Always Custom Fit!

Although early versions of metal woods, particularly drivers and fairway woods, began appearing in the late 1970s and early 1980s, “metal” didn’t truly challenge traditional “wood” construction until the mid-1990s.  The turning point came with major advances in the production quality and structural reliability of materials such as stainless steel, maraging steel, and especially titanium.

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Titanium’s combination of light weight and exceptional strength allowed manufacturers to dramatically increase clubhead volume without adding excessive mass.  This paved the way for the large, forgiving driver designs we see today.  Many companies began pairing lower-grade titanium bodies with higher-grade, more flexible titanium face inserts to enhance both durability and performance.

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By the early 2000s, titanium had become so influential in driver design that, in 2004, the USGA and R&A established limits, 460cc maximum head volume and COR (Coefficient of Restitution) restrictions, to regulate energy transfer and prevent excessive ball speeds. 

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This transition to titanium not only increased driver head size but also revolutionized weight distribution and fitting potential.  By reducing overall head mass, engineers gained the ability to reposition discretionary weight strategically throughout the clubhead.  This led to innovations such as perimeter weighting, rear weight ports, and adjustable sole weights, all designed to fine-tune center of gravity (COG) location and moment of inertia (MOI).

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A lower and deeper COG promotes higher launch and greater forgiveness, while a more forward COG produces lower spin and a more penetrating trajectory. These design principles—made possible by titanium’s exceptional strength-to-weight properties—form the foundation of virtually all modern driver designs. The ability to fine-tune both COG and MOI allows today’s adjustable drivers (discussed in more detail below) to be precisely fitted to each player’s unique launch conditions and shot tendencies.

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Driver Adjustability.  Most modern drivers offer the ability to change the loft using an adjustable hosel. However, it’s important to recognize that changing the loft also affects two other key specifications, the lie and face angles.

 

What actually happens when you change the driver’s loft angle is outlined below:

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Launch Angle and Spin Rate: Increasing the loft (for example, going from 9° to 10.5°) generally produces a higher launch angle and more backspin. This helps golfers who struggle to get the ball airborne or who tend to hit with too little spin.

Conversely, decreasing loft will lower launch and reduce spin, which can help stronger players who create excess spin and balloon their drives.

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Face Angle and Direction:  ​Increasing loft typically closes the face slightly (aiming it left for right-handed players).  Decreasing loft opens the face slightly (aiming it right for right-handed players).  This can subtly promote a draw or fade bias, depending on your setup and swing.

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Effective Lie Angle:  When you change the loft setting on an adjustable hosel, you’re also subtly altering the club’s lie angle.  Increasing loft generally makes the club sit a bit more upright, while decreasing loft tends to flatten it slightly.  These changes are usually small, often just a degree or so, but they can influence shot direction.  For players with consistent swing paths, even minor lie adjustments can cause the face to point fractionally left or right at impact, affecting ball flight and accuracy.

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These subtle changes occur because the sleeve or hosel adapter doesn’t change loft by bending the face or sole; instead, it rotates the shaft axis relative to the clubhead’s face plane.  When you increase loft, the rotation effectively tilts the shaft backward, which also leans the shaft slightly toward the target line, making the club sit more upright.  Conversely, decreasing loft rotates the shaft forward, lowering the face angle and flattening the lie.

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In simple terms, adjusting loft changes both face angle and lie angle because all three (loft, lie, and face angle) are geometrically linked through the same axis of rotation.  Even though these lie changes are small, they can be enough to alter direction, particularly for players who consistently deliver the club square to the target line.

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​​Adjusting Weight Sliders and Screw-In Weights:  Modern driver designs often feature adjustable weight ports or sliding tracks that allow fine-tuning of center of gravity (COG) location and moment of inertia (MOI). Adjusting these weights can influence both shot shape and launch characteristics.

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Adding more weight toward the heel and reducing weight in the toe moves the COG slightly closer to the heel, which promotes a draw bias by helping the face close more easily through impact.  Doing the opposite, placing more weight in the toe, shifts the COG outward, promoting a fade bias by reducing the tendency for the face to close.

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Positioning additional weight in the rear weight port increases the clubhead’s MOI, making it more resistant to twisting on off-center hits.  This also raises the launch angle and adds forgiveness.  Conversely, reducing weight in the rear port moves the COG forward, lowering trajectory and reducing MOI, which can produce slightly lower spin and a more penetrating ball flight.

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Consider two modern 460cc titanium drivers; one with a rear-biased COG and another with a forward-biased COG.

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• The rear-weighted driver launches the ball higher with slightly more spin, creating maximum forgiveness on off-center hits.  This design is ideal for players seeking added carry distance and stability through impact.

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• The forward-weighted driver launches lower with reduced spin and slightly less forgiveness, but offers greater workability and control for players who already make consistent center-face contact.

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This ability to manipulate COG and MOI placement within the same head volume is what distinguishes today’s fitting technology from the fixed-geometry designs of the past, and why driver fitting has become as much an engineering process as a playing preference.

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(Figure 1) below illustrates a basic driver with an adjustable hosel.  (Figure 2) illustrates the loft and lie changes effected when rotating the sleeve to various positions.

       

Why not use Titanium in Fairways and Hybrids? 

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While titanium offers an outstanding strength-to-weight ratio, making it ideal for large-volume driver heads (up to 460cc), it’s not the best choice for smaller clubheads like fairway woods or hybrids.  The reasons come down to cost, performance balance, and manufacturing practicality:

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Cost vs. Performance Tradeoff:  Titanium is expensive to produce and machine, especially in precision casting and welding.  For a driver head, which can cost hundreds of dollars, the performance gain justifies the expense.

 
However, fairway woods and hybrids feature much smaller clubhead volumes than drivers, so the performance gains from using titanium, such as a few extra yards of distance or a slightly higher COR, are minimal.  In these clubs, high-strength stainless steel or maraging steel delivers roughly 90–95% of titanium’s performance at a fraction of the cost, making them far more economical choices for both manufacturers and players.

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Ideal Head Volume for Titanium’s Benefits:  Titanium shines when weight savings can be redistributed across a large head volume, exactly what’s needed in a 440–460cc driver.

In smaller heads (150–220cc for fairways, 100–130cc for hybrids), the wall thickness required for structural integrity is already minimal.  The mass savings from titanium simply aren’t enough to significantly shift the COG or MOI in a meaningful way.

 

Face Material Optimization:  Modern fairway woods and hybrids often use high-strength maraging steel faces, like Carpenter 455 (Maraging Steel), which offer excellent flex properties and a hotter face at a much lower cost.  These steels can achieve COR values very close to titanium within the USGA limits, without the brittleness or welding challenges titanium can introduce in smaller geometries.

 

Launch and Spin Characteristics:  A slightly heavier head (like one made of steel) actually helps in launching the ball off the turf, especially important for fairway woods and hybrids. The extra mass at impact promotes better energy transfer and consistent turf interaction, something that ultra-light titanium can compromise.

 

Manufacturing Challenges:  Welding thin titanium shells in the smaller dimensions of fairway and hybrid heads can lead to hot-spotting, inconsistent face thickness, and acoustic issues.  Manufacturers would need to reinforce areas that add weight back in, negating titanium’s primary benefit. ​​