially their drivers. Those companies were MacGregor and Powerbuilt. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, MacGregor drivers were prized by PGA Touring pros. Sometimes, a Touring pro would buy an old MacGregor wood-headed driver for several times the price of a new driver. What was the difference?

Most people thought it was all about the wood. Yes, MacGregor certainly obtained the best persimmon wood for their wood clubs. Persimmon is a very hard wood that doesn’t crack or absorb moisture easily if cured. Cured U.S. persimmon was the best wood for making wood golf clubs.

I know from experience about persimmon. American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) trees grow wild mostly in the southeastern U.S. Their fruit is small with a yellowish-orange skin and a large seed. So, there isn’t that much flesh to eat, and, frankly, it isn’t that tasty. Persimmons are tart, and they’re best eaten when perfectly ripe. But I’m spoiled, because I used to have two beautiful, Japanese persimmon trees growing in my front yard. One was male and the other was female in order for bees to pollinate their beautiful, cream-colored flowers in the springtime and produce fruit. I planted them and ate their large, shiny, delicious, reddish-orange fruits for many years. They ripen in the fall season. One of my favorite stories about being an amateur horticulturist is that one day, when my persimmon trees were full of mature fruits, I had a knock at my front door. I answered the door and there stood a lady who was all smiles and very excited. She exclaimed, “Where did you get that beautiful tomato tree!”

Back to golf, persimmon wasn’t the only reason MacGregor woods were better. MacGregor and Powerbuilt usually attached a visible, metal weight to the outer back end of their wood clubs. I can’t recall any other golf club manufacturers doing that, at least as much. Certainly, MacGregor and Powerbuilt were most known for it. But they did it differently. MacGregor often drilled a hole in the wood and inserted a visible, lead weight into it. Powerbuilt often cut off a back portion of the wood club head and screwed a visible, rounded, brass chunk there.

Adding this metal weight to the back of the wood club head made it a functionally better club than drilling a whole in the middle of the bottom of the club head and adding a lead weight there. Why? The former was crudely perimeter weighting, and the latter was the opposite of perimeter weighting.

But there was even more to it than that, and I learned it from Karsten. He explained that adding metal weight to the back of a wood club head—and the farther back the better—slightly aids in stabilizing the club head during ball contact with off center hits. It didn’t only help by slightly reducing unwanted sidespin caused from either toe or heel contact, which causes the ball to fly right or left, respectively. Rather, striking the ball below the center of gravity on the club face, which is called a “thin shot,” produces added backspin and less velocity to the ball in flight. Many amateur golfers and non-golfers alike see such a shot, usually called a “climber,” and go “wow,” thinking it’s a great shot. But pros know differently; they don’t want lots of backspin when they hit a driver. Tests show that the more the backspin when hitting a driver, the shorter the ball travels through the air provided that the launch angle is acceptable. It’s that added friction in the air which reduces ball velocity. Moreover, the wind plays havoc with drives that have too much backspin.

So, when I hollowed out my first wood golf club, I first removed its soleplate and then removed the lead weight in its center. Of course, I first anchored the club head in a vise, using wood or rubber protectors so I wouldn’t ruin the outside appearance of the club head. Then I used a hand drill with both metal drill bits and various shaped stone drill bits made for woodworking. I could do the job better with a hand drill than I could with a stationary drill press. I always drilled a wide hole in the bottom of the club head. I used the metal drill bits to gouge out most of the wood material I wanted removed. Then I used stone drill bits to smooth the cavity and therefore not take a chance of drilling all the way through the wood. My goal was to make the club head somewhat of a shell without it being so thin that it would crack during play. When I screwed the soleplate back, you couldn’t tell that I had altered the club.

By now, the swing weight of this club was way too light, which was what I wanted. My next procedure was to increase the perimeter weighting feature of the club by adding lead weights to its toe and heel. Actually, I usually referred to this design as “toe-heel balance” since “perimeter weighting” suggests all around the club head. To do so in the toe, I drilled a hole in the far toe of the club face. Then I melted lead and poured it into that hole. But I left a slight indentation and filled it with wood putty. Sometimes, I would put another spray-varnish finish, or whatever, on the outside surface to ensure that no one could tell even from the wood putty that I had altered the club.

Adding a lead weight to the heel of the club head was more challenging for two reasons. First, the hosel is smaller from the front to back of the club head than the toe is, since wood clubs were designed somewhat pear-shaped looking at the top of the club head from above it. That made for a smaller area in the heel to drill in than in the toe. I tried filling the bottom of the shaft with lead, but that didn’t work well. Second, I had to work around the shaft in the hosel. Somehow, I would drill enough material out of the heel, fill it with lead, and add putty that resulted in what I thought was a better club.

