What Is A Golf Driver Loft !FREE!

The only way to know exactly what loft you need for your driver is to get a custom trackman fitting at your local pro shop (or wherever you can find it) because this gives you the exact numbers you need.

What Is A Golf Driver Loft

So, if you want to take out the guesswork and get the EXACT recommendations for what loft would work best for your specific golf game, then make sure you schedule a custom fitting so that you can have all the information you need to be able to make the best decision possible.

Is your driver lofted suited to your swing speed? Unsurprisingly, many readers do not know the answer to this question, hurting your yardage potential off the tee. I know all about the impact of incorrect driver lofts and suffered from inaccuracy off the tee when I was younger.

Playing with the incorrect driver loft for your game can generate wayward shots, an inadequate launch, and unstable ball flight. I find that your swing speed provides the quickest indicator of the best driver loft for your game.

The best loft for a driver is predominantly determined by your swing speed. Typically slower swingers deliver the best consistency with weaker lofted drivers. On the other hand, higher swing speeds prefer the lower trajectory of decreased lofts.

If you find you are generating excess spin and lift with the 10.50-degree, consider a 9-degree driver. Alternatively, drivers with adjustable loft enable you to slightly strengthen the angle by 0.5-degrees to avoid going to the other extreme.

Beginners and seniors often find themselves in the slow swing speed category, where the best loft driver is weaker and higher launching. Slower swingers deliver driver clubhead speed under 83 mph and require a more open clubface to consistently get the ball airborne off the tee.

If you feel the 12.5-degree is too weak for your swing and generate excess spin and launch, think about the 10.5-degree driver. The lower lofted design will reduce your spin rate, helping you produce a lower launch for a consistent flight and optimal roll.

Conversely, if the 12.5-degree loft remains too strong for your swing, you have three options at your disposal. The first is to find a 12.5-degree driver with an adjustable hosel, that allows you to weaken the loft angle of the clubface in moderation.

The best loft for driver distance relies on your swing speed and launch ability. For example, golfers with moderate swing speed are best equipped to play a 10.5-degree driver, which encourages a neutral launch for the average player.

However, higher swing speed players may produce excess spin and launch with a 10.5-degree, resulting in a ballooned launch and a loss of carry distance and roll. Therefore, golfers in this category should stick to the decreased 9-degree loft.

Finally, slow swing speeds should steer clear of decreased lofted driver designs. The closed-face angle makes it difficult to consistently launch your golf ball. Therefore, when beginners ask what loft driver they should use, tell them nothing stronger than 12.5-degrees.

When your driver loft is too strong for your swing speed, you will produce inadequate carry, distance, and erratic dispersion. Firstly, slow swingers will generate restricted spin for a promising apex and gradual descent. Instead, your golf ball flies low, hits the turf early, and stops short of the intended landing zone.

In addition, the lower lofted driver creates an open clubface angle, which can produce severe slices if your clubface is open at impact when your tempo is off. I used an 8.5-degree driver for years, and although I cherished the controlled ball flight, my misses to the right were atrocious when my swing mechanics were shambolic.

Although higher lofted drivers aid most amateurs, they can induce challenges off the tee like launch, accuracy, and spin. Weaker lofts close the clubface angle, placing the driver in a draw bias to promote high launch and straighter ball flight.

Yes, in my experience, a higher lofted driver is better for most amateur golfers, as it is easier to consistently launch your golf ball from the tee. However, a higher loft driver can cause faster swingers to generate excess spin and a ballooned shot for a loss of roll and total distance.

Golfers with higher swing speeds should use a 9-degree driver or less. Conversely, golfers with moderate swing speeds are advised to play with a 10.5-degree driver. Finally, slow swing speeds are best equipped to strike a 12-degree or weaker driver.

That clears up the confusion surrounding the preferred driver loft for each player. As I explained, 8.5 or 9-degree drivers are strong lofted constructions built for high swing speeds, and the 10.5-degree works for moderate swing speeds. However, weaker loft drivers above 12 degrees are built for slower swingers.

