Loft VS Distance

[CiscoPat]

I have a couple of questions concerning driver lofts and distance.

How much of a yardage difference is there between a 9* loft vs 12* loft while driving off the Tee?

I know that a higher loft helps the ball carry in distance, but does it cause a balloon effect.?

I'm quite new at golf, fell in love with it the firs time i played... this year will be my second year... cant wait to get started again.

thanks,
Ciscopat

[Happy Gilmore]

Hi Ciscopat,

I think that the higher the loft on the club will provide more distance to a slower swing speed by keeping the ball airborn longer. The lower lofts will allow the stronger golfer who swings faster to launch the ball further down the fairway but the launch angle will be lower thus the ball may hit the fairway sooner and run more.

You definitly get more control on a higher lofted club as more backspin is imparted on the ball and therefore keeps the ball on a straighter path, just look at your 9i-PW compared to your driver or 3i.

With the lower lofted faces you have to be more accurate with your swing path and when making contact to the centre of the face.

All in all I would start with a slightly higher driver loft until the confidence is there to try to go to a lower loft for more distance.

Remember, there is an optimal launch angle for the ball, I think about 11*, and depending on how you swing the club you may need more or less loft on the driver.

No one can tell you how to feel golf, you have to find out yourself. The process can be explained in great detail, but you are the only person who can feel what your hands tell you.

Best of luck.

[Chieflongtee]

Well said happy. Logically all things being equal there should be a 10 yard difference between a 9 and 12 loft as the progression is 3 degrees in irons i.e 3 iron 21 degree loft, 4 iron 24 degree loft and so on. However because of possible sidespin imparted by lower lofted clubs you may end up hitting further with a 12 degree driver and end up more often than not in the fairway.

[CiscoPat]

Thanks guys for the great replies !!

[andy]

I agree that a higher loft is the way to go.

I would expect that for a beginner, the difference between 9 and 12 degrees would be only 2-3 yards.

Andre.. remember that 10 yard progression from 3 to 4 iron also includes a 1/2inch increase in length...a 9 and 12 degree driver will be the same length therefore reducing the distance effects of loft.

For the sake of control I wouldn't even carry a driver if this is only your second year. Instead, I would suggest you use a 3 wood with 13 to 14 degrees and a half to one inch shorter. This is also a nice club to have in the bag to hit from the fairway on those long par 5s.

Just a thought.

Cheers

Andy

[CiscoPat]

Actually,

I started out with ancient equipment where as my woods were actually made of "wood" as it turns out I have a good drive... beginners luck I guess ... i'm pretty consistent . so i bought a new driver this winter with 12* loft. hits good and i'm very comfortable with it. But i was just thinking if maybe i should have gone with a lower loft instead ... but the pro told me to go with a 12 untill i fully develop my swing.

As for the 3 wood, for some reason, it does'nt like me ... i dont know why
I can Tee off great with my driver but not my 3 wood...:crying

i'll just keep working on it in my lessons.

[andy]

Sounds like you made the right decision about the driver.

If your 3 wood is of the "wood" variety, you may benefit from finding a #3 fairway wood with 15-16 degrees of loft. I found that my old 3 wood was designed the same as the driver but just a little smaller so it worked well from the tee but was difficult from the fairway

I was in your very same situation last year (ie. ancient woods) and I found that my old 3 wood was designed the same as the driver but just a little smaller so it worked well from the tee but was difficult from the fairway. I found a great deal at Sports experts for a 3 wood that was on clearance. I re-shafteded it and now I love it. I went and got the matching 5 and 7 wood as well since I didn't have confidence in my long irons. They are not the best quality but I thought of it a cheap experiment ($30-40) and if it worked I could look to upgrading later.

Andy

[Chieflongtee]

Andy you are right about the 1/2 increment in length however some golfers hit it farther with a 42 1/2 long driver as opposed to a 44 inch driver. (all other specs being equal) . Why?

[big easy]

I agree with you André. Surely the lenght of a shaft is one factor but it is not the most important. In my view, the weight of the shaft is the predominant aspect of the lenght. Of course, if you have a 4 inches difference, this will make a big difference (in theory!). If you take a look at guys on the Re-Max long drive championship, some of them had 50 or 52 inches shaft and some other had 46 inches.

From my personal experience, I had a Graffaloy (65 grams) and a EI70 (85grams) on the same driver. I was longer with the Graffalloy but I had to sacrifice a bit on the control. You will notice anyway that most of the OEM manufacturer will put very light shaft and will normally offer heavier shaft through custom fitting.

In my view, the loft is only to help players reaching the ideal flight. Because I hit the ball really high, I prefer to play less lofted driver with high bend point shaft. But this is really personal and you will notice pros play driver from 6.5 to 10.5.

[Slammin' Stever]

Want more yards..

High loft on a club face DOES NOT carry the ball farther. If anything it promotes high RPM or back spin. This helps the ball to get air born quicker but eventually leads to slowing down the carry of the ball. Plus it does not impart positive kick to gain those extra yards needed by a driver.

Hear is a review from an article on a study released from Golf Digest.


"Moe Norman has the lowest spin rate Golf Digest has ever seen. It was 1,500 rpm. They calculated the backspin when we did the article back in 1995. Moe swings at 100 mph and air carries almost 250 yards. His launch angle is in the "forget it" range from the chart below. The average amateur, with over 3,000 rpm of backspin from an up-down swing, will air carry between 220 and 230 yards.

In this years long drive contest (2003), the club lofts were 4.5 to 5 degrees with the ball teed high. Again, agreeing with physics.

There is NO physics that will allow a more lofted club to provide less backspin with identical clubhead paths and center-of-gravity impact.

I recommend a 5 degree driver loft with the ball teed 2 to 3" for all swing speeds - especially those below 100 mph.

In a Golf Digest article of February 1999, by Art Chou, the physics is explained correctly"

You may want to try to get your hands on a copy of this article. A medium kick point shaft with lower loft, teeing the ball high will add yards to your game. Physics does not lie.


If anyone is interested in this article I can e-mail it to you.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[Chieflongtee]

5 degree loft. NOT VERY FORGIVING FOR US MORTALS . But anyway I would like to read the article. Please email it andre_cantin@hotmail.com
Steve I meant to ask you. How do you compare your Synergy golf balls versus the Titleist Provs



They call you Mellow yellow that's right.