If a player was looking for an iron design to increase their spin rate, which Maltby design would you recommend and what would you generally look for in the MPF data for COG? Is a lower COG the main focus?
If a player was looking for an iron design to increase their spin rate, which Maltby design would you recommend and what would you generally look for in the MPF data for COG? Is a lower COG the main focus?
Lower CG and higher lofts are what will increase the spin more. Loft being the major factor. You might look at some of the legacy models like the TE forged or the DBM Forged since they have more traditional lofts. The KE4 S would be another to consider. It has a little stronger lofts but still has a low cg and is an Ultra Game Improvement design.
Britt Lindsey
Britt,
Could you expand on this a bit? A higher VCG is going to allow the club to strike the ball lower relative to the VCG which will either reduce negative gear effect (ball cg closer to the vcg of the clubface but still above) or tend to hit the ball “thin” (cg of the ball below the vcg of the head) and increase gear effect, increasing spin. If you wanted more spin wouldn’t you want more loft and a HIGER vcg?
A higher vcg on an iron makes it much less playable. The more loft you have on clubs the more oblique the hit and the less the vcg effects the spin. Spin on irons is highly influenced by the loft, slightly influenced by the grooves, and very slightly influenced by the VCG. Reverse gear effect, although it exists, is basically a non factor on irons. You hit a ball thin, it’s not spinning more because of where the cg is. Most likely it spins way less due to the fact that the loft was not part of the equation on the truly thin shot. Possibly if you draw distinction to low on the club face strike versus high on the club face strike, but still any variant in the spin that would be attributed to the vcg on the iron would be negligible. It is more a factor on Drivers because of the vertical radius of the face, the size of the head and the reduced loft. What I will say is for a shot to feel solid and be optimal in it’s trajectory and distance, the actual vertical cg must make contact below the cg of the ball. Optimal spin depends on the ball, the angle of attack, the loft, etc. If the ball is struck with the cg of the iron above the cg of the ball, it will feel less solid and depending on the angle of attack and the loft of the club, the spin could theoretically be less. That being said, I would not in any way recommend a player buy a less playable, higher vcg iron in the hope that a few thousands of an inch higher vcg would reduce the spin on their iron shots. Players that want to reduce spin on iron shots will do it with technique and the type of ball they play.
Britt Lindsey
The TE Forged and DBM Forged have more tradtional lofts (31 and 30 deg on a 6 iron, respectively)) and a vcog of .675″. Those would be the ones to look at. Also the KE4S, with a 6 iron loft of 28 and a vcog of .725. it also is extremely stable an an Ultra Game Improvement profile. As I said, loft will influence the spin far more that vcog on irons. These have the lowest vcog to contribute to the spin equation, and lofts that are higher than the industry average.
Britt Lindsey