Forged irons should be checked every year or 2 anyway for loft/lie. Still not sure of your swing speed. At a swing speed around 78 miles per hour and a club length of 37 inches every degree in For me, neutral produces a hard fade, 0.75 degrees upright a light fade, and 1.5 degrees upright a straight ball flight. 2. How does driver loft affect distance? If the clubface is opened or closed to the club path at impact. Such a measurement is shown in the figure below. The loft will have a direct impact on the distance the ball travels - the lower the loft, the further the ball will go. Match your driver loft to your swing speed. The answer will be 2 yards per degree of loft . This would cause the face angle to point 1.5 degrees left of the target at impact resulting in a shot that is 15 feet off-line. Incorrect Lie Angle Could Hurt Your Game. But all of this will be taken into account in a professional club fitting, with Ping's famous colour code chart, for example, ranging from 4 flat to 5 upright, with black the standard lie angle. Average Lady Golfer: 65 mph. 2. Short Hitter = 36 m/s = 80 mph. A longer distance can be achieved with a lengthened club if you have the ability to swing it with the same force and speed that you did with a shorter club. Conversely, players like myself who have faster swings may gain too much height with a 12.5-degree driver and prefer a stronger loft such as a 9.5 degree. All your wedges (irons) need to have the same Your gap wedge should have enough bounce for long bunker shots in softer sand and the sand wedge should work in all conditions (55-12 is good). The fraction for bending one degree upright or one degree flat is what? If your speed is between 60 and 80 mph, use 12 or more degrees of loft. 3. Try this: If you tend to hold on to the club through impact and struggle with slices, close the face a bit. The average 7-iron from the 26 sets of forged irons we tested last month was 32, so 3 less. Given that youre at your maximum clubhead speed, just 1-degree change in the loft angle of a golf driver can affect your driving distance by 2-4 yards. So, the effect of changing driver loft by 1 degree can be more than 2-4 yards depending on your ball speed and how close you are to your ideal launch conditions before changing loft. 3-4 degrees c. .5 to 1 degree. The distance difference between clubs is created equally by the increments in club length and loft angle. By adding loft, those golfers achieve more ideal launch conditions, which means they carry shots farther and stop the ball faster on the green. The question is what happens when you take a 6 iron and reduce the length by one half-inch. The Mizuno T20 Golf Wedge is a good example of such a wedge. Therefore, both must be considered accordingly. Reply. Female Long Drive Competitors: 105-120 mph. Many in the golf industry estimate that with irons, the ratio is as high 20:80, meaning that loft has 4 times the effect on distance as compared to swing speed. Angle of attack. As for irons, the difference in distance between 8-iron (37-39 degrees) and 9-iron (41-43 degrees) is usually 10-15 yards. 58 Degree Wedge Distance. A 12 degree driver loft will be fine for most amateur golfers and not too much. This is because most everyday golfers have a slower swing speed than professionals and can benefit from a 12 degree loft compared to a driver with less loft such as a 9.5 degree driver. What Loft Do Pros Use? a. Well i think of it this way, you get a 10.5 degree driver, now the golf shaft is probably going to give you 1.5 degrees in either direction depending on shaft specifics. Angle of attack. Note that the maximum carry is about 167 yards for a Driver loft of 19 degrees which is the loft of a 2-iron and 5-wood. But the longer shaft still makes it harder to control the clubhead, which is even more important the closer you get to the green. On average, lie angle made a noticeable different for our testers. 5. The longest-hitting clubs (driver, woods, low hybrids, long irons) have the lowest lofts; the shortest-hitting clubs (short irons, wedges) have the highest lofts. The best loft on your driver for beginners is dependent on the average club head speed generated but typically in this range I would recommend a beginner golfer purchasing a driver that is between 12-14 degrees in loft to get optimal ball distance. Frank Thomas, the former Technical Director of the USGA, explains what happens with a loft of three degrees on a 10-foot putt: 3 Inches from Contact The ball is slightly airborne with some backspin. Back in the 1990s a 7-iron typically had a 35 loft. Loft is the #1 factor in determining your distance. Your driver at 35" will still go farther than your PW at the same length. If that happens to be a good fit for your game and your swing, youll be in good shape. Ive found that the 12.5 degrees setting on my driver works best for me to increase my distance (and control). You can bend a club more than 2 degrees. This means that the further you travel, the further you are from your destination. This indicates that distance isnt the