This driver launches the ball at a very high angle already, so you should be fine with the 10. If you want to really smash your driver a long way, reducing spin loft will help. If you have a slower swing speed, youll gain yards through more loft. Ever since a 2003 golf digest study said that most golfers needed more loft on their drivers, the quest for the correct loft has heated up. Then, he used a graphite driver and hits it about 250 because of the increased clubhead speed. Long drive competitors have drivers that have only 4 to 7.
This combination of lower ball speed smash and higher spin is a killer for distance with the driver. If it is between 105 and 115 mph, a loft between 7 and 9 degrees should be considered. Most seniors could increase the amount of distance they achieve with a driver if they give up the 8, 9, 10 or even 11 degree driver and crank up the loft to maximize the amount of launch on the ball. Likewise, it appears that you need a swing speed of 100 mph or more to benefit from a driver with 10.
There are limitations to the data gathering, calculations, etc. An appropriate loft choice will maximize your distance. For a golfer with an 85mph swing speed and a downward angle of attack, a move from 9. High loft driver clubs, grips, shafts, fitting the. As he states swing speed, tempo transition and very importantly the point in the swing at which the golfer releases the wrist kock are all key factorsadd in there legnth of the swing and angle of attack ball position and well ypu get it. If it is between 95 and 104 mph, a 10 or 11degree loft will be appropriate. Launching the ball higher the average golfer launches the ball at 8 degrees, whereas optimal for most golfers is closer to 16 degrees. If yourswing speed is 100 mph or more you can often step up to a driver with less than a 10 degree loft 9. The average club head speed for a male golfer is about 95 mph 15 km. There are three things the senior golfer needs to consider. Choose a loft to try based on your assessed clubhead speed. These are general calculations and do not take into consideration that loft and club head angles.
Swing tweeks probably would help more than anything, but in this particular test it appears the yardage differential isnt anywhere near what it was with the highspeed guys. Aug, 2014 of our 12 sets each golfer produced 3 sets, 1 with each driver, we found that less loft produced more total distance only half the time, 6 out of 12. Try a variety of clubs to find the best loft for your swing. They do this because a stiff shaft gives them more control over the clubhead throughout the swing. Getting the right loft on your driver is crucial to maximise distance. But because of changing driver designs and changing swings, the. Try a driver with a higher loft and youre likely to see improved distance. Were seeing guys with 100 mph club head speed using driver lofts as high as 11 and degrees. The complete guide to maximizing driver distance everyone is currently focused on how far the pros are hitting the ball, and whether or not the golf ball should be rolled back. Its the optimum combination of ball speed with launch angle that produces the greatest carry. Alternatively, the average amateur golfer will have a swing speed somewhere between 60 and 100 mph depending on. If we look at carry distance, less loft produced more distance only 4 times out of 12. This indicates that distance isnt the result of more loft or less loft, but of getting the right loft. However, i also hit up on the ball 510 degrees, allowing that high launch, lowspin combo and maxing out distance.
Higherspinning wound balls were part of the reason, as was the sweeping or slightly descending angle of attack that previous generations of. Stronger players with faster swings typically elect to use stiffer shafts, for example. Youre swinging approximately 80 mph if you drive the ball 206 yards, 90 mph if your drives reach 232 yards and 100 mph if you drive the ball 258 yards. Mar 30, 2020 graphite and titanium shafts are lighter and will likely make you swing a little faster than with a steel shaft. The higher the spin loft, the more backspin you create. Optimize driver loft for more distance true fit clubs. Since the driver is the one club in which we are actually swinging up at the ball at impact, we dont have to create all of that to14 degrees of launch angle with the club face. Rather they listed a 7wood carry distance of 174 yards. Hitting down on the ball with the driver is a distance killer.
How to determine which loft you should get on your driver. Most players who fall under this average should use a loft of 10. Dec 11, 2018 match the optimum loft to your swing speed. Note that the maximum carry is about 167 yards for a driver loft of 19 degrees which is the loft of a 2iron and 5wood. Golfers with clubhead speeds below 85 mph should use a loft angle between 14 and 20 degrees. Players with slower swings typically choose shafts with progressively more flex, which. A high handicapper with a slow swing will require a different type of shaft than a low. If you swing over 100 mph, he says, theres little to no chance youll get fitted into a 12degree driver, and if you swing less than 90 mph, youll never want an 8. A player who is able to swing a driver at an even 100 miles per hour can expect a distance of around 258 yards.
Too often, an amateur golfer will choose the loft of his or her new driver based on what their. Graphite and titanium shafts are lighter and will likely make you swing a little faster than with a steel shaft. That means the bestperforming driver for a high swing speed pga tour player like dustin johnson may not actually be the best performer for you. This is a good starting point and should allow you to enjoy a perfect combination between. Use less than 10 degrees of loft if you swing faster than 100 mph.
Automatically that makes it harder to hit in the air and keep straight. I was interested in finding out the relative swing speeds of golfers based on their handicap level, so i had my friends over at swingbyte run an analysis. Required data entry distance for your average 5 iron shot. The added loft of your 3 wood is actually more optimal for your swing speed and therefore lets you hit the 3 wood the same distance as the driver. Well imagine firing water from a garden hose at a plant pot.
A 12 driver is a better choice for a beginner golfer as the higher degree of loft will help them hit the ball at a higher angle. Losing just 10 mphs off of that swing and going down to 90 will pull the distance all the way down to about 232 yards a major difference when actually playing a round of golf. More loft means numerically highera 12degree driver has more loft than a 9degree. Hit the golf ball farther by improving spin loft adam.
