How To Pick The Right Driver For Your Game.
Now that we are into the 7th month of the Lunar Calendar, some Chinese believe that the Hell Gate is now opened and all the hungry ghosts will be prowling the streets. When I was young, I used to hear adults talking that when you are out at night walking on the streets, when you hear some one calling your name - never turn back or answer. Now I know why when I called out to some people they just ignored me.
I suppose that few people will be playing night golf as well in case mysterious balls fly past you from nowhere. Make sure you fill up your flights with four people in case a stranger joins your flight and disappears halfway or walks to the green and vanish. Lol. Alright, now allow me to help you find your dream driver.
You look into a golf bag and you will likely find a driver, a couple of fairway woods, a couple of hybrids, a set of irons, wedges and a putter. Each club is important in its own way and the only way you are going to play quite well is to be fairly good on the day with each club. As a result, executing a golf shot is much more difficult than kicking a soccer ball because your legs are with you everyday and you use them all the time. In fact, your legs do not change in length, weight or loft. In a previous article I wrote about the importance of each club and truly for each of us, the most important club in the bag could be quite different. You will have your favourite "go to" club and you may have one that is like Freddy Krueger from Nightmare at Elm Street.
Golfers - especially male golfers have a tendency to want to be more macho. They want to murder the golf ball and whack the daylight out of it. This is for bragging rights for a long drive from a driver off the tee. Yet, few golfers understood the mechanics, character and personality of each type of drivers available. That is why the driver is the most sought after, often bought and as quickly discarded, handed down or sold piece of equipment. The driver is an ego of golfers much like the male organ and their sex life but it is not the size that matters, it is how you use it. Let me help you to improve your sex life...er...I mean your golf drives.
How To Pick The Right Driver?
What Type Of Golfer Are You?
Sun Tze's "Art of War" dictates that you "know your enemy and know your terrain, a hundred battles, a hundred victories". The first thing you need to know and to overcome is yourself. We always think that we are better than we really are. Are you highly proficient? Single digit? Mid-handicapper or novice? Ideally, a high handicapper should go for those Super Game Improvement (SGI) drivers (eg. Taylormade Burner), a mid-handicapper should be able to handle the R11 and the better player the R11 TP or Burner TP. The TP designated means Tour Preferred. A low handicapper can easily handle SGI driver provided they like it but a high handicapper will struggle with the R11 or the TPs.
The reason is simple. SGI drivers usually comes with a big gawky head (less traditional) even though they may be of the same size of 460cc. The head shape has got to do with the positioning of perimeter weighting pushing the centre of gravity (CG) deeper. This gives confidence to novices but may not be liked by better players. They often comes with lighter shaft and overall club weight so that it can help you increase swing speed. But there are good players with slow swing speed too. The mass market today is all about hitting it long so they will sell you the long game. How do you hit longer? It is entirely dependent on several factors like (1) loft, (2) club head forgiveness, (3) length and weight of shaft, (4) shaft flex, (5) swing speed, (6) launch angle, (7) sweet spot and (8) swing weight.
Loft
Many have been mistaken here for example thinking that getting one with a lower loft will result in a longer drive. A golf drive has to reach an apex in trajectory before it can reach its maximum distance. If you do not have the swing speed your launch angle would not be sufficient to carry the ball up so if you use a 8.5 or 9.5 degrees driver you would end up playing hockey than golf. Even Tiger has switched from a 8.5 to a 10.5 degrees driver and he found 70% of the fairway instead of just 50 plus %. The slower your swing speed the more loft you need. If you struggle to get the ball up you should even consider a 11-12 degrees.
Do not be afraid to get an 11-12 degrees driver if your swing specification calls for it. This is vital as many of today's drivers are designed for lesser backspin as they can now make the heads more forgiving. Backspin from a driver is meant to take the ball up and too much backspin for fast swingers actually becomes a distance deterrent. So if you have a slower swing speed and hitting the ball too low do not be afraid to get a 11-13 degrees driver. You will be amazed!
Club Head
Golf rules stated that a driver cannot be more than 460cc and dimensions cannot exceed 127mm X 127mm X 71mm. The head is usually about only 200g or slightly more but more brands and models are having them lighter. They also also making the crown (top of club head) thinner with lighter material so take care that you don't crack them so that they could save more weight and instead place more weight towards the rear for a lower CG and also allow them to position weight to different parts of the sole to promote certain types of ball flight. More weight to the toe promotes a fade while more weight to the heel promotes a draw.
Weight pushed to the very rear are meant to launch the ball really high especially useful for those who can't get the ball up. You can see drivers with heads that are very tapered from front to rear meaning larger from front to back gives high trajectory and high forgiveness - absolutely perfect for beginners and those who just want it easy. Taller heads with shallower face are much less forgiving as they are built to launch lower.
Shaft
A longer shaft will theoretically hit the ball longer. That is provided you hit the sweet spot. The longer the club the harder to hit. Imagine using a the length of a flag pole to hit the ball. You get the point. It is only compensated by a more forgiving club head. Tiger was known to use only a length of 43.5 inches and in the PGA, pros use only averagely 44.5 inches. Even today, maybe 45 inches but they are selling us clubs with length of averagely 45.75 inches. The Burner has a length of more than 46 inches.
