Adjustable drivers and fairways. What the adjustments actually do

kc720

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Not sure if there is a thread with all facts on what the adjustable hosels do, so I thought it might be a good idea to have them all in one place. Please feel free to correct if I'm wrong or add anything I miss.

Hosel adjustments:

- as I understand it, changing the setting on hosel does not change loft.

- to add loft, the hosel setting for plus 1 for ex. closes the face. The golfer then spins the attached shaft to make the face square, thereby adding loft.

-to reduce loft, the hosel setting for minus 1 opens the face. The golfer then spins the attached shaft to close the face to make it square, thereby reducing loft.

-on adaptors that spin the shaft orientation to make changes ( recent offerings from ping, taylormade, etc) you cannot manipulate face angle (therefore loft) without manipulating like angle. Usually like angle gets more upright with any change from standard*

*lie angle getting more upright is an educated guess as I've never seen a non cog adaptor that makes it more flat by making changes

-draw setting on hosel makes club more upright. I don't like the "draw" naming on adjustable anything as no setting will make a ball flight draw or fade. Ball flight laws state flight is created by face to path difference so it's the golfers swing that dictates draw, straight or fade. Making the head more upright means with loft on the club the face should point more left (for right handed golfer). This next part is pure speculation, but with the lie angle being more upright, it may help to turn over the face, thereby making the ball go more left.

-adaptors using cogs (callaway, titleist) have the ability to manipulate face angle separate from lie angle. They still cannot manipulate loft.

Adjustable weights:

-Any weight adjustment claiming draw or fade is a bit misleading due to ball flight laws

-a "draw" setting usually dictates more weight toward the heel, slowing down the heel portion in relation to the toe, allowing for better face closure. This would help the ball start more left (right handed golfer) rather than promote a draw. To promote the right to left flight for right handed golfer the club face has to be closed in relation to swing path. If you swing out to in and have a face closed in relation to that path you will get a ball flight that starts left and goes further left. Whether that is a pull draw or a pull hook or snap hook depends on how closed the face is in relation to the swing path

- similarly a "fade" setting is usually more weight in the toe area. Everything above applies with opposite directional effect

These are the basic premises of adjustments as I understand them. Feel free to correct me if anything is wrong, looking forward to great conversation on building a good knowledge base.
 
*lie angle getting more upright is an educated guess as I've never seen a non cog adaptor that makes it more flat by making changes

Nike's first adapters could change the lie angle 2 degrees each way if memory serves me right.
 
*lie angle getting more upright is an educated guess as I've never seen a non cog adaptor that makes it more flat by making changes

Nike's first adapters could change the lie angle 2 degrees each way if memory serves me right.
Nike adaptor was very interesting. IIRC they claimed loft and face angle adjustment separate from each other. I don't recall a lie angle adjustment on those. Loft adjustments of 8 - 12 along with "right" and "left" adjustments
 
I don't have any relevant input but am very curious to hear responses. With TM offerings I usually try to stay with standard loft to keep the shaft logo oriented straight up or down. With Callaway drivers I always experimented more because my OCD with shaft logo would allow. Also, the reason pured driver shafts don't interest me.

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Nike adaptor was very interesting. IIRC they claimed loft and face angle adjustment separate from each other. I don't recall a lie angle adjustment on those. Loft adjustments of 8 - 12 along with "right" and "left" adjustments

You're thinkin like Covert. I'm thinkin Dymo.
 
Haha that was before my time lol

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Had to Google that lol. Very interesting. Haven't seen it in person but it seems they used some sort of cog design allowing lie angle adjustment
 
Had to Google that lol. Very interesting. Haven't seen it in person but it seems they used some sort of cog design allowing lie angle adjustment

Yeah it was one of the only ones I remember that let you go upright and flat. That being said, think aluminum baseball bat.
 
Yeah it was one of the only ones I remember that let you go upright and flat. That being said, think aluminum baseball bat.
Way ahead of the time then. Titleist is the only one that allows for flatter lie adjustment of all the recent offerings I can think of. Either that or the other oems don't believe that flatter adjustment has that much demand
 
Way ahead of the time then. Titleist is the only one that allows for flatter lie adjustment of all the recent offerings I can think of. Either that or the other oems don't believe that flatter adjustment has that much demand

Oh shoot you're right, I forgot Titleist's adapter also does. Hard to remember them all, especially when they start tossing letters AND numbers in there. Not that smart!
 
Kang, you're the man! This is a great list going. We will see if anyone has any more innovation or change in adaptors in the future, but changes have almost come to a halt.

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Just an embarrassing fact about myself. Coming from mostly all TM drivers in the past, I had to watch some videos to figure out what the heck the Callaway adapter did and how to set it up on my new Epic.
 
Just an embarrassing fact about myself. Coming from mostly all TM drivers in the past, I had to watch some videos to figure out what the heck the Callaway adapter did and how to set it up on my new Epic.

Add me to the no clue had to watch a video on Callaway adapters after only playing TM when I got my epic group.
 
Is there any truth to putting an adjustable weight nearer where your miss is? For example, I play a 2016 TM M1 and my miss is in the toe. Will putting the front track weight toward the toe do anything of significance to forgiveness, ball flight, etc.?
 
Is there any truth to putting an adjustable weight nearer where your miss is? For example, I play a 2016 TM M1 and my miss is in the toe. Will putting the front track weight toward the toe do anything of significance to forgiveness, ball flight, etc.?
Very good question! Not considering face to path, having more weight by your area of miss would move CG closer to your strike area reducing gear effect, and having more mass behind the ball would be good IMO. But the trade off has to he considered. Such as how do you react to the adjustments? I really believe people react differently to what the feel and perceive is happening with their swing. For ex. If your miss is toward the toe but your swing path is out to in, having more weight in the toe might hinder you from closing the face properly making a fade turn more into a slice. However, I tend to turn over the face more aggressively if I feel more weight in the toe so that would negate some of that. It's all about understanding what the adjustments do to the club then figure out how you react to it
 
Very good question! Not considering face to path, having more weight by your area of miss would move CG closer to your strike area reducing gear effect, and having more mass behind the ball would be good IMO. But the trade off has to he considered. Such as how do you react to the adjustments? I really believe people react differently to what the feel and perceive is happening with their swing. For ex. If your miss is toward the toe but your swing path is out to in, having more weight in the toe might hinder you from closing the face properly making a fade turn more into a slice. However, I tend to turn over the face more aggressively if I feel more weight in the toe so that would negate some of that. It's all about understanding what the adjustments do to the club then figure out how you react to it
Great explanation! This makes a lot of sense. Also, you make a great point about having to know your tendencies and swing characteristics before making adjustments.

I've been hitting a lot of pushes lately that are well struck and go full distance. After hitting the range and spraying the face, I'm definitely hitting it out on the toe. I was thinking about experimenting with putting the weight in the toe to see if that would make any changes. I'll give it a go.
 
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