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No flight with driver

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Crowe925

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The ball
I currently have an old Cleveland vas 8* driver. I hardly ever get the ball in the air to carry anything. I can roll it a mile though. I am constantly fighting my driver swing as it is. Most of the time I just pick an iron to carry the hazard at play. Question is would a loftier club help me find some sort of even ground to build off of?
 
8* is incredibly low lofted for a VAST majority of golfers. If your contact is solid then yes, more loft could certainly help you out a ton.
 
I know the main issue is the person swinging not the club. Thanks
 
Crowe925 said:
I know the main issue is the person swinging not the club. Thanks
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Hopefully you didn't take my post out of context panning it all off on the Indian not the arrow, if I were to hit an 8* driver with my best swing I would struggle to get it off of the ground, my point was that is a SUPER low loft.
 
Jman said:
Hopefully you didn't take my post out of context panning it all off on the Indian not the arrow, if I were to hit an 8* driver with my best swing I would struggle to get it off of the ground, my point was that is a SUPER low loft.
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Agreed. I've rarely, if ever, seen an amateur hit an 8* driver with any consistency. At some point it can certainly be the arrow and with a super low lofted driver, that is often the case.
 
Jman said:
Hopefully you didn't take my post out of context panning it all off on the Indian not the arrow, if I were to hit an 8* driver with my best swing I would struggle to get it off of the ground, my point was that is a SUPER low loft.
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No, your fine I meant to edit my original but replied instead. Your comment on if I'm hitting it solid then a loftier club would help, the answer would be no. I can get solid contact at home into the net but as soon as I'm at the course I start changing things to get some lift then everything goes to heck.
 
Crowe925 said:
No, your fine I meant to edit my original but replied instead. Your comment on if I'm hitting it solid then a loftier club would help, the answer would be no. I can get solid contact at home into the net but as soon as I'm at the course I start changing things to get some lift then everything goes to heck.
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I honestly think you should take a look at a higher lofted head, definitely can't hurt. I'm like you when I hit a low lofted driver, I start trying to help it and that leads to baaaaaaaad juju in the swing. I moved to 11* and up and honestly won't look back.
 
Jman said:
I honestly think you should take a look at a higher lofted head, definitely can't hurt. I'm like you when I hit a low lofted driver, I start trying to help it and that leads to baaaaaaaad juju in the swing. I moved to 11* and up and honestly won't look back.
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Agreed. Get on a monitor. Find the head loft that gets you dialed in for your swing. It might surprise you.

For instance, I had to go the other way. I hit with a very ascending blow, so I'm down to 9.5 (stamped, might not be actual). More loft isn't good for me.

I have a buddy with a similar swing speed and handicap. He hits flat from a swing plane perspective and thus needs quite a bit more loft (stamped 12-14 type heads).
The one other thing I'd add is that what is stamped on the head may not be the actual loft. There's a surprising level of variance between the measured loft and what is stamped. Customer ego is clearly at play here, so the trend is to understate the loft. I'm not sure when exactly that started, so an older 8 may actually be an
8 whereas a newer 9 might be an 11.

One more thing I'd add is to tee it up some. You can pick up some easy loft there.
 
Jman said:
Hopefully you didn't take my post out of context panning it all off on the Indian not the arrow, if I were to hit an 8* driver with my best swing I would struggle to get it off of the ground, my point was that is a SUPER low loft.
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I agree. I as well have a very low launch angle and I hit a 9.5 degree driver about 20 yards high. After my fist fitting years ago, it was obvious I needed a much higher lofted driver, as do most everyday players. eBay is loaded with cheap high lofted drivers. You don't need the latest and greatest. I'm hitting a ten year old driver better right now than I was my X Hot. I don't even know anyone who owns or plays an 8 degree driver. Time to loft up!
 
Crowe925 said:
I currently have an old Cleveland vas 8* driver. I hardly ever get the ball in the air to carry anything. I can roll it a mile though. I am constantly fighting my driver swing as it is. Most of the time I just pick an iron to carry the hazard at play. Question is would a loftier club help me find some sort of even ground to build off of?
Click to expand...

I would test some drivers starting with a higher loft like 14 degrees and work your way down until you see a drop off in performance then choose the loft that was giving you the best distance and accuracy.
 
Just curious as to how far do you carry your 8 degree driver? Did you always hit it low? It probably wouldn't hurt to see how you do with higher lofted clubs, but not everyone likes hitting them.
 
JPR1959 said:
Just curious as to how far do you carry your 8 degree driver? Did you always hit it low? It probably wouldn't hurt to see how you do with higher lofted clubs, but not everyone likes hitting them.
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I'd be lucky to carry 180. I've never hit anything over 9*. I've struggled so bad with (that 8*) driver I've considered not having a driver at all. At home in the net I've found a good setup and regular solid contact. Maybe I'll find a cheap high loft driver and swing the same swing. Thanks for the help guys.
 
No flight with driver

8* is damn low loft these days. Loft is your friend. I used to struggle with the same thing and I used a 10.5. I took a couple of lessons bought an adjustable driver and set it to 11.5 and now I hit it really high and carry it probably 60 yards further. They don't roll much anymore though.

I have an 11.5 Titleist 905r with a blue pro launch in it sitting in my garage. I've never shipped a club but if you wanna try to work something out I'll sell it to ya cheap.
 
Most pro's use more than 8 degrees.
 
#LoftUp

All the cool kids are doing it. Heck, my driver is 13.5*.
 
I only know one person playing with 8 degrees who has been fitted. He has a 7.5 degree head (loft was checked), but has a 110 MPH swing speed and an ascending blow. When I hit that driver, it probably goes 20 feet off the ground if I am lucky.

If you carry 180 with your 8 based on my experience with that 7.5, then you're about like me with respect to swing speed. Lofting up will help, as will teeing up and focusing on developing an ascending blow.
 
unless you swing super fast 120+ or have a super high AOA i would try lofting Up
 
Also angle of attack (the angle your driver comes into the ball) makes a difference...
 
On the AOA front, how do you tee your ball up? 8 degree is pretty low lofted, but if you tee the ball up enough so that impact can occur with an ascending blow it can be alright.
 
This is why THP is awesome, there is so many solid informed golfers here its ridiculous. I think the macho aspect in golf rears its ugly head when it comes to driver degrees. It sure seems strange to see the majority of players on the practice range hitting low bullets that have little carry. From an early stage I knew I needed higher loft because my AofA was descending. Since then I have adjusted my driver down to 10.5* and worked on my swing, the results have been incredible.
 
Agree that 8* is probably too low for you. I typically play anything between 6.5 - 9 depending on the shaft and head. Some drivers are made to launch high and others low. It is probably to low for you and matched with a shaft that is low launch/spin as well. More loft and higher launching shaft should do the trick.
 
Great input guys. Ill shop around for something cheap. For the most part i hit it straight. It's only when I start making adjustments to get the ball up things go crazy. I've tried teeing up and moving the ball forward and I either start slicing or sky balling. I must set up for the descend.
 
Keeping your head behind the ball at impact will help with and ascending(upward) strike fwiw.

8* is low especially if your not carrying in excess of 105mph swing speed. I'm playing stamped 8.5 but have zero launch issues with an upward strike and 108+ SS.

I would look at something in the 11* realm and if you go with a driver that is adjustable get an extra stock shaft in R or S depending on what you go with if you do not do a fitting which I suggest.
 
lowest I can hit decently is about a 9 degree head. Id try and find a newer one with adjustable loft.
 
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