We get to sit down with Dr. Sasho MacKenzie, and talk about some of his recent research presented at the World Scientific Congress of Golf. Let’s break down the key takeaways, and see how they might change the way you think about your game.
Shot Shaping & Club Kinetics: The Experiment
Sasho and Ping collaborated on a study to examine how different 7-iron models—specifically the Ping Blueprint (small head) and the G710 (larger, game-improvement head)—affect shot shaping and club kinetics.
The idea was simple: do smaller club heads really make it easier to shape shots, as many believe?
- Test Group: 15 low-handicap golfers
- Conditions: Players were asked to hit draws and fades with both the Blueprint and G710 irons, under tightly controlled conditions (no grip, stance, or ball position changes allowed).
- Objective: To see how club design impacts workability and how players adjust their kinetics (forces applied to the club) to achieve desired shot shapes.
📊 Key Findings: The Truth About Workability
- Workability Myth Busted: Both irons had similar levels of workability—meaning players could shape shots equally well with either club. The difference? The Blueprint tended to promote a draw, while the G710 was more fade-biased.
- Kinetics in Action: When trying to hit draws, golfers exhibited more out-of-plane force (a force that facilitates face closing) with both irons. Yet, despite their efforts, the G710 consistently produced more open face angles, making it harder to hit draws compared to the Blueprint.
- Takeaway for Golfers: If you’re a higher handicapper using a G710, know that it’s designed to help with consistency and forgiveness, but it might challenge your ability to hit a draw.
🤔 What This Means for Club Selection
Tour Players vs. Amateurs:
- Tour Pros: Prefer smaller heads for their perceived workability, though this study suggests it’s more about personal preference than a true performance difference.
- Amateurs: Larger-headed clubs like the G710 provide forgiveness and help maintain ball speed on off-center hits, making them a better fit for those still developing consistent ball-striking skills.
🧪 The Deep Dive: Kinetics & Face Closing
Sasho discussed an advanced concept that’s crucial for understanding why some clubs are easier to close through impact than others. Here’s the idea:
- Out-of-Plane Moment of Force: A fancy term for how the club’s center of mass interacts with the forces applied by the golfer’s hands during the downswing. Get this right, and you’ve got a face-closing machine. Get it wrong, and you’re fighting to square the face at impact.
- Next time you’re testing clubs, think about how they feel when trying to hit different shapes. If one club always seems to leave the face open, it might be a sign that its center of mass isn’t working in your favor.
In this episode we also tackle some other ideas about face to path variability, upcoming work on putter weighting and how different balance points might help you stroke more consistent putts. Also, keep an ear out for his ongoing research into optimizing ground reaction forces for maximum swing speed.
ABOUT DR SASHO MACKENZIE
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Dr. Sasho MacKenzie is widely regarded as golf’s foremost biomechanics expert and is a professor of Sports Biomechanics at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. His groundbreaking research has driven a scientific, evidence-based revolution in golf instruction, making him a key advisor to the world’s top golf coaches. Dr. MacKenzie co-developed The Stack System, a cutting-edge training tool that helps golfers increase their swing speed using the same techniques he employs with Tour players. In addition to his work in golf, he serves as an Engineering Consultant for PING, a Biomechanics Advisor and Software Developer for FootJoy, and has also consulted with MLB teams like the 2020 World Series Champions, the L.A. Dodgers. Dr. MacKenzie has published over 20 golf-related research articles, been a keynote speaker at international golf conferences, and regularly contributes to Golf Magazine.
