Alpha Golf

All golfers should do some basic stretches before teeing off. Here are 5 of my favorites that can all be done right on the course.

1. Back stretch

Keep your feet a little apart. Place your hands on a vertical club or the back of a chair. Grasp it with both hands so you have a firm grip. Keep your spine straight. Now move your body to the right and hold for 15 seconds. Repeat this process to the left.

2. Trunk rotation stretch

Stand straight with your arms at a 90 degree angle at your elbows. Place your feet slightly apart. First keep your back straight and bend forward. Hold for 15 seconds. Now get into a backswing position by bending to the side. This helps with upper body rotation so you can pivot better during your golf swing.

3. Shoulder muscle stretch

Stand straight with your feet apart and hold your right elbow with your left hand. Gently pull your right hand across your body in the left hand direction. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat the process with your left hand. You can also try crossing your arms while holding a golf club. Remember to keep your feet together as shown in the picture.

4. Wrist stretch
Stretch out your right hand and turn your palm towards the ground. Keep the elbow absolutely straight. Now with your left hand hold the top of your fingers and gently draw the wrist up. You will easily feel the stretch in your right wrist. Repeat the process with your left hand wrist.

5. Calf stretch
You can either steady yourself by standing in front of a wall or just use a golf club for support. Keep your feet pointed in front and firmly placed on the ground. Place your left foot back with the heel on the ground as shown in the picture. Now bend your right knee till you can experience the stretch in your left leg. Repeat this process with the right leg.

With these stretches your body will be well prepared to take on the greens. It’s important to stretch before the round, while on the course and also after the round. Post-round exercise will prevent lactic acid build up in the lower lower back and hips.

Concentrate on your area of weakness to improve technique, consistency and strength. Flexibility is a key ingredient to your swing mechanics. What are some of your routine stretches and exercises for golf?

Your putter is the most used club in your bag. Each hole requires your putter at least once (and for most of us twice, if not more!). Let’s take a closer look at the variations and classifications available.

Based on shaft length:

If your aim is to produce quality puts then it’s important to get the right putter length for your height. The minimum length limit is set at 18 inches but the maximum length is your decision.

Standard length- This 33 to 36 inch putter lets your arms hang down and gives you that famous pendulum swing to get the ball rolling towards the cup.

Belly length- This 41-46 inch putter offers three points of contact. It allows you to anchor the putter against your body. Although this putter requires a little more practise, it is easier on the wrist.

Long putters - Ranging between 48 and 52 inches, the long putter is also called the broom-handle for obvious reasons! Normally used by experts, this putter requires a completely different kind of grip. It can be rested near the chin, chest or at the belly button.

Based on design:

Blade - this traditional design features a small head and a flat look and is suitable for most greens. These are ideal for golfers who have a straight putting stroke.

Peripheral weighted - this putter is not face balanced and thus is ideal for golfers with an in to out stroke. It offers more head than the standard blade putter and is used by both amateurs and experts alike.

Mallets - Bigger sized and heavier, the mallets are face balanced and offers a soft hit although the head is large. It helps reduce backspin and would be great for a straight through.

Based on putter faces:

Your putter face material would largely depend on the speed of the greens and the ball that you have selected.

Metal faced - Apart from traditional steel other materials like bronze, copper, brass, aluminium, titanium and zinc are also used. A metal face putter gives you noise feedback so you can actually hear the ‘connection’!

Insert faced - This variety of metal putters has a non-metal insert to ensure a smoother roll and a softer feel. It offers a wide area for pure strikes as weight is added to the toe and the heel.

Groove faced - Missed putts result when the ball skids, slides, hops or spins upon impact. This can be avoided when grooves are placed on the putter face. The ball is gripped by the groves and is lifted so it is ready to roll.

Other classifications:

Putters can also be classified on the bases of shafts and hosels. There are three main varieties- Heel shafted, centre shafted and offset. Further, your choice of putters can be based on the kind of grip that you desire. However, the primary consideration should be your level of comfort. So try a lot of putters, and choose the one that feels the best.

Happy Golfing

Kickpoint, torque, bend profile, frequency, length, and weight are all important factors in the design of a golf shaft. But let’s go back to the basic and most important parameter - shaft flex.

The right flexibility of a golf shaft for you depends on your swing speed and swing tempo. You can qualitatively measure your swing tempo on how smooth your transition is from backswing to downswing, as well as the smoothness of acceleration from the beginning of downswing to the point of impact.

Let’s first examine swing speed. This chart from GolfSmith is a good rule-of-thumb to map swing speed to flex. But beware - one shaft company’s regular flex is another’s stiff flex. There is no standard out there.

