The Physics of Golf: What's the Ideal Loft to Hit the Ball Farthest? (Forbes Magazine)

[newtogolf]

I agree. Not sure why you guys are jumping me though....is this new guy initiation time????lolll

A ball with minimal spin will travel further than a ball with a lot of spin.

New or old, you just can't throw statements out there as fact and not back them up.

Physics must be different in WA than the rest of the world.  Define minimal spin, and type of spin.

Word of advice - Don't believe everything Taylor Made tells you or any other golf company for that matter - marketing <> truth and certainly not science.

[iacas]

A ball with minimal spin will travel further than a ball with a lot of spin.

A ball with 1000 RPM of spin will go shorter in almost all real world situations than a ball with 2500 RPM spin.

It's not newbie initiation - just please be careful with the advice you give out, to make sure it's not so general that it can be shown easily to be false. For every ball speed there's an optimal launch and spin. More or less spin will result in loss of distance.

BTW this is fun to play with: http://www.flightscope.com/index.php/Technology-Explained/trajectory-optimizer.html .

[Spitfisher]

New or old, you just can't throw statements out there as fact and not back them up. Physics must be different in WA than the rest of the world.  Define minimal spin, and type of spin. Word of advice - Don't believe everything Taylor Made tells you or any other golf company for that matter - marketing <> truth and certainly not science.

And NEWTOGOLF you too should not:-O make statements of the kind. When it comes to spin and distance and statements relating to launch & carry by manufactures they are not just making statements or pulling them out of the air ( no pun intended) Taylor made or any of the manufactures making such claims are reading straight off of 3 rd party launch monitors under laboratory like test conditions. Flights scope and trackman. It is total lack of judgement and knowledge to assume otherwise. Yes they are in business to make money and to sell clubs, but they are not in lying business to consumers. Too low of spin ( in relation to club head and ball speed) will result in the ball hitting its apex and soon after that a steep decent to the ground. Picture a knuckle ball pitcher when he releases the ball, very little spin and the ball just drops on home plate. To high of spin rate, in most instances anything over 3000 RPMs creates drag via disturbing more area around the ball and again some distance is lost. The secret to distance is many factors, launch angle, club head and ball speed and yes spin, optimum spin for most recreational golfers with a 92-100 Mph driver club head speed will be 2000-2800 RPMs. That is what I have seen for myself watching 1000s of aspiring low to middle handicap golfers with both trackman and flight scope machines.

[saevel25]

Taylor made or any of the manufactures making such claims are reading straight off of 3 rd party launch monitors under laboratory like test conditions. Flights scope and trackman. It is total lack of judgement and knowledge to assume otherwise. Yes they are in business to make money and to sell clubs, but they are not in lying business to consumers.

HAHA, That made me think of this from Jurassic Park,

"You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now

[bangs on the table]

you're selling it, you wanna sell it. Well..."

Originally Posted by Spitfisher

Too low of spin ( in relation to club head and ball speed) will result in the ball hitting its apex and soon after that a steep decent to the ground. Picture a knuckle ball picture when release the ball, very little spin and the ball just drops on me plate

To high of spin rate, in most n stances anything over 3000 RPMs creates drag via disturbing more area around the ball and again some distance is lost.

The secret to distance is many factors, launch angle, club head and ball speed and yes spin, optimum spin for most recreational golfers with a 92-100 Mph driver club head speed will be 2000-2800 RPMs. That is what I have see for myself watching 1000s of aspiring low to middle handicap golfers with both trackman and flight scope machines.

Yep, its striking a balance. It is shocking how one bad swing can take a normally good backspin rate and jump it by 1500 rpm's.

[newtogolf]

And NEWTOGOLF you too should not:-O make statements of the kind.

