Gear Effect

[Crow]

Having received rickg’s Mizuno MP630 Fast Track a few days ago (a very good club in great condition, thanks Rick) I hit the range yesterday to try it out.

Definitely a step up from my old MP-001 in terms of length but I seemed to be hitting a fade more often and also a bigger fade. I moved the weights to promote a draw but this didn’t seem to help too much.

I then looked at the club face and a lot of ball marks were on the heel. I realigned the club head at address to get the ball central and tried again, result, much straighter shots with good distance!

I’m sure I’ve heard of something called gear effect before caused by off centre strikes but is this an actual effect or am I just clutching at straws to explain my poor shot shape? Also, I’d expect a shot off the heel to go left rather then right?

If it does exist, how much of a draw or fade effect can it have? I suppose this depends on the club being used so how much in relation to the driver assuming everything else correct, a straight path with a square clubface?

 

[bobmac]

The theory is if the ball is hit off the toe it will draw and one out of the heal will fade

 

[Crow]

The theory is if the ball is hit off the toe it will draw and one out of the heal will fade

Thanks Bob but is it just a theory or does it actually happen?

 

[JustOne]

It happens and it's a STRONG effect.

 

[Region3]

It's real enough but only with clubs where the COG is well behind the face ie. not irons.

If you miss the sweetspot the club will try to rotate around it's COG, so if you hit the heel the club will try to close but the spin imparted on the ball will be the opposite to what you're thinking.
Imagine the face and the ball like 2 cogs in a machine. The club spins left, the ball gets spun to the right.

This is also the reason why the face of woods isn't flat, but slightly convex. If you catch one in the heel so it will fade slightly, the convex face will start the ball slightly left to allow the fade to (hopefully) bring it back somewhere near where you wanted.

The gear effect also works for shots hit high or low on the face. A low one will have more backspin so can be prone to ballooning, and shots a little high off the face can often go a bit longer as they launch a bit higher and have slightly less spin (the gear effect tries to put topspin on the ball but obviously just reduces the backspin a touch).


If I've not explained it very well, or you want to get more technical, this explains it very well.

http://www.tutelman.com/golf/ballflight/gearEffect.php

 

[JustOne]

This is also the reason why the face of woods isn't flat, but slightly concave. If you catch one in the heel so it will fade slightly, the concave face will start the ball slightly left to allow the fade to (hopefully) bring it back somewhere near where you wanted.

Convex Gary. :thup:

 

[Region3]

Convex Gary. :thup:

Bugger!

Glad you knew what I meant lol. I've edited it now.

 

[Crow]

If I've not explained it very well, or you want to get more technical, this explains it very well.

http://www.tutelman.com/golf/ballflight/gearEffect.php

That looks a pretty good explanation, I'll find a quiet half hour to read and digest!

Thanks for the replies, very helpful and maybe it's not all down to my crap golf!

 

[Foxholer]

This is also the reason why the face of woods isn't flat, but slightly concave. If you catch one in the heel so it will fade slightly, the concave face will start the ball slightly left to allow the fade to (hopefully) bring it back somewhere near where you wanted.

Er. I think you mean convex.

 

[Region3]

Er. I think you mean convex.

Dead right. It's my age!

 

[Foxholer]

Dead right. It's my age!

I used to have a better reason; but I've forgotten it!

 

[SGC001]

It happens, the effect of the gear effect is mitigated by the roll and bulge on the drivers / woods / hybrids which start the ball out the other way to counteract the spin.

You can still see older wooden clubs with this type of design, just like they noticed used balls flew better than new ones pre dimple / pimple design.