Rocketballz face angle?

[gordo865]

Lower opens the face. Higher closes it.

[KrazyTrain18]

The RBZ line seems to be a hit ! At my home course, this seems to be the most popular club I see members with ! Still behind the Burner though, those are everywhere !

[BMac0223]

I've got the Rocketballz 9 and from my experience fooling around with it the higher the loft the more the ball will leak to the right(I'm a righty).  I have it set up 9.75 and it pretty much totally straightened out my draw.  The lower the loft, the more the draw comes out.  I am coming off a R9 460 and am finding it harder to work the ball with the RBZ, but it's so damn straight I can't complain at all.

[G Man]

Ok...You guys have me really confused. The guy set me up with my club (9.5 RBZ Stiff) and has the club set at lower. In the simulator I was hitting a nice draw very consistently. I get to the range and was hitting some straight and some were fading a bit.

Then I play 2 rounds with it on the course and never saw the left side of the fairway... almost every shot had a left to right ball flight. (Fade)

Gordo says that "lower" will open the face and to me that means to me a fade for a righty.

Then, BMac says that setting it higher will help him leak it to the right a little?

Some others on this blog think that this club is the next best thing to slicing bread...

The poor graphics supplied with the club explain it in flight control and the RBZ book says "lower" goes right with a lower trajectory and setting it "higher" will produce a higher flight and cause the ball to travel  down the left side of fairway.

Can anyone explain it more technically?

[flip4000]

The book is correct, by setting it to lower you are opening the face causing more a fade, where higher will promote more of a draw.

i know its the opposite of what u might typically think of when looking at the manipulation of a club face given that typically opening a club face would promote higher trajectory and a lower trajectory would be produced by closing the face however, this is how this club is adjusted. unfortunately with my limited knowledge that's as technical as i can get ha ha

[gordo865]

Yes please let there be no ambiguity about this. Lowering the loft with the Taylormade hosel system with open it and raising the loft will close it. Anyone who tells you they're getting results that say otherwise probably are causing those results with a change in their swing. If you look at the club at address and then change the loft and view the club at address again you will find that the club will look consistent with the changes that I have described.

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by gordo865

Yes please let there be no ambiguity about this. Lowering the loft with the Taylormade hosel system with open it and raising the loft will close it. Anyone who tells you they're getting results that say otherwise probably are causing those results with a change in their swing. If you look at the club at address and then change the loft and view the club at address again you will find that the club will look consistent with the changes that I have described.

^^^^This.

The image below is for the Rescue 11 FCT, but I "think" it's the same for the RBZ.  At the very least, you will be able to see the affects raising and lowering the loft will have on the face angle.

Also note that changing the FCT will also change the lie angle.

And just to be sure, lowering the loft would be like subtracting loft; lowering by 1° would be going from 10 ° to 9 ° (-1 °) . Raising the loft is going from 9 ° to 10 ° (+1 °) .

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by G Man

The poor graphics supplied with the club explain it in flight control and the RBZ book says "lower" goes right with a lower trajectory and setting it "higher" will produce a higher flight and cause the ball to travel  down the left side of fairway.

Can anyone explain it more technically?

As seen in the graph above, "lower" will: lower the loft (flatter face, closer to vertical, lower launch angle.), and the "open" face (otherwise known as "slice face") will start the ball flight to the right.

"Higher" will: raise the loft (higher launch angle), and close the face (otherwise known as "hook face") which helps slicers because it should help the face come back to square with the path at impact .

A couple of tidbits from Tom Wishon regarding face angle:

Driver Face Angle

Few drivers sold off the shelf offer options in the face angle to reduce the golfer’s tendency to slice or hook the ball.  There is no better way to reduce a slice than to fit the golfer with a more closed face angle in the driver/fairway woods.  For more severe slices, the golfer can be fit with a driver head with both a closed face and an offset hosel design.  The rule of thumb for face angle change?   At a carry distance of 200 yards, each one degree more closed the face angle is than the golfer’s current face angle represents a reduction in the slice of about 4 to 5 yards.

[X-Factor]

the taylormade website has a section for the rbz driver settings where u can choose the setting and the diagram will show the flight trajectory

[G Man]

Thanks Gentlemen !

I think I get it now... You all have been very helpful.

The fitting I received was a bit goofy though... I absolutely couldn't cut a ball with this club. So the guy at the "Golf Store" set it to lower and then on the simulator they went a little more down the middle (everything else was a draw). Then, on the course everything faded when playing with it at lower.

I have now set it to normal and can't wait to have the higher draw ball flight....

Interestingly enough, I'm an 8 handicap and shot 77 from the right side of the fairways/right rough.

We'll see what the left side plays like this weekend??

[JF77]

Really? Every touring pro plays with clubs that are specifically tuned for their swing...and many winning pros play one ball flight (fade or draw) -- struggling to hit the other flight consistently/reliably. Monty and several others come to mind

[tiger187126]

Originally Posted by KrazyTrain18

The RBZ line seems to be a hit ! At my home course, this seems to be the most popular club I see members with ! Still behind the Burner though, those are everywhere !

there was a guy at the range next to me hitting a burner 2.0 and he saw my rocketballz and asked to give it a swing so i let him try a couple. his second shot he hit out towards the toe some and he just laughed and called it "silly long."

[Jimbo Slice]

Originally Posted by aquin13

I am also lefty and it appears to me that when i adjust the RBZ Driver to -1.5 (Lower) it closes the club face which I would think would may help my slice...or am I off here and changing it to +1.5 would close the face.

Put the club in the neutral position and adjust your swing. Thank me later lol.

I had an adjustable driver and read all about it. There is a vicious cycle when adjusting clubs. Check out this Video .

[jcard71]

There is nothing wrong with adjusting the face angle to get the desired ball flight. Im a 4 and having it set to 11.25 degrees. If I was a 27 handicap I would adjust the hell out of it!

[jcard71]

Really? Every touring pro plays with clubs that are specifically tuned for their swing...and many winning pros play one ball flight (fade or draw) -- struggling to hit the other flight consistently/reliably. Monty and several others come to mind

Exactly!

[Jimbo Slice]

Originally Posted by jcard71

There is nothing wrong with adjusting the face angle to get the desired ball flight. Im a 4 and having it set to 11.25 degrees. If I was a 27 handicap I would adjust the hell out of it!

I was talking to aquin, but you are correct. Did you actually watch the video, it's pretty good. It kind of suggested as a high handicapper not to adjust it, and its much more relivent for a low handicapper to adjust it.

[jcard71]

I'm sorry, wasn't trying to be a jerk, but my post came out that way. I understand where the video is coming from but IMO if I was a high handicapper and If I could make the game more enjoyable with a couple clicks, I would.

[Jimbo Slice]

Originally Posted by jcard71

I'm sorry, wasn't trying to be a jerk, but my post came out that way.

I understand where the video is coming from but IMO if I was a high handicapper and If I could make the game more enjoyable with a couple clicks, I would.

You are for sure correct, I believe in Fun first hands down. What ever gives you more pleasure out of the game, do it.

I read the post and accidentally built up a misconception that you and the other guy with the RBZ where high handicappers, that was my bad. I do think its a good idea for a higher handicapper to consider leaving his or her adjustable driver in the neutral position though.