9 or 10.5?

fsmullet · March 10, 2009

I've always heard that shorter hitters get more benefit from more loft. I've been hitting a regular flex TM 540 and hit it well for me. Last weekend, to my surprise, I spotted a demo '08 Cobra LD in my pro shop. I grabbed her and test drove it on the course. All I can say is WOW! That is one long, straight, forgiving, driver. I'd say 20-30 longer than the 540(230-250 plus).

Heres the question. The demo is a 9 degree, regular flex. I've always been a high ball hitter but I keep this club pretty low. I can still make the carry over a 200 yard bunker, but its not by a ton. Of course there is a ton of roll out. I don't have the benefit(being a lefty) of trying the 10, to see if it work as well, or better, so it'll be a "what if".

Info. My average ball speed is 130-140 and a good drive travels 250.

opinions from the peanut gallery?

**Dub** · March 10, 2009

20-30 yards longer than your current driver
200 yard carry with plenty of roll out
you are normally a high ball hitter but this one is going low

I think it'd be worth a try. Sounds like you are a prime candidate for a tad higher launch.

My father just went to one of the Cobra '08 models and is absolutely loving it. He's killing it. He said he's getting simular length benefits over his G5 which I thought he hit well. He's gonna have to give me some strokes when we play next.

**neudi** · March 10, 2009

Stick with your old driver. I'm guessing you are not getting 30 yards extra on EVERY single hit, just on a few. So you are probably averaging 10-15 extra yards. Is that worth it when it is wet and you fly your old driver a lot longer or when you need that extra carry to carry a bunker? Go to your local golf galaxy and grab a few drivers and hit them in the simulator. Probably your best idea to test new clubs with different shafts. :)

**Hidalgo** · March 10, 2009

The rules of club selection are like all other rules....they're made to be broken and definitely have exceptions.

Drivers are WAY harder to fit in relation to swing speed and ball speed than irons. In my experiences, the only way to truly fit a driver is with a launch monitor or actual course experimentation. I have put 9* drivers in the hands of players who drove the ball 210-220...simply because it was the "best of the available evils" for their game. Several things effect shaft choice besides swing speed. Tempo, angle of approach, and desired trajectory also are huge factors. Driver lofts are also effected by these variables. IMO, 9* isn't that bad of a choice if you can CONTROL the ball with the club. As lofts decrease , side spin usually increases . A driver with too little loft can be hard to control for the average player.

To answer your question: Don't worry as much about the number on the sole of the club, but rather about the uncontrollably of the club and the manner in which it delivers the ball down the fairway. Does it obviously hit and stop?....or hit and run? Run is desirable. But does the lower trajectory still have enough carry to get you past most of the trouble that you'll encounter? If not...can you control the ball enough to play around the trouble?

This isn't rocket science, and doesn't have definite variables. Find the club that gives YOU what you want. To heck with the rules and "book readings" that you can find.

fsmullet · March 10, 2009

I haven't found a store near me that has a decent sampling of lefty demos. Is there such a thing?

**earn_h** · March 10, 2009

Can you find a 9.5?

***iacas*** · March 10, 2009

A few general things. With the ball speed you cited, you're gonna see 250 once in a great while, and only on a really perfect hit. 140 and a perfect smash factor is a swing speed of only 93 MPH. 130 and perfect SF is a swing speed of 87 MPH. So I think there may be a little self-deception going on (or if your yardages are right, your launch monitor was off).

All that said (and it's kind of irrelevant to what I'm about to say): pros and amateurs alike benefit from more carry. Give a pro a choice between a ball that goes 280 in the air and rolls five yards or one that goes 270 and rolls 30 yards and they'll almost always give up the extra 15 for the accuracy of the 285-yard tee shot.

Same applies to a lot of amateurs. You can carry bunkers with loft, your ball won't run through the corners of doglegs, etc.

**youngskip40** · March 10, 2009

Of course, the answer to most questions is to hit a good amount of balls, preferrably outside with the clubs you are debating between.

But, my opinion, I'd say stick with the 10.5 (you never said it, but I'm assuming that's what your current driver is). Unless you play the majority of your golf in Scotland or on wind-swept courses, a high ball is not a bad thing.

