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Shallow Or Deep - Your Driver Choice

SuperStroke
JB said:
D2 is still a pretty low spinning driver.
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What high(er) spin driver options are out there?

Related ... does higher spin also exacerbate swing flaw issues? I'm pleased with the distance and flight of the ball off the 910D2. While I'd love to get more distance, I don't want it to come at the price of missing more fairways.
 
JRod said:
nike_sasquatch_tour_driver_toes.jpg


Deep would be the left. "Taller" so to speak.
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One thing people forget is the actual vertical face difference is only about a 1/4 inch between the deepest drivers and the most shallow. They're all about 2 and 1/8th inch deep on the actual face, + or - 1/8th. The width does change quite a bit though -- as much as 3/4 an inch. I've probably owned 30 different heads and have measured them.

My point is that when one says they like deep heads visually, then I think they like the visual trick the deeper head plays. It typically has more bulge in the crown above the actual face which makes it look deeper than it actually is. JRod's post on page one captures this well. The head on the left goes up more from the leading edge versus the one on the right. To say with the 460 CC limit, it will typically be shorter front to back, which also visually impacts the "deepness" whereas the more elongated driver front to back is on the right, which in turn makes the face look more "shallow" than it is.

As for what I like, it is somewhere in the middle of the scale. I like a medium face height (say 2 and 1/8th) with medium size front to back. I also don't like drivers with lots of "meat" out beyond the hitting surface out on the toe. If a driver is elongated heel to toe, that's fine, but I want to be able to use that "real estate" in a pinch.

Having said that I just switched into a driver with a shallow face (2 inches), that looks way deeper than it is due to a higher crown bulge and less distance front to back. It looks more like a 440 CC head. I've not gotten any real numbers, but I suspect it is a lower spin head that is lofted closer to the stamped face spec, so I'm getting a lower launch with more roll out.
 
deuce said:
What high(er) spin driver options are out there?

Related ... does higher spin also exacerbate swing flaw issues? I'm pleased with the distance and flight of the ball off the 910D2. While I'd love to get more distance, I don't want it to come at the price of missing more fairways.
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Quite a few options.
Callaway Big Bertha
Cobra Bio Cell
Cleveland Altitude
Heck many companies offer them.

No, higher spin is not related to making slices and hooks bigger in my opinion.
 
JB said:
Quite a few options.
Callaway Big Bertha
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Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that. :D I have demo'd it at Golfsmith and love the way it feels and I have gotten very good numbers off of it. *sigh*

I need to hit the lottery. Wife said that when I break 90 I can - no questions asked - make an expensive golf purchase. I'm thinking I'd be better off with a new set of SGI/GI irons as opposed to a driver though. Right now the tools I have, in conjunction with my lessons, are getting me where I need to go but looking at all this eye candy doesn't make it easy to sit pat though. :D
 
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For me its kinda weird. I prefer the look of the shallow face driver, but I always tend to hit the deeper faced drivers more consitantly even though I have less confidence with them. I have been playing a Cleavland HiBore Monster XLS which has a shallow face and the deep front to back head. I can hit long, but it gets loose here and there. I recently pick up a Cleavland Class 290 and I think Ive hit one bad drive with it so far. I have to try and hit it wrong for it to go off line. Guess I need to find the confidence in the deeper faced drivers....haha!
 
Thanks for clarifying Jrod. I guess I haven't owned enough to really have a preference. I'd say either or for me
 
Whatever makes the ball go far & straight? :D I dunno. I've played both with some level of success. Started out with the SQ 5900 which was pretty shallow and have played a few deeper ones, like the Cleveland Classic. While I don't like the shoebox look behind the ball, as long as it's relatively traditionally shaped, I more concerned with results.
 
JB said:
No, higher spin is not related to making slices and hooks bigger in my opinion.
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What about the opposite? Does a higher spin driver impart enough backspin to counteract any off-vertical axis spin due to a closed or open face? So if you slice or hook with a low spin driver, could changing only the head of the club to a higher spin head decrease your off line distance?

Or is the "optimal" spin you hear about best for reducing left or right movement from your target line?

Or...should this be in some other thread about spin as opposed to face depth? Haha.
 
-CRW- said:
What about the opposite? Does a higher spin driver impart enough backspin to counteract any off-vertical axis spin due to a closed or open face? So if you slice or hook with a low spin driver, could changing only the head of the club to a higher spin head decrease your off line distance?

Or is the "optimal" spin you hear about best for reducing left or right movement from your target line?

Or...should this be in some other thread about spin as opposed to face depth? Haha.
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There are many that believe that more spin will equal more forgiveness.
 
TNTCigarguy said:
Why is that JB?
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I believe this. I've not run this through a simulator, but let me explain my logic.

The ball spins around one axis, but that axis position is both vertical and horizontal, like the earth. The earth doesn't spin on a perfectly vertical axis and a ball doesn't either.

When people talk about "spin" as it relates to drivers, they're talking about back spin. "Back" spin is vertical spin making the ball go up and down. "Side" spin makes the ball turn right or left. The relative spinning of back to side is going to be the direction the ball moves.

If it moves 10 times more vertically then horizontally, then it is going to move less off line than if the ball moves 4 times more vertically than it does horizontally. A way to think about this is the way your ball moves off of a wedge even on a mishit. The side move movement is greatly lessened when compared to the horizontal spin.

So, if you want lateral spin forgiveness, go for a high spin driver. If you can keep your lateral spin down through a more consistent swing, then go low spin because that typically gives you more roll out. That's my opinion.
 
I gamed a Cally RazrX Black last year and I thought it was really shallow compare to other drivers. This caused me all sorts of problems with popups and skymarks that ultimately gave me no confidence in that club. Compared to my Optiforce, or the BB, it's between 3/8-1/2" shorter on the club face, and a lot longer of a head. The change to a deeper driver has been night and day with no swing changes.


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I have had both. My swing lends itself better to deeper drivers
 
Deep. I feel more comfortable with a deep face, it feels mentally more forgiving.
 
JB said:
Do you have a preference when looking at drivers? Do you prefer the deep face or one that is a bit more shallow?
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Both, sort of. I like deep faced drivers and I like the deep faced X2 Hot 3 Deep as another driver option but I also carry a very shallow 4 wood for the tough tight lies. Off the tee, deep gets my vote.
 
shallow.... deep drivers look "BROKEN" to me freaking cleveland classic haha
 
What counts as 'deep'?

For me, the BB Alpha is somewhat deep. Not Cleveland Classic deep, but more than is usual for me.
 
Hands down Deep, to my eye the deeper face design just looks better. I don't have any problems hitting shallower face drivers like Callaway at or very near the sweet spot, just feel a deeper face performs a little better.
 
Deep is preferred...


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I can't hit driver well but I have more confidence in a shallower face.

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Getting back into golf after a long layoff (and with my wife's encouragement to upgrade my 1990s vintage clubs :clapp:), I've spent a great deal of time comparing/contrasting/researching most of the newer drivers. I've learned that my misses tend to be up/down rather than toe/heel, that I launch high (+3.5 a0a) yet still generate too much backspin, especially low on the face. Deep drivers, especially those with a low CG (even low fwd) work best for me, and despite some of them being knocked as less forgiving, it's actually the opposite for me. I'm just not as consistent, nor as long, with the shallower drivers that are designed to promote forgiveness.
 
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I am hitting a lot of popups with my driver lately (M2). I think my previous drivers had a deeper face (R1 & Supertri) and think that might have something to do with it. Any suggestions?
 
Don't do anything drastic. Your consistent off the tee box. Tee it lower and go to the range for practice.
 
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