3 Critical Keys to Increasing Driver Distance
What golfer isn’t impressed by the driver distance of tour players? But what about us mere mortals with our 60 to 90-something mph swing speeds? The number one thing that keeps all of us from hitting the ball farther is the physics of impact, otherwise translated to mean “if you don’t have the swing speed, you can’t hit the ball to the screen at the end of the practice range.” But there are three things in a driver which, if matched and custom fit accurately to your swing, can bring about a good bit more distance.
Critical Key #1
The LENGTH of your driver is critical. If you buy into the premise that the longer the driver, the longer the drive, you have just bought into a load of malarkey and you’ll be destined to a constant fight with your #1 wood. There is one and only one exception to this rule – if you have a rhythmic swing tempo that is as smooth as silk, an inside out to square swing path and if you have a late wrist-cock release, you can get a few more yards with a longer driver length.
Unfortunately, for most golfers those swing traits are rare which translates to mean a shorter driver length is better. The longer the length of the driver, the harder it is to consistently hit the ball on-center and solid. If you miss the “sweet spot” on the face of your driver by only a half-inch, you just gave away some 5% of your potential distance. Miss it by a full inch and you lose 10% of your potential distance.
Standard length men’s drivers today are between 45.5 and 46.5 inches in length. Women’s drivers are only 1 inch shorter. Now think about this – the average driver length on the PGA Tour since 2005 has remained steady at 44.5”. If the pros could hit a 45.5”- 46.5” driver consistently solid and accurate, bet the farm they would be using that length because distance with control is a huge advantage in this game. Unless your swing is smooth as silk with an inside out path and a late release, tip number 1 is to be custom fit for the driver length that best matches your swing tempo, swing path release and golf athletic ability.
Critical Key #2
For maximizing your driver distance is the LOFT angle on the face of your driver. 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. If your swing speed is 80-85 mph, the average driver swing speed of a male golfer today, you’re giving up real distance increases of at least 10 yards or more if you are not using a driver with a loft angle of at least 12-13 degrees. And if you have a swing speed under 80mph and you’re not using a driver with at least 14-15 degrees of loft, you too have more distance waiting to be unleashed.
Critical Key #3
Total Weight and Swingweight of your driver is critical key #3. In other words, we’re talking about how much your driver weighs (total weight), and of that weight, how much of it is in the head (swingweight). The total weight and the headweight of your driver have to be matched to your physical strength, your swing tempo and your golfing athletic ability. Play with too light of a total weight or swingweight for your strength, tempo and ability and your percentage of off-center hits increases. Play with the right total weight and swingweight for your strength, tempo and ability and you will achieve the most successful combination of distance, accuracy and consistency.
Addressing these three points for YOUR swing through proper custom clubfitting can only be done by an experienced custom clubmaker, so FIND A CLUBFITTER near you and you will see 10 or more yards off the tee this year!
Tom
Hi Tom, If one were to go with a 43″ driver shaft would it be better to increase the lie angle? Seems like most 45.5 drivers (or the few I checked on websites) have around a 58* lie angle. Ideally the driver isn’t really touching the ground, but it seems like the lie would effect the flight some (especially if you’re prone to slicing). So if I were to go from 45.5″ to 43″ what would be a good lie angle? Thanks for your answers, they’re much appreciated.
Dave Technically that is true – any length change should incorporate a lie change to make the club’s lie fit you perfectly at the different length. However, lie is the least important in the driver because, 1) the driver has the lowest loft by far of any club – the misdirection of an ill fit lie is chiefly only a practical accuracy performance factor in lofts over 20*, and 2) the driver is used to hit fairways which are far wider than are greens which are approached by irons. In other words, you can have the lie off in the… Read more »
Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense.
Tom,I am 56 yo with one back surgery and swing appx 85-90 .I have a Taylormade SIM 2 Max driver 45” from end of grip to tip of adapter.It is 10.5 degree but changed to 12.5 with the benefit of control and more distance.It’s a 60 gram regular shaft which came in the club.Would I see any gain in distance by changing to a 40 gram shaft and will it increase my swing speed enough to play stiff shaft?thanks
Curtis The first question I would ask is why do you think you need or want to play with an S flex shaft? Believe me there are many more negative things that can happen to shot performance when playing a shaft that is too stiff for your swing than there are in playing a shaft that is too flexible for your swing. Take that to the bank cuz those are the facts. Besides, thanks to there being zero standards for anything in the shaft industry, you could find S marked shafts that match up to an 80mph swing speed and… Read more »
Would you agree that physics says a heavier club head delivered with the same speed will hit the ball farther than a lighter clubhead? So I am 72 and currently play a 67 gram R shaft with supposedly mid kick and spin with an 8.5 degree driver head. I hit up on my drives. Would I not be better off with a lighter shaft and a heavier club head? Do you know a source that list the various weights of the leading clubheads? Thanks.
