Adjustable Drivers - not all they're cracked up to be

[ManinBlack]

I've owned a few of these & experimented a lot. Here are my conclusions.

1. Changing the loft does have a noticeable effect, although changing the shaft affects the trajectory a lot more.

2. Adjusting the face angle is a waste of time. You do this naturally when gripping the club when you take your grip & look down to ensure that the face looks square. The old Taylormade R11 adjustable sole plate was useless unless a person sat the club on the ground and gripped it with the sole lying flat. Even then I don't think it works very well on soft turf.

3. Changing weight between heel & toe has little, if any effect. The weights are so near the C o G of the head they can't have that much effect. On a machine the effect can, I am sure, be measured but this would only be the case in practice if our wrists were completely flexible & could react without friction to the forces on the clubhead. In reality, on the downswing, the hands control the squareness of the clubhead and a small difference in weight distribution has little, if any effect.

And the least effective gimmick was the front & rear weights in the TM R7 & Superquad. How a difference of less than 1cm in weight distribution could ever effect the trajectory was a joke.

Anyone agree? These conclusions were reached after months of range sessions only hampered by the writer's complete inability to hit two shots the same.

 

[Alan P Mills]

Being an owner of an R11S I can agree with all your comments. Though I've just ordered a 20g weight to see if this makes any difference to the current 1g and 10g weights I currently have. Will report back next week.

 

[Alan P Mills]

Mark Crossfield always talks about this and keeps the face angles set at neutral.

 

[ManinBlack]

Being an owner of an R11S I can agree with all your comments. Though I've just ordered a 20g weight to see if this makes any difference to the current 1g and 10g weights I currently have. Will report back next week.

Beware of making it too heavy, you start to lose distance rapidly. Measure the Swingweight, this website is quite accurate http://www.leaderboard.com/SWINGWEIGHT

 

[ManinBlack]

Being an owner of an R11S I can agree with all your comments. Though I've just ordered a 20g weight to see if this makes any difference to the current 1g and 10g weights I currently have. Will report back next week.

Good info of effect on swingspeed of clubhead weight http://www.tutelman.com/golf/clubs/headweight1.php#Constant_Club_Length

 

[Alan P Mills]

Thanks for the links. Interesting read. Once I have the weight planning to use my skypro to see if swing changes etc etc.

 

[Foxholer]

I've had a couple of TM MWT Drivers.
I could feel the difference when swinging; I couldn't notice the difference in results.

For the 'all ways adjustable' heads, like the R1, I've seen/experienced different flights.

My view is find the setting that you are comfortable with and stick with that. Only additional tweak might to be to find a 'Windy dsy' setting as well.

Much more valuable as a tuning tool to set the club right for individual players than a tuning tool for the player imo.

 

[Ethan]

Reasonable comments, although people vary. I have found that changing the face angle (by changing the lie) on my D3 does have an effect, and I can fade the ball (or hook it less) with a flatter lie.

 

[brendy]

Reasonable comments, although people vary. I have found that changing the face angle (by changing the lie) on my D3 does have an effect, and I can fade the ball (or hook it less) with a flatter lie.

Same here, I address the ball with the wood resting on the ground, it gives me a reference point to grip easier. I played with the weights one day at the range and it had pretty noticeable differences.
People will have varied results as Martin mentioned,m I am a fairly good driver of the ball (usually!) and have my driver still set to how I was fitted back in 2011 for my 11s.

 

[Dave B]

What I'll say is this I've had a few variable face drivers, Nike VR Pro, Razr Fit, RBZ and R11. I've also had a variety of shafts fitted.

An adjustable driver will not eradicate a swing path or plane issue. If you have a swing path or plane issue you are much better off spending the money on lessons and working with a pro to resolve the issue.

A custom shaft will not lower trajectory as much as some make out, a change in loft is much more effective.

What adjustable drivers and custom shafts are good for is for fine tuning a driver to optimise performance. A tour pro can go to the van and have his clubs tweaked to his requirements, joe blogs can't however having an adjustable driver and custom shaft combination can help joe public get as close to his ideal settings as possible.

Regarding off the shelf non-adjustable drivers , in most golf shops you'll find a standard driver that will fit most peoples swing profile. A custom shaft may improve performance but you will rarely find more than 5-10 yds if you already have a driver that suits your swing profile.

 

[srixon 1]

I have had my driver and 3 wood for two years and the settings have never been changed. Apart from an occasional check of the torque on the bolts the tool never gets used.