For swing tempo, a golfer needs a stiffer shaft if he has the following characteristics:

• fast transition from backswing to downswing
• uneven acceleration from the top of the swing to impact (faster acceleration towards impact)
• late release of the wrists during the downswing

All 3 factors comprise a swing tempo, which can basically be boiled down to how “jerky” your swing is. The smoother it is, the softer the flex should be.
For both swing speed and swing tempo, you don’t want the club head to lag behind your shaft at impact (too soft). And you don’t want the head to be misaligned in front of the shaft at impact (too stiff). Optimal energy transfer from club head speed to ball speed happens with perfect alignment of shaft to head. And the right flex is the most important factor in accomplishing this.

What happens when your shaft is too soft for you?

• The ball will launch higher than it should due to a lagging kick point.
• The ball will hook left since most golfers have closed clubhead faces during the backswing, and the head will remain closed at impact
• With inaccurate trajectory and direction, the ball will not travel as far

What happens when your shaft is too stiff for you?

• ll will launch lower than it should due to a stiff kick point
• The ball will slice right since most golfers since the clubface will be open at impact
• With inaccurate trajectory and direction, the ball will not travel as far

Most golfers pick a shaft flex that is too stiff for their swing. When in doubt, err on the side of flexibility.

In Feb 2007, the USGA formally proposed allowing more club adjustability. Specifically, this nearly guaranteed that drivers with interchangeable shafts would soon be ruled conforming.

“PGA Tour players have long had the opportunity to have their clubs adjusted or modified quickly and often. This has allowed them to fit their clubs to their swings as they feel the need to do so. By relaxing the rules to permit club adjustability, average golfers can enjoy similar fitting benefits.”

Alpha Golf was in close contact with the USGA throughout 2007 for the interchangeable driver that we filed a patent for. When Dr. Yeh heard the news that our design was approved in Aug 2007, we immediately ramped up production and got it in the hands of Champion Tour players by October. By January ‘08 (technically 1/1/08), the C830.4 was legally conforming and in play on the Tour.

It’s worth noting that our interchangeable shaft driver is completely different from the Taylormade SelectFit or the Callaway OptiFit systems. Both are great innovations and toolsets that remove some of the mystery of pairing shafts with heads. They’ve allowed many mainstream retail outlets to become bona fide fitting centers. But both systems are designed to replicate the actual golf club to be produced. And not designed to be the golf club used in play.

The new USGA ruling doesn’t affect the OptiFit and SelectFit clubs. But the ruling does open up opportunities for adjustable golf clubs like ours that explicitly got conforming clearance by the USGA, effective Jan 1st 2008. But we owe a debt of gratitude to Callaway and Taylormade for educating the mainstream golfer on the benefits of custom fitting.

Hopefully more golfers will take advantage of fitting with the interchangeable shaft technology…

Long Driver Cody Ellis decided to light his club on fire before swinging. Makes for a pretty cool picture!

Coefficient of Restitution (COR) is a physics term for the value representing the ratio of velocities before and after an impact. An object with a COR of 1 collides elastically, bouncing perfectly with no energy loss. While an object with a COR of 0 is said to collide inelastically, effectively “sticking” to the object it collides with. Mathematically, COR is the square root of the ratio of the height of one bounce to that of the preceding bounce.

Golfers paid more attention to physics geeks like me after the USGA started measuring and regulating clubs for COR in 1984. The thinking was that a clubface with a “trampoline” or “spring-like” effect would send balls flying 400+ yards off the tee. So they limited COR to 0.83. (BTW, this rule coincidentally came into play when manufacturers discovered that titanium drivers were much more ideal than steel drivers in creating enormous ball speeds)

Maximizing COR

There are 2 keys to maximizing the COR of a driver:

1) High grade titanium face - SP700 and 15-3-3 titanium are the best choices for elastic collisions

2) Super Thin face - a thin face provides a “spring-like effect” where the face momentarily depresses at initial contact and then “springs” back into shape at launch.

If the face is too thin, the driver can crack at high swing speeds. If the face is too thick, you lose the spring-like effect where the face won’t depress. The right tradeoff of thickness for the particular type of titanium being used is what keeps us golf designers busy in the labs!

Moment of Inertia (MOI) has been a popular buzzword in golf recently. I’ll spare you the boring formulas and theories that I learned from my studies in physics. And instead apply MOI to golf driver design, and explain its important.

MOI is the inertia or resistance of a rigid rotating body with respect to its rotation. In other words, it’s the measure of difficulty in changing the angular motion about the axis of rotation. High MOI means more resistance to club twisting, so we want to maximize this resistance as much as possible.

During a driver swing, the clubhead will twist if it doesn’t hit the ball on the axis of the center of gravity. The less a club twists before impact, the more stable it is. And, therefore, the straighter and farther the ball goes. So a high MOI promotes forgiveness in off-center strikes.

The USGA imposes a limit in MOI in drivers of 5900 (g*cm^2). In a letter to manufacturers last year, the USGA said “further increases in MOI could reduce the challenge of the game by reducing the skill required to hit the ball straight. In addition, that could also result in an increase in average driving distance by reducing the likelihood that swinging faster will produce a poor result.”

