Grooves

This is not a golf article.

A groove is a long, narrow cut or a indentation in a surface. It can be used to describe a channel or track on a phonograph record for the stylus. When you get into a groove you are getting into a routine and when used as a slang it can become an enjoyable time, to appreciate and enjoy or to please immensely like he was grooving to the music.

Grooves can be found on vehicle tyres to provide grip, traction and aqua-planing. There is no point having power in the car's engine without the ability to stop. What is power without control, therefore, groove is about control. To be groovy is to be with the times. What about golf clubs?

Grooves In Drivers

There was a time where golf drivers were much smaller and most golfers would have trouble getting the ball airborne especially those with slower swing speed. They put grooves across the driver club face to impart more spin since more spin would result in the ball spinning back to front which is known as backspin because without getting the ball up to an apex in trajectory you will never get far. Today's drivers thanks to technological advancement are somewhat different.

When I first played with a Nickent Genex driver of 10 degrees it was at 425 cc, huge at the time and the shot went long so much so that golfers in my flight were using my driver to tee off by the second nine. This is not fast food but at my next up size the TaylorMade r5 was at 450cc. All this became history when it went to the max at 460cc. The 9 0r 10 degrees became 9.5 and 10.5 degrees respectively. Why?

Look at the pix here and you will notice that there are no more grooves in the centre of the club face. With the club head at 460cc they can now use lighter but stronger material like titanium and make them thinner to have a trampoline effect and yet save the extra weight to put more weight to the back and this is call "perimeter weighting" first made by Ping on their putters. As a result, they could now make them more forgiving and user-friendly they can afford to take away the grooves in the middle as the perimeter weighting would have helped in getting the ball up and away. Lesser spin in this sense means further distance. To give you extra compensation, they increase the loft by 0.5 degrees to provide further aid in getting airborne.




















It's a Groovy Kind Of Love - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWsBF_DftlE




















Groovy Baby! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYeD3JEKQqQ

(See my previous article on wedges)

http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2011/01/best-golf-clubs-of-2010-part-5-wedges.html




















Any golfer worth his salt would realize it that the wedge is like a magic wand. You can drive for show and putt for dough but you will only rule supreme if you can nail your shots onto the green magically and up close to the pin from a 100 yards and less. Let Robbie Williams show you:





















Grooves help in channeling sand, soil and other debris out where needed. Flop well with your wedges and you create magical spin. You would need supreme confidence to carry it out. So confidence is key to golf and life but knowing your grooves help in understanding in its application.




















Actually many types of putters are cast and they usually come with inserts. Some have grooves cut or created to impart forward roll of a stationary ball. For putting any back spin kills it and skidding which may not be evident to the naked eye loses direction and distance control.

A CNC-milled putter like this is different. Besides purity, you can see milled designs on the face. The offset is meant to promote forward roll. So if you are looking to deliver your putts more consistently with forward rolls then this hosel neck design also aka the plumber neck will do nicely. This is a newer version of the model Tiger Woods use but it seems Tiger is now exploring a Nike Method putter and it is no longer a blade but a half mallet.




















Keep your grooves clean at all times if you want a good grip in life or in golf. Your vinyl records will make a lot of poor noise but not music when the grooves are trapped with dirt. Your golf clubs can't do what it is supposed to do like spinning a ball if the grooves are uncleaned. Your tyres will have no grip on the road if the threads and grooves are worn out.

This is what will happen to us if we do not have the grooves. So be groovy baby!
Golf as in life, play as it lies.

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