result of more loft or less loft, but of getting the right loft. Some of our players really benefited from less loft (one gained 22 yards with less loft) and some benefited from more loft (another added over 10 yards with more loft). Drivers are typically lofted between 8 and 11 degrees, so drivers with lofts of 9.5 and 10.5 degrees are common. Making the loft weaker is the opposite. About 3 yards. If you buy clubs off the rack at a golf store, you probably focus more on the shafts length, flex and composition. Irons' lengths are stepped down 1/2 inch each from the 3-iron to the pitching wedge. Where the ball makes contact on the clubface and the subsequent gear effect. Lie angles almost always range from the mid-50 degrees (in drivers) to the mid-60 degrees (in short irons). You might as well get a distance gap before bending. You can expect the 3-wood to have a loft between 13 and 15 degrees. These are general calculations and do not take into consideration that loft and club head angles may vary from different manufacturers. Rose. Similarly, decreasing the loft results in reducing the spin rate by 450rpm and trajectory by 1 degree. In irons, the range is typically from 59 or 60 degrees to around 64 degrees. Just remember to carefully align the grooves on the face parallel to the level / ground. Carry Distance Total Yards; 9.5 Degrees: 10.2: 231: 259: 10.5 Degrees: 11.3: 240: 270: 11.5 Degrees: 13.1: 246: 275: 12.5 Degrees: How Does Dirt and Water Affect Spin Rate? The lob wedge can have lower bounce because you want to use it in hard sand or on tight lies. With increased spin loft, we also see an increase in spin rate. Quite a lot, actually. If your swing speed is 100mph and your ball leaves the face at 130mph, your smash factor is lower (1.3). You should consider this aspect before you change driver loft. How the golfer releases the club head. Here's what you should know about adjusting the loft, lie angle, center of gravity and draw or fade bias on your driver Charlie Rymer demonstrates what happens when you change your loft on an adjustable driver. The more loft, the higher the spin. How the golfer releases the club head. Definition: The vertical angle of the club face at the center point of contact between the club and ball at the time of maximum compression. Showing people that performance drops off with too much loft emphasizes the need to get fitted for your swing with your equipment. It states that for every 1 degree a plane veers off its course, it misses its target destination by 1 mile for every 60 miles you fly. (Lie angles on putters reach into the 70s.) Great news if you are able to keep the ball going straight with the extra speed and length, not so useful if you start ending up in the trees, rough or water! Increasing the loft will increase the trajectory by 1 degree and the spin rate by 450rpm. If you have a slow swing, you may launch the ball low and lose distance with a 9.5 or 10.5-degree driver. The greatest distance factors are mechanics and club head speed. 58 degrees wedges are commonly used to get the ball up in the air quickly. And typical distance between clubs is 15 yards, perhaps 10 yards at the least. Long Hitter = 49 m/s = 110 mph. The loft of the driver, between 7.5 and 14 degrees, influences the ball flights trajectory along with the design, shaft bend, and, among other things, you! The loft of golf clubs is expressed in degrees (21 degrees, 34 degrees, 42 degrees, whatever the case may be). The more loft, the higher the spin. If your swing speed is 100mph and your ball flies off at 150 mph, you have a smash factor of 1.5 (very high). The degrees of loft of these wedges differ and affect the distances that each of the wedges will travel. Titleist does recommend no more than +/- 2 degrees from factory and you should be ok. Any more and there is a risk of the stress cracks in the hosel area (primarily cosmetic). A golfer whose technique adds loft at impact, so creating even more dynamic loft, wont necessarily benefit from a higher-lofted driver. The effect of 1 degree loft should be minimal. Watch Morning Drive on Golf Channel. The loft of an iron has a much greater effect on the distance your ball will carry than does the length of the club (swing speed). In general terms, every extra half inch of shaft length added will make the club play 1 more upright and vice versa for shorter shaft lengths. Average Male Golfer: 87 mph. 30 comments. 3. The least-lofted golf club, other than a putter, is the driver. 