Loading ...A Look Back At Club Technology
For as long as I have been playing this game – which is only about 20 years – I have seen a dramatic change in the equipment used to play it. I think I have a fair argument in claiming that I’ve lived in the “Industrial age” of golf equipment advancement. Back in the 60s and 70s, all “woods” were actually made of wood, and generally were very small and unforgiving. The irons were all basically forged blades. Clubs were most often sold as a complete set of woods and irons, and people’s choices on which clubs to buy hinged mostly on which of their favorite players was endorsing them. In 1969, Karsten Solheim released the K1 iron with a cavity back to create perimeter weighting, and in 1970 the Karsten 1 woods hit the market.
But it wasn’t until 1979 that the equipment world started to see the changes that would lead to the great technology boom of the 90s and beyond. Gary Adams hit the floor of the 1979 PGA Merchandise show with the Taylor Made Original One, a driver made of metal. A few years later in 1982 Karsten Solheim introduced the Ping Eye 2 irons, probably the most influential club since the invention of the sand wedge in the early 30s. Everyone who has played golf has probably hit them, and if you were playing in the 80s you either had a set or wanted a set. I always had my eyes on that set of blue dots in the pro shop, but my meager cart boy wage wasn’t going to come close to helping me buy them. I still remember the day I walked into the pro shop to see the proud buyer walk away with them under his arm…
Once the golf club technology revolution was started, there was no stopping it. Gary Adams and Karsten Solheim had unleashed a monster – one that could only be stopped, or maybe slowed, by the USGA. After the Taylor Made Metalwoods and Eye 2 Irons, companies started experimenting with composite and graphite shafts. The same year Ping released the Eye 2 irons, a wine maker called Ely Callaway sold his vineyard and bought a stake in a company called Hickory Stick USA, which a few years later becomes Callaway Golf. In 1991 Callaway releases the first wide body (190cc!! – snicker) metal wood, called the Big Bertha. Mark Brooks quickly wins twice on the PGA Tour using the Big Bertha, and seemingly overnight everybody wants one. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since then, we’ve seen drivers grow from 190cc to over 550cc, then back down to the USGA limit of 460cc. We’ve seen shafts evolve to a whole new level. Companies are now offering shafts with different weights, materials, launch angles, spin, flex points, diameters and colors, all in an effort to improve your game. Irons have morphed from tiny forged blades to oversize cavity back multi metal elastomer plugged implements. With all the new designs and technology out there, choosing a driver, 3 wood, irons, wedges and putter that are just right for you can take months! Club fitters used to talk about length, lie and flex. Now, we have to deal with ball speed, launch angle, spin rates and smash factor. Really? What the hell is smash factor, really?
It’s been really exciting to go to the PGA Show for the last 10 years to see what’s new and hot in club technology, but with every passing year my interest seems to be waning. New clubs promising more distance, better accuracy and better feel seem to be released every 6 months, and the USGA is scrambling to keep a muzzle on any technology that might make the game too “easy” to play. Ironic then that for the last 100 years, despite all the improvements in golf club technology, balls that go way further, courses that are playing faster and greens that roll truer, that the average golfer still shoots around 100. As David Feherty once said: “Maybe we’re all supposed to stink at this. It’s our punishment for playing this insane game.” Not only that, but for the amount of money that used to get you a full set of customized clubs with bag and putter, you can now be the proud owner of a new, cutting edge Scotty Cameron putter. You know the one, it looks a bit like a copy of the Ping Anser putter, the one that was designed in 1969?
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nice article i share your view.
[...] Gary Adams launched the metalwood revolution in the late 70s, TaylorMade Golf has been at the forefront of golf club technology and innovation. I got my first [...]