Why does Phil use a 9.5 driver?

Hi,

Phil is definately my favorite player, and I don't watch golf if he isn't competing (well maybe to see Tiger, and I like Rory too). Who wants to watch Luke Donald hit 270 every fairway and then same approach shot, hole after hole? but I notice Phil isn't hitting the ball as far as he was 1 or 2 years ago. What is the cause of this? I know he is using a 9.5 lofted driver if that might be partly why. I know one point he used a 5.9 driver. Is there more control with 9.5 degrees loft or is phil deciding to back it down a bit?

I am hitting a 910 D2 8.75 loft and I seem to hit it farther even on the fly than when it is set to 9.5. loft (Aldila RIP stiff 45")

I always try to model my game after Phil's and it is just a lot more fun that way, getting creative with shots.

Obviously, to hit more fairways. Phil has distance to burn. Sacrificing a little for consistency isn't a bad thing.

I'm sure he has been on a launch monitor with the people at Calloway, and together they found that 9.5° was a solid medium ground between distance and accuracy. With all of the moving parts in Phil's swing, static loft doesn't really mean a whole lot.

While I too am a Phil fan ...there's no need to knock Luke Donald's excellent game...indeed, .it is Luke's game that I strive for ...lacking distance off the tee yet hitting every fairway I rely entirely on my shortgame to beat guys who can hit it literally 270-300 yards...ah...but I can hit my putter smack dab into the hole before they can and thus I win more often than not ...while they go home with a whole bunch of GPS induced fantasies about how great they hit the ball today   LOL

as Bobby Jones said: Golf is about turning 4 shots into 3.

and a scorecard doesnt give a hoot about how you do it....IMO recreational golfers like most of us would be better served by attempting to play more like Luke Donald....or those on the LPGA Tour who , like us rely heavily on hybrids and short game...

Love that haha. "GPS induced fantasies". I can picture exactly what you're talking about, macho guys damn near getting chubbies over their 310 yard bomb they smashed, but forgetting the 6 they put up on the same hole.

I am also a huge Phil fan, have for many many years now.

He is getting old also, he's like 43 now. So I don't think him losing distance is any bid deal at all.

Phil has gotten off to a wonderful start this year. He should have won the Masters.

I also like watching exciting players, the way Phil plays the game. Did you see that shot at the Byron Nelson, with the utiility wood under the tree from 100 yds? That was classic Phil.

Now players like Jason Duffner (is he really alive?) is like watching grass grow. LOL

I mistaked Duffner's quitness for a sense of arrogance at first. Like he was "too cool" to show emotion. Now, after learning a bit more about him, he's just a quite freakin dude. Definitely not the most exciting, but his waggle (and swing) sure are rhythmic and pretty to watch.

This post has inspired me to buy a chipper.

Can`t answer the question, but he is 88th in total driving this year compared to 107th to 129th the previous 5.  Looks like he is about 8 yards shorter, but hitting roughly 8% more fairways compared to the previous 3 years.

When I went to a practice round at Augusta 2 years ago, one thing that surprised me was how high most of the guys hit their driver.

My guess would be that the launch monitor numbers say it's a good thing. What else?

Do you think that if you walked up to him and said "Hey Phil.... I notice you aren't hitting it as far as you did. Have you thought about going to a lower loft driver?" he'd say "Hey!!!!!Thanks!! Great idea!! I never considered that!!!!"

This is so true.

People talk about "penetrating" and "boring" trajectories. I think they think it sounds cool.

A flight that doesn't balloon is not a "boring" trajectory.

The ball flight off the driver has totally changed since the days of woodedn drivers and older balls. Big hitters now get the ball up in the air immediately.

The idea is high launch low spin. I tee it really high and tree to keep the head behind and sweep up more. I hit a high ball in general because I want to, when there is a bunker 270 out, I have my flight optimized for maximum carry, I could carry it 1/2 times. But yeah, I see how he would change to 9.5 for that reason. I am going to keep my driver how it is and if anything go to a lower loft, maybe get a 910D2 head with 8.5 loft and then set it to 7.75 eventually. I don't know my CHS but I carry the ball around 265 average here at 4500 feet I play with Calaway Hex Black (awesome ball)

I like Phil a lot too. Other than his driving, he has an amazing game. I also like the fact he seems to be relaxed and has a lot of fun out there, even the way he interacts with the fans. His driving is terrible though. He consistently ranks near the bottom in accuracy. I read where he was driving Butch Harmon nuts for a long while because he refused to give up his 6° driver. Phil only hits around 50-55% of his fairways. But the rest of his game is incredible where he can get away with it. PGA golf is all about the long ball ever since Tiger dominated 10-12 years ago. By that I mean length over accuracy and a great short game to make up for it. 10-12 years ago there were around 75 PGA players who hit 70% or better of their fairways. That number has dropped to where there's only around 25 golfers who do that now. The majority of golfers on tour don't have a consistently great short game. But 1 or 2 guys get it together for a tournament and then they don't win again for a couple of years. That's what Luke Donald faces every week. He's the most consistent golfer on tour, ranked #1 or close to it all the time. But he doesn't get the wins you would think he should be getting. That's because it's kind of like Luke is playing against the rest of the field, where there's someone who comes out of the pack to put it together for that tournament, the short game to go with the long game, then they slip back into the pack and they don't win again for a long, long time. I agree with the others who say if you're going to copy someone's game from the tour, it should be Luke's. Consistency and accuracy is what every amateur should strive for. On tour, in my opinion, the reason there's no one dominating like there used to be isn't due to parity, it's that almost all the golfers play the "Rip it, go find it and rip it again" type of game. That style of play leads to inconsistency and you can't dominate while being inconsistent. Tiger was able to do it before, but the rest of the PGA has finally caught up with him, playing his type of game. And Tiger doesn't have the consistently great short game anymore. He won at Bay Hill by 5 strokes, he had the short game, then he dropped back into the pack after that.

I think you are spot on.

The way the $ and exemptions are set up, it is better to win once and miss 20 straight cuts rather than make it to the weekend and finish 40th every week.  1 Top 5 equals about ten 30ths, so better to have a game that can give you a chance to win when you are hot even it it means bombing out when you are not.  Last year, William McGirt was 71st in scoring and 83rd in Fed Ex Standings (where points are less slanted towards winning than the $ breakdown), but only 141st in money meaning he had to go back to q school (where he finished 13th to keep his card).

Some one who wants to shoot a low score? I like Phil because I'm a fellow lefty but outside of his short game I don't try to model too much after him. If you notice when he is hitting it right down the middle and the same boring approach shots is usually when he wins. His creativeness is great too watch but it generally doesn't translate to an amateur golfer or better yet most pro's would struggle with some of the shots he hits. If you really want to make the game harder to hit creative shots why not get a 7* 47 inch driver that way you would hit bombs but have to get creative on the second shot?

Doesn't Phil have a negative angle of attack at impact with his driver, giving him less effective loft at impact?