In November 1988 Mitchell® Golf introduced its original STEELCLUB® Angle Machine at the first PGA Teaching Summit in Dallas, Texas. It was well received by everyone, including Australian Golf Professional Terry Adcock from Surfer’s Paradise, Queensland. Terry purchased a STEELCLUB® Angle Machine and took it home in his suitcase.

Since then, improvements to the STEELCLUB® Angle Machines have been made to accommodate the evolution in club head designs. In January 1990 the STEELCLUB® Woods and Irons Angle Machine was introduced at the PGA Merchandise Show. Metal woods had all but become the preferred choice of material for wood clubs. Wooden heads were about to disappear.

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All Mitchell Golf Equipment Company products are engineered, manufactured, and assembled at our plant in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A.

Five patents and 3 trademark registrations protect the intellectual property rights of our products.

STEELCLUB® Angle Machines changed golf club technology just like the Golf Pride slip-on replacement grips did. The patented design unlocked the secret to correctly measure club head angles and bend cast irons, hybrids, metal woods and putters. Custom fitted golf clubs were not popular with manufacturers in 1988, but today every major club manufacturer has a custom fitting program.

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By: Ed Mitchell, PGA
Mitchell® Publishing Company

In 1962 I embarked upon a golf professional career at a time in golf history when innovation in golf club technology was slow coming at best. The biggest innovation in the game at that time was the ever-increasing popularity of Cushman riding golf carts. But the innovation that caught my attention was the Eaton slip on “Fine Line” grip. I remember this white and black replacement grip as being ahead of its time. The reason was that golf clubs were made with either molded rubber or leather wrap grips. Do you remember that some leather grips had a tarpaper-like under listing? I sure do. I had to remove many layers of tarpaper and then clean the shaft with gasoline just so I could replace my member’s grips with the latest innovation. I also spent many hours cutting the molded rubber grips off with the still reliable Hyde knife. Of course, I had to re-sharpen it often. Today, however, it is hard to keep pace with the new innovations in golf club designs.

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An Industry Professional’s Guide To Angle Adjustments

As an industry professional you know that angle bending is among the fastest ways to improve a player’s ball flight. Whether changing the lie to improve accuracy or changing loft to make certain that the player’s clubs are progressively consistent, angle bending is a major factor in club performance. When it comes to loft and lie, many players have incorrect ideas about what can be done and what effect changes may have on playability. Being an industry professional, it is important to become knowledgeable to all facets of club bending. When you do so, you become the equipment expert and your golfers will rely on you as their source of equipment alteration. Here are some facts and fallacies for you to be aware of so you can better serve the needs of your golfers.

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Frequency is an absolute measure of the flex of a shaft. It is defined as how many times per minute a shaft oscillates. The units of frequency measurement are known as cycles per minute, or cpm. A shaft with a higher frequency is stiffer than one with a lower frequency. By using frequency as a method of comparing two different shafts, it is obvious which shaft is stiffer and by how much. Typically there will be 10 cycles between shaft flexes. Thus if one shaft registers 250 cpm and another is 270 cpm, there is a 2-flex difference between the shafts regardless of what flex the manufacturer claims them to be.

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The rules of golf state “The shaft shall be straight, with the same bending and twisting properties in any direction and at any point along its length, the shaft shall: (i) bend in such a way that the deflection is the same regardless of how the shaft is rotated about its longitudinal axis; and (ii) twist the same amount in both directions.”

The intent of this rule is for shafts to perform symmetrically with respect to these properties, and the goal from a manufacturing standpoint should be to achieve this objective to the extent that it will make no difference how a particular club shaft is oriented in a golf club.

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Interpreting Impact Marks On Iron Soles

The following diagrams illustrate the range of patterns for typical lie imprints. Note that the imprint illustration moves from the leading edge to the rear of the club’s sole. This indicates that the clubface is closed on the leading edge and open on the rear edge. Further note that the imprint has moved from the toe to the heel of the club. This indicates that the club is too flat when marked on the toe and too upright when on the heel. The ideal mark will be an imprint in the center of the sole from heel to toe and from leading edge to rear of sole.

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After removing the ferrule, load the club into the puller with the hosel of the club against the hosel stop. After clamping the shaft securely, turn the club head pulling T-Handle to apply a slight amount of pressure against the hosel. Then apply heat to the hosel with either a propane torch or heat gun. Apply heat until the epoxy bond is broken, then turn the T-Handle clockwise. If the epoxy bond is not broken, apply more heat for a few more seconds and test again. If the epoxy bond is broken, the head will come off. You must apply enough heat to break the epoxy bond. Shaft epoxy breaks down at about 250 degrees Farenheit. The resin in the graphite shaft is not affected until the temperature reaches approximately 350 degrees Farenheit.

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