Golf Driver Loft and Max Distance
There is a revolution on the PGA Tour regarding Correct Driver Loft and Golf Ball Selection for max distance and accuracy. All the rules have changed, yet the golfing public has been left in the dark. The evidence is on display on every pro Tour this year, especially in the past several months.
In fact, at only 5'9" and 150 lbs, Rickie defies logic with his prodigious driving distance as evidenced by his 331 yard blast off the 18th tee at the Players en route to his breakthrough win. He is also averaging 294 yards off the tee this year and out drives the majority of his peers on Tour! Due to the amount of notes I get from determined golfers who are looking for more distance without swinging harder, I just completed a new Special Report that I think you will find facinating. It's based on something I discovered while working with top PGA and Champions Tour pros as they tested new ball designs. I urge you to receive this new report below while it is available on this page and study the images therein as you will be able to put this simple tip into use the next time you play or practice. Get the Special Report here:
J.B. Holmes claimed the Shell Houston Open title in April and won the Wells Fargo Championship for his 3rd and 4th career wins. J.B. is always near the top of the driving distance category and currently averages 306 yards off the tee (6th longest on Tour). Dustin Johnson (below) won the WGC-Cadillac Championship and WGC-HSBC Champions (both coveted World Golf events). He now has nine wins at only 30 years of age. He has already come close in a few majors and definitely has a major championship title in his future. Dustin is a long hitter and is the longest driver on Tour (averaging 317 yards)! And how about Aussie John Senden? He put on a ball striking clinic last year to win the Valspar Championship. He bangs it our there about 290 yards and splits fairways like a surgeon. At 43, he has resurrected his excellent career and his future looks bright.
But this is really shocking..
Rickie, J.B., Dustin, John, (and a growing number of others) have been achieving their huge driving distances using 10.5 to 12 degree lofted drivers! Here's a Partial List of 10.5-12 Driver Loft Players and their weapons:
In fact, he averaged a hefty 306.4 yards when he crushed the field by 8 strokes later in the year at the BMW (with his "old" swing). I would argue that this simple driver loft change kick started his consistency as he won 6 tournaments, the FedEx Cup, and Player of the Year in 2009, and no one was even close to his 68.06 scoring average.
So Tiger took his 10.5 degree Nike driver with his 118 mph swing speed, lost no distance, and improved fairways hit dramatically (hence 6 wins). And all this with his "inefficient", pre Sean Foley swing. He switched to an 8.5 with his new swing and struggled off the tee. In fact: Tiger was ranked 186/190 in driving accuracy, hitting only 48.9% of the fairways! His accuracy improved somewhat given that the new swing is finally burned in, but he has been sporadic (by his high standards) despite his multiple wins on old familiar venues like Bay Hill. He is challenged by courses with more penal fairways like those at Major Tournaments. These results have come while playing his driver with 8.5 degrees of loft. You see, less lofted drivers encourage more side spin (hook, slice) on the ball. At his high swing speed, this can be disastrous. I truly believe Tiger would win virtually every tournament he entered, including majors, if he could hit >65% of the fairways like Henrik Stenson. More driver loft would assist him in that matter. At this writing, Woods finally won his first tournament (the 2018 Tour Championship) since the 2013. So You May Be Thinking to Yourself... "What's going on here, I use a 10.5 (or 9, 9.5, 10) degree driver and my swing speed is no where near Dustin's or the other guys on that list. The sales person at the store said that was the best loft for me!" You should be concerned. Again, Henrik, J.B., John, and Dustin lash their big sticks at over 117 mph. What's more, the average PGA Tour driver swing speed is a hefty 112 mph. But the average golfer swings their driver only about 88-90 mph. So what's the deal? A heck of a lot of misinformation, that's what.
The fact is that the study of optimal flight patterns for maximum distance has made leaps and bounds in just the past few years. Doppler radar devices like the Trackman have quantified and pinpointed optimal flight and how to achieve it. When combined with a drop in golf ball compressions over the years and incredible driver design advances, the flight patterns for optimal distance have been so refined, they can be literally be mapped on a screen and traced with a pen. Incredible. And the resultant equation for distance in its simplest form is: Low Initial Ball Spin + High(er) Launch Angle = Maximum Distance
So by studying the diagram above you can see why the "higher" lofted drivers are finding their way into the bags of the best golfers in the world. And these guy and gals are winning... a lot. Believe it or not, when Tiger came out on Tour, he used a 6.5 degree driver! The norm 10-15 years ago was 7.5-9.0 degrees. Then it crept up to the 8.5-10 range. And it was at that time that a lot of recreational golfers made their big, driver purchases. Yes, just a few years ago they were getting settled into their 9-10 degree, $300 titaniums. Now they feel have lost distance, particularly relative to their peers who are gearing up with more recent equipment, newer balls, and fittings. You may be one of these folks. How do I know this? I have evaluated 100's of golfers (their games, equipment, distances, flight patterns, etc...) and the story repeats itself over and over.
So Let Me Share Some Points...
