Advice:Is there a large difference?

[Garesfield ACE]

Between 1 degree of loft (9-10 degrees ) in drivers?

Since I started using a driver around 7 months ago I have gone from a 13 degrees HT Calloway BB down to 10 degrees.( I have an 11 degree driver as my 2nd driver but I am getting it too high at times costing me distance ).

The 10 degree one is going very well.As I need 2 drivers I now want to look at coming down to a 9 degree one.So is there a major difference saying as my 10 degree one is doing fine?


Cheers

Kev

 

[sawtooth]

Just a thought but have you tried hitting some stiffer shafted drivers? the wrong flex for your swing can also cause you to hit it too high.

 

[chris661]

Why do you need two drivers?

 

[Ethan]

1 degree of loft wil not make much difference, but differences in head design (if different brands), shaft make and flex could easily make a bigger than 1 degree launch difference. Also, not all clubs are accurately labelled. You could find the true difference isn loft is 2 or 3 degrees..

 

[Garesfield ACE]

Why do you need two drivers?

I am not a car driver so I have my main set of golf clubs at my golf club and a spare back up set at home for when I play courses AWAY from my golf club

 

[kev_off_the_tee]

I have a Ben Sayers 10.5 degree with a stiff shaft if you fancy giving that a go next time round.

Decent enough club and will give you an idea on whether a stiff shaft would suit before committing to buying a new one

 

[Garesfield ACE]

Just a thought but have you tried hitting some stiffer shafted drivers? the wrong flex for your swing can also cause you to hit it too high.

No I havent.I have a regular 10 degree and light 11 degree.I have never tried STIFF shafted yet.Both my clubs are Calloway BB,I am looking at getting maybe Ping G2/G5 used 9/9.5 degrees

 

[Garesfield ACE]

1 degree of loft wil not make much difference, but differences in head design (if different brands), shaft make and flex could easily make a bigger than 1 degree launch difference. Also, not all clubs are accurately labelled. You could find the true difference isn loft is 2 or 3 degrees..

Thanks mate

 

[beggsy]

why do you need to come down to a 9 degree head

 

[Garesfield ACE]

why do you need to come down to a 9 degree head

Well 1 of the reasons is my cousin (plays off 8 )and his stance on it is the lower your loft comes down the more distance you can/might get...and although I am relatively happy with my driving I rarely get past 200 yards...when I do attempt to 'go for it' my shot tends to go hayward.

 

[Region3]

I think you want whatever loft/head/shaft combination gives you the optimum launch angle.

It all depends how high you hit it now but if you're around 200yds I wouldn't have thought you'd want to go lower unless you hit it very very high.

 

[MashieNiblick]

why do you need to come down to a 9 degree head

Well 1 of the reasons is my cousin (plays off 8 )and his stance on it is the lower your loft comes down the more distance you can/might get...and although I am relatively happy with my driving I rarely get past 200 yards...when I do attempt to 'go for it' my shot tends to go hayward.

As I understand it, this is a bit of a myth and less loft doesn't necessarily mean more distance, especially with today's drivers. As stated above it's about getting the right launch angle. You want the ball to fly. That could mean 10, 11 or even 12 degress rather than 8 or 9 depending on other factors. If you say you hit the 10 degree driver well, why not just get another one the same. Might make it easier for you if you were using the same type of driver in both sets.

Probably the best option if you are struggling to find some distance is to have a lesson to look at your swing and if necessary go for a cf session to see what head, shaft, loft combination gets the best results.

 

[Smiffy]

I used to play a 9 degree Callaway Driver but now have an 11 degree Ping i15.
The Ping launches lower than the Callaway ever did due to the different shaft characteristics.
Much prefer the lower ball flight I get from it.

 

[Ethan]

The issue with launch is that the physics of trajectory means that the optimal launch for you depends on swing speed and spin, amongst other things. The faster your swing the lower you can launch and still get good flight, but in general, most people could do with more launch. There was a recent article on big hitting which compared Dustin Johnson and Charles howell. The former has enough extra swing speed to give him about 20 yards more carry, but he actually gets about 40 yards more because CHIII launches the ball too low.

Most pros hit the ball with a fairly flat swing, but most amateurs hit slightly down on it. That means that most amateurs need either more loft, some lessons or both. Either way, they need to show more loft to the ball to optimise their ball flight.