Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.
Ralph Maltby has been designing and evaluating golf equipment for more than 40 years. He is universally regarded as one of the premier golf equipment experts in the world.
Nice to meet you.
Ralph began his career designing and engineering for a number of major golf equipment manufacturers. He went on to found The GolfWorks in 1976, providing clubmakers and other golf equipment experts with club components, clubmaking tools and supplies, and technical information.
Ralph created the Maltby Playability Factor club rating system, through which he has tested and rated the performance of more than 1000 golf clubs. He has published seven books, secured multiple patents and lectured at more than 250 PGA Business Schools. Ralph has released a wide range of instructional videos and is a frequent guest on The Golf Channel.
In 1991 he was listed by Golf Digest magazine as one of the 36 most powerful men in golf and in 1996 was inducted into the “Professional Clubmakers Society” Hall of Fame.
Click here to get Ralph’s Insider Emails
GolfWorks' Maltby Honored in Ohio's Golf Hall of Fame
Ralph joined Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and others in the Ohio Golf Hall of Fame.
The Maltby Playability Factor (MPF) Book One - Irons
MPF can help you understand club perfomance and select the right iron.
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Recent Comments
dougf, Adams has a shorter "C" dimension and this causes the lower MPF. Adams rarely puits the center of gravity in the middle of the face. The Callaway X-Forged center of gravity is .100" toward the heel. This is rare for Callaway to do as putting the C.G. in the center of the face is quite easy and the only way to properly make a golf club. It's obviously your choice, but I prefer the X-20 Tour. Make sure the same shaft was in the two Callaway demo clubs (X-Forged and X-20 Tour's). Hit them one more time to be sure. I personally would not pick Adams over Callaway and I am aware that their is probably a large price difference.
I just signed up and decided to become a member on this site as I enjoy reading unbiased results of club testing. I'm in the market for a new set of irons and am having a difficult time deciding as there is a lot of great equipment out there today. I like the Ping i5 and am demoing the new i10s this Sunday at a Ping demo day. Other clubs I'm considering include the Callaway X-Forged, X-20 Tours and Adams Pro Forged irons. I hit the X-Forged more consistent than the X-20 Tour even though the overall MPF is higher on the X-20 Tours. My question is with the overall MPF. For example, the Adams Pro Forged irons have a higher MOI, lower actual VCOG and a higher rear center of gravity than the Maltby MTF Forged irons, but have a lower MPF by 137 points. What causes the Adams to have a lower MPF number? Also, the Callaway X-Forged irons have a C dimension of 1.234. Is the sweetspot for the X-Forged in the center or towards the heel of the clubhead? Thanks for your time and this great website. Doug
Walter, you found a typo or something. True, in the "Here's what I am playing....", I list the #3 fairway metal. I have not carried a #3 fairway metal for 15 years. A few paragraphs down I list my yardage equivalents and only show the #5, #7, and #9 fairway metals. I'll fix the article. You are very observent, thanks. PS, I am going to try and pull out the #5 iron next week and see how well the #11 fairway metal replaces it. Just an experiment at this time, but I hit the Trouble Out fairway metals so well, I thought I would try it.
Picture that accompanies artilce on what does Ralph play, very fascinating article by the way--thank you for taking the time and sharing your thoughts---shows 1Driver and 3 fairway and one putter and 9 irons. Article refers to 4 fairways. Is this a picture from a time when you carried more than the two wedges- the 1.62 and the 60 slider. If so what was the extra? Thanks again for the look in your bag. wop
Chad, good to hear from you. Glad to see that you are into golf. Since you are a distant relative that I only see every ten years or so, please stop in and say hello the next time you are in town.
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