IOLAR® HISTORY

IOLAR® GOLF was formed in 2003, to develop technologically advanced golf clubs. Our first project was the design and production of a game improvement putter - the IOLAR® No.4.

Don Parr, a life-long golfer, is the founder and president of IOLAR® GOLF. His designs are the result of years of experimentation and study along with the research of Richard Greig and Frank Werner, authors of How Golf Clubs Really Work and How To Optimize Their Designs. Greig was particularly helpful in identifying performance enhancing features rather than those that are marketing- driven gimmicks or insignificant.

IOLAR® putters are performance-driven but also stress quality, precision , elegance and a respect for golf traditions. Our clubs are CNC machined to exacting specifications and assembled with only the best components. They are hand-finished and meticulously inspected before delivery. IOLAR® clubs and components are made in the U.S.A. The IOLAR® name was chosen as a tribute to golf's Gaelic history. It means "EAGLE."


THE IOLAR® APROACH TO PUTTER DESIGN

The Science Of Putting

Putting is 40% of the game, but is quite unlike the other 60%. First, it is the only shot that is never in the air; second, it is not concerned with power, spin, trajectory or shaping; third, it is the only shot that requires precision as well as accuracy. Unfortunately, putting has its roots in the 60%.

Early golf was played on surfaces that often required a stroke similar to a chip, and the putters of the day were designed as such with iron-like lies and a fair amount of loft. This tradition has carried over to the present day, even though greens now are more like billiard tables than the old-time bumpy, rough surfaces.

It was not too many years ago that golf instructors suggested that a putt was really just the bottom portion of a full swing involving the arms and the wrists. Even today we see accomplished golfers and instructors using this technique.

The modern game has finally adopted a sound putting approach – the pendulum-like stroke, but this has come from evolution rather than from invention. The first equipment to actually promote a pendulum stroke only arrived recently in the form of the long belly and chest putters. However, these controversial clubs are not suitable for all players and are difficult to use on long putts.

The optimum putting system is a combination of equipment and technique and has simple goals: propelling a ball along a smooth grass surface with highly precise direction and distance in a consistent manner. These goals can be ideally accomplished with a pendulum putter machine that can be aimed precisely and set to a desired distance. The pendulum swings on an exact vertical plane and the distance is achieved by the length of the pendulum arc. The force exerted is solely a function of mechanics; the mass of the pendulum weight, the length of the pendulum arm and the length of the arc. The arm must be fixed at the top and have a rigid attachment to the weight. Inconsistencies in the ball's direction and distance caused by surface conditions can be mitigated by changing the effective loft – the point at which the pendulum weight strikes the ball relative to its equator.

The question is: How can we adopt this mechanical putter system for human use? First, a variety of constraints must be considered. The USGA imposes three: the lie of a putter cannot exceed 80 degrees from horizontal (it cannot be vertical as is the machine), the loft cannot exceed 10 degrees and it must "look" like a golf club. Other constraints are human factors: the weight must be heavy but controllable; the club must feel comfortable, look good and instill confidence.

The equipment design parameters are: head and overall weight, lie, loft and length. The design should also promote good technique. Factors that are not important include head center of gravity, so-called "face balance," i.e., the position the head assumes when the club is held horizontally, heel/toe weighting, polymer face inserts and any other "attribute" that a club may be advertised to have. A discussion of these factors follows later in Common Misconceptions About Putters.

There are certain other non-critical features that may help to minimize human errors. These include a rounded leading edge to mitigate scuffing (a more serious problem than off-center hits), alignment marks to help achieve directional accuracy and proper positioning of the golfer’s head, and an oversize grip to discourage wrist flex.

Putting technique should imitate, within the constraints, the pendulum putter machine. This includes establishing a fixed point for the top of the pendulum arm (the shoulders), a rigid attachment to the pendulum mass (the club) with firm wrists and a pendulum arc as close to vertical as allowed. Distance control is provided by the golfer in the same way the putter machine does - length of the swing arc and force applied by the arms.

Because a putter cannot have the vertical lie of the putter machine (USGA rule), the path of any putter is not always on line during a stroke. The putter head follows an elliptical arc and is on line only at the tangent point of that arc. If the ball is struck at any other point, the face will be open or closed. The face opens slightly on the back swing and closes slightly going forward. The amount of this open/close action is dependent on the radius of the arc: the smaller the radius, the greater the open/close rotation of the head.* This radius is a function of the effective lie of the putter which is the combination of the putter lie angle, the angle of the arms and the amount of wrist rotation or flex. The flatter the lie, the smaller the radius becomes. Wrist action makes the radius even smaller.

The radius may be considered a measure of potential error in the line of the putt. The principal design feature of IOLAR® putters is to minimize this error by promoting an upright pendulum stroke

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PUTTERS

Center of Gravity(CG) - If the horizontal CG point on the face is located at the spot where the ball is to be struck, the location of the CG point behind the face is irrelevant. Claims that a rearward CG point somehow reduces skidding or otherwise helps are simply untrue.

Face Balance - This is truly an "old golfers' tale" misconception. The position the face assumes when the club is held horizontally with the head free to rotate merely indicates the position of the shaft relative to the sweet spot of the face. The sweet spot is the point on the face where the ball is struck without producing torque regardless of shaft position.

Heel/Toe Weighting (high MOI) - This is done to reduce the torque effect of off-center hits. However, for a reasonably skilled golfer, this is a source of negligible error. This is an important feature in other clubs but its adoption as an important putter feature is overdone.

Anti-Skidding Claims - Claims that a putter eliminates skidding are simply untrue, for it takes a brief time for the friction between the ball and the green to produce true roll. Skidding may be minimized, however, by matching face loft to the condition and speed of the green. Claims that a negative loft eliminates skidding, usually demonstrated on a billiard table, are particularly misleading. Negative loft can produce down force on a ball, which on the resilient surface of a green, causes the ball to bounce up from the surface. This can result in distance and/or direction error.

Scuffing - The misconception is that minor scuffs don’t occur and, thus, are ignored in club design. This is obvious in name-brand putters with sharp or small-radius leading edges.

Face Inserts - Polymer face inserts will give a putter a softer feel, but otherwise have no effect on distance or accuracy. This is because the putter head and ball are only in contact for approximately .5 microseconds (1/2000th of a second). This is not sufficient time for the face surface to alter the putt in any meaningful way. A very soft face might have an effect, but the USGA limits softness to prevent this. The USGA limits face durometer measurement (hardness) to Shore A 85, about the hardness of a balata ball.