The following is a list and description of the golf club technology Firsts developed by Tom Wishon Golf Technology since TWGT was started in 2002. For a brief list of Tom Wishon’s career design technology Firsts prior to starting his own company, click here.
- First Driver with flat-topline crown surface to maximize face flexing
at impact
2003 – Wishon Golf 915CFE Forged Beta Titanium Drivers - First
forged iron design to incorporate a 5-step forging process
for improved metal density and face profile consistency in
finishing
2003 – Wishon Golf 550C and 550M forged carbon steel irons - GRT
woodhead face design for more consistent launch angle
2004 – Wishon Golf 515GRT - The first 0.830 COR fairway woodhead
design
2004 – Wishon Golf 515GRT Fairway Woods - True Moment of Intertia
matching of golf clubs
2004 – MOI - The first variable thickness high COR iron design
2004 – Wishon Golf 770CFE Irons - Small tip diameter hybrid
shaft for higher launch angle
2004 – Wishon Golf 321Li Hybrid Long Irons - Driver with
center of gravity more than 40mm behind the face for higher
launch angle with higher ball speed
2004 – Wishon Golf 949G/Ti Driver - Interchangeable loft
faces on putters
2005 – Wishon Golf CLF Series Putters - Driver with internal
rotating weight arm for greater flight control
2005 – Wishon Golf 715CLC Driver - Driver with CNC machined
crown for moving the center of gravity more rearward and lower
in the head for higher launch
angle
2006 – Wishon Golf 949MC Driver - First Driver to achieve a
COR of 0.900
2006 – Wishon Golf 0.9OL Driver (developed for foreign markets where the USGA rule for 0.830 COR limit does not go into effect until 2008)
1. First Driver with flat-topline crown surface to reduce crown
flexing at impact
2003 – Wishon Golf 915CFE Forged Beta Titanium Drivers.
A little known source of energy loss and possible distance
loss during driver impact with the ball that can reduce the
ball speed even from a high C.O.R. face design comes from a
high face impact that causes the traditionally curved shape
of the top crown to “flex”. With the advent of
much taller face, larger driver head shapes, this possible
energy loss became even greater.
To counteract this and allow the high C.O.R. face to perform at its optimal level for generating maximum ball speed, the Wishon Golf 915CFE forged Beta Ti drivers were designed so that the traditional curve upward of the top crown surface of the heads was created to be a flatter shape for the first 10mm back from the top of the face. By greatly reducing this typical top surface curve, a greater “brace” was created to better resist and prevent the top crown surface of the head from flexing when impact occurred on the top half of the face.
2. First forged iron design to incorporate a 5-step forging
process for improved metal density and face profile consistency
in finishing
2003 – Wishon Golf 550C and 550M forged carbon steel
irons
In 2002, Tom was asked by one of the top production foundries
for which he consulted to help solve a problem for one of the
foundry's other clubmaking company customers. This company
was trying to promote a brand new forged iron on the PGA Tour
but had been receiving criticism from a number of the tour
players that the face profile shape at the leading edge position
of the different heads in the set was too inconsistent. After
researching the problem, Tom determined the inconsistency in
the shape of the leading edge came because the preparation
of the heads required the foundry's workers to grind too much
off the bottom of the sole directly under the leading edge
to remove the wide flat section left from the shearing off
of the excess steel after the typical 4th and final step in
the forging process. By making another forging die mold, and
forging the heads one more time, the area under the leading
edge of the face which had to be ground to blend with the sole
radius was greatly reduced to a very small section of steel.
Thus the workers could more accurately remove this small section
of excess steel without changing the profile of the leading
edge, and the result was the foundry could now deliver heads
which demonstrated a very high level of consistency for overall
face profile shape.
However, an additional benefit of adding a 5th step to the forging process was not realized until the Wishon Golf 550C and 550M forged cavity and muscle-back irons were being designed and tested in the early fall of 2002. While the 550's displayed the same high level of face profile consistency known to come from the additional forging step, golfers involved in the testing of the 550's reported a much softer feel of impact than they had ever felt with previous forged carbon steel irons.
Investigation of these claims eventually showed that by forging the heads one more time than had been done before, the carbon steel was packed much tighter in the 5th die mold. Photomicrograph analysis showed the additional 5th forging step had also compressed the steel in each head much tighter, which had the effect of greatly reducing the natural ‘voids' (microscopic holes) inside the grain structure of the steel that are present in all forged ironheads. By eliminating a huge number of these voids, the internal vibrations from impact were also reduced, which had the effect of transmitting a softer and more solid feel to the golfer.
3. GRT face design by TWGT delivers far more consistent launch
angle
2004 – Wishon Golf 515GRT drivers and fairway woods,
915CFE drivers, 949MC drivers and fairway woods, 715CLC driver,
0.9OL driver
Wishon Golf demonstrated the knowledge and the courage
to buck more than 100 years of woodhead face design to eliminate the
old vertical roll radius and replace it with a unique vertical
face design that ensures consistent loft up and down the face.