The other thing to remember is the shaft flex. If you are in any doubt, go for one that has more flex than less as you are likely to hit better with more flex than less. It is possible that when your balls are not taking off, your shaft could be too stiff. The weight of a shaft also plays a part. Lighter shafts naturally promotes a faster swing speed. It is like carrying and moving things, easier and faster to move something lighter. But lighter shaft with lighter head and overall club weight is not every one's cup of tea. Some of us need heavier shaft to have feel and to regulate timing and to feel some club head lag.
Swing Speed
You can read my previous article on swing speed.
Swing speed is your personal and natural determinant to distance. You have your own swing and own swing speed. You can't fake it. It is your DNA. The faster your swing speed, the further the ball goes. Again provided you hit the sweet spot. A good player with a high swing speed will hit it long and straight. It is not about brute force. Your swing speed determines the ball speed which measures your distance. Ball speed is when the ball leaves the club face on impact where the ball feels the exuberance of rapture. You are good with a ball speed of 135-150 mph.
Launch Angle
Launch angle is basically your angle of attack. It is affected by your angle of attack, the design type of your club head and loft. If your reading is 12-14 degrees it is about ideal. Spin rate is also important. Do you know that when you hit a ball it spins backwards? It is then measured in rpm (revolutions per minute). It is actually relative to club head speed. More spin is needed to maximize carry in the air for slow swingers and for fast swingers you don't like to see a high number here.
While there is a launch angle do you know that there is also a land angle? That is the angle that the ball approaches the ground when it lands. You will see some driver shots landing and stopping quickly while others hits the ground and roll much more. The optimum land angle which is best would be in the region of 30 degrees. Your angle of attack determines the kind of spin rate. If you hit down on the ball it increases spin rate and reduce distance with too much spin.
Sweet Spot
The most often forgotten thing for most people and yet the simplest thing is hitting the sweet spot. It is something that is the same for every club. It is all about hitting the sweet spot. You can have a longer club thinking you can hit longer but it is of no value if you can't hit the sweet spot. I would choose a driver with a shorter length anytime if I could hit the sweet spot all the time as it would still go longer than longer clubs where you can't connect.
Swing Weight
Swing weight is an expression of a club in terms of its feel, its head weight in relation to the entire weight of a club and its performance based on timing of its release. Please see my previous article for a complete understanding:
Drivers used to measure in at D1 or D2 in swing weight but over time it has go on not only to D3 but often up to D4 or D5. If you are using a D1 and when you play with a D2, there is just a slight difference in feel but jumping from a D1 to D5, you will feel a big difference in characteristic and it may affect your rhythm and timing its release. You will need some getting used to.
Conclusion
First impression counts - the looks. If you don't like the look of your driver you are less likely to succeed as beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. One man's meat is another man's poison. I think you should all look for inner beauty rather than a facade. Some drivers do not look the best in design or graphics but after a few shots you don't want to let it go. Traditional ones has a black crown and silver face but the all black crown/black face is cool too. Now there are white crown and black face too. What do you like? Looks are important to make you comfortable but if your skills dictates that you should use those with bigger heads, larger soles so be it.
Let there be no assumptions. If you are playing with a 10.5 degrees Regular shaft do not assume that the other brand and models are the same. Even the same brand same model's upgraded version can be different. Assumption is to assume and a-s-s-u-m-e is to make an "ass" of "u" and "me".
Check out the adjustable clubs. Opt for those with minimum weight to tinker with for if you are not a technician or enthusiast don't play with your car's engine. If you slice it will not turn into a super draw but it works and you can experience the difference. Likewise your hooks. The latest trend is to make drivers lighter. It works but not for all and there can be "trade-offs". It was as explained above - when lighter your swing speed naturally increase and theoretically your distance. I do not know about you but it is not for me at least for another 10 years because I found them too light and I could not feel a thing throughout my swing and my shot quality will suffer when going at high speed. It is like a light car saves petrol but there is no feel as road holding is somewhat poorer and it floats while aqua-planing.
Finally, having said all these, it has been said that shafts are the engines of golf clubs. In my humble opinion, it is all true. The club head can alter flight and loft gives trajectory. If you did not get the right shaft and shaft flex with a suitable kick or bend point you will struggle. When you have an opportunity, get fitted. You need more torque as it is the shaft's resistance to twisting and better players need less torque. It is like going to a tailor rather than buying off the shelves.
I lament our lack of driver fitting here. A longer shaft generates and necessitates a wider swing arc as the club head is further away and it generates a natural faster speed. Top that up with a lighter shaft and for me it would be a the cost of accuracy. In the USA they have a long drive competition where they are allowed to use 50 inches long drivers. In the market today, the longest is about 46.5 inches and that is quite a bit. If you want to be in the fairways, go for shorter shafts. If you just want it long, get the longer shafts. To me it is a no brainer. What is the point of 20-30 yards further but in the rough or worse. I want to be on the green green grass of home. Happy driving!
Golf as in life, play as it lies.
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