Swing speed vs. loft of driver

[DrvFrShow]

Another thought here.... 11.5 degrees in the rainy months when the fairways are soft. 9 degrees when the fairways are rock hard in the summer on the west coast. You need the maximum carry in the rainy months. You want lower launch with maximum roll out in the dry months.

[Lihu]

I am finally hitting my driver well, but my good hits are just too high in my opinion so they can really let the wind play around with it.. I have been playing a 10.5* loft, so as an experiment this weekend I am going to bring it down to 8* and see what happens.. What I'm hoping for is a little bit more distance with a lower trajectory and to help turn some of those high push slight draws to push with enough draw to bring it back from the dead..

not going to lose anything by testing it out..  I can't wait to get back and get fitted for a driver.

I'm not sure this will give you the intended effect? Usually lower lofts correlate directly to swing speed. For instance, 8 degrees might be optimum for people with SS over 110mph.

 

Another thought here.... 11.5 degrees in the rainy months when the fairways are soft. 9 degrees when the fairways are rock hard in the summer on the west coast. You need the maximum carry in the rainy months. You want lower launch with maximum roll out in the dry months.

Wintertime the ground is usually harder around here, and I find that lowering the loft gives you more roll. However, that might be just unique to the courses I seem to play more often. . .

[DrvFrShow]

I was getting a whole 225 carry with a 5 yd roll out my last round. We've had quite a bit of rain and fairways were soft. That carry would net me an average of 250 in the summer.

[Slushy]

I got the Callaway X2 Hot 10.5 driver with a regular flex shaft that can be adjusted down to 9.5 and up to 12.5 with a Draw/Neutral/Slice setting.  That was a lot of options for me!  lol....I decided to go to a driving range and go through every setting.  I hit about 8 balls at each loft.  My best consistency came with the 11.5 loft in the Neutral setting.  I hit 8-10 straight and hit them into the 220-240 range with a couple going passed the 250 sign.  At 9.5 I hit a couple that far as well, but only hit a couple of them straight.  I'm going to stick with the 11.5 loft at the moment, but going to see what works better for me, the Neutral setting or Draw setting.

[Valleygolfer]

You really should take the drive to a place with some sort of launch monitor. Get dialed in for as optimum of launch as you can get. I just took mine in again to test against other new drivers to see if I am missing anything. I found that I was not. My driver is set at 7,75 loft right now getting a 14 degree launch, which is optimal for my swing. I would not use swing speed to dictate driver settings but launch angle, shaft flex and total yardage as dictated by your personal swing.

[DrvFrShow]

I got the Callaway X2 Hot 10.5 driver with a regular flex shaft that can be adjusted down to 9.5 and up to 12.5 with a Draw/Neutral/Slice setting.  That was a lot of options for me!  lol....I decided to go to a driving range and go through every setting.  I hit about 8 balls at each loft.  My best consistency came with the 11.5 loft in the Neutral setting.  I hit 8-10 straight and hit them into the 220-240 range with a couple going passed the 250 sign.  At 9.5 I hit a couple that far as well, but only hit a couple of them straight.  I'm going to stick with the 11.5 loft at the moment, but going to see what works better for me, the Neutral setting or Draw setting.

I'd stick with the neutral setting. Draw settings are band aids and can actually create bad swing habits. They work for a few weeks but then you'll start compensating for them and can actually start holding the club face open through impact. Using the weight adjustment for draw is fine, just not the closed face adjustment.

[Slushy]

Thanks for the thoughts valleygolfer.  This is my first driver I purchased that is better then the 10-20 year old hand me downs.  That is definitely something I'll look into as I play more and hopefully improve.

Good thoughts, DrvFrShow.  I didn't think about that.  I do have it on the neutral settings and you're right I should just leave it and not create any more bad habits then I already have!  lol....

[Pretzel]

On 10/9/2015, 2:33:08, Slushy said:

Hello everyone,

I've been reading the forum for the last couple of months, but haven't posted.  I'm 45 and only in the last 6 months have I done more then play once a year or so.  Now I've been playing weekly.  I have really old clubs that I have slowly started upgrading.  I just got a Callaway X2 Hot 3 wood 15 degree and 5 wood 19 degree, which I really like.  I would like to get the X2 Hot driver as well.  My question is what loft should I get?  I was just recently at Roger Dunn and my swing speed was between 86-91.  The person working there said I should get a 10.5 and a regular shaft.  However, I know that just because someone works at a shop doesn't make them an expert so thought I would ask here.  Thanks for any and all tips.

You really should get fitted and test all the various lofts to see what works best for you. I have a swingspeed of 118 mph, which has often led fitters to try 9* loft drivers for me, but I fit best into a 10.5* or 11* driver. It all depends on your swing, so get out there and try them all!

[Lihu]

5 hours ago, Pretzel said:

You really should get fitted and test all the various lofts to see what works best for you. I have a swingspeed of 118 mph, which has often led fitters to try 9* loft drivers for me, but I fit best into a 10.5* or 11* driver. It all depends on your swing, so get out there and try them all!

