Is there a rule of thumb for launch angle vs club's loft?

sjw

sjw

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Heading to the range tonight, and 5i is one of the clubs I want to work on. I think I get quite a low ball flight, but I'm not actually sure. Would be nice to know what sort of launch angle I should be looking for, so I can work out if I'm just not swinging hard enough to get the ball up, or if it's a more complex issue.

Also, my hybrid. 22 degrees (apparently, it's cheap rubbish). What sort of ball flight/angles should I look for?
 
1667490274899.png

These may be tour averages, but it'll help dechiper where you are a touch
 
Thanks for that, I will refer to this tonight.

Interesting that blokes hit down with driver whereas women hit up on it!
 
sjw said:
Thanks for that, I will refer to this tonight.

Interesting that blokes hit down with driver whereas women hit up on it!
Click to expand...
Interesting
I always thought hitting up on driver was best
I believe I’m +2 but would be looking for +4
Also spin rates seem a tad high
Watching Crossfield a lot they were aiming for 2200 on driver.
 
A lot depends how you deliver the club.
Hands ahead or level.
The deflection of the shaft. Shafts deflect at different rates.
It’s very complicated.
 
pokerjoke said:
Interesting
I always thought hitting up on driver was best
I believe I’m +2 but would be looking for +4
Also spin rates seem a tad high
Watching Crossfield a lot they were aiming for 2200 on driver.
Click to expand...
So did I.
I am -2 but always hit the ball farther when I get it level or +1.
 
normally with irons your launch angle should be half of degrees of the club you hitting.
if your 7 iron is 34 degrees you should aim for 17 degrees launch
there are other factors as well like you club head and ball speed
 
adasko said:
normally with irons your launch angle should be half of degrees of the club you hitting.
if your 7 iron is 34 degrees you should aim for 17 degrees launch
there are other factors as well like you club head and ball speed
Click to expand...

That's about the sort of thing I was looking for, even if it's not ridiculously accurate. Give me a rough idea. Now I just need to try and find the rough lofts of the crappy beginner clubs I have.
 
On my recent Trackman session, my 6 iron (24.5° loft) average launch was 14.6, and my hybrid (24° loft) average launch was 16.4. So I doubt it's a simple as loft vs launch angle.

Re: driver, yes the school of thought for us regular folk was always to hit up on the ball I thought. My average angle of attack was 2.4 but I got more carry if I got that up over 3.
 
Orikoru said:
On my recent Trackman session, my 6 iron (24.5° loft) average launch was 14.6, and my hybrid (24° loft) average launch was 16.4. So I doubt it's a simple as loft vs launch angle.

Re: driver, yes the school of thought for us regular folk was always to hit up on the ball I thought. My average angle of attack was 2.4 but I got more carry if I got that up over 3.
Click to expand...
with your swing speed and not hitting enough down at the ball you would only lost on carry.
 
pokerjoke said:
Interesting
I always thought hitting up on driver was best
I believe I’m +2 but would be looking for +4
Also spin rates seem a tad high
Watching Crossfield a lot they were aiming for 2200 on driver.
Click to expand...

I was -2 with the driver with a spin rate around 2,500. At 9.5* on the driver, with it cranked up It was lucky to get 20’ off the ground. It worked well on a links course, where I played most of my golf, but wasn’t great around a parkland course mid winter.
 
Orikoru said:
On my recent Trackman session, my 6 iron (24.5° loft) average launch was 14.6, and my hybrid (24° loft) average launch was 16.4. So I doubt it's a simple as loft vs launch angle.

Re: driver, yes the school of thought for us regular folk was always to hit up on the ball I thought. My average angle of attack was 2.4 but I got more carry if I got that up over 3.
Click to expand...

There has to be something physics based, Maybe something very simple (think about heart rate zones.

Only a few factors can effect the launch:

Club head speed
Loft
Angle of attack.
 
Orikoru said:
On my recent Trackman session, my 6 iron (24.5° loft) average launch was 14.6, and my hybrid (24° loft) average launch was 16.4. So I doubt it's a simple as loft vs launch angle.

Re: driver, yes the school of thought for us regular folk was always to hit up on the ball I thought. My average angle of attack was 2.4 but I got more carry if I got that up over 3.
Click to expand...
It pretty much is that simple and is the easiest way to think about it and get your numbers right.

But to give you a complicated answer, launching the ball at roughly half the club's loft, you compress the ball against the turf & maximise energy transfer ensuring you keep the flight stable against the wind.

Effectively "mid-launch" trajectory (1/2 the loft of the club) ensures the ball reaches an ideal peak height to achieve a steep descent angle (roughly over 45°), allowing the ball to drop vertically and stop quickly on the green rather than releasing and running on through. For wedges specifically, keeping the launch lower prevents the ball from "ballooning" and from being hit to high up on the face, which gives the ideal the high spin rates needed for that control and ensuring best results.

Oddsocks said:
There has to be something physics based, Maybe something very simple (think about heart rate zones.

Only a few factors can effect the launch:

Club head speed
Loft
Angle of attack.
Click to expand...
The even more complicated physics answer

θL=LD+f.(LD-σ)

Where:
• L_D (Dynamic Loft): The actual loft of the club at the moment of impact.
• \alpha (Angle of Attack): The upward or downward direction the club is traveling.
• f: A "lifting factor" (typically between 0.6 and 0.85 for irons) that accounts for the ball sliding up the clubface and the friction between the two surfaces.

Or in picture form

DIRECT FORCE VECTOR
/
/ BALL FLIGHT (Launch Angle)
/ /
/ /
________/________/_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . HORIZON (0°)
\ / / ^
\ / / |--- Launch Angle (θL)
\ / / v
\/________/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ATTACK ANGLE (α)
/\ ^
/ \ |--- SPIN LOFT (σ)
/ \ v
/ \ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DYNAMIC LOFT (LD)
/ \
/ \
SHAFTS LEAN CLUBFACE



Hope that’s cleared it up nicely 😂
 
Lucifer MorningStar said:
It pretty much is that simple and is the easiest way to think about it and get your numbers right.

But to give you a complicated answer, launching the ball at roughly half the club's loft, you compress the ball against the turf & maximise energy transfer ensuring you keep the flight stable against the wind.

Effectively "mid-launch" trajectory (1/2 the loft of the club) ensures the ball reaches an ideal peak height to achieve a steep descent angle (roughly over 45°), allowing the ball to drop vertically and stop quickly on the green rather than releasing and running on through. For wedges specifically, keeping the launch lower prevents the ball from "ballooning" and from being hit to high up on the face, which gives the ideal the high spin rates needed for that control and ensuring best results.


The even more complicated physics answer

θL=LD+f.(LD-σ)

Where:
• L_D (Dynamic Loft): The actual loft of the club at the moment of impact.
• \alpha (Angle of Attack): The upward or downward direction the club is traveling.
• f: A "lifting factor" (typically between 0.6 and 0.85 for irons) that accounts for the ball sliding up the clubface and the friction between the two surfaces.

Or in picture form

DIRECT FORCE VECTOR
/
/ BALL FLIGHT (Launch Angle)
/ /
/ /
________/________/_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . HORIZON (0°)
\ / / ^
\ / / |--- Launch Angle (θL)
\ / / v
\/________/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ATTACK ANGLE (α)
/\ ^
/ \ |--- SPIN LOFT (σ)
/ \ v
/ \ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DYNAMIC LOFT (LD)
/ \
/ \
SHAFTS LEAN CLUBFACE



Hope that’s cleared it up nicely 😂
Click to expand...
What about the ball?

A molitor won’t spin as much as a pro v1😂
 
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