As driver heads have grown from 200cc to 460cc in the past
15 years, driver face heights have increased from 1.5” (39mm)
to 2.4” (60mm). That means when all other companies choose
to use a typical 10-12” vertical roll radius up and down
the face, the loft of the driver will be 3-4 degrees lower
on the bottom of the face and 3-4 degrees higher on the top
of the face.
For golfers to achieve a consistent launch angle with such drivers, they have to develop the skill to hit the ball in an area the size of a thumbtack! Wishon Golf's Graduated Roll Technology (GRT) face design is now incorporated on virtually all of the company's driver and woodhead designs and delivers a far more consistent launch angle for much more consistent distance and flight for every single golfer.
4. The first 0.830 COR fairway woodhead design
2004 – Wishon Golf 515GRT Fairway Woods
In 1999,
Tom Wishon became the first to design a high strength steel driver that
exceeded the USGA's limit for COR for foreign
market sales. In 2004 Wishon Golf elevated its skill in woodhead
face design by creating the first fairway woods to reach the
USGA's 0.830 COR/257 CT limit.
Previously thought to be impossible because of the much smaller face area of fairway woods, Wishon Golf achieved its “high COR fairway wood face” breakthrough by combining a forged cup-face construction with a vertically flat zero Roll face and a totally new high strength steel alloy from Carpenter Steel. Launch monitor testing reveals a ball velocity increase of 4mph with the 515GRT fairway woods over the majority of the industry's brand name fairway woods, and golfers who have been custom fit with the 515GRT fairway woods are completely amazed that such a distance increase with fairway woods is now theirs.
5. True Moment of Intertia matching of golf clubs
2004 – Wishon Golf MOI Matching System
Engineers with a working knowledge of golf clubs have long known
that matching all clubs in the set to Moment of Inertia (MOI)
is superior to matching all clubs by swingweight. By building
all clubs in a golfer's set to have the same MOI, each club will
swing with exactly the same feel and effort from the golfer.
Swingweight matching cannot do that, so the golfer has to use
a different effort to swing each club. MOI matching is truly
a custom fitting parameter because each golfer has a different
combination of strength, athletic ability and swing tempo.
MOI matched clubs must be individually fit to each golfer so that the benefit of more consistent on-center hits will be achieved by each golfer. Real MOI matching has never been pursued by any OEM because their business model is to make standard made golf clubs. By developing the golf industry's first MOI Matching System, TWGT has enabled professional and serious custom clubmakers to offer golfers a manner of matching swing feel and improving their on-center hit percentage.
6. The first variable thickness high COR iron design
2004 – Wishon Golf 770CFE Irons
Ironhead
design has languished in countless variations of heel and toe
weighting for decades. With the 770CFE Wishon Golf has
opened an entirely new door to improving the performance of irons
by proving that superior face engineering can increase the COR
of an iron, and with it deliver a full club more distance to
all golfers. In addition, by creating the faces of the 770CFE
irons from different steel alloys and CNC-machining the faces
thin on the perimeter and 0.4mm thicker in the center, Wishon
Golf has improved ball velocity from off-center hits for all
heads in the set regardless of loft angle change. The 770CFE
irons won the “Top Concept” award for clubhead design
from Golf Tips magazine and were recognized by Golf Digest as
being the “Best Iron from a New Company” in their
noteworthy Hot List 2005 issue (GD Feb. 2005).
7. Small tip diameter hybrid shaft for higher
launch angle
2004 – Wishon Golf 321Li Hybrid Irons
While hybrid clubs have achieved a high demand in the golf business,
Wishon Golf developed a true hybrid shaft to pull the most performance
from their 321Li hybrid ironheads. The shaft can be a major contributor
to increasing launch angle but only if its design is a result
of true “thinking outside the box”. By departing
from the typical larger tip diameter construction of all iron
shafts and incorporating a smaller 0.335” tip design in
their GI-335 shaft for the 321Li hybrids, Wishon Golf was able
to offer golfers a 3.5 degree higher launch angle than any other
hybrid of the same loft tested with a conventional iron shaft.
Thus the combination of the unique small tip GI-335 iron shaft
with the extreme rear-CG design of the 321Li hybrid heads, TWGT
once again proved its ability to understand ALL of the elements
of golf club performance to create a truly easy-to-hit long iron
replacement that can be experienced by golfers from the very
first hit.