50 yards of roll is nice on a dead straight fairway, but you can't always count on that roll, nor would you want 50 yards of roll on a dogleg or island fairway when your nice effort of landing the ball in the dead center of the fairway is spoiled when it runs through the fairway and into who-knows-what.

On the other side of things, if you carry the ball 200 into the rough, you're surely not going to get any roll then.

Go for the one that carries 230 and rolls 20 yards instead.

fsmullet · March 10, 2009

A few general things. With the ball speed you cited, you're gonna see 250 once in a great while, and only on a really perfect hit. 140 and a perfect smash factor is a swing speed of only 93 MPH. 130 and perfect SF is a swing speed of 87 MPH. So I think there may be a little self-deception going on (or if your yardages are right, your launch monitor was off).

I was in flip flops, with a not-stretched back. I'd say it may have been of a bit. My good drives are in the 250- range. My average is around 230 I'd guess.

I guess my problem is, that I'm prone to a high ball flight anyway, maybe I'm hitting the 9, the way most people would hit a 10.5??

**youngskip40** · March 10, 2009

I was in flip flops, with a not-stretched back. I'd say it may have been of a bit. My good drives are in the 250- range. My average is around 230 I'd guess.

Again, high ball flight + American golf courses = not a bad thing. Also, the word "high" is subjective. Hitting the ball "high" to one golfer might be a knockdown shot for another. So it's hard for us to give good advice based solely on the word high. One thing that is not subjective is that if you count on getting 30-50 yards of roll on your drives every time, you are not going to find much consistency in the distances of your drives from course to course, or even hole to hole.

golfswede · March 31, 2009

If you've got a 9 degree driver and you hit the ball very short i think you should buy a 10 degrre driver instead. Because if you get more loft on your driver you can get a higher ball flight, but you must see which shaft you are going to use because if you've got to much flex the ball is going to fly very high. So I think that you should have a 10 degree driver and a midle stiff shaft. One tip for you is that you should test drivers with your golfpro.

**alcorn** · March 31, 2009

Ahigh ball flight + American golf courses = not a bad thing.

Exactly, I've all over the US and I'm a high ball hitter. I can also hit fairway the majority of the time. I'll second the guy who said go to golf galaxy and try a few different drivers, heck for 40 or 50 bucks you get fitted for the launch angle and shaft. Thats what I'd do.

Jonny Cab · March 31, 2009

I'd get fitted, but if you don't have time, I'd go with higher launch...

**anthonykim3** · March 31, 2009

I haven't found a store near me that has a decent sampling of lefty demos. Is there such a thing?

golftown kitchner

**allin** · March 31, 2009

One thing to consider is that if you are on the border between regular and stiff your classic choices are based on these starting points. If you hit the ball straight with a medium or slow tempo, a regular shaft with lower loft is often the longest choice. If you are not straight or have a quick tempo a stiff with higher loft may actually be longer. Just where you are on within this range may be something to consider. Maybe the shaft in the driver you liked just fit your swing and a similar shaft with a little bit more loft would be perfect. Don't assume it was just the loft. Flex, bend profile, shaft weight etc. all influence results.

**jrm1493** · April 1, 2009

I think you just need to try some different drivers out at the same time (so variables are equal) at a range or launch monitor

I used to have a regular shaft 10° driver now have a stiff 8.5° and I hit the 8.5 higher... I think it is because I'm able to move the ball further forward in my stance with the new club without worrying as much about hitting a big hook, which has effectively increased my loft (hitting more up on the ball). I used to hit a lot of low pull hooks with the old club.

Given my old ball flight I thought I would get an 11 or 12 degree driver but when I tried some out I found out what I actually hit best was a low loft driver with a stiffer shaft. I have never had an issue with a slice like most high handicappers (except for the odd one every once in a while) so my swing might be a little unusual, but it just shows you how everyone is different.

**gmanuel25** · April 6, 2009

Went for a driver fitting this weekend. Long story short, proper shaft was far more important than head loft.

**Petden** · April 6, 2009

Lets try and set some parameters for high. If the ball carries 255 yards and rolls out to 270, would you consider that a higher ball flight?

I think my drives are somewhat high, they usually have around 10-15 yards of roll with ~250 carry.

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9 or 10.5?

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