If it is between 95 and 104 mph, a 10 or 11degree loft will be appropriate. We did not make any adjustments to the weighting which can open up another huge can of worms by the way. In terms of maximizing carry distance, the 80 mph swinger should be hitting a 5wood off the tee, although they would then not benefit from the much larger club face area and forgiveness. Professional golfers who can swing the driver 110 mph and above can hit drivers over 300 yards and they require lower lofted drivers such as a 7, 8, or 9 degree loft. For example, a driver is designed for distance, so the club face is almost straight up and down.
Choose a loft to try based on your assessed clubhead speed. We also used my current driver, a callaway razr fit tour authentic 9. Long drive competitors have drivers that have only 4 to 7. In general, the slower the swing or club speed, the higher the loft of the driver to optimize both carry and roll.
Launch angle is the angle that the ball flies at from initial contact with the driver club face. Optimize driver loft for more distance true fit clubs. In fact, swings often got the most distance with driver lofts at 9 degrees or less. Loft is the angle of the face of the club relative to the ground. Effect of loft on carry distance golf in my kingdom. I have conducted somewhere around 12,000 golf ball fittings, and less than 1% of players launched the ball a.
Use less than 10 degrees of loft if you swing faster than 100 mph. Most seniors could increase the amount of distance they achieve with a driver if they give up the 8, 9, 10 or even 11 degree driver and crank up the loft to maximize the amount of launch on the ball. However, i also hit up on the ball 510 degrees, allowing that highlaunch, lowspin combo and maxing out distance. If your swing speed is 8085 mph, the average driver swing speed of a male golfer today, youre giving up real.
In comparison, a pitching wedge is designed for loft, so the club face is more parallel to. Note that the maximum carry is about 167 yards for a driver loft of 19 degrees which is the loft of a 2iron and 5wood. The large discrepancy between the approximately 11 deg of loft for the golf driver club and the 45 deg maximum range angle for a vacuum was the. While the majority of golfers dont have enough loft on their driver and would benefit from more, for the others and those using differently designed driver heads, more loft can in fact lose them distance.
This could add, maybe, a degree or so of true loft which is obviously rather less than you get from simply swapping out. One of the main differences between the two drivers is the height of the ball. The distance increase per degree of loft changes as clubhead speed changes, and as the various clubs change too. For example, most golfers assume that getting a lower loft on their driver will increase distance. Although the highest loft showed a 20yard benefit in carry distance, the difference in total distance was only a yard because the 9degree driver shots rolled an average of 32 yards because of a. Besides putters, drivers have the smallest loft angle of any club in your bag. Your slices and hooks will be even worse with a lower lofted 8 to 10 degree driver while more loft 10. Included are the club name, the loft angle, the lie angle, and the typical distance that can be achieved by the average golfer. Fairway woods distances fairway woods are often numbered and the higher the number the more loft the wood has. If it is between 105 and 115 mph, a loft between 7 and 9 degrees should be considered. Try a variety of clubs to find the best loft for your swing. Best golf drivers for mid handicappers 2020 golf sidekick. As technology has shifted, driver lofts have increased significantly, with many tour pros using 10.
Read this before you buy your next driver practical golf. The loft of an iron has a much greater effect on the distance your ball will carry than does the length of the club swing speed. The shaft cannot physically bend forward more than the distance between the center of gravity of the club head and the center of the hosel. Your angle of attack greatly affects your driver loft. This combination of lower ball speed smash and higher spin is a killer for distance with the driver although it is very advantageous when hitting a wedge into a green. The more angle on the club face, the greater the potential loft of the club. And if youre going to buy a lower lofted driver, make sure to get that one measured before you buy it so you know what youre getting.
Swing tweeks probably would help more than anything, but in this particular test it appears the yardage differential isnt anywhere. Sixteen years ago, golf digest presented compelling evidence that average golfers needed to use drivers with more loft to maximize distancesometimes as much as 12, 14 or 16 degrees. For maximizing your driver distance is the loft angle on the face of your driver. Get the best deals on 8 loft driver golf clubs when you shop the largest online selection at. Why would you use a 12 degree with your swing speed. Because the majority of players tend to launch the ball too low.
How much of a difference would a 12 degree driver make. Most often, when numbers are associated with drivers it refers to the loft of the driver. There are three things the senior golfer needs to consider. How does different driver lofts change ball flight youtube. If your speed is between 60 and 80 mph, use 12 or more degrees of loft. Examples for a golfer with an 80mph driver clubhead speed and 65mph 5 iron speed, a 1 change in the driver means about a 2 yd carry difference and in the 5iron, that 1 loft change is about a 1 yd difference in carry. How to determine which loft you should get on your driver. What is the correct driver loft for the average senior golfer. If your swing speed is 90100mph and your driver loft angle is lower than 11 degrees, 90% of you are losing distance by playing the wrong loft. With increased spin loft, we also see an increase in spin rate. Many in the golf industry estimate that with irons, the ratio is as high 20.
Loft angles are expressed in degrees with respect to vertical rather than the ground. Driver lofts have increased significantly in recent years. What distance should i be able to hit a degree driver. It is true to a point that a driver with a lower lofted head will result in. The combination of the driver head and shaft is crucial. Before you make any decisions, have the loft of your driver measured. Using the correct loft on your driver can result in increased range from the tee. Alternatively, the average amateur golfer will have a swing speed somewhere between 60 and 100 mph depending on. Golf monthly looks at the different elements of a golf swing that affect the amount of loft you should play on your driver. How adjusting your driver loft changes your ball flight.
Im one of those guys that swings a driver 100105 mph and while i generate good spin on my irons, its a distance killer on driver shots. Hit the golf ball farther by improving spin loft adam. Ever since a 2003 golf digest study said that most golfers needed more loft on their drivers, the quest for the correct loft has heated up. Generally, as loft goes up, so does the spin rate, as you can see in the data. Optimize driver loft for more distance dlance golfd.
Back in the day, better players tended to favor very lowlofted drivers, often in the 7. Golfers with clubhead speeds below 85 mph should use a loft angle between 14 and 20 degrees. Yet he still averaged well over 300 yards for that week. Bombtech golf is proud to announce that we are expanding our custom golf driver line to include a 9 degree option. If you use a 6iron, it will be between 84 and 95 mph, if you use an 8iron or 9iron. But although we can say for sure that most golfers need more loft than they now use, the exact amount depends on several different aspects of their swings. One of the components of launch angle, is the degree of loft in the driver. Golf driver loft distance, degrees, and best club selection. Rule of thumb is for every degree of change from level, add or subtract one degree of loft. For many of you that might actually decrease your distance. My driver speed increased from 80 to 8889 lots of work and my 12 degree driver was launching over 20 degrees. Getting the right loft on your driver is crucial to maximise distance. Playing a golf driver that is too low in loft will rob you of. Woods, before the memorial tournament he switched from an 8.
Georges in sandwich, the shark used a driver and a fouriron to reach the 18th green situated 460 yards from the tee. In driver fittings there is something called optimum combination that is where the loft, shaft kickpoint, shaft torque, shaft length, swingweight, and grip are optimized to work best with your golf swing. Every club has unique characteristics, most notably where the center of gravity is. More loft means numerically highera 12degree driver has more loft than a 9degree.
If you want to really smash your driver a long way, reducing spin loft will help. The summary chart below compares the characteristics of a typical set of 14 golf clubs. Carry distance varies by a large degree by where you golfie. However, you need to make sure you maintain a high enough launch angle in the process, above 11 degrees ideally.