When it comes to spin and distance and statements relating to launch & carry by manufactures they are not just making statements or pulling them out of the air ( no pun intended)

Taylor made or any of the manufactures making such claims are reading straight off of 3 rd party launch monitors under laboratory like test conditions. Flights scope and trackman. It is total lack of judgement and knowledge to assume otherwise. Yes they are in business to make money and to sell clubs, but they are not in lying business to consumers.

Too low of spin ( in relation to club head and ball speed) will result in the ball hitting its apex and soon after that a steep decent to the ground. Picture a knuckle ball pitcher when he releases the ball, very little spin and the ball just drops on home plate.

To high of spin rate, in most instances anything over 3000 RPMs creates drag via disturbing more area around the ball and again some distance is lost.

The secret to distance is many factors, launch angle, club head and ball speed and yes spin, optimum spin for most recreational golfers with a 92-100 Mph driver club head speed will be 2000-2800 RPMs. That is what I have seen for myself watching 1000s of aspiring low to middle handicap golfers with both trackman and flight scope machines.

Marketing is about taking the most ideal conditions and presenting them as facts to consumers.  With the exception of professional drivers do you really think the average person can achieve the 0-60 times car manufacturers quote?  Do you really gain 15 yards every time TM releases a new driver, I don't?

For years, many pro's went with lower lofted drivers because they provided them with the best numbers.  TM released the SLDR which has certain characteristics that requires most people use a higher loft than they typically would, that doesn't mean everyone not using a SLDR driver should go with a 15* loft.

[purple drank]

A ball with 1000 RPM of spin will go shorter in almost all real world situations than a ball with 2500 RPM spin. It's not newbie initiation - just please be careful with the advice you give out, to make sure it's not so general that it can be shown easily to be false. For every ball speed there's an optimal launch and spin. More or less spin will result in loss of distance. BTW this is fun to play with: [URL=http://www.flightscope.com/index.php/Technology-Explained/trajectory-optimizer.html]http://www.flightscope.com/index.php/Technology-Explained/trajectory-optimizer.html[/URL] .

I'm in no position to give advice but since I play golf 7 days a week and hover around scratch and have played golf for 30 years I think my opinion shoild hold some weight. You taking what I post and spinning it way out of context. Too much spin on a golf ball will kill distance period. Right now I've been trying to qualify for the web.com tour but I need to work on certain aspects of my game.

[iacas]

A ball with minimal spin will travel further than a ball with a lot of spin.

I'm in no position to give advice but since I play golf 7 days a week and hover around scratch and have played golf for 30 years I think my opinion shoild hold some weight. You taking what I post and spinning it way out of context. Too much spin on a golf ball will kill distance period. Right now I've been trying to qualify for the web.com tour but I need to work on certain aspects of my game.

Too little spin will kill distance as well. You can't make general, vague statements like "a ball with minimal spin will travel farther than a ball with a lot of spin." That's all I said. At least define "minimal" and "a lot."

And you listed your handicap as 7.4…

[purple drank]

Too little spin will kill distance as well. You can't make general, vague statements like "a ball with minimal spin will travel farther than a ball with a lot of spin." That's all I said. At least define "minimal" and "a lot." And you listed your handicap as 7.4…

I'm closer to a punch 2 and will know what my up to date hdcp is by next week when I turn in more cards. Anyways good to meet you....you obviously know golf.

[LuciusWooding]

Most long drivers use 4-8 degrees of loft, so that should end the argument right there. They wouldn't use a 16 degree driver because they'd launch it at 24 degrees with like 4000rpms which at 200 ballspeed is a very bad thing. Maybe grandma would take those numbers at a lot lower speed to get more carry, though. And in a 40mph tailwind on top of everest you'd hit it farther with lots of launch and spin. Claiming that a single loft will hit the ball the farthest for everyone is stupid. Hand 5 different lofts to a good player and he could make them all work pretty well by varying his technique.

