What golfer doesn’t dream of owning that “magic driver” which enables them to hit the ball consistently solid and in play? Tip number one; the very best driver for every golfer is never selected by its brand or model name or model number. It is chosen by its custom clubfitting specifications and how those individual factors are matched to the golfer’s size, strength, athletic ability and most of all, to their swing characteristics. Below, are 3 key specifications for proper Driver fitting, and a couple more for good measure.
Driver Length
It’s time to be blunt. The standard driver length of 45.5 to 46.5 inches offered by the majority of golf club companies is too long for the majority of golfers and will prevent at least 75% of all golfers from achieving their maximum potential for distance and accuracy. For men with an average to fast tempo with an outside/in swing path, 44” should be the maximum length; women, 42.5” to 43” should be the limit. There’s a very good reason the average driver length on the US PGA Tour since 2005 has been 44.5” and not 45.5” to 46.5”.
Driver Loft
Driver loft must be matched in combination to the golfer’s swing speed and their angle of attack into the ball. The slower the swing speed and the more downward the angle of attack, the higher the loft of the driver has to be for maximum distance – and vice versa. While each golfer has to be individually analyzed to know which loft brings the most distance, here is a basic chart to use as a guideline.
|
Driver Swing Speed |
Best Loft for Carry (web conditions) |
Best Loft for Roll Out (dry conditions) |
|
|
50 |
21 |
20 |
|
|
60 |
18 |
17 |
|
|
70 |
16 |
15 |
|
|
80 |
14 |
13 |
|
|
90 |
12 |
11 |
|
|
100 |
11 |
10 |
|
|
110 |
9.5 |
8.5 |
|
| Based on Level Angle of Attack and Average Wrist-Cock Release Position | |||
Driver Face Angle
Few drivers sold off the shelf offer options in the face angle to reduce the golfer’s tendency to slice or hook the ball. There is no better way to reduce a slice than to fit the golfer with a more closed face angle in the driver/fairway woods. For more severe slices, the golfer can be fit with a driver head with both a closed face and an offset hosel design.
The rule of thumb for face angle change? At a carry distance of 200 yards, each one degree more closed the face angle is than the golfer’s current face angle represents a reduction in the slice of about 4 to 5 yards.
And a Couple More for Covering Your Golfers’ DriverFitting Needs . . .
Total Weight and Swingweight
The stronger the golfer physically and the more aggressively they swing, the heavier the total weight and swingweight will need to be. The opposite is true for the weaker and much less aggressive swinging player. Matching the “weights” of the driver to the golfer’s swing strength and aggressiveness is critical for swing tempo consistency and the highest incidence of on-center impacts.
Shaft
Here’s the facts about the shaft. While the weight, the overall flex and the stiffness bend profile of the shaft has to be fit properly to all golfers, the shaft flex and bend profile are more important for golfers with a late release of the wrist-cock angle in the downswing than for golfers with an earlier release.
Addressing these three very important elements of driver fitting through proper custom clubfitting can only be done by an experienced custom clubmaker, so FIND A CLUBFITTER near you and you will see dramatic improvements in your driver this year!
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Hi Tom, All very good information there, what are your plans for a more closed driver in the future?
Can you also give us a guide to the directional differences in you current drivers and fairway woods?
Keep up the good work
Richard
RICHARD:
Our model 919THI Draw Bias Plus driver head is produced with standard specs of 10.5 loft with 3 hook face angle. So it is the most closed of all our driver models. Through our Hand Select program, we can sort and measure heads to find one as closed as 4 hook when desired for a golfer. So that is more closed than what you can find with most other companies out there.
In terms of “directional differences” in any driver head design, that is really a product of chiefly the face angle designed into the head and secondarily the offset – not anything like center of gravity or MOI differences in the head. Outside of that, directional differences come from how you assemble the club – its length, total weight, swingweight being the main elements of directional control. But speaking only of the driver head design, face angle is the main thing you design into a driver HEAD that has to do with directional control with offset being a distant second.
TOM
Hi Tom,
Thanks so much for your site. I’ve learned a lot from reading your comments. You seem to really know what you are talking about. I’d be grateful if you could help me with a driver fitting.
Last year I bought the titleist D3 with the stock diamana ‘ahina 72 low-mid stiff shaft. I’m a tech geek and measure my stats often and so can be accurate in saying average ball speed off the driver runs from 162 to 167 mph. I notice on video that in the middle of the downswing when the club is parallel to the ground the shaft is bending significantly FORWARD, TOWARD the ball. I’ve never seen anyone address this. Do I need a new driver, new shaft, new swing, or all of the above. I hit the ball about 280 but would be happy with more distance if possible.
Would a custom fit club help?
Thank you,
Seth
Hi Seth-
Tom gave me a heads up about your question as he’s off the grid for a week and we wanted to get to you in a timely manner.
It’s hard for me to say if this driver fits you or not, because there just isn’t much data for me to analyze and there are a lot of variables that contribute to performance. Could you get more distance? Possibly. It really depends how efficiently your head speed is being converted to ball speed and what you are producing for launch angle and spin rate and how those affect what is happening down range and when the ball lands. If you are maxed out for distance then a good fitting would be able to tighten up your dispersion so that you have more on course consistency.
In terms of the video of your swing, you have to be really careful here because it isn’t always what is happening in real life. Many cameras use a progressive scan so by the time the lower part of the image is captured, the shaft has already moved. This creates “artifacts” which are remnant images that then show up as odd things like the shaft bending more than it actually is. My guess is that this is what is happening, because to get a shaft to bend as much as it looks to you would mean that it is so soft, it’s something you would never play.
I hope this helps.
matt mohi