Project: Pinnacle

Oh, no - he’s gone full gear head...

Have you ever wondered what the perfect lacrosse head made just for you would be like? A one-of-one bespoke weapon to treasure as your very own? Well, wonder no further - we’re going to build ours together.

Allow me to explain. 

There are six aspects that I believe make a truly great lacrosse head. Here they are, in no particular order and with [very flip] explanations.

Offset Point: The deepest/lowest point on the sidewall, usually where the pocket is supposed to be for maximum effectiveness. If you string a pocket away from this point you stop the bomb from becoming the bomb. 

Face Shape: The shape of the front of the head, wider heads are usually for defense; a narrower taper is usually designed for offense. However, this is trending towards a keyhole shape for everything, because apparently everyone wants that keyhole shape. Again.

Scoop: The top of the head, something D-mids care about. Picking up the ball is for plebians. 

Stiffness: If your head is a noodle you might as well throw it in the trash; if it’s crazy stiff it’s probably going to snap. So, most heads are somewhere in the middle. Pro tip: if anyone is advertising the flexibility of their head as an asset then you know it’s trash. 

Stringability: For me, this is the ease of putting a functional mesh pocket into the head. Are there enough string holes? Are they too many? Is the ideal pocket location intuitive? Most modern heads are spoiled for choice.

Weight: Five ounces is the “industry” standard; so much so that any head under 5 ounces is deemed “light” anything over 5 ounces is “heavy”. Because marketing.

We’re going to break down these categories and I want all of you to play along. To do so, you will need a few things: a collection (or recollection through photos if need be) of your most-used/loved lacrosse heads from the last 5-10 years. These are your reference points. We are not here to kill the past, I’m not Kylo Ren and you’re not Luke Skywalker, we’re here to learn from it. 

To begin, we need to do a little self-evaluation about what the most important aspect of a lacrosse head to you. Take your favorite head out of your collection. Hold it in your hand. What did/do you like most about it? Where does that fit in with the descriptors above? Now pick out your second favorite head, do the same thing. Once you get through a few heads you’ll able to draw your own map to where we want to go.

I’ve product tested a lot of heads. This exercise is an oversimplification of that process. However, during the last 20 years of using and working with lacrosse gear, I’ve come to realize and trust my preferences. However, I recognize that my preferences aren’t necessarily in line with everyone else’s. 

For example - I love a mid pocket design on all of my sticks. There are plenty of head designs that support that preference because it is very baseline - the vanilla ice cream of pocket locations. Will I dabble in a little high pocket geometry? Absolutely, I enjoyed my time with the STX Stallion Omega and reviewed it here. I’ll even go a little lower and mess around with the beautiful but flawed masterpiece known as the Under Armour (RIP) Command Low. But when it’s all said and done, my heart lies with the root of the tree of versatility: the mid-pocket. That mid-pocket is made all the more functional by the lowest offset point of the head design. Can you jam a high pocket into any head you want? Sure. But head design supports pocket location for optimal use.  

(I think this applies to women’s heads as well, but the stringing actually matters a little more there in terms of how it interacts with the head design. That’s my take, feel free to disagree or correct as I am not a women’s player; just a person with a healthy amount of respect for the more difficult version of the creator’s game). 

Is offset point the most important part of designing a lacrosse head? To me, yes. But for you, the answer may just come down to something else like weight, stiffness, or face shape. No worries, I’ve got you covered. We’re going to tackle all of that by splitting up the design process into six separate pieces/articles, each one focusing on the aspects detailed above. We’re going to make an elegant Frankenstein’s monster.

Who knows - with the magic of 3D printers (and potential/fictional manufacturing sponsorship) we might even be able to make a prototype? I mean, anything is possible, 2021 is around the corner and hope is what keeps us alive. Either way, we’re going to get in touch with what we actually love about our lacrosse heads and not just what Instagram ads or product reps tell us we like. 

Welcome to Project: Pinnacle, building the best head for you.