Hi Lofted driver Question

[turkish]

so lets just say my current driver is a work in progress... can be quite streaky depending on the day- sometimes good sometimes god awful.

It's 9.5 degree cranked up to 11- i'm not giving up on it and will continue to work on it but sometimes wonder if maybe a higher lofted driver would suit me better for a straighter ball flight, albeit with probably a loss of distance- just wondering forums thoughts.

There's various Callaway, taylormade and benross drivers at 13.5 and 14 degrees and just wondering will these be easier to hit as usually a rule of thumbs the higher the loft the easier to hit straighter??

I know there's the mini drivers which I've looked at but think i'd still like the confidence of the bigger head on an actual driver.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I have a 14 degree SLDR and it gave me the best ball flight I could find and I still can't find a driver that goes as well as it does. If you are struggling with launch angle then I would highly recommend on - I know some are dubious about the LOFT up campaign but for me it worked very well. People who play with me have all commented on how well I drive the ball

 

[the_coach]

so lets just say my current driver is a work in progress... can be quite streaky depending on the day- sometimes good sometimes god awful.

It's 9.5 degree cranked up to 11- i'm not giving up on it and will continue to work on it but sometimes wonder if maybe a higher lofted driver would suit me better for a straighter ball flight, albeit with probably a loss of distance- just wondering forums thoughts.

There's various Callaway, taylormade and benross drivers at 13.5 and 14 degrees and just wondering will these be easier to hit as usually a rule of thumbs the higher the loft the easier to hit straighter??

I know there's the mini drivers which I've looked at but think i'd still like the confidence of the bigger head on an actual driver.

higher lofted driver may do

the real key to the answer would be looking at where the norm of strike location pattern falls - everyone will tend to some kinda similar favored face location strike areas

gotta to remember that the true static loft of a driver (whatever that # is) is only located in one point at geometric face center - strikes above are coming off higher loft, strikes below lower loft

potential for higher spin rate #'s with higher static lofted drivers but allied to that potential for straighter flight

boils down to good driving being foremost about strike location, AoA and face to path relationship

 

[Matty6]

I lofted up my driver from 10.5 to 12 and it made a big difference for me. I struggle to get any decent height when it is set at 10.5.

 

[Hosel Fade]

Any idea of your swing speed, spin, launch or attack angle?

 

[turkish]

Any idea of your swing speed, spin, launch or attack angle?

No Idea the rest mate but my swing speed is about 95-100 MPH. guessing the rest varies.

A 2nd hand 14 degree SLDR was one of the things I looked at.

 

[Capella]

What does your ball flight look like? If your main problem is to hit it straight, but you already have a decent height and length in your ballflight, then I don't think lofting up is the solution (from experience I can tell you, that it is possible to slice a 14 ° driver around the corner in a 90° angle just as easy as it can be done with a 10 ° one ... it is just higher in the air when it goes around the curve). I think it would only help you, if you have the feeling now that you have to work very hard to get the ball into the air.

 

[turkish]

I'f I'm being Honest the height and length of my ball flight is fine and yes I know I can easily slice/hook the ball(as have done with my 16.5 degree 3 wood) but I do find it an easier club to hit so it's maybe this in between loft that is making me think it could help when I want to put by driver on the naughty step.

from memory the flight was coming off the club at anywhere between 12-16 degrees depending on the strike, spin rates varied from +/- spin rates so yeah I'm pretty inconsistent. just wondering if lofting up would help me gain a bit more consisting.

 

[Hosel Fade]

No Idea the rest mate but my swing speed is about 95-100 MPH. guessing the rest varies.

A 2nd hand 14 degree SLDR was one of the things I looked at.

Is your normal flight really low then to want a higher lofted driver or do you want the loft only in order to hit it less sideways?

 

[turkish]

It's more about control of fade and draws- when my driver is off it can be wayward in either direction.... I then resort to my 3 wood in a bad mood as can hit it decent (indeed some of my round have been my best just using my 3 wood) but that's sitting at 16.5 degrees so I'm thinking having a driver with the 14 degree would eek out a bit more distance for me with a little more control than when my current driver is off.

 

[Jack_bfc]

I have a HL TM jetspeed available if your interested?

 

[virtuocity]

44 inch shaft.