I
typically recommend 10.5-13.0 deg loft for the avg. club head
speed for maximum distance, particularly carry. This
even applies for golfers up to 100 mph. On average, the ball spends most of the time in the air and roll typically contributes only ~10% to the total distance under standard conditions. You can see that in the chart above. Masters Champ Bubba Watson, typically one of the longest driver on the PGA Tour, has a very high ball flight as he has maximized the carry portion of the Carry and Roll. But it is a high ball flight with low spin. Low spin ball flight, improved dimple patterns, etc... have also created an angle of approach (ground impact) change that still provides great roll with “higher” lofted drivers. We call this the ground attack angle. Also, more loft can dramatically reduce your unintended side spin like that over fade/slice, or the effects of that nasty duck hook. As an aside, I once worked for a golf equipment company that discontinued an 8.5 degree version of a titanium driver because even Pros couldn't keep it on the fairway. It was a slicer's nightmare!
There is a perfect angle of attack for each golfer for max distance that can be determined on the range with practice. Or you can perfect your flight and distance with a launch monitor (like the Trackman) and a qualified pro or technician. Simple ball position and tee height adjustments can mean another 10-20 yards as long as you are compressing the ball efficiently for your swing speed. Impacting the upper, outer quadrant of the face also reduces more spin and encourages a draw. Typically a flat angle of attack or a bit of an upsweep is preferred for almost all golfers. Again, that high launch with low spin condition!
So I would encourage most golfers to experiment (don't run out and buy) with more loft for more total distance and/or for reference if you have the opportunity (particularly on the course). This is the time for May Sales, especially here in the US... take full advantage! I'll also add that club fittings in a booth where a golfer is firing off 20 balls is not always representative of a 20 minute interval between each drive on course. Historically a golfer can be fit with a driver with too little loft as they are in a groove, loosened up, and thinking about best case scenarios. One company’s 10.5 is also not always another’s. You may also have physical challenges that will become variable affecting on course play, balance, swing speeds, etc..
So remember to work towards low initial ball spin combined with a high(er) launch angle for maximum tee shot distance. By doing so you are one big step closer to playing like today's PGA and LPGA stars. In fact, here's my simple 3 step summary of what the best golfers do to achieve max distance and accuracy with all their clubs, which ultimately leads to very low scores:
This report addreses the "how and why" of point #2. Combining Points 1, 2, & 3 will give your Power, Accuracy, and Consistency. With your permission, I would like the opportunity to help you further by showing you my swing technique. You will benefit from my firsthand experience inside the ropes, working with some of the top players in the game. I am convinced you will benefit tremendously from my swing instruction (and golf ball expertise). In all my years of playing golf, I have concluded that a golfer can not break 80 without a repeating golf swing. It does not have to be perfect, but it must be reproducible. When a repeating swing takes form, a whole new level of satisfaction results as the golfer is now able to play the game the way it was intended. My trademark move, The Key to a Repeating Golf Swing delivers the club head right back through the ball with precision power and control. It is the star of the show. I can't play without it. In fact my discovery of The Key was the very catalyst for my whole career in the golf industry. It was also the sole factor that.. Took
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by
Robert Cotter 
Rickie
Fowler (right) is the 7th best player in the world right now
as a result of his stirring Players Championship victory
and his recent top 5 finishes in the major events.
As
for Mr. Woods,
before the Memorial Tournament he switched from
an 8.5 degree driver to a 10.5,
hit 49 of 54 fairways and lapped the field. Yet he still averaged
well over 300 yards for that week. 
Most
average swing speed golfers (88-90 mph) don't use enough loft
in their drivers due to seeing the pros using 9-10 degrees effective
loft. 
Driver loft and effective launch angle can vary per golfer,
even
given the same club loft. 
The
ball launch angle is quite different than the driver
loft for two golfers, even if
they are swinging the same club. This is because some golfers
will have a negative attack
on the
ball (hitting down more like an iron, imparting extra spin – the
high dying quail effect in
Red on the diagram),
while others will upsweep the ball off the tee. 
Typically,
given a ~90 mph swing speed, 13.5-14 degrees ball launch (not
necessarily driver loft) at about 2900/3000 rpm is close
to optimal. But as stated,
it depends on the golfer (and the golf ball).
And
you wind players, a
higher lofted driver in the bag, even a cheap, 2nd hand one (Ebay,
$50), is also great for those downwind holes. Tee it high, let
it
fly, and go after a few of those 300 yard blasts.
My
Story - From the 100's to the 70's after a lengthy,
bitter struggle with this great game.
Every
time "The
Key To A Repeating Golf Swing" manual
is updated with new chapters, images, or
video, I receive an avalanche of emails from
current customers requesting a free update
to the Newest Edition. To date, they have
had to pay for the new edition (currently
the 7th edition).
As
a US Patent award winning golf ball
engineer, I constantly receive requests
from all over the world for golf ball recommendations
and have been matching the correct ball to
individual golfers for years. Still active
in the industry, I have the "inside" scoop
on what new ball designs are ideal
for high and low handicap, senior, and women
golfers.
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