5. The 11-degree loft produced a landing angle of 49.5 degrees. Typical difference between clubs, an average, would be 4-5 degrees loft. If you have too little loft on your putter it will drive the ball into the green making it difficult to get it rolling quickly. If your swing speed is 90-100mph and your driver loft angle is lower than 11 degrees, 90% of you are losing distance by playing the wrong loft. Based on averages a one half-inch reduction in overall club length will result in the loss of 1.5 to 2 MPH of swing speed which means your 6 iron will carry 2.7 to 3.6 yards shorter at a length of 37 inches than it would at 37.5 inches. Experts in air navigation have a rule of thumb known as the 1 in 60 rule. My Titleist drivers have adjustable lies. 8. Average Male Tour Player: 113 mph. The loft is therefore needed to lift the ball up and on to the surface for an end-over-end smooth roll. Youre swinging approximately 80 mph if you drive the ball 206 yards, 90 mph if your drives reach 232 yards and 100 mph if you drive the ball 258 yards. Click here. The hitting distance difference between each iron in the set varies from golfer to golfer but we can pretty much say that it is 10 to 15 yards between each club. The typical 58-degree wedge distance is 70 yards. Matching the lie angle of clubs to the specific golfer is one of the goals of a clubfitting session. Step 1. Jon says. Beyond 64-degrees, a wedge just cannot avoid biting into the ground or fully slipping under the ball. Bending the he club changes the bounce by the same amount that you bend the club. Based on the numbers above, each degree of lie angle will cause you to be 6.5 feet off target when hitting a 120 yard shot with a 46 degree PW. This difference is mostly created by two club specifications; the loft and the clubs length. 5-woods will have lofts of 17 to 19 degrees. The distance increase per degree of loft changes as clubhead speed changes, and as the various clubs change too. In most cases, a 10.5 degree loft driver will be better than a 9.5 degree loft. The 9.5-degree loft produced a landing angle of 40.4 degrees. Dynamic loft is the amount of loft on the club face at impact and is measured relative to the horizon. 3 to 15 inches Out The ball is sliding, bouncing less and less, with no backward rotation. A golf clubs loft refers to the club faces angle relative to the clubs shaft, according to PGA pro Mark Blakemore. In terms of maximizing carry distance, the 80 mph swinger should be hitting a 5-wood off the tee, although they would then not benefit from So you want to set the loft in the range of which your maximum distance can be achieved. 58 Degree Wedge Distance. The distance depends largely on the gender and skill of the golfer. 4. Back in the day, better players tended to favor very low-lofted drivers, often in Master clubmaker Ralph Maltby says that adding 1/2 inch length can add about 5 to 7 yards in distance for irons. i dont think it would be that much,all things being equal. lets say you have 2 clubs the SAME length or close to the same length. 1 degree may not Being close to completely flat at 0 degree, the putter has the lowest loft of any club while the loft of a lob wedge will hover above 60 degrees and will usually be the club with the highest loft in a golf bag. On the other end of the spectrum, we had a player whose averages were 175.1, 175.2, and 176.4 across the three different lie angles. One of the key factors in choosing your next best new driver is getting the right loft angle. It looks like Maltby's formula for loft and length impact on distance isn't as accurate for the average golfer. The 2-degree limit is only recommended when changing the lofts on irons due to the potential effect such bends will have on the sole angle of the club. So, 4 x 5 yards = 20 yards. Theoretically, 2.5 yards per 1 degree. If you have a mid swing speed of 95-104 mph, a driver loft of between 10-11.5 will normally be a good starting point. It makes sense that a golf club with a lower loft - say, 23 degrees - will make the ball go farther than one with a higher loft (say, 36 degrees). A shaft that is too soft of a flex for your swing can bend too much and not recover by the time you reach impact. Here we can give the following guideline: Per loft, the spin of the driver changes by about 400-500 rpm. A strong grip b. Aiming to the left (for a right-handed golfer) c. Trying to swing easier d. Both a and b. The term 1 degree flat is probably unfamiliar to anyone who hasnt bought a set of golf clubs from a professional club fitter. The distance depends largely on the gender and skill of the golfer. Now I want something that equates to a 6 Wood.I've got Ping 5 and 7 Woods. It may even make the club too heavy for you, which will slow down your swing speed and actually reduce your distance. By M.L. With only 4 degrees between each club in loft and only 1 or 1/2 a degree between each clubs lie angles, you could end up with half the set essentially being the same club. The calculations here are based on 1/2 club length difference = 5 yards distance difference and every 4 loft angle difference = 5 yards distance difference. Lengthening the shaft increases the swing weight, which makes the club head feel heavier. As you can see, landing angle has a great influence on roll out.. However, with 12 degrees of loft, you achieve a high launch for added carry and distance. Thats if you include the 7-woods in the picture. Shaft flex or bend. Know your pitching wedge loft. Match the optimum loft to your swing speed. If the clubface is opened or closed to the club path at impact. If we look at carry distance, less loft produced