The Maltby Playability Factor (MPF)

I just came across some post on a golf website that mentioned "The Maltby Playability Factor (MPF)" today and was intrigued to learn more about this.

That curiousity turned to horror as I see that the Adams XTD Forged irons that I play and love are ranked "Classic" and definitely not recommended for anyone with a handicap over 5. That made me wonder who did the ratings and how reliable they were.

I find the golfworks.ca page is more useful for looking up clubs but here is the official page:

http://ralphmaltby.com/maltby-playability-factor/

So...who tests and rates all these clubs? And given that Maltby is an independent but direct competitor to all the big boy offerings being rated, do people take these scores seriously?

Only a guide to help you chose the right clubs.Does not mean your clubs are no good. Just less forgiving on off center hits Maltby no longer owns Golfworks.

And he has Pings and other clubs listed as Ultra game improvement so not biased:

http://www.golfworks.com/images/art/MPF_PING.pdf


See for yourself and see how they go about rating :
http://www.golfworks.com/article.asp?ai=870&eid=IronMPF

http://www.golfworks.com/images/art/MPFRatingsChart.pdf

More specifically, your club scores "poorly" because:

1) the XTD forged has a very low C dimension (on par with the Cally Apex MB), which means the distance from the shaft to the horizontal COG is shorter (i.e. more draw biased).

The low C dimension is a primary reason for the scores differing across clubs, as evidenced by the fact that all Maltby designs have C dimensions of 1.5 or higher.

That is because Maltby incorporates the high C dimension as a design characteristics since he strives to make the clubs horizontal COG further out from the hosel (the opposite of what many tour players prefer since they learned to play with conventional clubs whose HCOG was hosel biased) since most recreational golfers hit more toward the toe. This characteristic is a plus for "the average" recreational golfer, but maybe not you.

2) The Actual VCOG is also higher on your XTD forged at .840, whereas Maltby clubs are almost exclusively less than .800. This is the famed low and back weighting concept all the companies talk about. It makes it easier to launch higher, other things equal, which they are not.

That being said, the MPF is an ideal that was created for a representative golfer with necessarily representative swing characteristics.

Nonetheless, I think its fun to see the characteristics of clubs I hit well and ones I don't**, and MPF gives some of those facts in the five dimensions.


** that's a lie - There are really no clubs I hit well, just ones I don't hit as bad.
= (

Great reply - really appreciate the perspective into what this all means.

It's been an interesting journey with these clubs - clean hits have never felt better, but I am losing a lot of yardage when I don't hit it just right (10-15 yards worth). And yet, I am hitting my driver better than ever with 270-280 (mostly carry) being pretty typical. The result is some challenging gaps north of the 5-iron that I've been trying to close with various hybrid combos.

I'm torn now. I'm not really good enough to hit these beauties (and they are the nicest looking clubs I've ever seen or played) cleanly every swing, but I feel like my swing has improved a lot this year from the feedback I am (relentlessly) getting. But if I'm not going to play more than 10x a year, maybe I should get something a bit more forgiving and just have fun with my mid-handicap self. After all that garage cleanup, from 5 sets down to 1 and 14 putters down to 2.....I have a feeling there will be a 2nd set before too long.