Driver Loft Increase = Less Dispersion but 30yds Less Distance. Why?

[jet]

Morning Hackers,

Riddle me this, I have been recently playing my driver with a 9.0 loft and 2.0 closed face. I was consistently hitting the ball 250, all the way up to 275 but often with 25-30yds of a left to right slice. The best drive I had was 325yds down the middle. I was playing the ball, aiming extremely left of the fairway and if I hit my target line, it was a good problem to have rather than the slice.

While at the range, I toyed with the driver settings and opened the club face to neautral instead of it being closed. While doing this, I upped the loft to 10.5. The results were astounding, I was piping the ball straight down my target line but at the expense of 25+ yards of distance.Yesterday while playing, I doubled my avg fairways hit per round but was only flying the ball 245yds, on average.
Is the loft now too high that is causing the ball too much time up in the air instead out towards the target and the neutral club face was the key to fairways or did the open face + increase in loft result in fairways? I want to keep the dispersion low while having my older driving distances.
Thanks, take care.

 

[mpeterson]

You could try a 9 degree driver with a square face to see if that helps.

How are you measuring distances?

 

[Jman]

Lofting up closes the face angle a bit which would explain you getting help on the right miss. As for distance, when you talk decrease is it in CARRY or is it in ROLL? Two different animals.

 

[blugold]

25-30 yard dispersion is really good. Don't give up the distance

 

[kiwichris]

To me this sounds like the curse of bad troubleshooting, too many changes meaning unable to pinpoint exactly what caused the change.
I would start back at your known loft/face angle then change one setting only, hit a few, record results then set it back and change the other.
Once you figure out one then tweak the other setting.

 

[ttucliffhanger]

Something to consider as well is the temps you are playing in. Although you have adjusted loft if it is cold like it has been here, you are going to lose distance. I have seen it big time here, but with it starting to warm up I will go back to normal soon.

 

[DataDude]

Something to consider as well is the temps you are playing in. Although you have adjusted loft if it is cold like it has been here, you are going to lose distance. I have seen it big time here, but with it starting to warm up I will go back to normal soon.

Yeah winter carry distances are about 5% lower for me and there is no roll because the ground is soft. I don't even hit that far and I can lose 30 yards off the tee.

 

[Tywithay]

Your spin was probably too low to stabilize the flight with the low loft. Knuckleballs will curve more if the axis gets tilted, versus a ball with more backspin.

 

[kiwichris]

Yeah winter carry distances are about 5% lower for me and there is no roll because the ground is soft. I don't even hit that far and I can lose 30 yards off the tee.

& for us in Corrado it's the opposite, super hard fairways, full link style golf in the winter once the snow is gone. Pretty much the same as summer just colder

 

[DataDude]

& for us in Corrado it's the opposite, super hard fairways, full link style golf in the winter once the snow is gone. Pretty much the same as summer just colder

Around here the clay soil and dormant grass just never dries out during the winter due to all the trees and indirect sunlight. It's like playing on a very old, very worn out, soaking wet sponge that is coming in pieces. You find drives in the middle of the fairway covered in mud with a pitch mark right next to them.

 

[Templet0n]

Spin is the answer.

increased loft will increase back spin and decrease side spin.

think hitting wedge vs. a 5 iron. The increased loft helps you hit it straighter because of increased spin and less axis tilt.

that is also potentially why it is going shorter. Because spin will shorten flight. all things being equal the higher spin driver will be shorter.

 

[kiwichris]

Around here the clay soil and dormant grass just never dries out during the winter due to all the trees and indirect sunlight. It's like playing on a very old, very worn out, soaking wet sponge that is coming in pieces. You find drives in the middle of the fairway covered in mud with a pitch mark right next to them.

Clean & place all year round it sounds like

 

[Chef23]

Trajectory and spin are the answers. Without some hard numbers it is difficult to give an exact answer but higher loft puts more backspin on the ball which reduces side spin resulting in straighter shots. A lot of spin can result in less distance as well. The increased loft can also result in the ball flying higher which if it is higher than optimal will result in less distance and reduced roll out.

The answer of if you should do it is a it depends. If you are getting penalty strokes, having to hit recovery shots or hampered by heavy rough then giving up 25 yards might be worth the trade. How did your score yesterday compare to your regular scores.

With regard to bomb and gouge I think it is somewhat different for the pros than us mortals. The pros have the swing speed and ball contact to gouge balls out of rough. Many of us don't have either and being in the fairway can be a big advantage. YMMV but for me on the course I usually play because it is long I would give up 10-15 yards to be in the fairway.

 

[ttucliffhanger]

Around here the clay soil and dormant grass just never dries out during the winter due to all the trees and indirect sunlight. It's like playing on a very old, very worn out, soaking wet sponge that is coming in pieces. You find drives in the middle of the fairway covered in mud with a pitch mark right next to them.

This is here in TN too. Ready for some dry weather warmer weather golf.

 

[jet]

Trajectory and spin are the answers. Without some hard numbers it is difficult to give an exact answer but higher loft puts more backspin on the ball which reduces side spin resulting in straighter shots. A lot of spin can result in less distance as well. The increased loft can also result in the ball flying higher which if it is higher than optimal will result in less distance and reduced roll out.

The answer of if you should do it is a it depends. If you are getting penalty strokes, having to hit recovery shots or hampered by heavy rough then giving up 25 yards might be worth the trade. How did your score yesterday compare to your regular scores.

With regard to bomb and gouge I think it is somewhat different for the pros than us mortals. The pros have the swing speed and ball contact to gouge balls out of rough. Many of us don't have either and being in the fairway can be a big advantage. YMMV but for me on the course I usually play because it is long I would give up 10-15 yards to be in the fairway.

I’ve been using the TaylorMade myRoundPro app and I’ve found it to be accurate in distances, since it’s using the gps functions from the phone.
I scored yesterday a 95, which was 8 strokes lower than the last time I played the same course. Had my first natural birdie in a really long time too which is attested to the drive being on the fairway instead of 25yds to the right in the rough.

 

[jet]

Around here the clay soil and dormant grass just never dries out during the winter due to all the trees and indirect sunlight. It's like playing on a very old, very worn out, soaking wet sponge that is coming in pieces. You find drives in the middle of the fairway covered in mud with a pitch mark right next to them.

You must be in Texas huh? This is exactly what it’s like lol

 

[jet]

You could try a 9 degree driver with a square face to see if that helps.

How are you measuring distances?

Been using myRoundPro from TaylorMade. It works well except the caveat of guesstimating where the hole is when putting.

 

[Chef23]

I’ve been using the TaylorMade myRoundPro app and I’ve found it to be accurate in distances, since it’s using the gps functions from the phone.
I scored yesterday a 95, which was 8 strokes lower than the last time I played the same course. Had my first natural birdie in a really long time too which is attested to the drive being on the fairway instead of 25yds to the right in the rough.

I think that is your answer then. 25 yards right of the fairway is frequently in the trees. Bomb and gouge only works if the ball is between the trees and not causing penalty strokes.

 

[DataDude]

Clean & place all year round it sounds like

Just winter time blues. During July and August that same clay will bake out and be rock hard. My drive will land and catapult forward 30-40 yards sometime.