more distance only 4 times out of 12. Choose a driver that has the right amount of loft, because that is the most critical part of your selection process. If your swing speed is 90-100mph and your driver loft angle is lower than 11 degrees, 90% of you are losing distance by playing the wrong loft. The spin contributes significantly to the overall length. Note: Very Long Hitter = 56 m/s = 125 mph. (Think delivered loft.) The Effect Of Club Length On Swing Speed And Distance. My wedge set is 50-08 bent to 51-09, 54-11 bent to 55-12; 58-04 and 62-07 are stock. Weakening the loft on a 58-degree is going to add bounce to the wedge; going the opposite way on a 56-degree is going to have the opposite effect, removing bounce from the sole. The much longer drivers used today have a much greater speed at impact.) In the chart below, cross reference the loft and swing speed to arrive at the longest distance denoted by the highest figure. But a 45 degree wedge hit 130 yards with a wrong 2 degree lie angle would be offline by 4.5 yards. And heres why. Shaft flex or bend. If its 45 degrees or less, add three more wedges that are spaced apart by no more than 4-5 degrees each. Dynamic loft will always be higher due to the shaft deflecting forward through impact. 1/2 b. The answer will be 2 yards per degree of loft. All your wedges (irons) need to have the same shaft and you maintain consistent contact every time. Shaft length will also affect your distance, which is why hybrids with a 3 degree difference in loft will have a greater distance gap than your wedges. How to increase golf ball travel distance? The whole point behind the golf club shaft flex is finding a club that is going to flex just the right amount so you can unload it into the ball at the bottom of your swing. Therefore, both must be considered accordingly. Just like the launch, of course. Where the ball makes contact on the clubface and the subsequent gear effect. How much does 1 degree of driver loft affect distance? Another reason why stronger lofts dont always mean more distance is something I do frequently to help golfers hit the ball farther weaken lofts. It is common for a golfer with a swing speed of 70-to-80 mph or less to hit the ball with a lower trajectory than what is considered ideal. At 80 to 100 mph lower the loft to about 10.5 degrees. Drivers and wedges in particular have several possible selections for loft. In 1960, the typical 9-iron had a loft of about 47-degrees. The loft has a direct impact on the height of the balls flight path. In 1999, a typical 9-iron was lofted 41-degrees! While the standard degree of loft on a 3-wood is 15 degrees, most players will yield more success with a higher degree of loft. This increases the balls velocity upon impact, and you can hit it farther. The Effect of Loft on Golf Shots . So I could increase the loft on the 5 or decrease the loft on the 7.Just wondering what the other effects would be as I understand that adjusting the loft on Woods opens or closes the club head giving a gearing affect that will tend to make the club fade or draw. The typical 58-degree wedge distance is 70 yards. You should consider this aspect before you change driver loft. 58 degrees wedges are commonly used to get the ball up in the air quickly. Loft and lie changes are more or less permanent. Your driver will have about 10-degrees of loft and will hit the ball the furthest. Whereas a lob wedge will have the shortest carry distances and have a loft of 60-64 degrees. Thats why I custom order iron sets with lofts that are 1-to-2 degrees weaker than standard about 40 percent of the time. This will often result in lowering the spin and increasing the distance. There are many websites out there that give you stats on optimum trajectory angles for Drives at different club head speeds. Sports. Male Long Drive Competitors 135-155 mph. This adjustment will add launch and a. These, again, are general terms, but fit the overall discussion of loft with respect of 3 woods. that your club has 9.5 degrees of loft in the center on the face the "off-center" hit causes the clubhead to twist slightly during impact and this leads to vertical gear effect and a strike above the equator will have less spin than a strike below it. Not all advice is good and often is bad. February 12, 2016. Tangent of the club loft x Tangent of the Lie Angle x Carry Distance = Distance offline This means that a low loft club (10 degree driver, hit 260 yards with a wrong 2 degree lie angle would only be offline by 1.6 yards. The loft of a golf club is the angle created between the clubface and the ground - and will be different for every club in your bag. Loft and lie changes are more or less permanent. However, the range can fluctuate between 50 to 105 yards. Bending a club from 26 degrees of loft o 25 degrees is "strengthening the loft" by 1 degree. Changing your loft on an adjustable driver. Average Lady Tour Player: 95 mph. So generally think about putting in a Driver lofts have increased significantly in recent years. However, for many players, that is going