 

[Alan P Mills]

Beware of making it too heavy, you start to lose distance rapidly. Measure the Swingweight, this website is quite accurate http://www.leaderboard.com/SWINGWEIGHT

Good link that, with the stock weights in my R11S swing weight is D2.

 

[ManinBlack]

A custom shaft will not lower trajectory as much as some make out, a change in loft is much more effective.

Really? I think the complete opposite of that is true. Again based on years of trial & error. Not saying loft doesn't have some effect but I've got a couple of shafts ate either end of the launch spectrum & they have about 5 degrees difference in launch angle.

 

[the_coach]

(1) Changing the loft does have an affect on the launch angle. Changing shafts, unless a totally inappropriate one for the SS is used, has less effect on the outcome of any shot, to the degree that folks imagine it does.

The main factor to changing ball flight trajectory, is the swings AoA (where the low point is in relation to where impact is), Static therefore Dynamic loft of the face at impact, where on the face the ball collides, and the speed collision transfers to the ball. Plus importantly where the players weight is through the strike, all these have much more of an effect on trajectory than shaft composition unless the spec is wildly out for the player concerned.

(2) Adjusting the face angle to closed can be very helpfull for folks struggling with a pronounced OTT out to in swing.

But that closed face angle then has to be presented both at address and through impact.

If all you do then though is just readjust your grip to square the 'adjusted closed face' at address, all you've really done is used your grip to re-open the 'adjusted closed face', so negated any help the adjustment would have given you.

(3) Changing weight locations will have some affect on face through impact, but it will have an effect through centripetal force, as the club head and arms extend out and through the ball because of the hips, upper body and arms rotational motion.

In a good swing there should be no real attempting to 'manipulate square', control of the face through impact with the hands or wrists.
Doing so has more of an interference on accuracy and more hinders a square face through impact and it also robs you of the optimum club head speed that swings motion could then provide if hands, wrists and arms were allowed to move through impact unhindered.
The golfers weight left, hips cleared and body's core rotation should be allowed to govern the club heads travel through impact, if it's allowed to, the result is better, a good deal more consistent, also more accurate and also leads to much faster conditions of the club head, so better distance plus accuracy.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Never been a fan of adjustable drivers. As a tinkerer at the best of times, the temptation to keep tweaking the set up would inevitably prove too much. I am happier working on the technique with my driver (still needs work) and keep the set up simple. I have a G25 driver which can be adjusted +/- half a degree and I did tweak it to 10 degrees but it has stayed like that since I got it

 

[Foxholer]

A custom shaft will not lower trajectory as much as some make out, a change in loft is much more effective.

I can certainly notice the difference - say between NV65 (low) and N65S (high).

However 2 or 3 degrees change of loft makes, well, 2 or 3 degrees of difference to Launch - though that's not particularly visible with my inconsistent swing.

.....
But that closed face angle then has to be presented both at address and through impact.

If all you do then though is just readjust your grip to square the 'adjusted closed face' at address, all you've really done is used your grip to re-open the 'adjusted closed face', so negated any help the adjustment would have given you.

That's one of the benefits of offset heads - for slicers. They look square at setup, but the offset allows just enough additional turn for the head to close a bit more than a non-offset one.

Nothing you do at address REALLY affects impact directly. It just sets you in the 'best' position to enable the desired impact position to be achieved.

Otherwise I agree.

 

[the_coach]

I can certainly notice the difference - say between NV65 (low) and N65S (high).

However 2 or 3 degrees change of loft makes, well, 2 or 3 degrees of difference to Launch - though that's not particularly visible with my inconsistent swing.



That's one of the benefits of offset heads - for slicers. They look square at setup, but the offset allows just enough additional turn for the head to close a bit more than a non-offset one.

Nothing you do at address REALLY affects impact directly. It just sets you in the 'best' position to enable the desired impact position to be achieved.

Otherwise I agree.

Everything you do at address affects impact; otherwise I almost agree.

 

[didsbury_duffer]

I have never understood the need for adjustable drivers at all. Once you have tweaked it to your optimum settings, then you are very unlikely to change it ever again. So why not spend the dosh on proper custom fitting for a non-adjustable quality driver, and you then know that everything is set up right for you. You then won't be able to tweak it to something that doesn't suit your game.

 

[drawboy]

If anyone can find me a handicap golfer between 28 and 5 that can repeat a swing twice then I will agree with loft and face angle adjustments. Put a top PGA touring pro on the end and yes I can see how they could see a difference but your common or garden sat/sun golfer surely cannot see any benefit.
Marketing that is all it is.

 

[Hendy]

Marketing tool sell the drivers