Maximizing Distance

[MLPx]

Hello, I have been thinking about maximizing distance off my 3 wood in both departments of carry and roll. I would say that I am already hitting it as far as I possibly could, aggressive hip turn, lag and all that good stuff. Then I watched Playing Lessons (w/ Luke D) and he said this about hitting drives farther "hit more up on the ball to give it more carry and less spin..." So that got me thinking... If lower lofted clubs have the ability to put more spin on the ball, what if I lowered the loft on my R11s 3-wood from 15.5 to 14 which would theoretically give it more spin. Also, in conjunction with what Luke D said, hitting more up on the ball reduces spin. So, if I adjusted my spine angle to get a more positive attack angle and hit a draw, would that then produce a high-bomb draw whereby I get maximum carry at a nice ball flight(without ballooning from back spin) and roll out (due to the forward roll placed by the draw). Just some background... I'm 15, 65kg and about 1.74m tall. The current setup on my 3 woods is a R11s (non-TP) with a Project X 6.0. I average out at about 220m(carry+rollout). Thanks in advance for your thoughts, MLP

[MS256]

In general:

The more loft a club has the more spin it will produce. The more positive the AOA the less spin it will produce.

Luke (like all of the rest of us) wanted to hit up on the ball to reduce the spin but still have a higher launch angle to carry farther. He could achieve the same launch angle with a higher lofted club and the same AOA but it would produce more spin than he would want.

Spin is also not necessarily always a bad thing. People with lower club head speeds need some spin to keep the ball in the air and give them more carry distance. Back spin also reduces side spin. That's why it's harder to hit a hook or a slice with a short iron. What we want is just the right spin rate and launch angle for our club head speed.

The problem with swinging up too much with a 3 wood is that we hit that club out of the fairway (although off of a tee most of us swing up with it more than off of the fairway and hit it farther).

With a shot off of the fairway there is a point of diminishing returns on lowering the loft. Too much loft and the ball will have too high a launch angle and too much spin for maximum distance. Too low a loft and the ball will have too low a launch angle (and sometimes spin) for maximum distance. People with very high club head speeds can get away with lower lofted 3 woods, if distance is all they care about. People with very low club head speeds are better off to not even carry a 3 wood and would get more distance with a 5 wood, unless they play somewhere that rolls out a lot.

Since most people want their fairway woods to be for controlled shots and have a chance to hold the greens total distance is not the major factor when they choose a loft for a 3 wood. They are looking for the best of both worlds. A club that will give them maximum carry distance combined with a rollout they can control. If total distance was all they were looking for all of the pros would be using 12 degree 3 woods.

I used to have a 13 degree 3 wood that was much longer than the 15 degree I have now. I made a lot of eagles with that club but not enough to make up for the double and triple bogeys because of no control coming into a green so hot and being a little more likely to hook.

[MLPx]

Well my issue is that I don't have much roll out. The carry is literally about 220m and then the ball just sits there. How do I get more forward rollout

[tomvk77]

in that case lower the loft might help. but by doing that you close your club face also.

wat also can help is to get a little bit stiffer shaft, this should lower the flight and you get some roll on the ball.

[MLPx]

Could you recommend a stiffer shaft? I like the PX6.0 I'm using now, 6.5 just doesn't work for me