MOI Matching Experience - Part II

Back in October, I discussed MOI matching and my experience with it.

Here's the link to part I: http://3jack.blogspot.com/2011/10/moi-matching-experience-part-i.html

And here's the link to some MOI Matching FAQ's: http://3jack.blogspot.com/2011/11/moi-matching-faqs.html

I discussed this in part I, but here is my MOI numbers for my clubs without any weight added to the clubs:

Driver (Adams 9064LS): 2,845
3-wood (Wishon 929HS): 2,742
Hybrid (Mizuno CLK): 2,750
3-iron 555C: 2,625
4-iron 555C: 2,702
5-iron 555M: 2,670
6-iron 555M: 2,680
7-iron 555M: 2,694
8-iron 555M: 2,658
9-iron 555M: 2,639
PW 555M: 2,653
SW Miura K-Grind: 2,688
LW Ping Tour-S: 2,655

First, I fiddled around with the MOI Machine and discovered a few things:


One thing I noticed is that you should calibrate the machine if you have not used it in awhile or stored it away and bringing it out to use again. I found this video helpful on how to calibrate the machine:



I have found that the readings will not come out exactly the same. For instance, I had my 4-iron at 2,702 one time. A few weeks later it measured in at 2,692. Then another time it was at 2,699. However, the machine does say that there is a margin of error and I think if the measurements are within 10 points, that is reasonably accurate. If not, you probably want to re-calibrate the machine.

There are some things that do affect the MOI readings. The instruction manual states the 'thumb screw' does *not* have to clamp on the shaft of the club when doing the reading.


However, I found this to be generally false. In particular, with the woods and hybrids because the clubface should hang down at about a 90* vertical angle. But, with the woods and hybrids, the face will be at about 70*, unless you position the face so it is vertical and have the thumb screw hold the club in place.

I also noticed the screw where that holds the butt end of the club is important.


I believe that you want this screw pushed outwards, away from the thumb screw end.


Back in October, I only MOI Matched my irons. I took all of the irons and added lead tape to them until each iron read 2,700. However, I did not *fit* myself for MOI, I just matched the MOI for now.


FITTING PROCESS

I discussed the fitting process with a bunch of MOI clubfitters. I got a lot of different responses as to what the best way was to do it.

In general, here is what I found:

1. Use a 6-iron or 7-iron when doing the iron MOI fitting. Of course, whatever MOI you find that is best for you, each iron should wind up with the same MOI as well.

2. Fit for hybrids, fairway woods and drivers separately. The hybrid MOI will be closer to the MOI for the irons. The fairway woods and driver will have an MOI closer to each other.

3. You want to use the lightest MOI club you have, so you can add weight when doing the fitting and determine what is the best MOI for you. So when using a driver, find a driver with a lower MOI .

I was also told that the MOI fitting should MAINLY consist of determining the dispersion clubface contact. Here is a before and after photo from another clubmaker in England (http://www.theclubdoctors.co.uk), showing a golfer not fitted for MOI and then eventually fitted for MOI.


I was going to get on Trackman and see if I could check out the clubhead speed progression as I added weight to the club, but I was told that it not all that common because the face contact dispersion more or less is the best indicator.

First, I started with my driver. I actually used my Wishon 919THI driver because that was much lighter than my Adams 9064 LS (2,775 MOI vs. 2,845 MOI = 70 MOI difference).

I was told that when fitting for woods and hybrids, add lead tape to the spot where you would add the weight. With the driver, I would add weight at the tip end of the shaft with a weight port that looks like this:


Before I went to the range, I cut up a bunch of 1 inch high density lead tape pieces. 1 inch of high density lead tape = 1 gram = about 10 MOI points.

I also used impact tape, but I did not use a lie board. Furthermore, the impact tape did not have to be on the clubface perfectly because I was looking for a tight dispersion with the clubface contact.

Eventually, I found that adding about 3.5 grams of lead tape to the driver was perfect for me. The 3-wood was at 2,742. I added 3 grams of lead tape. The hybrid was at 2,750 and I found that I hit that perfectly.

For the irons, I used a 7-iron. Eventually, I added 2 grams of lead tape and found that my before and after looked somewhat like the before and after in those photos above.

I was told that this would probably happen because with the irons, it's easier to be more precise. The dispersion was greater for the driver than it was for the 3-wood which was greater than the hybrid dispersion.

Still..the 7-iron fitting was quite interesting because the 1st shot I hit poor, but contact was in the same exact place as it was on the following shots I hit, all of which were good. I also found that my 7-iron was a little too flat of a lie angle for me.

Afterwards, I went home and changed the rest of the clubs. I then went and played 9-holes and hit the ball fantastic. I could not believe how much better the ballstriking was.


SAVE SOME MONEY

Before the MOI fitting I performed, I felt my Adams 9064LS driver had too high of a loft (10.5*), was too heavy (2,845 MOI) and the spin rate was too high.

In the 9-hole round after the fitting, I wanted to try the Wishon 919THI driver out. This driver is a 9* driver loft with a Wishon Black 65 gram stiff shaft in it.

However, up until today I had difficulty hitting the driver as it felt 'boardy' and I struggled to get the ball up in the air. But, what I found once I did the MOI fitting was that not only was I right about the Adams 9064LS driver (too much loft, too heavy, too much spin)...but, I started to not only make much better contact with the Wishon driver....I also started to hit the ball much HIGHER and produce a far better trajectory (and now with less spin).

I found that on average I was hitting the Wishon about 20 yards past the Adams driver. Furthermore, I was only about 5-10 yards shorter with the Wishon on mis-hits. And on the 9th hole at Eastwood, I hit the Wishon 45 yards past the Adams driver.

Before today, I was considering buying the new Ping G20 driver or perhaps installing a new graphite shaft in the Wishon driver, but I think the problem was the MOI all along. So, save yourself some money and check out the MOI of your clubs before you buy that new driver or set of irons.

As far as the irons go, they felt so much better with the MOI adjusted. The next step will be to adjust the lie angles for each club properly so now the clubface contact is precisely on the sweetspot.


THE NEW SPECS

Here are the new specs for each club with their swingweight figured in as well:

Driver (Wishon): 45.0" long, 2,820 MOI, D-3 swingweight
3-wood (Wishon): 43.0" long, 2,785 MOI, D-4 swingweight
Hybrid (Mizuno): 40.5" long, 2,747 MOI, D-4 swingweight

3-iron: 39.5" long, 2,728 MOI, D-3
4-iron: 39.0" long, 2,728 MOI, D-3
5-iron: 38.5" long, 2,728 MOI, D-5
6-iron: 38.0" long, 2,728 MOI, D-6
7-iron: 37.5" long, 2,728 MOI, D-6
8-iron: 37.0" long, 2,728 MOI, D-6
9-iron: 36.5" long, 2,728 MOI, D-7
PW: 36.25" long, 2,728 MOI, D-8
SW: 35.75" long, 2,728 MOI, D-9
LW: 35.5" long, 2,728 MOI, D-9






3JACK