I understand the reason for a higher loft on a driver,etc,but the lofts are getting out of hand.Orlimar has a 15.5* 460cc driver and I`ve heard of some with 13*lofts also.Question:Doesn`t this make a driver just a big -headed three wood?Comments?
Well yea but some people need all the help they can get and 3 woods are small so why not have something 460 degrees, but be 15 degrees and go far for them...Also, they could get a low launching shaft, so you would have less spin, because its such a high loft, but not a balloon ball......it just depends on how you launch the ball....if you launch it 11 degrees with a 16 degree driver, than that is perfect....everyone needs something different!
If your SS is 80mph with a driver, I'm sure tech. like this isn't out of hand. Now whether or not people are going to suck up the pride or not in order to get the equipment that best suits their game or not is a different story.
As Nikerep posted, it all depends on what works best for each golfer. You say a 15* driver is crazy, I say a 15* driver is great for some golfers. I built my wife a 15* driver(400CC), and she couldn't be happier. She's hitting her tee shots longer and straighter than she ever did before. She used to hate hitting driver, now it's the best club in her bag. Her swing speed tops out at 80 on a good day, but it's not unusual for her to hit some tee shots that roll out to around 200 yards. A high loft driver may not be the best choice for you, but it sure was for my wife. And I have two 12* and one 11.5* driver, and I too hit them longer and straighter than any of my lower loft driver. And my swing speed was measured at 112 last week, so the high loft drivers aren't just for the slow swingers out there. Truth is, unless the ball starts to balloon on you, the higher the launch angle the better, assuming the backspin rate isn't too high. And if the ball doesn't balloon, good bet the backspin rate wasn't too high. And most of the new golf balls are made to spin less off the driver, so it's easy to have too little backspin, and have the ball fall out of the sky too soon, and you loose a lot of distance if that happens.
As Nikerep posted, it all depends on what works best for each golfer. You say a 15* driver is crazy, I say a 15* driver is great for some golfers. I built my wife a 15* driver(400CC), and she couldn't be happier. She's hitting her tee shots longer and straighter than she ever did before. She used to hate hitting driver, now it's the best club in her bag. Her swing speed tops out at 80 on a good day, but it's not unusual for her to hit some tee shots that roll out to around 200 yards. A high loft driver may not be the best choice for you, but it sure was for my wife. And I have two 12* and one 11.5* driver, and I too hit them longer and straighter than any of my lower loft driver. And my swing speed was measured at 112 last week, so the high loft drivers aren't just for the slow swingers out there. Truth is, unless the ball starts to balloon on you, the higher the launch angle the better, assuming the backspin rate isn't too high. And if the ball doesn't balloon, good bet the backspin rate wasn't too high. And most of the new golf balls are made to spin less off the driver, so it's easy to have too little backspin, and have the ball fall out of the sky too soon, and you loose a lot of distance if that happens.
^I may have worded my idea wrong.I believe in the idea of a higher loft for slower ss,I myself are among the slower swingers,I was thinking more of the manufactures pushing higher and higher lofts to sell more drivers at 400+ then a less expensive 3woods.Somewhere there has to be a limit to be reached in loft effectiveness to the lower ss.Where would that limit be,somewhere in the 20`s,or has it been reached already in the mid-teens?
^I may have worded my idea wrong.I believe in the idea of a higher loft for slower ss,I myself are among the slower swingers,I was thinking more of the manufactures pushing higher and higher lofts to sell more drivers at 400+ then a less expensive 3woods.Somewhere there has to be a limit to be reached in loft effectiveness to the lower ss.Where would that limit be,somewhere in the 20`s,or has it been reached already in the mid-teens?
Golfsmith did a robot test a few years ago, with 2 drivers, one a 10.5*, the other 15*. They tested with swing speeds from 60 to 90 MPH. That pretty much covers 90 percent of golfers out there. What they found was that the slower the MPH, the more you gained with the 15* driver, up to around 25 yards if I remember correctly. As you got closer to 90 MPH, you still gained distance, just not as much. At 90, you still gained about 7 yards. Unfortunately, they only tested a 10.5* and a 15*. I say that because I gained a good 25 yards when I went from a 10.5* to a 12* driver, and I can reach 110 MPH. That would tend to indicate the ideal loft might be somewhere between 10.5 and 15. I'm thinking closer to 12* or so. What you need to do is get on a launch monitor and see what your launch angle is, and what the backspin is. That's the only way to find out what loft and shaft flex you need for maximum distance.
Golfsmith did a robot test a few years ago, with 2 drivers, one a 10.5*, the other 15*. They tested with swing speeds from 60 to 90 MPH. That pretty much covers 90 percent of golfers out there. What they found was that the slower the MPH, the more you gained with the 15* driver, up to around 25 yards if I remember correctly. As you got closer to 90 MPH, you still gained distance, just not as much. At 90, you still gained about 7 yards. Unfortunately, they only tested a 10.5* and a 15*. I say that because I gained a good 25 yards when I went from a 10.5* to a 12* driver, and I can reach 110 MPH. That would tend to indicate the ideal loft might be somewhere between 10.5 and 15. I'm thinking closer to 12* or so. What you need to do is get on a launch monitor and see what your launch angle is, and what the backspin is. That's the only way to find out what loft and shaft flex you need for maximum distance.
I was doing this out of curiousity mainly,but now I wonder if I should up-grade my driver.I have a Adams 363 10.5* and hit it 190-210 with a fade that sometimes gets muscles(slices at the last 20-30 yrds).My ss is 80-85, I guess, and I do feel comfortable with it and the results I get.I really can`t see the cost factor in getting new,but a few extra yrds would be nice for my ego.
November 13th, 2006, 11:35 PM
loft?
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