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.

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Article Discussion

  • 8:45PM - Sep 18, 2008RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

    #15
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    Keith, I would recommend talking to any of the mangers at your local Golf Galaxy. I’m sure they would be more than happy to set you up with the Golfworks Manager to learn to build your own set of clubs. Best of luck!!

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  • 10:41AM - Sep 25, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

    #14
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    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.

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  • 10:39AM - Sep 21, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

    #13
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    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

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  • 5:10PM - Jul 6, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

    #12
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    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.

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  • 1:59PM - Jul 6, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

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    • walter pihl

    • walter pihl
    • Guest

    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

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  • 4:16PM - May 23, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

    #10
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    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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  • 12:47PM - May 23, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

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    • Chad Welch

    • Chad Welch
    • Guest

    Ralph- Why do Fords always seem to be staring at the tail lights of Chevys? I received an email from the Golf Channel that had you on it. Wanted to drop an email and say hello. I hope you are doing well; it appears as though you are. I enjoyed your piece on grip size.

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  • 3:02PM - May 16, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

    #8
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    Jeff, the MPF for woods will actually be two books. The first to come out will be MPF for fairway metals and hybrids and the last book will be MPF for drivers. I hope to get them out late next year. The next MPF book is on wedges and is really interesting and will help all golfers and clubmakers in both fitting and playing wedges. After the wedge book, MPF for putters will come out. Then finally the two books on woods.

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  • 9:48PM - May 15, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

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    • Jeff Cole

    • Jeff Cole
    • Guest

    Ralph thanks for the great website. Full of great information. Ever since I went ti the Golfworks fitting, assembly, and repair school. I have been crazy about building clubs. I always love it when new clubheads and other components come out to try. When will the MPF book be out on woods? Thanks.

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  • 2:09PM - Apr 2, 2007RE: Pro to the pros. Expert to the experts.

    #6
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    Harry, you will like the Max-M driver. Thanks for being a GolfWorks/ Golf Galaxy customer and visiting my site.

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