The future for equipment
Alan Hocknell, Head of R&D at Callaway, reveals how digital tech, new materials and 3D printing might change our clubs.
With ultra-strict limits on size, face springiness and adjustability, golf designers are looking at aerodynamics, materials and digital innovations to create the clubs of the future. We spoke exclusively to Alan Hocknell – Callaway’s Head of R&D and the man responsible for the return of the Great Big Bertha – to find out what might be in store…
In 10 years’ time I don’t think drivers will have lasers, tiny rocket engines or any weird moving parts. Due to the limitations of the current rules, we have to design inside a governed space – so I imagine a driver head will look a lot like it does today.
New materials and aerodynamics could change the way we design and build new drivers. New technology might mean the driver head could look a bit different in terms of cosmetics, like the square-headed FT-i we created in 2006. That driver was incredibly straight, but aerodynamically very slow.
‘Connectedness’ is a huge area for growth in the future. At Callaway we are proud to have been involved with the development of Arccos, a digital system that connects to your clubs and communicates with your iPhone. It enables you to build a sophisticated picture of your game automatically. That allows for analysis like never before.
Ultimately I’d love to fit golfers for new clubs based on data garnered from how they play on the golf course, rather than players basing their buying decisions on a few mighty blows in a fitting bay of their local driving range on a Saturday afternoon – when they may or may not be swinging the club at their best.
We are working on some interesting new materials and manufacturing processes which could give significant gains like we saw when Callaway pioneered carbon-fibre technology.
I hope we are the first to harness them for golf, but as of yet we haven’t been able to use them in a form that is suitable for a club.
Our primary goal with these new materials is improving clubhead speed and contact efficiency between club and ball. We are looking for definite properties in each of these materials… light, strong and flexible are all great qualities for golf club design.
Technically, there is nothing stopping us building a 560cc non-conforming driver – we certainly know how to. Callaway in the past made the ERC, which was non-conforming in the US, but the No.1 selling driver in Europe and Japan. Maybe opinions have changed – or will change – in the future.
There would be an interested audience if it could be shown that average golfers have more fun using non-conforming equipment. There would need to be plenty of support from the influential groups (rules bodies, PGA pros etc) and any advance would need to not threaten the basic skill requirements of the game. There are also practical hurdles to get over. For example, here in the USA golfers get a handicap based on every round they play, not just competition rounds. So if they used a non-conforming club, would they need two handicaps? Conforming and non-conforming?
Non-conforming equipment carries a stigma – that you showed up intending to break the rules. Sellers and owners of non-conforming equipment would need to get past this. In Asia there is already a market for non-conforming equipment among golfers, who choose to play by their own rules.
We 3D print metal parts of golf clubs today and it’s amazing technology! But the parts that come off the machine still need quite a lot of work before they are functional and it’s also very expensive. So the concept of golfers printing their own driver on a 3D printer is incredible.
Digital technology will help. Clubs that are much smarter than anything around today could help measure each golfer’s game DNA. We as a manufacturer could use this information to design clubs which would be customised in many more ways than today.
It’s my job to think what golf clubs might look like in 2020. We have a pretty solid plan through 2018, but we’re always looking for something disruptive, so our strategy is to be very agile and adaptable to new things. New technologies take time to develop – for example our forged composite material was in development for around four years before it was used in production.
If you want to see tour players of the future, look at some juniors right now. Some of them will frighten you with how far they hit the ball. They have no fear, they have access to great fitted equipment, great coaching and are fit. Not all will reach 6ft 8in, but they’ll drive the ball very efficiently – and putt like wizards.
Don’t forget the putter!
Austie Rollinson, lead designer at Odyssey, shares some insight
Lots to learn
We are constantly learning about the physics of putting. The better we understand the dynamics of impact, face rebound speeds, acoustics, centre of gravity locations, moment-of-inertia values and of visual alignment aspects, the better we can build putters of the future. All of these aspects are just as important in a putter as they are in a driver or set of irons.
It’s got to look good
New putter designs can’t look like science experiments. But we like to innovate around how a putter looks at address. The golfer wants a comforting look behind the ball, a look which breeds confidence every time they pull out the flatstick.
Multiple materials
Divorcing the shape of the putter from the mass properties gives design freedom to optimise both independently. Utilising multiple materials such as steel, tungsten, urethanes and plastics allows us to constantly evolve putter designs that perform better for the golfer. Different materials mean we become less constrained, so our search for new materials is a continual process.
Don’t get boxed in
We get excited about coming into work everyday to design putters that push the limits of convention. We never want to lose sight of the traditions of the game, but challenging what a putter should look like and how it should perform is part of our philosophy.