to be either too upright or too flat. If the loft is out even just 2 degrees it can affect the distance by 6-8 yards. For example a pitching wedge will have the longest carry distances and have a loft of 45-50 degrees. The 2-degree limit is only recommended when changing the lofts on irons due to the potential effect such bends will have on the sole angle of the club. I agree with above. Think about it. Typical difference between clubs, an average, would be 4-5 degrees loft. And typical distance between clubs is If you hit down on the ball, youre likely to have high spin loft, so using less loft will actually reduce The much longer drivers used today have a much greater speed at impact.) a. 2. My experience is that changing lie angle does have a SLIGHT effect on ball flight. What about launch angle, spin rate, club face impact position, and shaft position how do they affect distance? Just like the launch, of course. The launch angle is also lesser with the 14g weight positioned to the front. March 2, 2012. I recall him mentioning that (loft/4)*5 = yards difference and (length/0.5)*5 = yards. However, with 12 degrees of loft, you achieve a high launch for added carry and distance. Here we can give the following guideline: Per loft, the spin of the driver changes by about 400-500 rpm. With all things equal, the slower the club head speed, the flatter the ball will need to land in order to produce max distance. And 7-woods top out between 20 and 22 degrees. Research shows that a 1 additional shaft length generates approximately 10 yards more in distance. 4. It thats too upright for you, the toe of the club is going to be up in the air at impact, while the heel digs into the turf. Yet Ko uses a driver with 9 degrees of loft1.5 degrees less than Koepka. Lofts. Medium Hitter = 42 m/s = 95 mph. 9. It's expressed as a letter-number combination, such as C9 or D2. 2. 07/20/2021. A common lie angle for a pitching wedge is 64*. Loft is needed on a putter because as the ball rests on the green it pushes down slightly into the grass. If 4 loft does not divide out in even increments, simply interpolate the distance. By Menno Zacharias In Clubs The Effect of Loft The loft of an iron has a much greater effect on the distance your ball will carry than does the length of the club (swing speed). Many in the golf industry estimate that with irons, the ratio is as high 20:80, meaning that loft has 4 times the effect on distance as compared to swing speed. Yes, bending lifts is common, just not for the entire set as the original poster wanted to do for the purpose of more distance. In our review of 15 vs 16.5-degree fairway woods, it is clear that weakened lofts are best suited to the average golfer. However, the range can fluctuate between 50 to 105 yards. If your lie angle is too upright, typically meaning that it's closer to 90 degrees than 0 degrees, then that means you will typically hit the ground with There is a direct correlation between loft and swing speed. 1 degree weaker adds 1 degree of bounce. The standard lie angle of drivers and woods is in the range between 56 and 60 degrees, hybrid / rescue clubs between 58 and 62 degrees, irons between 61 and 64 degrees. Flex: The flex of the shaft will Conversely, players like myself who have faster swings may gain too much height with a 12.5-degree driver and prefer a stronger loft such as a 9.5 degree. In general, the fairway woods start with angles as low as 13 degrees and as high as 22 degrees. Spin Rate - 1928 Launch Angle - 10.9 Total Distance - 274.6 Club Speed - 103.1. 4. Input Club Speed mph. Downward Hitters. As you look at the poll, the 12 to 13 degrees is considered a strong 3 wood; the 16 to 17 degree is considered a weak 3 wood and the 14 to 15 degree loft would be considered stock. That kind of makes me wonder how far a 38", 48* pitching wedge would go. :D 1-2 degrees b. The compensation for a lie that is too flat causing a push is which of the following? The right-most red area represents the practical limit of loft, which is 64-degrees. You can bend a club more than 2 degrees. Shaft torque affects performance a little bit, but not nearly as much as does the shafts weight, overall stiffness design and bend profile design. After knowing How much does 1 degree of loft affect distance, you might wonder "How many yards will be affecting per degrees of loft?" Very little. Probably 3 or 4 yards. My experience is that many players actually may gain distance (at least in terms of carry) in the longer irons This loft would be recommended and allow beginners to find the best driver for a beginner. 4. Comparing their best fit to their worst fit, our testers gained an average of 17.6 yards of total distance (median 17.8). If you have a slow swing, you may launch the ball low and lose distance with a 9.5 or 10.5-degree driver. So you are talking 2 The spin contributes significantly to the overall length. Most players equate distance with a lower lofted driver, but for most golfers, the opposite is more accurate. The Mizuno T20 Golf Wedge is a good example of such a wedge.