Draw vs loft

[Matt221171]

Hi, I'm a newbie to this forum so firstly hello to all members. I have been playing regular for 3 years now and have got my handicap to 18 (can hit 42/43 points on short course) so distance has always been a problem.
After reading Sean Foley's law of a draw I'm now very confused. I have an SLDR which you are meant to loft up,but according to taylormade stats you need to loft down to open the face, so fianally to my question:
Is it better to loft up and get a better launch angle, but only hit straight (my normal shot) or to loft down and get an open face to draw (with a in to out path). Which would go further?
All replies would be much appreciated, cheers, Matt.

 

[Dan2501]

An in to out path with a club face open to that path would create a fade, not a draw.

 

[patricks148]

An in to out path with a club face open to that path would create a fade, not a draw.

or a block as in my case

 

[the_coach]

Hi, I'm a newbie to this forum so firstly hello to all members. I have been playing regular for 3 years now and have got my handicap to 18 (can hit 42/43 points on short course) so distance has always been a problem.
After reading Sean Foley's law of a draw I'm now very confused. I have an SLDR which you are meant to loft up,but according to taylormade stats you need to loft down to open the face, so fianally to my question:
Is it better to loft up and get a better launch angle, but only hit straight (my normal shot) or to loft down and get an open face to draw (with a in to out path). Which would go further?
All replies would be much appreciated, cheers, Matt.

welcome, stick around, hope you get used to folks

first off the sldr - is despite what some may say has been designed to have the majority of index players (handicap) loft up - as a generality the slower the swing speed the more loft you would need
because of where the CG of this particular driver model has been placed (that's a truism of physics - not as many misguidedly believe starting out as a marketing ploy)

index players in general will find low loft of a driver more difficult to manage - unless they have a reliable swing path, angle of attack {with a Sldr unless able to swing circa 110mph you would be better with a positive AoA so swinging up through impact or at the very least 0º (level} but as with any club but particularly the driver it's the strike location on the face that's key so center for now good place to aim for or better around horizontal center face but a small fraction higher than center on the vertical axis

only that makes a ball draw (hook etc) fade (slice) is the face angle at impact in relation to the swing path angle if 0º is the target line - the amount of difference between those to will affect how much curvature the ball flight has

to hit a draw the face of any club (hard to draw/fade with a pitching wedge for example because of the high loft which produces more backspin from a center strike which negates curvature some, unless very high club speeds involved - 'Bubba's shot at the Master from the tress) has to be 'open' to the target line (so RH player face looking right of target) but 'closed' (face looking left) of the swing path - the greater the difference the more the curvature)

you can draw a 11.5º+ plus driver you can draw a 8.5º - the 11.5º with not so reliable face angle & swing path will give a little more help as you get (from good strike) little more backspin which could well help some folks hit ball to target little easier plus get more distance as the ball will launch up for carry distance a ways easier with slower swing speeds
lower the loft the potential to get distance will decrease if enough swing speed is not generated as you wont get a hig enough launch angle to get carry distance

by far the most important thing is 'center' strike soon as the strike location gets further away in distance from that you start getting many difficulties with spin, launch, ball speed etc.

 

[Three]

An in to out path with a club face open to that path would create a fade, not a draw.

A push-slice actually. It would start right and slice further right. A fade starts left and finishes on target.

 

[Foxholer]

2 completely unrelated concepts!

The Draw that Foley is talking about is created by 2 resultsof your swing - Swing path to the right (for rightee) of the target, with Face open to the target but closed to the swing path. This has nothing to do with - ie is completely separate from - the concept of lofting up that TM pushed with the SLDR!

That concept was because the CofG of the SLDR was sufficiently forward that in many/most cases, either because the player was a naturally 'low spinner' or the swing speed wasn't sufficient to generate enough spin, that the Spin generated was actually too low, so distance was being lost. By 'lofting up', the optimum launch characteristics (TM's 17/1700 jingo) could be achieved.

So Loft Up (if necessary) as per TM's advice, then follow Foley's teaching to create the Draw!

 

[Matt221171]

Many thanks to all who have replied. A lot of information has been posted, and hopefully I can digest most. I'll give it a try on practice area and see what happens,but again a BIG thank you to all posters, Matt.:thup:

 

[USER1999]

A straight shot will always go furthest, with the right launch conditions. Trouble is, it's the hardest shot to hit, and most will have a preferred shape. A slight draw is a nice shape to have, but nothing too exaggerated. Hitting the ball on a curved flight has to waste distance, the shortest distance between two points being a straight line and all that.

If you are hitting it straight, then I wouldn't worry about hitting a draw, I'd just concentrate on increasing your swing speed, and getting the correct launch angle. Maximise what you have.