It doesn't matter if you want to split a fairway, hit the middle of a green or reach a par 5 in two - accuracy is crucial.

Fortunately, golf club designs have been emphasizing high Moments of Inertia; in layman's terms that means fewer shots hit off line.

High MOI is one of those things that falls under the game improvement category. Simply stated, if you use a high MOI driver, then added forgiveness is a direct benefit.

But what exactly is Moment of Inertia, and how does it affect your club buying decisions?

Moment of Inertia describes an object's resistance to changing direction around a specified axis. And in golf, there is more than one Moment of Inertia that affects how the club will feel and play; an MOI for the whole club, one around the clubhead's center of gravity, one around the axis of the shaft and so on.

Generally speaking, most of us are concerned with the MOI figure around the clubhead's center of gravity. And in this case, a high Moment of Inertia delivers more forgiveness, and more distance, on off-center strikes.

Weight, and where that weight is positioned, affects the Moment of Inertia of a clubhead. More weight further away from its rotational axis makes the clubhead more stable and forgiving.

And in case you were wondering, MOI is a factor in irons as well as drivers. And that influences decision making when you're putting your set together.

The same player that opts for a forgiving, high MOI driver, may look to a less forgiving iron. Lower Moments of Inertia allow for more shot shaping and creativity when you need to bend the ball left or right, or modify trajectory, high or low.

No matter what the level of your game, forgiveness will mostly likely be a primary concern – but, where you utilize it is the key.

The bottom line here is that most of us will focus on forgiveness in the longer clubs – high MOI drivers, fairways and hybrids, and opt for less forgiveness in the mid to short irons.

Just how much forgiveness you decide on is going to be determined by the state of your game and where you want to take it next.


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