A Test of Metal
By PinemeadowGolf.com,
Staff Writers
About the minute a person decides to purchase a set of clubs in today's
market, they are inevitably overwhelmed with an excess amount of technical
information. Some of the information can be easily understood, or at
best muddled through, but the remaining technical jargon is not as easily
deciphered.
One of the most common questions we hear about is the quality of metals
in golf clubs. Everyone wants the best quality set at the best value,
and the type of metal may be the deciding factor. You may be shocked
to hear titanium is not always the best choice of metal for your woods
and irons. The golf industry has tried to convince you titanium is the
best quality metal for your value. It may be more expensive, but we
will explain why it is not always the best metal to purchase.
What Should I Know About Golf Club Heads?
These are the various metals used in golf club head manufacturing:
Each metal has a different level of hardness and playability. Each
will offer a different aspect catered to a specific type of golfer.
304 Stainless Steel, Carbon Steel is not as widely used in today's
industry. They are the softer Stainless Steels. While they offered the
best feel found for irons and woods, they did not create the ball compression
and distance favored by golfers today.
Zinc and Aluminum alloys are primarily used in beginner's sets (usually
junior sets) and putters. Zinc and Aluminum are generally softer and
will not have the long term life of harder metals. Their purpose is
to introduce golf at an entry level price, with the recommendation of
replacement after a few years. HST Aluminum is a much harder aluminum
and is popular in very large entry level drivers. Its light weight allows
you to expand the volume but still keep the optimal weighting needed
for good club balance. Like the Zinc and Aluminum they offer an inexpensive
oversize driver.
431 Stainless Steel is a softer stainless steel commonly used in high
quality iron heads. Many iron sets today will be made from this material.
431 stainless steel allows manufactures to create the most forgiving
and smoothest feeling iron sets available today.
17-4 and 15-5 Stainless Steel are harder steels found in professional
style iron and wood heads. It is less common in iron heads, but popular
material for woods. While the harder material will decrease the soft
feel found in 431, it makes up for it by creating better ball compression
and essentially generating better distance.
Maraging Metal is a stainless steel put through a special hardening
process making it the hardest metal in golf. Maraging metal is a popular
material for the faceplates in the highest performing woods, although,
less common in today's world you usually find it in low profile fairway
woods and utility irons.
Titanium is the most expensive material used in building golf club
heads. Its combination of light weight and excellent strength allows
manufactures to expand the cc of a driver without giving up any strength.
Being able to expand the head size in woods has dramatically changed
the golfing landscape. Larger heads equal larger sweet spots, much better
control, and distance. Titanium head construction usually consists of
a 6-4 Titanium body and a Beta Titanium face plate.
Do not confuse Ti-Alloy with Titanium. Ti-Alloy products are Aluminum
products with trace elements of Titanium. Ti-Alloy attempts to take
advantage of the Titanium name. Ti-Alloy products are among the least
expensive and are meant only as an inexpensive price point alternative.
Other materials include ceramics, graphite and plastics, with Graphite/Titanium
heads becoming increasingly popular.
So, according to its undeniable qualities, why not own all Titanium
heads?
Simple. While the technology works in the larger driver heads today,
the favorable aspects found in those oversize drivers have yet to successfully
translate into the smaller fairway woods and irons. The aim for choosing
the right clubs should include targeting the right metal. Most of us
need all the help on the links as we can get, and the right metal choice
for our clubs can be crucial. Here's a good rule of thumb:
1. Softer Zinc and Aluminum heads are great inexpensive game entry
clubs. As your game improves you will likely need to upgrade.
2. 431 Stainless Steel and 17-4 Stainless Steel is about the best metal
for irons, lies are easily adjusted, feel is improved and forgiveness
is better.
3. 17-4 Stainless Steel and 15-5 Stainless Steel is about the only
option for fairway woods since it is structurally stronger and creates
more ball compression and in the end, better distance. 17-4 also works
well in iron sets.
4. Maraging Metal is less common, but is the highest performing stainless
steel in the game. Maraging Metal is primarily used in the face plates
of those clubs.
5. Nothing matches the aspects Titanium gives you in drivers. Distance,
feel, and accuracy just can't be matched by stainless steel.
Now get out there and play!
The Pinemeadow Staff Writers are made of what we like to call "golf
gurus" who specialize in a variety of subjects in golf. The team is
comprised of employees of PinemeadowGolf.com,
a website that builds and sells custom golf clubs to thousands of golfers
worldwide.
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