Someone with a slow swing speed 85mph or less needs more loft on their driver. Although the highest loft showed a 20yard benefit in. Golf digest ran a test a couple years ago with players at high swing speeds over 105 miles per. In a simulation with all other factors equal, hitting just 12 34 below. If your swing speed is 100mph and your ball leaves the face at mph, your smash factor is lower 1. Hit the golf ball farther by improving spin loft adam young.
Driver dave hits a regular shafted steel driver 240 yards. The best driver loft for distance so that is how things look for professionals on tour but for you the best driver loft for distance is totally dependent on your own individual game. In these extreme cases, longdrive hitters are accomplishing a high launch angletohead loft ratio with changes in their swing, ball position and tee height which allow the driver to contact the ball on the upswing, well after it passes the low point in the swing arc. The slower swinger benefited almost equally from the 12 and 14degree drivers, which carried about 15 yards farther than the 9degree driver. Im one of those guys that swings a driver 100105 mph and while i generate good spin on my irons, its a distance killer on driver shots.
So ill be able to try high loft and will get the launch numbers using 10. Golf driver distance and swing speed relationship adam. Hit big drives with higher lofted drivers simple golf. Below is a graph of balls hit by an 80 mph swing speed with different loft drivers note driver loft does not equal launch angle. Sticking with regular flex cause i know my average swing speed is mid 90s at its most. Slow swingers someone with a slow swing speed 85mph or less needs more loft on their driver. However, i also hit up on the ball 510 degrees, allowing that highlaunch, lowspin combo and maxing out distance. High loft driver vs low loft driver with different shaft combos shadows info is very solid. The desire to capture more data is why our 2019 most wanted driver test consisted of 35 real human golfers and captured more than 9,000 shots. Of our 12 sets each golfer produced 3 sets, 1 with each driver, we found that less loft produced more total distance only half the time, 6 out of 12. Dec 21, 2019 the swing speed is the main consideration in selecting a driver shaft. A change in driver loft will not achieve the same result for all golfers because of the relationship between loft and swing speed and angle of attack.
Swing speed and loft are among them, but there are also shaft, swing path, impact position, grip, driver head features. Nov 08, 2017 golf monthly looks at the different elements of a golf swing that affect the amount of loft you should play on your driver. We took driver and 7iron swing speeds around 800,000 shots total and separated them by handicap level. If your swing speed is slower consider a driver loft in the range of to 16 degrees. Looking at fowlers swing at impact on gears compared to a typical amateur with a significant slice and lack of distance, notice the differences between each players spin loft numbers.
The remaining difference between the actual loft of 1012 degrees can be explained by the fact that for a drive, the ball is struck just past the bottom of the swing. Golf driver loft distance, degrees, and best club selection. What you cant do is match a low swing speed with a lowlofted driver and vice versa. If you are a beginner golfer we would typically recommend a driver with a high loft angle of between 1214 if you are looking to add extra distance as the probability is that your swing speed is lower. Most average handicap golfers will have a swing speed of around 8090 mph and would benefit from a driver loft of anywhere from 1012 degrees.
Using a swing speed chart to approximate your distances. My experience has shown that golfers tend to be fairly consistent when it comes to club speed and this illustration shows us just that there was a change of less than 1 mph between the. High loft driver vs low loft driver with different shaft. Where the ball strikes the club face affects distance more than anything else. Benefits of higer loft it is not necessary to swing at a high swing speed to achieve maximum distance if you select the appropriate loft driver. So if youre a golfer with a high swing speed, you need a lower loft to get maximum distance. If you hit down on the ball, it comes off the face lower and requires more driver loft. Most noticeable is the extra distance you get from a shot hit lower in the face and theres no more white all over the crown. With increased spin loft, we also see an increase in spin rate. Golf monthly looks at the different elements of a golf swing that affect the amount of loft you should play on your driver.
If you decide that forgiveness is the most important factor to you, i would recommend you pick up the ping g400 max with 10. But although we can say for sure that most golfers need more loft than they now use, the exact amount depends on several different aspects of their swings. Nov 16, 2018 thus, it is a common misconception that a low loft driver is the proper club for a high handicap golfer to play with in order to achieve maximum distance from the tee. Move the ball up in your stance, get some axis tilt away from the target and tee the ball up higher to catch it on the upswing. Distance matter a lot, the correlation between clubhead speed and handicap is 0. If you reach 181 yards with a driver your swing is about 70 mph. Jul 05, 2016 make the right choice between hitting driver vs. The swing speed is the main consideration in selecting a driver shaft. Players with extremely slow swing speeds below 70 mph seem to benefit from lofts of 18 or 19 degreesroughly the same as a 5wood. What you cant do is match a low swing speed with a. This middle range is ideal for golf players with a good swing speed that ranges between 90 mph to 115 mph. In general, the slower the swing or club speed, the higher the loft of the driver to optimize both carry and roll. Its still true that golfers who swing less than 80 mph would likely benefit from using drivers with 11 degrees. An easy analogy is the difference between a 3 iron and a 9 iron.
The lpga tour trackman data didnt have numbers listed for a hybrid or 3iron. What is the correct driver loft for the average senior golfer. So driver technique is still being refined so the adjustable sounds great. Optimum driver loft calculator instruction and playing tips.
This combination of lower ball speed smash and higher spin is a killer for distance with the driver although it is very advantageous when hitting a wedge into a green. Aug 07, 2019 if you swing over 100 mph, he says, theres little to no chance youll get fitted into a 12degree driver, and if you swing less than 90 mph, youll never want an 8. This is a good starting point and should allow you to enjoy a perfect combination between launch and distance for your swing speed. One of the big things is making sure you have a driver with enough loft.