With the introduction of Wishon Golf’s proprietary bendable hosel drivers, fairway woods and hybrids, there is a level of confusion about the difference in what specifications are affected when you bend the hosel of a driver/wood/hybrid vs. an iron/wedge. To help explain the differences, we have created a video to offer a technical explanation to make this area of club technology a little less confusing.
Bending irons and wedges have been a practice of clubfitting for decades. As such, clubmakers are aware that when you bend the hosel of an iron or a wedge, you change its loft or lie angles. With the introduction of Wishon Golf’s bendable hosel drivers, woods and hybrids, it just seems logical to assume that bending the hosel will have the same result—that it will change the loft or the lie angle of the driver/wood/hybrid.
But that is not the case. When you bend the hosel of a driver, wood or hybrid, it is the lie angle and the face angle that is changed, not the loft.
The reason is because of the difference in how golfers learn to address the ball with the different clubs in their bag.
For normal-shot irons and wedges, golfers always set the clubhead behind the ball with the face square to the target line. Always.
But with the driver, fairway woods and irons, most golfers regularly sole the clubhead on the ground in the address position and allow the clubhead to sit perfectly flat.
Why the difference? Chiefly, it’s because drivers, woods and hybrids can be designed and manufactured with an open, square or closed face angle to offer golfers a way to reduce their tendency to hook or slice the ball.
When you sole the driver, wood and hybrid flat on the ground, any bend of the hosel will result in a change of the lie or the face angle (depending on the direction of the bend). But because golfers typically position the face of an iron and wedge square to the target line, any bend of the hosel will result in a change of the loft or lie angle of the iron/wedge head.
Could you bend a driver, wood or hybrid to change the loft by always positioning the face of the clubhead square to the target line after the bend? Yes, that can be done. But after the bend, the golfer would always have to hold the clubface square and never sole the head on the ground. And because of the much greater width of the sole of a driver/wood/hybrid versus that of an iron/wedge, when you bend the hosel to change loft and then hold the face square, the surface of the sole is no longer parallel to the ground.
With a driver, this is not that much of a problem because golfers rarely (or rather are not supposed to) hit the shot with the sole making contact with the ground. But with a fairway wood or hybrid, when the sole is not parallel to the ground as the clubhead arrives at the ball, any contact of the sole with the ground can cause either a digging of the leading edge or a bouncing of the trailing edge—which adversely affects the shot.
Besides, when you bend the hosel of a driver/wood/hybrid and then turn the face square to achieve the loft change, this completely eliminates the possibility of the face angle being an independent fitting specification to help reduce a slice or hook. As such, bending a driver/wood/hybrid to change loft should only be considered for very skilled players who have always played woods with a square face angle.
Hence, if a golfer does have swing flaws that result in a slice or hook, fitting the face angle correctly to the golfer to reduce that misdirection tendency is critical.
Bottom line? We bend the hosel of irons and wedges to change loft or lie or both together. Bending of a driver, wood and hybrid is done to change the lie or the face angle or both.
Then how do you get different lofts in a driver, wood or hybrid?
Easy: By requesting Wishon Golf’s Hand Select Service. That’s how we deliver to you and your clubfitter precisely measured multiple heads in each model’s inventory, resulting in unparallel custom fitting—including loft, lie and face angle.
I imagine you might still have questions and concerns about this topic. As always, you are invited to visit our www.wishongolf.com website for more information, where you’ll find numerous videos and blogs and product information. Or you can call one of our customer service representatives at (800) 470-0072. We look forward to hearing from you.
Good luck in this great game!
Bending irons and wedges have been a practice of clubfitting for decades. As such, clubmakers are aware that when you bend the hosel of an iron or a wedge, you change its loft or lie angles. With the introduction of Wishon Golf’s bendable hosel drivers, woods and hybrids, it just seems logical to assume that bending the hosel will have the same result—that it will change the loft or the lie angle of the driver/wood/hybrid.
But that is not the case. When you bend the hosel of a driver, wood or hybrid, it is the lie angle and the face angle that is changed, not the loft.
The reason is because of the difference in how golfers learn to address the ball with the different clubs in their bag.
For normal-shot irons and wedges, golfers always set the clubhead behind the ball with the face square to the target line. Always.
But with the driver, fairway woods and irons, most golfers regularly sole the clubhead on the ground in the address position and allow the clubhead to sit perfectly flat.
Why the difference? Chiefly, it’s because drivers, woods and hybrids can be designed and manufactured with an open, square or closed face angle to offer golfers a way to reduce their tendency to hook or slice the ball.
When you sole the driver, wood and hybrid flat on the ground, any bend of the hosel will result in a change of the lie or the face angle (depending on the direction of the bend). But because golfers typically position the face of an iron and wedge square to the target line, any bend of the hosel will result in a change of the loft or lie angle of the iron/wedge head.
Could you bend a driver, wood or hybrid to change the loft by always positioning the face of the clubhead square to the target line after the bend? Yes, that can be done. But after the bend, the golfer would always have to hold the clubface square and never sole the head on the ground. And because of the much greater width of the sole of a driver/wood/hybrid versus that of an iron/wedge, when you bend the hosel to change loft and then hold the face square, the surface of the sole is no longer parallel to the ground.
With a driver, this is not that much of a problem because golfers rarely (or rather are not supposed to) hit the shot with the sole making contact with the ground. But with a fairway wood or hybrid, when the sole is not parallel to the ground as the clubhead arrives at the ball, any contact of the sole with the ground can cause either a digging of the leading edge or a bouncing of the trailing edge—which adversely affects the shot.
Besides, when you bend the hosel of a driver/wood/hybrid and then turn the face square to achieve the loft change, this completely eliminates the possibility of the face angle being an independent fitting specification to help reduce a slice or hook. As such, bending a driver/wood/hybrid to change loft should only be considered for very skilled players who have always played woods with a square face angle.
Hence, if a golfer does have swing flaws that result in a slice or hook, fitting the face angle correctly to the golfer to reduce that misdirection tendency is critical.
Bottom line? We bend the hosel of irons and wedges to change loft or lie or both together. Bending of a driver, wood and hybrid is done to change the lie or the face angle or both.
Then how do you get different lofts in a driver, wood or hybrid?
Easy: By requesting Wishon Golf’s Hand Select Service. That’s how we deliver to you and your clubfitter precisely measured multiple heads in each model’s inventory, resulting in unparallel custom fitting—including loft, lie and face angle.
I imagine you might still have questions and concerns about this topic. As always, you are invited to visit our www.wishongolf.com website for more information, where you’ll find numerous videos and blogs and product information. Or you can call one of our customer service representatives at (800) 470-0072. We look forward to hearing from you.
Good luck in this great game!