# Club's Sweet Spot



## FrogsHair (Mar 4, 2010)

I keep reading a lot about clubs with a "larger sweet spot". I see it all the time. "Our club is designed to give the golfer the largest sweet spot in the industry". Then of course the advertisement goes on to say "the larger the sweet spot, the more forgiving the club is". Now I might be wrong, and please correct me if I am, but as I understand it, the sweet spot of any club is it's center of gravity. The sweet spot is about the size of a pin head, and can't be made smaller or larger, regardless of what the manufacturer does to the club. 

Forgiveness in a club is it's ability to resist twisting on mis hits. Cavity backs resist twisting on mis hits, more so than blades do. Golfers who hit he ball on the same 'dime size" spot on the club face every time can play bladed. Those who can't need to play cavity backs. To me, what these manufacturers should be referring to is the club's moment of inertia (MOI) at impact. MOI measures the club's ability to resist twisting, and/or it's forgiveness. A club that is designed with a higher MOI will be more forgiving than a club designed with a lower MOI.

I suppose at best, using the term "sweet spot" is a marketing ploy by the manufacturers who use the term. I can also see why the term "sweet spot" will trip a golfer's trigger faster than the term "MOI".

Then again, perhaps I am just bored, since it is too windy, and cold to go play golf. ........:dunno:


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

You are correct that the sweet spot is tiny, no matter how the clubhead is designed. Perimeter weighting expands the area of relative forgiveness around the sweet spot, but it doesn't make the sweet spot any larger.

Forgiveness is more than resistance to twisting. It also includes that expanded area around the sweet spot, as well as the effect of any offset. It simply describes a club's ability to still make a useful shot from a questionable hit by reducing the effect of the miss hit. When not struck perfectly with a perimeter weighted, progressive offset, game improvement club, the ball will still sail higher, straighter, and farther than it would from the same miss hit using a blade.

Forgiveness only goes so far though, and it does tend to limit the club's usefulness for shaping shots. Obviously, if a club is designed to help a player hit straighter shots, it is also going to resist letting the player hit an intentional fade or draw.


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## Big Hobbit (Nov 2, 2010)

I'm not sure either way whether the sweet spot is the centre of gravity or not. The more I've thought about it the more convinced I am that its not. If you balanced a club head on a fulcrum you'd probably find the c-o-g is somewhere in the middle of the head but the vector of force, for a perfectly hit shot, would run from the c-o-g thro the clubface where the sweetspot would be. 

Peripheral weighting increases the effective hitting area but doesn't change the optimum point on the clubface that gives the best results.

A prime example, for me, of the changes in club head design and weight distribution is when I drag out my old persimmon headed driver and hit it along side my Ping G15. Hit the old club out of the centre and it really does go miles but hit it off centre and it is truly awful, whereas an off centre hit with the Ping still gives a reasonable result.


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## broken tee (Jan 13, 2008)

I just asking, when the club is fitted to the golfer don't you also determine the sweet spot, for that particular golfers swing.:dunno:


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

broken tee said:


> I just asking, when the club is fitted to the golfer don't you also determine the sweet spot, for that particular golfers swing.:dunno:


Not really. The sweet spot is a result of the design of the club, not the player's swing. In the process of fitting , the swing and the club should be matched to maximize the likelihood of the player hitting the ball with the sweet spot more often.


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## FrogsHair (Mar 4, 2010)

Perhaps this might help; Center of Gravity - What is Center of Gravity, and How Does It Affect the Shot?





Big Hobbit said:


> I'm not sure either way whether the sweet spot is the centre of gravity or not. The more I've thought about it the more convinced I am that its not. If you balanced a club head on a fulcrum you'd probably find the c-o-g is somewhere in the middle of the head but the vector of force, for a perfectly hit shot, would run from the c-o-g thro the clubface where the sweetspot would be.
> 
> Peripheral weighting increases the effective hitting area but doesn't change the optimum point on the clubface that gives the best results.
> 
> A prime example, for me, of the changes in club head design and weight distribution is when I drag out my old persimmon headed driver and hit it along side my Ping G15. Hit the old club out of the centre and it really does go miles but hit it off centre and it is truly awful, whereas an off centre hit with the Ping still gives a reasonable result.


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