I have a different experience. I’ve gone to 3 fitters. All have said that my money would be better spent on lessons. Idk why as I don’t slice or snap hook. My misses are pulls or reg hook. So, what gives? Should I be more consistent before going to get fitted?
Thank you for any advice.
ANDRE Normally when I hear of a fitter saying that to a golfer, it is because they see that the golfer has more severe swing issues that need to be at least remedied to the point that your misses would be fairly consistently the same. Usually golfers who miss the ball both directions or are very inconsistent getting the ball up are at the top of the list for that type of recommendation. If you consistently miss in one manner and you always are getting the ball up to fly, I cannot speak for any of the clubfitters and I… Read more »
Tom, I swing my 3 wood faster than my driver, even though the 3 wood weighs more. 3 wood is 43.5, driver is 44.25. The 3 wood feels more balanced to me and swing weight is about D1. The driver swing weight is about C8. Should I increase the driver swing weight?
BILL It is not unusual for a golfer to hit their 3w longer than their driver but it is rare to see a golfer achieve a faster swing speed with the 3w, especially when it is shorter in length. Are you sure the clubhead speed actually has been measured to be higher with your 3w and you are not assuming the swing speed with the 3w is higher just because you happen to hit the 3w longer? For many golfers, the longer driver is hit more off center than the shorter 3w which is one of the reasons why a… Read more »
Tom, Lovely article. So I have been tinkering with going shorter in my driver. Without thinking I got a 70 TS XS (fujikura pro 2.0 TS) shaft (total weight actually closer to 80g) at a 44.5” playing length (down from 45.5”). I added way too much weight (should have weighed them first) and saw a huge drop in club speed (100mph). Could that have been caused by way too much weight or flex or both. I typically play an XS (fujikura pro) from that shaft company so I am thinking it was a weight issue. Should I just tinker with… Read more »
Randy For most players, duplicating the swingweight the club had at its longer length when going shorter makes the head weight feel too heavy. Most players would approach this on a trial and experimentation basis when shortening the club to add back a little weight, test hit to see if the feel of the head during the swing is adequate or not, add more if necessary, test hit again to evaluate your sense of feel. This is one of the downsides to using swingweight as a guide for head weight feel because the same swingweight measurement will only offer the… Read more »
I have a Wilson D7 driver (it had a Lamkin Microlite grip) and changed the grip to a Lamkin Sonar standard grip. What does having a heavier grip do (I think there is a 25g difference) to the driver?
Alex Moving to a heavier grip will do two things – 1) raise the total weight of the club by the amount that the new grip is heavier than the old one, 2) lower the swingweight and move the balance point slightly toward the grip because of the added weight on the butt end of the club. The swingweight drop would be equivalent to the weight increase of the new grip over the old one, divided by 4. So if the new grip is 25 grams heavier than the old one, the swingweight would drop by 6 points approximately. Some… Read more »
Hi Tom. I have enjoyed reading both your articles and comments over the years and have learned a great deal from them. I saw a driver test where they replaced the head weights of a Taylormade M5 to increase the headweight by a total of 10g (left them in the same position). The launch angle increased 0.4 degrees, spin increased by 220 rpms, and swing speed slowed by 1.1 mph. They used the same shaft so I assume the extra weight created more shaft bend that contributed to some of these results. If the shaft bent the same, would you… Read more »
TIM When it comes to the effect of weight changes and weight position changes in a golf club, there is no rule of consistency for what weight movement or increase brings about what performance change. Every golfer is different and especially so when it comes to the effect of weight changes on their swing results. This report you read that spoke about a 0.4* increase in launch angle, 220rpm change in spin and speed change of 1.1mph would only be applicable for THAT SPECIFIC GOLFER and not for anyone else unless their swing and their sense of feel was precisely… Read more »
I enjoyed your book very much. Thanks. I have a 45.5 inch driver I would like to reduce to 43.5 inches (a 12 swing weight point decrease?). I understand this will decrease the swing weight, which can be brought back to the original swing weight by adding significant weight (24 grams?) to the head (on this club easily accomplished since it features screw in weights). I also understand that the initial shortening will decrease flex (make the shaft effectively stiffer), and that the addition of weight to the head may increase flex (make the club more flexible), all of which… