Have you noticed how all the new drivers are so forgiving? And have you noticed that the best players in the world still would rather hit a fairway wood or long iron when they NEED TO HIT THE FAIRWAY? If the new 460cc drivers have such a hugh club face and are so forgiving, why do the pros on tour still use a 175cc three wood when they can't afford to miss the short grass? My three wood is 200cc's because it's the biggest one I could find, and most of them are around 150cc to 175cc's. You would think that a club face that is twice as big as the average 3 wood, would make up for the added length of the shaft, but it doesn't seem to work that way. Not for me and not for the best golfers in the world. It's enough to make you wonder what the big deal is about 460cc drivers. If they are so forgiving, then why are they still the hardest club in the bag to hit well? Poor design maybe?

Don,
My driver is 363 cc and I find that it seems to big. I am more comfortable with my old steel shafted 1, 3, & 5 than the newer clubs, which are much bigger than their older counterparts, although the ball does not carry as far. The older clubs are easier to hit straight for some reason, and just feel better. I was wondering though, and you might know this, if there was some way to refinish or repaint the heads??.

When you ask about refinishing the heads, are you asking about persimmion woods or just the older metal woods? The old persimmion woods can be sanded down to bare wood and refinished with Flecto Varathane if you like. I have done this to some old woods and they look much better than before. If you are asking about metal woods, there is no reason you can't stripe the old paint off the head and refinish it with a good automotive paint. You might want to see if the local Macco paint shop will paint the head for you after you sand the old paint off and have it ready to re-paint. Tell them to paint it with the next car they do in a color you like and charge you a fair price for the extra time it takes to paint. Can't hurt to ask them. I hope this helps you out and answers your question. Don.

If you are interested in re-finishing or re-painting club heads and do not plan to do the work yourself, you can have it done very professionally by Golfworks. Just go to www.Golfworks.com. It is a component company, but they do excellent repairs, having even worked on clubs for Jack Nicklaus in years past.
You can order their catalog to be mailed to you so that you can leaf through it at your leisure, or you can simply search on the website itself.
Joe Golfer

Don and Joe,
thanks for the advice regarding refinishing of the old clubs.

Went to my local Golfers Wharehouse, they will refinish my clubs for $40 each, similar to the place on the internet. I bring them there and they package and send out to Mass, I believe. These are much smaller and shorter 1,3 & 5 than my Adams TightLies clubs with steel shafts. The 5 acts likes a hybrid. I find them easier to hit that the bigger headed clubs. As they were free $120 seems a good deal to bring them back to almost new, grooves and grips are new Lamkin.

Correction: grooves are in good condition, grips are new Lamkin.

Don, are you a student of Physics?
First, here is the reason it is easier to hit the fairway with a 3 wood. The backspin that is imparted on the ball with a fairway wood is greater than with the driver, which has the effect of negating any sidespin that is placed on the ball with the stroke. It tends to "straighten" out a shot if you will.
Now for the drivers. I'm sorry, but science will not allow us to say the 460cc drivers are less forgiving. I'm sure you have heard the term "gear effect." The more mass you have to counteract the twisting caused by an off-center hit, the straighter the shot will be. Combine that with the lower torque shafts they are now using that also resist twisting, and you have a recipe for straight shots. This is another reason why higher lofted drivers are becoming more popular, -so there is less sidespin. That, and the fact that balls are engineered to spin less off the driver necessitates more loft, as there is less backspin to keep the ball aloft as long. That's where the extra loft is helpful.
I'm sure you already knew all that Don, but I couldn't resist.

The issue of back spin is one reason I went with the 12* loft version of my driver head, a higher back spin to side spin ratio. Add the higher launch angle and you get longer carry distances. I live in Coloardo where the air is 10% thinner so the ball is supposed to fly farther, because of less friction against the ball. But the backspin that creates lift, doesn't work as well against the thinner air and you get less lift and the ball falls out of the air sooner. So you need a higher launch angle to overcome the loss of lift. When I played golf last week in Cabo san Lucas, I didn't loss 10% of my distance, it was more like 5%. The air was thicker but I gained some lift with that same thicker air to help the ball stay in the air longer. If you are a fan of baseball, you know that the ball flys 10% farther in Denver. That's because the baseball doesn't have dimples to catch the air and create lift, plus you never know what direction the spin on the ball coming off the bat will be. Could be top spin, back spin, side spin or just about any combination of the three. On the issue of forgiveness. one point that you need to add to your list is that the bigger the club head, the farther the sweetspot is from the shaft. That means that even if you hit the ball with the center of the sweetspot, the twisting force on the shaft will be higher the bigger the head. I believe this fact is one reason some of the newer drivers are being designed with taller heads that are also shorter toe to heal. This is also why I replaced the factory shafts in me first set of fairway woods and driver I purchased. The shafts had a torque rating of 5.0 and I was hitting a big slice half of the time. When I replaced the shafts with ones that have a 3.0 torque value, my slice went away and I had much more control of the woods. When I had my swing checked with the TrueTemper Shaftlab system, I was told that my shaft for the driver should be an A flex at 45 grams. Even through my swing speed is way over an A flex level, my swing is not loading the shaft too much for an A flex shaft. All this should allow me to use a softer shaft and gain some distance. But if you look at A flex shafts, non of them have a torque rating low enough. Most of them are rated around 5.0 or 6.0. Way too high in my opinion, going from my experience. Which is why I went with a regular flex Aldila NV65 shaft with a torque rating of 3.5. Aldila makes a NV55 that is lighter but it has a rating of 3.9, and I felt that 3.5 was a little high as it was. The shaft I am really wanting to try is the Harrison Pro 2.5 SL50. It weighs only 53 grams and has a torque rating of 2.6 degrees. Lower weight for more clubhead speed, and lower torque for less shaft twisting should equal longer walks in the short grass. Might be worth a try for $69.50.

Ya Don,
I got my driver back from my clubfiiter on Thursday and hit it at the golf dome on Sunday. It has the Harrison Striper J Titanium 80 shaft at 44 inches now. 3.5 Torque rating on it. The stock Taylor Made shaft had a 2.8 torque, and it felt a little "board-like." It also had a high kick point. The Harrison has a mid kick point as I don't load the shaft early, more of a smooth tempo, so this is much better. It's at an s300 frequency. I have been making a lot of center face contact, so it must be a pretty good match. Feels great, a little more tip response than before. I can actually feel the ball hitting the face now and where on the face its hitting. A big improvement. I have the same shaft in my Taylor Made V-steel 3 wood now also, and man what an improvment! That stock stiff shaft had a 4.5 torque rating I believe. If I hit it heel or toe, adios ball! This shaft straightned it out nicely with great feel. So Harrison seems to make a nice shaft. My driver is 440cc. Pretty large and very forgiving. The taller faced drivers are being produced in 400cc head sizes generally. It is so that they can be worked more easily. If you have a wider face on the driver, it is more difficult to "turn it over" so to speak. If you rolled a log down a hill, and it hit a tree on the way down, the farther away from center, the more violent the twisting would be. If the log is longer, the time it takes the log to twist sideways takes longer due to the length, (straighter shot.) A shorter log would have a faster twisting effect, causing it to spin sooner. "More Workable." See?
Funny, I hated science in school!