I get no roll from high lofted drivers, so it hurts my distance a lot. I actually get the most carry with 7.5 degrees or maybe even a touch less, since I hit up a lot with a fade. For me, the lower loft helps keep both launch and spin down, and I also hit the ball off the proper spot on the face, since you can have a lob wedge's loft and still hit worm burners if you hit it thin. Then you want a high ball speed and tight spin axis, and a relatively low spinloft but a higher dynamic loft and launch angle. The average male player should be somewhere from 9 to 12 degrees but should also take lessons on technique.

There's a thread somewhere if you search about hitting up with the driver in an inline fade pattern, I forget what it's called though. Very good information regarding the technique, which is the most important part of getting good launch conditions and driving the ball far.

[saevel25]

Most long drivers use 4-8 degrees of loft, so that should end the argument right there. They wouldn't use a 16 degree driver because they'd launch it at 24 degrees with like 4000rpms which at 200 ballspeed is a very bad thing. Maybe grandma would take those numbers at a lot lower speed to get more carry, though. And in a 40mph tailwind on top of everest you'd hit it farther with lots of launch and spin. Claiming that a single loft will hit the ball the farthest for everyone is stupid. Hand 5 different lofts to a good player and he could make them all work pretty well by varying his technique.

I get no roll from high lofted drivers, so it hurts my distance a lot. I actually get the most carry with 7.5 degrees or maybe even a touch less, since I hit up a lot with a fade. For me, the lower loft helps keep both launch and spin down, and I also hit the ball off the proper spot on the face, since you can have a lob wedge's loft and still hit worm burners if you hit it thin. Then you want a high ball speed and tight spin axis, and a relatively low spinloft but a higher dynamic loft and launch angle. The average male player should be somewhere from 9 to 12 degrees but should also take lessons on technique.

There's a thread somewhere if you search about hitting up with the driver in an inline fade pattern, I forget what it's called though. Very good information regarding the technique, which is the most important part of getting good launch conditions and driving the ball far.

WRONG!!! they do use 4-8 degrees of loft. But that is static measured loft. The loft in which they strike the ball is much greater due to the flex in the golf shaft and their upward angle of attack. We are not saying use a 16 degree driver, that is the launch angle, two separate things.

[Golfingdad]

HAHA, That made me think of this from Jurassic Park, [COLOR=333333]"You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now[/COLOR]

[bangs on the table]

you're selling it, you wanna sell it. Well..."

Yep, its striking a balance. It is shocking how one bad swing can take a normally good backspin rate and jump it by 1500 rpm's.

My favorite line: "you were so preoccupied with whether or not you COULD, you never stopped to think about whether or not you SHOULD." :)

[mvmac]

Some pretty good numbers from Charles Howell.  Few years ago he was hitting down 6*, launching it at 9* and had a tough time keeping the spin under 3500.  Now his AoA is positive and he's very happy

Originally Posted by iacas

BTW this is fun to play with: http://www.flightscope.com/index.php/Technology-Explained/trajectory-optimizer.html .

Yeah that is a fun tool to play with.

[Spitfisher]

Marketing is about taking the most ideal conditions and presenting them as facts to consumers.  With the exception of professional drivers do you really think the average person can achieve the 0-60 times car manufacturers quote?  Do you really gain 15 yards every time TM releases a new driver, I don't?

For years, many pro's went with lower lofted drivers because they provided them with the best numbers.  TM released the SLDR which has certain characteristics that requires most people use a higher loft than they typically would, that doesn't mean everyone not using a SLDR driver should go with a 15* loft.

TM never made the claim or advertised everyone would get 15 yards. You somehow believe they did.

[nick1998bunker]

I found an online trajectory optimizer and with a 160 mph ball speed and 1000rpm, i could get a carry of 298 with 28 degrees of launch

[saevel25]

I found an online trajectory optimizer and with a 160 mph ball speed and 1000rpm, i could get a carry of 298 with 28 degrees of launch

your never going to get 1000 rpm at 28 degrees launch. Physical limitations beat out theoretical math

Getting 17 degrees launch with 1700 spin is a daunting task for most golfers.