Note that while this is true, it is less likely that a person with a lower swing speed would benefit from a lower lofted club.

The fitter might start with 12 degrees at 90mph and go up from there rather than down.

[Pretzel]

6 hours ago, Lihu said:

Note that while this is true, it is less likely that a person with a lower swing speed would benefit from a lower lofted club.

The fitter might start with 12 degrees at 90mph and go up from there rather than down.

That's a good point. I was just stating that what might seem to be true on the surface isn't always the case. I can't hit a 9* driver worth beans, but I also know a person with a swingspeed of ~95-100 that got fitted into an 8.5* driver.

[Nosevi]

I think the point with all of this is that it's the dynamic loft - the loft the golfer presents to the ball at impact - that is important and not the number on the bottom of the club. While a given swing speed will have an optimum dynamic loft, it won't have an optimum club loft as we all swing the club slightly differently; two swings with the same swing speed will have different optimum club lofts simply because the golfers are presenting a different dynamic loft to the ball (or at least would if both were holding the same club.

At the end of the day that's why a proper fitting is important to optimise launch - you can't just read it off a chart.

[Lihu]

3 hours ago, Nosevi said:

I think the point with all of this is that it's the dynamic loft - the loft the golfer presents to the ball at impact - that is important and not the number on the bottom of the club. While a given swing speed will have an optimum dynamic loft, it won't have an optimum club loft as we all swing the club slightly differently; two swings with the same swing speed will have different optimum club lofts simply because the golfers are presenting a different dynamic loft to the ball (or at least would if both were holding the same club.

At the end of the day that's why a proper fitting is important to optimise launch - you can't just read it off a chart.

True, but most golfers need all the loft they can get. For instance, I don't see too many 24 handicap 85mph swing speed golfers with a 6 degree loft on their driver.

[Nosevi]

10 hours ago, Lihu said:

True, but most golfers need all the loft they can get. For instance, I don't see too many 24 handicap 85mph swing speed golfers with a 6 degree loft on their driver.

Also true but there again I don't see too many Tour Pros with 6 degree loft on their driver either  

My point is go get custom fit if you want to optimise your launch. It's all about the dynamic loft you personally present to the ball at impact not about the number written on the bottom and both your swing and the shaft flex (and kick point etc) will effect the dynamic loft. For some slower speeds the optimum club loft may well be 9 degrees while with some tour pros with a higher swing speed it may well be 10 degrees. You can't determine it simply by swing speed, there's other variables to take into consideration.  

[Mr. Desmond]

On October 29, 2015 at 4:47:47 PM, Valleygolfer said:

You really should take the drive to a place with some sort of launch monitor. Get dialed in for as optimum of launch as you can get. I just took mine in again to test against other new drivers to see if I am missing anything. I found that I was not. My driver is set at 7,75 loft right now getting a 14 degree launch, which is optimal for my swing. I would not use swing speed to dictate driver settings but launch angle, shaft flex and total yardage as dictated by your personal swing.

That seems like a lot of launch for a loft in the 7 degree range. The launch may be optimal, but based on what I've read, seen, and the instructors to whom I've listened, something is up with the swing and/or setup.

18 hours ago, Pretzel said:

That's a good point. I was just stating that what might seem to be true on the surface isn't always the case. I can't hit a 9* driver worth beans, but I also know a person with a swingspeed of ~95-100 that got fitted into an 8.5* driver.

Bad fit and/or lots of swing issues.

[saevel25]

5 hours ago, Nosevi said:

For some slower speeds the optimum club loft may well be 9 degrees while with some tour pros with a higher swing speed it may well be 10 degrees. You can't determine it simply by swing speed, there's other variables to take into consideration.  

More like 12-14 degrees for slower swing speeds ;)

 

[Valleygolfer]

9 hours ago, Mr. Desmond said:

That seems like a lot of launch for a loft in the 7 degree range. The launch may be optimal, but based on what I've read, seen, and the instructors to whom I've listened, something is up with the swing and/or setup.

Bad fit and/or lots of swing issues.

It is the best set up I have used so far. I am hitting with a good upswing, the lower loft keeps it from being hit too high. 293 yards including roll out with a 1.52 (lol) smash factor on the trackman and a 14ish launch... I am not messing with it.

[Nosevi]

12 hours ago, saevel25 said:

More like 12-14 degrees for slower swing speeds ;)

 

Yes but dynamic loft not club loft, that's my point. You can have a given club loft but still present a different dynamic loft depending on your angle of attack, shaft flex, acceleration point in the swing, shaft kick point and a whole host of other things. Seriously, ignore the number on the bottom of the club, it's largely irrelevant as every swing is different.

4 hours ago, Valleygolfer said:

It is the best set up I have used so far. I am hitting with a good upswing, the lower loft keeps it from being hit too high. 293 yards including roll out with a 1.52 (lol) smash factor on the trackman and a 14ish launch... I am not messing with it.

100% agree. I use a driver set to 8 degree, get plenty of launch and not too bad a carry out of it even though I don't have mega high seing speed. Not sure why it would be 'wrong' if it goes quite a long way? I still say go get properly custom fit - it really does make a difference.