The game of golf is no longer a game played by men in plaid pants speaking in british accents as they skillfully and slowly make their way about the course, occasionally stopping to comment about the scenery. It is now a sport of power and precision. In this new millenium, we have seen an unbelievable mix of athletic power and skill that seems to have surpassed the older days of golf. Athletes - and they are finally being called athletes - like Tiger Woods (below right) are making a new name for this old sport. But it is not just the athletes that are enabling this new generation of golf to exist - it is also the chemistry of the equipment.
It seems that there have been three stages of golf. First, there was what I like to call the stoneage, because that is about how advanced it was in terms of science and technology. Players were setting up a tee, swinging a poorly made wooden club (as you see below left) and hoping for the best (usually, of course, to no avail).
Then, there was a more modern approach to the game. Club shafts were starting to be made out of more power-enhancing materials such as aluminum or steel. These shafts were conducive to a more accurate game, but still did not produce much distance. This was, of course, an improvement from the primitive styles of golf that had preceded it, but still was not close to the results players are seeing in today's game. So what's the secret?
According to the Journal of Chemical Education, "Composite fibers or polymers, such as Kevlar, are used in shafts to propel golf balls at higher velocities while preserving the accuracy of the earlier steel shafts." (Huh? What's Kevlar?) In other words, modern technology and chemistry has discovered a way to maintain the accurate side of golf clubs while improving their structure and the elements used to make them so that they can enforce more power as well. These composite fibers and polymers make clubs lighter as well, allowing for a quicker club head speed and naturally producing a longer drive. But how is the accuracy preserved with these new clubs?
Accuracy has been preserved, even with these newer age clubs, through the production of larger SWEET SPOTS on the face of the club. The larger sweet spot allows the player to swing harder while not having to worry about their accuracy and sweet spot as much because there is more margain for error. |
