2 Driver Fitting Questions.

[ChetlovesMer]

I was have a discussion with a golf buddy yesterday and he told me two things I've never heard before. I didn't challenge him, but I wonder if these are true. 

Can any of you confirm these two statements about adjustable drivers:

1 - If you decrease the loft on a driver from let's say from 10.5 degrees to 9 degrees the driver will end up more upright. (AKA draw biased). If you adjust it from 10.5 to 12 degrees it will end up more flat. (AKA fade biased)

2 - If you have 2 adjustable drivers one is 10.5 +/- 1.5 degrees and one is 9 +/- 1.5 degrees. If you set them both to 9 degrees the one that adjusted down from 10.5 degrees will produce more spin. 

Now, I thought this might be something that would be brand specific, but my buddy told me that this was true across all brands. The first statement kinda seems possibly true. The second one I can't wrap my head around. So, if its true could you explain it please? In either case I would think the difference would be incredibly minimal. 

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I was have a discussion with a golf buddy yesterday and he told me two things I've never heard before. I didn't challenge him, but I wonder if these are true. 

Can any of you confirm these two statements about adjustable drivers:

1 - If you decrease the loft on a driver from let's say from 10.5 degrees to 9 degrees the driver will end up more upright. (AKA draw biased). If you adjust it from 10.5 to 12 degrees it will end up more flat. (AKA fade biased)

2 - If you have 2 adjustable drivers one is 10.5 +/- 1.5 degrees and one is 9 +/- 1.5 degrees. If you set them both to 9 degrees the one that adjusted down from 10.5 degrees will produce more spin. 

Now, I thought this might be something that would be brand specific, but my buddy told me that this was true across all brands. The first statement kinda seems possibly true. The second one I can't wrap my head around. So, if its true could you explain it please? In either case I would think the difference would be incredibly minimal. 

On number 1, yes slightly, but because you will set up with the face aligned, it will be just a little flat or steep. The loft will be the new loft. It won’t be open or closed because you adjust the face angle to target with your set up.

On 2, it depends on where the weight is the the two drivers. If the face angle is the same, and dynamic loft is the same at impact, then the CoG is what may contribute to differences in the spin.

This thread went into a lot of detail.

 

[Adam C]

If you haven't watched this video before, I would recommend it for you and your friend. Link at bottom.

As far as the answer to your 2 questions,

1) You friend is equally wrong and right. If you are talking about a Taylormade driver, then any change you make to the hosel will increase the lie angle. Doesn't matter if you loft up or down. If you are talking about a Ping, then its the opposite and any change to the hosel will flatten the lie. Again doesn't matter whether you loft up or down.

You can't make a blanket statement about adjustable hosels because it will depend on the starting point for that particular brand.

2) This statement is more correct, but it really comes down to impact position on the face making the biggest difference. Increasing the loft of the head, drops the CG slightly and vise versa for decreasing the loft. The lower CG will launch the ball higher but will drop the spin slightly. Again when lowering the loft and thereby raising the CG, the launch angle would decrease and the spin would increase (assuming you make center face contact with both, which may not happen since the hosel change also moves the face slightly). However the amount that any of this changes anything is pretty tiny as evident from the fact that most tour pros will drop the loft on a driver because it makes the face fall more open and that is way more important than some very small change in launch and spin.

Anyway, here is the video about adjustable hosels.

 

[ChetlovesMer]

2 hours ago, Adam C said:

If you haven't watched this video before, I would recommend it for you and your friend. Link at bottom.

As far as the answer to your 2 questions,

1) You friend is equally wrong and right. If you are talking about a Taylormade driver, then any change you make to the hosel will increase the lie angle. Doesn't matter if you loft up or down. If you are talking about a Ping, then its the opposite and any change to the hosel will flatten the lie. Again doesn't matter whether you loft up or down.

You can't make a blanket statement about adjustable hosels because it will depend on the starting point for that particular brand.

2) This statement is more correct, but it really comes down to impact position on the face making the biggest difference. Increasing the loft of the head, drops the CG slightly and vise versa for decreasing the loft. The lower CG will launch the ball higher but will drop the spin slightly. Again when lowering the loft and thereby raising the CG, the launch angle would decrease and the spin would increase (assuming you make center face contact with both, which may not happen since the hosel change also moves the face slightly). However the amount that any of this changes anything is pretty tiny as evident from the fact that most tour pros will drop the loft on a driver because it makes the face fall more open and that is way more important than some very small change in launch and spin.

Anyway, here is the video about adjustable hosels.

 

Wow, Thanks. I feel like I just went to a high school physics class.