THE GOLF CLUB WORKSHOP

WHAT’S NEW ?

Apologies for the gap between the last “Current Topic” and this one. Moving house is to blame !

April is the start of the Clubmaking year when the new catalogues arrive and are carefully scrutinised to see what the designers and manufacturers have come up with for the next 12 months.

Well, the first thing that is very apparent is the reduction in both club heads and shafts compared with previous years. No doubt reflecting the current financial climate, it also reflects the fact that the technical advances in club and shaft design that have taken place in previous years have virtually come to an end.

Heads - so there are no startling technical advances as the R&A and USGA have put a stop to that with their limits on Moment of Inertia, “Spring-face effect” and head size. This year’s offerings are basically minor tweaks of previous designs but certainly nothing “ground breaking”.

Shafts –much the same story with just a few additions at the top end of the range at mouth-watering prices ! The fall in value of the £ against the $ (nearly all golf components are prices in $) has meant an increase of around 30% in the price grips, shafts and heads. Not exactly what was needed in the time of a recession !

Grips - the theme continues with more colours seeming to be about the only change.