Through much trial and error, I came to realize something that is very important in designing golf clubs which some golf club manufacturers still don’t seem to understand. I’m saying that because I look at their clubs. Adding weight to a golf club for the purpose of creating a perimeter weighted or toe-heel balanced club should always be low in the heel and high in the toe.

There is a very important reason for this which can be learned by analyzing off center hits. Manufacturers have ways of doing that. Even the average golfer can purchase paper or plastic material that can be taped onto the club face, and when balls are hit with it they leave a visible, dimpled ball mark on that material. Whatever method is used, the shot pattern is high in the toe and low in the heel, at least for fairly accomplished golfers.

Thus, good golfers rarely hit a shot thin in the toe or high in the heel. Why is this? For good golfers, it is more difficult to control the swinging of a golf club on the correct plane at ball contact than it is to control the depth of that plane. One way to realize this is by taking the address position with a driver and a highly-teed ball, keep the center of gravity of the club face flush against the teed ball, keep your head steady, and move the club head toward the toe and then toward the heel. You will notice that the ball will touch the club face higher on the toe and lower on the heel in relation to the center of gravity of the clubface. It is easier for an observer to see this. It shows, especially for good golfers, that the shot pattern tends to be a line that goes across the clubface perpendicular to the shaft.

This typical shot pattern reveals that golf clubs should be designed so that the club head has more weight high in the toe and low in the heel. It is especially important to have extra weight in the heel. If too much weight is added high in the toe, especially with the longer shafted clubs and thus faster swing speeds, the shaft will bow too much at impact, causing the ball to be struck higher in the toe than otherwise. Karsten learned this when he made a set of irons that had a big chunk of metal added to the back of those club heads and at the very top of the toe. It took him a while to accept that that was what was happening. When he first made them, he had me hit them. I told him I hit them high in the toe and fat. He soon figured out that was because the shaft was bowing, supposedly like a stick in water dousing. Viewing a golf club head from above, the more its center of gravity is from the shaft, the more that shaft will bow at impact. And it’s longer hitters, who produce higher swing speeds, who experience more excessive bowing of the shaft at impact.

Well, I think Karsten should have listened to me about making perimeter weighted wood clubs. Instead, he spent many years, and had a lot of problems, making his wood clubs. I think worst of all, he kept making them with laminated wood. Yes, it is hard and less destructible. But touring pros didn’t use it. Wilson Sporting Goods Company probably was known most for making laminated wood clubs. But I don’t remember their leading staff pros on Tour using their laminated drivers much. Fairway woods, that was different. Sam Snead sure didn’t. He loved his custom-made, George Izett persimmon driver.

As for me, as I’ve said, for ten years I hollowed out drivers and played with them on Tour. And I tried to make driver club heads out of various metals, and some of them had odd shapes. One of the most renown among my colleague friends on Tour was what we called “the hot dog club.” It had a very narrow, elongated club head that was shaped like a hot dog, with a large, visible cavity in the back. The advantage to it was that it provided a big sweet spot, so that you shouldn’t have as many off-center hits as with a normal-looking club head. But there was a problem with it: the center of gravity from above was too far away from the shaft, producing excessive bowing of the shaft and therefore resulting in hitting the ball high on the toe. Fellow Touring pro Labron Harris, Jr., after witnessing some really funky-looking shots I hit with it, said, “You need to retire the hot dog to its bun.”

Well, I kind of regret not having pursued more thoroughly my endeavor at making hollowed-out drivers. I always wonder if I had done so, if I could have beat Gary Adams to market with a metalwood. What if———-. I guess I think “what if” too much, applying it to everything, including success at golf. One time, when I was a mid-teenager and an up-and-coming junior golfer in my hometown of Seattle, a college golfer friend of mine who I highly respected—Len Perry, then the #1 player on the men’s golf team at the University of Washington—said to me after listening to my golf experience diatribe, “Zarley, you win the If Trophy.”

(My goal for these Monday posts on golf is for them to be published as a book. My working title for it is Christ on the PGA TOUR.)

Previous Post

July 4, 2013

Arab Spring in Bible Prophecy

Next Post

July 10, 2013 Saying Christ is God Is Way Outta Whack, ‘Cause He Didn’t Know When He’s Coming Back

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter Jesus Paul James

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »