How much difference does 0.4° make?

[Slab]

I remember going to the range one day to see what difference altering my driver settings would have. I think mine goes from 9 to 12 degrees. Started at one end of the range and hit a few balls in every different setting until I got to the other end. Hit some good drives and some not so good but could tell no difference in the different settings. If I ever need a new driver or wood don’t see any point in paying out extra for something adjustable.

Yup, maybe I'm mistaken but I always thought that the adjustable loft feature was for the benefit of cheaper manufacturing and easier retail, not for the player

 

[jim8flog]

Wasn't so long ago that TM (?) were saying the future was to loft up. ?

That was something that worked for me my Firesole driver was 8.5 degree when I wen to the R540 I initially went to 10.5 and eventually 12 (when I learnt about high kick point shafts).

I have now gone back to 10.5 because most hick point shafts work best with a swing speed I no longer have.

 

[Wildrover]

The + settings in your driver will make the head sit a little more closed at address, the - settings have the opposite effect and will sit more open. As you have an SFTec driver I assume you hit the ball with a fade, sometimes adding loft and making the head sit closed will help in hitting the ball straighter as it will help you square the face up at impact. Looking on a launch monitor, adding loft does not always make the launch angle go up, if the ball is flying straighter from a squarer strike than it can actually go down compared to a high right cutty one. All depends on the individuals impact position.

 

[duncan mackie]

Wasn't so long ago that TM (?) were saying the future was to loft up. That seemed a short lived marketing line but is there anything in that, especially in the current conditions with dew on the grass first thing. Would more carry help more players of mid-high handicaps get more distance? I did have my driver down at 10 degrees and put it back to the default 10.5 and definitely getting it higher but wondered if going up to 11 would help. Doesn't increasing the loft open the face though?

You can't look at loft in isolation.

Loft on a SLDR head was designed to give a higher launch angle with lower spin rate.

Then again apex height is another thing entirely and will depend on ball speed, spin and launch angle...

Hitting my m2 head with SLDR settings and similar shaft gives me completely different trajectory than the SLDR.

 

[TreeSeeker]

currently use 8.5, on my titleist. Really found the lower loft helped me keep the ball in play more. I tried the full range and hit maybe 15-20 shots with each on a monitor and although i got better carry and roll with it dialled down, i felt happier with the flight on std. For my money its put it inthe settings hit a few balls and go with the settinf that made you most confident that it was staying in play. For reference implaying off 24, but ive got a pretty fast swing launch was coming out just a tad above 11

 

[PJ87]

Wasn't so long ago that TM (?) were saying the future was to loft up. That seemed a short lived marketing line but is there anything in that, especially in the current conditions with dew on the grass first thing. Would more carry help more players of mid-high handicaps get more distance? I did have my driver down at 10 degrees and put it back to the default 10.5 and definitely getting it higher but wondered if going up to 11 would help. Doesn't increasing the loft open the face though?

Closes the face

 

[Wildrover]

The CG on the SLDR was so far forward in order to maximise ball speed & therefore distance that most average players couldn't launch it high enough, hence loft up was to cover the shortcomings of the SLDR and that's why loft up has now gone.

 

[bobmac]

I was just wondering, 0.4 degrees difference between the two settings just sounds infinitesimally small to me. Can it really make that much difference do you think?

No, unless your swing is exactly the same every single time.

 

[Orikoru]

Well I tried it yesterday anyway. I didn't hit any high ones this time, but that could easily have been me rather than the adjusted club loft. One or two the tee was still in the ground so I know I just hit them a little thin / bottom of the club face. Decided I'm going to put it back to 11° anyway, partly because it keeps the face closed as mentioned above. As we've mostly agreed, I'm not really consistent enough to see a 0.4 difference, so might as well go for the most forgiving setting, which would be 11.

 

[badgb21]

The knowledge of anyone who's done a proper driver fitting, or any kind of testing on a launch monitor would be beneficial here. I have done neither.

I was just thinking about the adjustment setting on my G30 driver, I have it set to +1 which puts it at 11°. The other day I hit quite a few drives that came out high so I'm thinking of knocking it down for a friendly round tomorrow, and obviously I'll see how it goes. The next setting down is +0.6 which puts it at 10.6°. I was just wondering, 0.4 degrees difference between the two settings just sounds infinitesimally small to me. Can it really make that much difference do you think?

As I say, anyone who's used a launch monitor, have you ever adjusted a club by less than half a degree and actually seen a noticeable difference?

I have the very same driver and did some tinkering (alas not on a launch monitor) but on the course.
I found I need to go to each extreme to see any real difference. Moving up/down .4/.5/.6 of a degree at a time was very difficult to judge.
There was quite a loss of total distance going to 11 degs from 9 degs.
I wanted some additional help with my fade and have settled on the small + for a balance of distance, fade control and trajectory.
As stated above, my swing inconsistencies have a much bigger effect, but I do think I have the club set about right, so when I do hit it right it goes the best it can!

Good luck with your adjustments and let us know how it goes.