Therefore, swinging a lower lofted driver can cause you to slice your golf shots and spend every hole in the right rough. Conversely, higher lofted drivers carry a draw bias, provoking snap hooks. Now that you have a broader knowledge of driver loft, which option is best for your swing?

The loft of any golf club, including a driver, is what determines how high a shot will go when the club head strikes the ball, according to GolfEngineering.net. Loft is the degree of the angle formed between a straight line from the ground and the club head, when the club head is sitting squarely on the ground.

Recreational golfers who have a swing speed of 110 to 120 mph should select a driver with a low loft of 8 degrees. According to PatRyanGolf.com, the average club head speed for a recreational male golfer is 84 mph, so most recreational golfers would seek a higher loft.

Because 8 degrees is a low loft, the trajectory of the ball will be low. Davis Love III uses an 8.5-degree driver. Besides club head speed, the angle at which the club head hits the ball is relevant when selecting loft, so a player whose downswing is particularly steep may select a lower-lofted driver than a player whose angle on the downswing is less severe.

According to PatRyanGolf.com, the average club head speed for a PGA Tour player is 108 mph, and most touring pros select drivers with a loft of 9.5 to 10.5. Tiger Woods, who has one the fastest swings on the PGA, uses a 10-degree driver, according to "GolfWeek." At the 2009 Memorial, 28 players used drivers with a loft of 10 degrees or higher. LPGA golfers, whose average swing speed is 96 mph, also fall into this category.

This loft would fit most recreational golfers, with the exception of low handicaps or those with very fast club head speed. This loft will make it easier to launch the ball off the tee, though golfers may give up some distance in exchange for accuracy.

In general, the slower the swing or club speed, the higher the loft of the driver to optimize both carry and roll. Most drivers come in degrees of loft from 8.5 to 16. Long Drive competitors have drivers that have only 4 to 7.5 degrees of loft. This is because at higher ball speeds, there is considerably more lift created which allows the ball to climb rapidly after impact. Let's assume for now that you have a 100 mph club speed and your driver launch is 10.0 degrees, as shown in the chart above. Your maximum total distance would be 278 yards. Now, if you could increase the loft to 12.4 degrees, your total distance would increase to 293 yards, an improvement of 15 yards.

Attack Angle - Driver Attack angle is the angle between the ground and clubhead at impact. We have been told for years to "hit down on the ball" with irons. Now we need to learn how to "hit up on the ball" with our driver. The reason is simple. A positive attack angle increases launch angle and reduces spin for a given cluhead speed thus creating more carry AND roll. In the example above, the 15 yard distance gain came by improving the attack angle, but that could also be accomplished by increasing the loft of the club from, say 9.0 degrees to 10.5. The same could happen if your launch angle was too high. By lowering your launch angle, you can actually increase the carry distance of your driver. If you have ever been out watering the lawn with a garden hose, you know that you can reach that farthest spot in the corner of your yard if you have just the right launch angle! Same thing with your driver. By optimizing the loft on your driver, you will maximize both the carry distance AND the rollout of your drives. Learn How To Change Your Angle of Attack Here...

Impact Location If you have a negative attack angle, you MAY be launching the ball too high if you are hitting the ball off the top of the face. Because of the design of the driver face, the actual loft at the top of the face is about 1.5 degrees higher that on a center hit. Conversely, even if you have a positive attack angle, you may be hitting the ball too low if you are hitting off the bottom of the club face. Check these statistics with a qualified fitter so you know for sure your attack angle and impact position on the club face. Correcting this can be as simple as a change in tee height and/or ball position but it could also mean a change in shaft to reduce or improve forward lean at impact.

The beauty of today's modern drivers is that you can usually adjust your driver loft up or down by 1 to 2 degrees. So when you are getting fit for your next driver, you need to know the actual loft of your driver, your club speed, launch angle and attack angle. If you assume that you cannot change your attack angle (we will show you how to do that in the next segment), you need to optimize the effective loft of your driver to give you the best carry and rollout. The image below shows the TrackMan Optimizer which we use to help guide our golfers to the best driver loft. In this case, this customer is leaving 20 yards of distance on the course because he is launching the ball too high. 041b061a72