Head Cover Question

Now I don't know much about golf obviously, but I presume headcovers were used primarily to protect your clubs, and also a little bit of it is probably to prevent them clanking together when you walk/push them around.

However I was thinking whilst at the range the other day, and just want some sort of scientific confirmation either way.

It was a warm day and I pulled my headcover off the Driver and it felt pretty warm.

Now basics tell me the hotter a metal get the softer it gets thus I then presumed that perhaps a head cover with some sort of ICE coooler system would be beneficial, especially in really hot weather (my head was hot and it wasn't a necesarrily hot day!)


Thus surely if the face of a Drive is HOT then the actual length you would expect to get on a drive would be significantly shorter than if the face was really cold (and thus harder)
Or does the MOI and stuff like that get taken into account so the softer the face is the more time the ball remains on the face at impact imparting more velocity to the ball at launch?


Absolutely pointless question of course, as my driving would not benefit either way from this so its not something I am planning on taking seriously, just wanted to know if there was any reason why most headcovers are really think (and thus heat the club)

Obviously I also appreciate I may be overlooking the fact that this is actually the point of headcovers and my basic understanding was at fault in the first place!

Thanks again,

Mark

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Last Round : Friday 5th June 2009
Peover Golf and Country Club - 114 (Torrential Rain!)

personally, i don't think you'd be able to get a the driver head hot enough to cause problems.. yes heat will make metal softer, but you need a lot of it. if the driver was made out of lead, i'd be worried, but it's a mixture of steel, titanium or carbon fibre in most cases.

you would probably get a bigger impact making the ball hotter or colder as the rubber inside the ball will stiffen or losen with different temperatures.

also. unless you knew the exact manufacturing process, you may find that the heads were made in 60degree temperatures. like most things made these days, i'm sure they would have a tolerance from 0 - 100degrees c.

only my thoughts. i could be wrong.

but a good question.

Thanks for the Answers aussie

like I said it was just one of those 'I wonder....' questions that I can't seem to keep to myself

Good answer tho, yes I agree that the temp of the ball would surely be more of an issue.

May leave my clubs in the freezer overnight and see how many shots I can shave off

This type of thing is the fixation of my clubfitting/clubmaking side.

Are you right about hot/soft cold/hard? Yes. Is there a playable difference? No. In other words, putting your driver in the freezer isn't going to do much for you. Now, that said, I know there's a company in Florida that hardens the metal in your irons and claims it produces more yardage... but I'm not willing to gamble on that one.

And Aussie is right - better to keep the ball warm. There IS a playable difference between a cold ball and a warm one.

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True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
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PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Wasn't there a firm out there once pushing liquid metal clubs - some kind of space program spin off.

Oh dammit I'm going to have look that up now; ludicrously expensive but claimed to exaggerate the trampoline effect and gain you yards.

i think the new conditions making a golf club legal to play is that they don't have the trampoline effect. so a now liquid metal wouldn't be allowed to be used.

That LiquidMetal thing was based on the material being super harder and denser than SS, titanium and other metals. It was not about thin faces or inverted cone, and the new technologies which are used for COR now.

If you recall the commercials, they dropped balls down a tube onto the various materials, and the ball bouncing on the LiquidMetal material bounced higher and for more frequencies while losing less height at each bounce. When the balls on the other materials stopped bouncing, the one on the LiquidMetal was still bouncing.

I suppose the selling feature was the hardness. I guess, back before the COR limits were established that may have been a factor. However, COR can be designed to maximum effect, no matter what the materials are or how hard they are.

Ted

Durban you have come up with a great idea. Of course it would make little difference to club faces, but I bet if someone were to knit up a set of head covers with a velcro pocket that would hold an ice pack, or some other cooling agent, then market it as a cooling device in hot weather for golf clubs, there are folks out there who would buy the product for the same reasons you asked about. Just look at some of the other ideas that have been marketed on golf. I play a lot in triple digits temps, and the club faces at times have become too hot to touch if I left a head cover off. That being said I have not seen any difference in playability of the club, or the ball. I will be in Death Valley, California in August for a couple of weeks. They have a golf course there. I will check it out

As for Liquid Metal golf clubs, I played that brand several years ago. I did not pay the $2000.00 plus for the set which was what they sold for at the time. The set only cost me $50 in raffle tickets. They were nothing special as I recall, but at the time they were the talk of the 19th hole if a person had a set. I do remember that if you mis hit the ball, which back then was quite hard in itself, your hands would "tingle" for a while afterwards. I think Paul Azinger was their staff pro who claimed great advances in distance with these clubs. GJS

http://www.liquidmetalgolf.com/news/dsp.news.100202.asp

Hi all, A friend told the metal used in club head construction is quite thin and thus easily damaged when accidentally struck with an iron.A good reason to keep it protected. Dunno bout the hot, cold stuff.

GS.. probably refering to the club head, not club face of the driver.. my nickent's head is something like 0.4mm thick titanium.

Year I think you are right. Still, best to keep that cover on.