Center of gravity

Time for another episode in the saga that is golf club characteristics. This week: the center of gravity or CoG…

The center of gravity is the position within the clubhead where this clubhead is completely balanced.

You can think of it like this - if you could tie a piece of invisible string to the center of gravity, and then held up that string, then the clubhead would be suspended in perfect balance. It wouldn’t move, rotate or twist of its own accord.

The location of the center of gravity (or CoG) has important practical consequences for golf clubs.

For example, the center of gravity influences the vertical angle at which the ball leaves the club after you hit it. This angle - the launch angle or launch trajectory - increases as the club’s CoG gets closer to the ground.

The lower the CoG, the higher the launch angle. Additionally, the further back the CoG is in the club, the higher the launch angle.

Many golfers have a problem getting the ball high enough into the air to achieve maximum distance. Which is why a deep and low center of gravity is often a heavily promoted feature of new clubs, particularly of drivers. (Other club characteristics affect launch angle, too, mind.)

Manufacturers can control the center of gravity through the distribution of weight within the clubhead. So, for example, the lighter they can make the clubface, the more weight they can put at the back of the club - moving the center of gravity to the back, too.

Going one step further, some clubs actually let you modify the center of gravity yourself, by inserting plugs of different weights into different parts of the clubhead.

That way you can modify the characteristics of the clubhead to best suit your own particular swing and golf game.