Driver vs 4 wood

[Waitforme]

Went to the practice ground today and hit a dozen or so balls with both my driver and 4 wood, yellow balls with driver , white balls with 4 wood so could easily see the dispersion and distance. Nothing in it with dispersion and distance was probably about 15 yards in favour of the driver.

4 wood is Adams tight lies 16 degrees with senior flex shaft , driver is Cobra Fly Z set at 10.5 degrees, reg flex shaft.

I was expecting there to be more distance between the two, would you consider the above difference to be about right ?

 

[bobmac]

I would say the gap should be a lot bigger, 40-50 yds at least.
Are your irons senior flex?

 

[jusme]

There is 5.5 degrees difference between both clubs. If they were irons I would say 15 yards is about right. Now more is involved that there not irons, but in general I would expect 20-30. I would not expect anymore. I'm surprised bobmac would expect 40-50

 

[Lord Tyrion]

That's because he hits it properly . That's not a comment on the OP by the way. I suspect the gap is normal for a lot of golfers, not so for really good ball strikers. (I'm not a really good ball striker so my gap between driver and 3 wood is 15-20yds. Added in case the OP takes the hump )

 

[HomerJSimpson]

On first reading I would have thought it would be further but then considering my own yardage with a driver is 225 on average and my 5 wood is about 200 then perhaps it's not as far out as expected

 

[duncan mackie]

Way too much focus on loft.

The driver clubhead speed, for the same swing, should deliver most of the distance differential at this time of year especially.

Then there's the impact conditions and associated smash factor.

Most handicap golfers ( normal people not forum obviously) simply won't achieve the impact conditions nor the scaled clubhead speed with the driver.

 

[jim8flog]

For me in todays cold conditions good 3 wood 200, good driver about 250 (tee shots).

 

[bobmac]

Way too much focus on loft.

I'm more interested in the senior shaft.
There's no mention of the distance each club hits but I suspect the senior shaft is out-performing the regular shaft in the driver.
Perhaps the OP could test a few drivers with senior shafts and see if he hits it further than his regular shaft.

I'm surprised bobmac would expect 40-50

If you consider the 16 degree to be similar to a 1 iron, I would expect 40yds extra at least with a driver

 

[Waitforme]

Well, went back to the practice ground this morning and hit 18 balls with my driver set at 10.5 and 18 balls with it set at 12 deg.
Nothing in it regards distance for the majority but the 3 longest balls were hit by the 12 deg setting so stuck with that for part two.....
Hit 20 balls with 16 deg 4 wood and same with 12 deg driver , I'd say the average carry distance was probably nearer to 20 yards in favour of the driver with the longest from the driver being 15 yards longer than the longest 4 wood hit.
On feel alone I prefer the feel of the 4 wood when I middle one , don't know if that is the shaft or head that's giving me that feel though.
I've played regular shafts all my days ( now 59 ) , when I got fitted for my irons 4 years ago my swing speed was 73mph ( not sure what iron that was with ?) which was just a bit below bang on for regular but went with reg on the advice of the fitter.
May see if I can have a hit of a senior shifted driver and see what if feels like / goes like.
Thanks for the input 👍