8. Driver with center
of gravity more than 40mm behind the face for higher launch angle
with higher ball speed
2004 – Wishon Golf 949G/Ti Driver
In its technical writing from its ongoing R&D, Wishon Golf
exposed the industry to the fact that a rear-located Center of
Gravity has more of an effect on increasing launch angle than
a low CG position. From that, TWGT discovered that it was possible
to combine a much more rear-located CG with a conventional loft
angle and achieve a higher launch angle previously only possible
from increasing the loft. Increasing loft automatically lowers
the ball velocity for all golfers.
By pushing the CG back to an amazing 44mm behind the face in the 949G/Ti driver, Wishon Golf has been able to deliver the launch angle of a 12 degree driver with the ball velocity of a driver with a loft of 10.5 degrees. As a result, golfers custom fit to the 949 G/Ti have experienced the best of all worlds – higher launch angle for more carry distance with a higher ball speed not previously possible with that optimum launch angle. The 949G/Ti CG is 6mm (1/4”) farther back from the face than the CG of the Callaway Fusion™ driver and thus stands as the most rear CG designed driver measured in the game today.
9. Interchangeable loft faces on putters
2005 – Wishon
Golf CLF Series Putters
Superb putters know the importance of using the proper loft angle
on the face of their putter. Without the correct putter loft,
the ball will never roll smoothly and consistently, which is
a key to reducing 3-putts, and making more putts overall.
Almost every putter offered in the game today is made with 3
or 4 degrees of loft. Yet golfers do not all arrive at impact
with the putter with their hands in the same position. Golfers
who forward press the putter compared to those who putt with
a more “wristy stroke” cannot possibly roll the ball
consistently using the same putter loft. By creating the CLF
putters with the option of a full interchangeable face, CNC-Machined
to accuracy in 2, 4 and 6 degree loft angles, Wishon Golf has
afforded golfers a real chance to find the loft angle that rolls
the ball smoother and more consistently, which will translate
into lower scores.
10. Driver with internal rotating weight
arm for greater flight control
2005 – Wishon Golf 715CLC Driver
Weight adjustment drivers that offer a maximum of 24 grams to
move around the head will only allow the slightest of visible
ball flight adjustment. To a tour pro, yes, a 24 gram movement
will create a visible flight change because they all have such
consistent ball flight that they will notice a 3-4 yard movement
of the ball in flight. To the average golfer who's normal ball
flight varies from swing-to-swing, no real change will be seen
from moving only 24 grams around the outside of the head.
Wishon Golf's 715CLC driver incorporates up to as much as 40
grams of discretionary weight that can be moved virtually anywhere
around the inside of the head cavity. As a result, a change
of 3.5 degrees in launch angle can be seen between the “at
face” to “away from face” positions of the
weight arm, and a correction of up to 20 yards of sideways
ball movement can be made when the weight arm is in its heel
or toe
bias positions. Designed to be custom fit to the golfer's needs
by serious custom clubmakers, the 715CLC departs from the typical
weight screw design on the outside of the head and offers a
more dramatic adjustment in ball flight through a much more
unique
internal weight design.
11. Driver with CNC machined crown
for moving the center of gravity more rearward and lower in the head
for higher
launch angle
2006 – Wishon Golf 949MC Driver
In 1995, Tom Wishon designed the first graphite + metal driver for the purpose of replacing metal with lightweight graphite to more radically move the center of gravity of the head. Many of the large brand name golf club companies did not begin making their version of a graphite + metal driver until 2005. Bonding graphite to a metal woodhead to allow for a more radical position of the center of gravity brings with it a greater chance for head failure; the stress of impact can eventually break the bond between the graphite and metal.
To overcome the higher incidence of head failure but to still be able to remove weight from the top of the driver to facilitate a more rear located center of gravity, Tom developed the process of CNC machining the underside of the top of the driver head to remove the weight necessary for moving the center of gravity more to the rear of the head. Specific areas of the top of the Wishon Golf 949MC driver head which are not subject to high stress were machined 60% thinner than is typical for conventional titanium driver design to accumulate weight which was re-positioned in the rear of the head to achieve the desired rear center of gravity position for higher launch angle and more control.
12. First Driver to achieve a COR of 0.9002006 – Wishon Golf 0.9OL Driver
(developed for foreign markets where the USGA rule for 0.830 COR limit does not go into effect until 2008)
In his design career, Tom Wishon has been fascinated with learning how to continue to increase the amount of face flexing to increase ball velocity for more distance. When the USGA instituted a limit for the spring face capability of clubheads (COR limit of 0.830) in 1998, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which administers the rules for golfers in other countries, did not ascribe to the COR limit imposed by the USGA. Later, under pressure from the USGA, the R&A agreed to institute the 0.830 COR limit for clubheads starting in 2008.
As a result of numerous requests from TWGT clubmaking customers in foreign countries and motivated by a desire to see just how high he could engineer the COR of a large titanium driver head, Tom relied on his experience in high performance face design to create the Wishon Golf 0.9OL, the first driver head to “hit the 0.900 COR barrier” in the game.