So there you have it - MOI is so important that making it too high will give some golfers an unfair competitive advantage in distance and accuracy. But that doesn’t stop golf club designers like Alpha from getting as close to the USGA MOI limit as possible (without exceeding 5900).

So how do we maximize MOI? Without giving too many design secrets away, clubheads with maximum MOI have the following characteristics:

1) 460CC - the larger clubhead naturally puts the center of gravity deep inside the head, away from the face. The separation of mass and COG raises the MOI metric

2) Perimeter weighting - More weight can be pushed out farther from the center of gravity of the clubhead and towards the outer shell. Square drivers are an example of this. But drivers with traditional geometries can also push weight out.

3) Large club face with variable weighting - more distance and weighting on the heel and toe again separates mass from the COG axis of rotation, reducing torque and twisting.

The “hybrid golf club” gets its name from combining the feel and accuracy of irons with the power and distance of fairway woods.  They’re exploding in popularity among recreational golfers since they’re a lot easier to hit than long irons.  Yet, more than 50% of pros also have a hybrid in their bag as reported by the Darrell Survey.

How are they designed?

Hybrid heads are made from hollow steel or titanium.  The center of gravity is positioned towards the back and near the bottom of the club head.  The lower COG increases the launch angle, making the effective loft higher than that of a similar iron.

The shafts are usually steel.  And their length and lie (shaft angle) are closer to an iron.  The stiffer and shorter shafts make them easier to hit than fairway woods. 

How does a hybrid perform?

Since the head and face of a hybrid is modeled after a wood, you’ll get the same sort of impact as a wood - namely a huge impact with high coefficient of restitution (COR).  Combine this “tramopline effect” with a high launch angle, and the hybrid gives you a lot of backspin. 

So you’ll get an airborne shot with a high spin rate.  This is a recipe for a ball that drops sharply with little roll.   

How do I swing a hybrid?The swing mechanics are like those you’d use for mid-to-long irons.  So play the ball slightly forward in your stance, and use your normal grip, stance and posture.  Make a sweeping-type swing, hitting down and through the ball.

If you decide to tee off with a hybrid, tee it up a little higher than you would with an iron.  And as always, let the club do the work!

When do I use a hybrid? 

I think there are 3 situations when a hybrid is the ideal ”rescue club”:

1) The dreaded long iron shot - when you need distance, but need the accuracy to get on the green.  Most amateurs are inconsistent with long irons.  This is what the hybrid was designed for. 

2) In the rough - remember your swing is just like an iron.  But because of the added weight of the head, you’ll have a slower clubhead speed.  This means you can cut through tall grass with more momentum at contact than an iron.  And you sure as hell don’t want to swing a fairway wood when you’re in the rough.

3) A hazard in front of a green - you want enough carry in the ball but little roll upon landing.  A fairway wood or long iron will get you the distance to get over the hazard, but will roll away.  Your hybrid, on the other hand, will stick where it lands.

Happy (hybrid) golfing!

The proper golf swing (not to be confused with the perfect golf swing) can be achieved by any golfer.  There are some underground training tricks that well-known golf pros use to teach their beginner students. 

1) Put a tee in front of the ball

Place a tee 5-6 inches in front of the golf ball.  When you swing, hit not just the ball but the tee as well.  This focuses you on swinging through the ball, and not at it.  Your follow-through after impact will also be improved with this technique.
 

2) Close your eyes on a practice swing

Take a full practice swing with your eyes closed.  This heightens your awareness of posture and balance.  Try to determine if your club head is opened or closed while you swing with your eyes closed.  You’ll be a lot more sensitive to keeping balance throughout the swing after a few blind practice shots!

3) Use your club to correct your posture at set-up

Hold your club shaft against your lower back.  Bend over while keeping your lower back straight and parallel against the club.  Maintain this posture, then drop your arms to let them hang naturally before gripping the club.
 

4) Use 2 parallel clubs to set your alignment

Put one club down along your intended target line.  Put another club down along your feet.  Both clubs should now be parallel to one another, forcing you to have your shoulders parallel to the target line.  Parallel shoulders means parallel arm movement during the swing.
 

5) Put a penny on your shoe

Put a penny towards the front of your left shoe.  Try to keep the coin on your shoe during your swing.  If the penny falls to the right of your shoe, you’re putting too much weight on the back foot during the backswing.  If it falls to the left of your shoe, you’re shifting too much weight during the finish.

6) On a scale of 1-5, grip a 2

Too many beginner golfers grip the club too tightly.  Grip your club on a scale of 1 to 5, one being the weakest and five being the strongest. Go through each number slightly gripping harder as you near five.  Then go back to 2. This grip level should let you swing the club freely while still maintaining control.

7) Watch your swing in the mirror

In front of a mirror, first check out your grip - a “V” between the thumb and forefinger should point at your right shoulder.  Then check your posture, alignment, and stance.  Finally, see if you look balanced while taking a swing.