 

[Face breaker]

Where is the ball positioned in your stance, a mate of mine had an issue with a low trajectory hook with a '10.5* XR16/tour stiff shaft' I noticed the ball was positioned a quater to a third of the way back in his stance, I suggested he may want to try repositioning the ball further forward to just inside his left toe, 5 or 6 shots later and his shots are now as straight as an arrow (touch of draw on the odd occasion) but he's now getting some serious height and distance, sounds to me like you're angle of attach is all wrong !...:thup:

Ps, the 'Tour Stiff' shaft is mine, he had a 'Regular Speeder' in his XR16 when he bought it !...

 

[turkish]

I have a 14 degree SLDR and it gave me the best ball flight I could find and I still can't find a driver that goes as well as it does. If you are struggling with launch angle then I would highly recommend on - I know some are dubious about the LOFT up campaign but for me it worked very well. People who play with me have all commented on how well I drive the ball

Hi Phil quick question regarding tee height with this club- do you tee it lower- say a white, or even a yellow castle tee height since you'd want the AoA to probably be about 0 or maybe even 1 degree down (well for my swing anyway) so really coming off like a 3 wood stroke?

As I said previously height and trajectory isn't really the problem for me it's more for help with side spin.

 

[Fyldewhite]

I have a 14 degree SLDR and it gave me the best ball flight I could find and I still can't find a driver that goes as well as it does. If you are struggling with launch angle then I would highly recommend on - I know some are dubious about the LOFT up campaign but for me it worked very well. People who play with me have all commented on how well I drive the ball

Similar. My driver is a 13 degree Callaway 454 which I bought in 2006 well before the current trend for higher lofts started. It's certainly raised eyebrows over the years among people I've played with and I've seriously looked at changing it many times, not because I was driving badly but because I thought I may be missing out on improved technology. Quite simply, I have never found another that I can hit as well.....which is why it's still in the bag. Saved me £100's too. .

As for the physics/logic......Higher loft = straighter, straighter = good.

 

[Hosel Fade]

If its just sideways I would say the driver money is better invested in coaching imo. Whilst more loft will tilt the spin axis straighter its questionable how big that effect will be on your golf as opposed to changing technique. Then there is the question of how much it would affect your launch conditions in terms of raw distance and being exposed to wind

 

[turkish]

If its just sideways I would say the driver money is better invested in coaching imo. Whilst more loft will tilt the spin axis straighter its questionable how big that effect will be on your golf as opposed to changing technique. Then there is the question of how much it would affect your launch conditions in terms of raw distance and being exposed to wind

I have a coach and having lessons and as I said will continue to work on it but in the interim I'm interested if have HL driver would help- as I said the 3 wood works fine with the higher loft for the most part and is more consistent so it's just giving me the idea it may help.

 

[Capella]

What does your coach say then? He should know your swing and should know if a higher lofted driver should give you more consistent results. I'd always prefer a professional opinion from someone who knows your swing over any tip you could get from any of us on the forum, to be honest.

 

[turkish]

What does your coach say then? He should know your swing and should know if a higher lofted driver should give you more consistent results. I'd always prefer a professional opinion from someone who knows your swing over any tip you could get from any of us on the forum, to be honest.

SHE has given me a drill to get the feeling i'm coming more from the inside and asked me to work on it and I am. She also changed my setup slightly which has helped. My problem is now that I am working on it I am going through an even bigger period of inconsistency as I have misses both sides; it's a work in progress.

For example last week I was having a round of mainly fades but a few bad slices wrecked the card, Tuesday I went to the range and worked on it but although drawing it quite often there were a lot of blocks straight left. Yesterday I played 10 holes with this in mind I aimed up the right side 1st cut of the course and all my shots were going left by about 30-40 yards offline(sometimes drawing sometimes just blocked left) from where I was aiming- which was fine as was consistent and was always usually on fairway or in 1st cut.... So Basically yeah I'm still trying to dial it in as i'm getting various misses but this is more in the meantime if a higher lofted driver would help me in competition I wouldn't mind giving up the 10-20 yards of potential distance.

 

[Capella]

SHE

:clap:

How much distance would you lose if you just hit your 3wood for the time being until you sort out our driver swing? I just don't think switching drivers now, as you are going through some major changes in your swing, is the right idea. It would just introduce one more variable to a system that is unstable anyway at the moment.

I know exactly where you are, though. I am just back from my holiday where I had lessons with Peter Finch again and even though I am sure the changes will help me immensely in the long run, at the moment every half decent straight drive seems like almost a miracle to me. It is getting there, though, and if I manage to hit a good one now, it goes straighter and further than ever before.