Interesting article on Heads..Neutral/draw bias
You can blame a lot of things for that weak, wildly fluttering, despicably uncontrollable, girly-man slice of yours. What you can't do is blame technology. Fact is, technology--properly implemented--can end your slice. Immediately.



That's right, Banana Man. If you can't find the fairway, the fault is yours. Sure, the root cause might be a swing flaw, but that kind of fix could take months or even years of diligent practice, video analysis and perhaps the repeated use of some torturous swing-training device that if used improperly might get you arrested in nine states. Who wants to do that? Save the hassle and just get yourself a new driver. Golf Digest has the data to show that slice-correction technology isn't a marketing gimmick. It works.

"We can definitely say the slice is contained, and there's certainly enough technology out there to kill it," says Bob Thurman, director of research for Wilson Golf. "In terms of things like head size, face angle and draw bias, the average golfer has every opportunity to get that face to close at impact."

Recent robot and player testing confirms as much. In research conducted for Golf Digest by Golf Laboratories Inc. of San Diego, a swing robot hit balls with six drivers, two with a neutral setup (TaylorMade r5 dual Type N, Adams Redline RPM Neutral), two with a draw setup (TaylorMade r5 dual Type D and Adams Redline RPM Draw) and two with adjustable weight screws (TaylorMade r7 quad and r7 quad TP). The robot's launch setup was designed to mimic a slice at an average golfer's swing speed of 95 miles per hour. Of the drivers tested, those built with a draw bias or a draw-enhancing weight configuration hit tee shots with an average of 13.4 yards less rightward movement than those with a neutral setup.

Neutral-driver tee shots missed the center line by an average of 22 yards to the right, and draw-bias drivers missed the center line by an average of 8.6 yards to the right. Given that fairways on typical courses tend to be 35 to 40 yards wide, that's the difference between a lie in the cabbage and one in the short grass.

Golf Laboratories player testing revealed much the same effect. Each of the 10 players in the test hit the ball more left with a draw-bias driver versus drivers with a neutral setup. On average, draw-driver shots were 15.1 yards left of those hit with a neutral club. In addition, seven of the 10 testers hit the draw version farther than the neutral clubs because they were able to launch the ball higher or with less spin.

"In 15 years of doing this, I very rarely get impressed," said Gene Parente, president of Golf Laboratories and a member of the Golf Digest Technical Advisory Panel. "It was amazing to watch all the jaws dropping. It was a very compelling example of what technology can do."

First things first. Big-headed drivers are great even without ball-flight designs. Bigger means a club potentially has a high moment of inertia (resistance to twisting), and therefore is more stable on hits away from the sweet spot. "Extra size means less curvature because of a higher moment of inertia," says Callaway Golf's Alan Hocknell, vice president of innovation and advanced design. "That lets you tighten up the envelope in your shot pattern."


But big heads can also be dangerous if you've already got the "rights." The bigger a clubhead gets, the more the center of gravity tends to move away from the shaft. The farther it is from the shaft, the more difficult it is to square the face. That's why most big drivers already have some degree of draw bias built into them. MacGregor's MacTec is built with 14 grams of tungsten weights in the heel, and Cleveland's Launcher Comp 460 features a graphite crown that allows weight to be redistributed in the heel. But a chronic slicer should look at drivers that take ball-flight correction a step further. Specifically, focus on these characteristics:

1. Closed face angle. "The biggest factor by far in helping the golfer who slices is to close the face angle," says designer Ralph Maltby, president and founder of The GolfWorks, a golf club component company in Newark, Ohio. The trouble is, most golfers are a little uncomfortable with the way a hooked face looks at address. Worse, a hooked face can alter some swings, potentially defeating the purpose. "What happens a lot of times is that players set them up open so they don't look so closed," says Thurman of Wilson Golf. Still, it is undeniable that it should work. Tom Wishon, president of Tom Wishon Golf Technology, a golf club component firm in Durango, Colo., says his research shows a six- to seven-yard correction for each degree a driver's face is closed.

2. Extra heel bias. Most drivers have some degree of heel bias, but there are some head-shape modifications that further weight the heel (look for a head shape that flattens and extends toward the heel side). Heel-weighting through offset or other means is good because the club's center of gravity lines up with the shaft at impact. That action means the face closes coming into the ball. Also, pushing mass toward the heel with weight chips or adjustable screws will increase the toe area and induce draw spin on the ball because of the gear effect--the tendency of the ball to hook when hit toward the club's toe.

3. Offset. Offset is when the face is set back from the shaft. "When you offset it, it really backweights the head," says Clay Long, who crafted Nicklaus Golf's AirMax ML 440. "It moves the center of gravity farther behind the shaft, and the centrifugal force of the head at impact bends the shaft forward and closes the face."

4. Flexible shaft. In most cases, a shaft that's too stiff will produce shots to the right (for right-handers) because the face never gets back to square. A softer shaft is an underrated, easy slice fix. Says Maltby: "I would put the correct shaft ahead of weight-biasing. If a slicer had a tip-flexible shaft, which causes the face to close more coming into impact, he would be much farther along with this kind of change." He says a shorter shaft can increase sweet-spot hits for golfers who struggle with their swings.

Don't overlook the ball, either. Many balls, even those that spin around the greens, are designed to spin less off the driver. Less spin means less curve. (Caution: Less spin makes it hard for low-speed/low-launch swingers to maximize distance.)