Looking for a definition of sweet spot, I Googled it and got a real good answer from Wikipedia. 'SPORTING ORIGIN: The term originally referred to various pieces of sporting equipment, notably cricket and baseball bats and tennis racquets. When hitting the ball, the bat (for instance) will rebound, but there is a location along the bat where this force is completely balanced out by turning forces of the bat. If the ball is hit closer to the end of the bat, (the toe of a golf club) the grip of the bat will try to rotate forward out of the batter's hands. Whereas. if the batter hits it closer to the handle (the heel or hosel of a golf club), the bat tip will try to rotate forward.' The description went on. 'There is a SMALL 'SWEET SPOT' [emphasis is mine] where these two tendencies cancel out. The 'sweet spot' on a baseball bat varies, however it is approximately 6 ½ inches from the end of the barrel.'
Notice in the definition the word SMALL before sweet spot. And throughout the definition, from the title 'sweet spot' and every time it is used in the definition, SPOT is singular, not plural, as in more than one sweet spot. There is only one sweet spot!
I looked at a number of major club manufacturers' websites and found that many are now referring to 'sweet spot' as the 'center of gravity.' I also saw reference to 'The Ultimate Spot,' and in one I read that the secret to the ultimate driver isn't the ultimate sweet spot. It's NINE of them. It described this as 'refined Hotter 9 Point technology' and the end of the paragraph concluded with the statement that it produced 'higher ball speeds and more consistent ball flight across THE ENTIRE CLUBFACE.' Over the years we have all heard and read about bigger or enlarged sweet spots and the entire clubface is a sweet spot and numerous other claims about sweet spots or centers of gravity. I guess marketing and advertising have a license to overstate and exaggerate.
I have talked to many engineers and scientists over the years about the sweet spot and they all say the same thing. There is one sweet spot and it is relatively small. I could never get them to pinpoint the exact size, but many times I have read it is much smaller than a dime. The one point they all agree on is that by changing the design and weighting of the head, mostly with perimeter weighting, creating a cavity back on irons. With woods, by altering the interior cavity, they can move the sweet spot around. With irons they move it lower on the face and toward the toe of the club to help outside-in swingers who slice to have a better chance of hitting it more solid and getting a better feeling at impact, as well as a much better ball flight in direction, flight pattern and length. With woods and especially the driver, because the outside-in swing is also steep, they tend to move it higher on the clubface to improve the odds of hitting the sweet spot.
I have seen club builders check to find the sweet spot on each head of a set of clubs they build to be sure that they are all relatively in the same place. They do this by locking a nail or the drill bit, bottom up in a vice. Then they place the clubface on the nail and move it until it perfectly balances, then they mark the spot when they take it off. They are looking for all the marks to be relatively close, which will show the set of heads are balanced and matched.
By relatively, I mean that in most sets the head is balanced so that the sweet spot is inside of the center for the wedges and short irons, and moves toward the toe as the clubs get longer to help the outside-in swingers hit it more solid. No matter where it is, or what the size of the head is (big or small), a good swing with the club head rotating properly because of centrifugal force, the outward pull will match the sweet spot to the ball. This is one reason why many good players and pros won't play perimeter weighted cavity back clubs and stay with muscle back blades because they don't like seeing the impact grass mark out toward the toe. They like seeing it in the center to slightly inside of the center on the face.
Many years ago, one company produced a model club and they sent me a set to try and tell them what I felt about the looks, feel and performance. They were designed rather small, slightly bigger than blades but smaller than perimeter weighted cavity backs. They also had the smaller narrower soles consistent with blades. They looked real good to a player who likes seeing a blade and also felt soft and solid. But, the big thing I noticed was that with all solid hits, the grass impact mark was in the dead center of the club face. When I called John, my contact, and gave my report on this club called DCI, John asked if I knew what DCI stood for. I replied, 'No clue.' He said, 'Direct Central Impact.' I told him that they really pulled it off and the name is 100 percent accurate. I really like this concept and I think it is a great way, and probably the best way, to build smaller heads using the perimeter weight cavity back principle that will overall perform best for all golfers of all skill levels, rather than the floating sweet spot where no one really knows where the sweet spot is.
We can conclude that the SWEET SPOT is for real, and is very important because it is the only spot on the clubface where you can hit it to balance out the turning forces, or as we call it in golf, twisting of the club head in off center/sweet spot impacts. Hitting the ball on the club's sweet spot, with as much as 5 or 6 MPH less clubhead speed, the ball will go farther than a ball hit, missing the sweet spot, even if they both were hit straight. This is the best proof that hitting the sweet spot, or 'hitting it solid,' solid as golfers more often call it, is the only way to maximize your ball flight pattern, direction and distance.
The Surge!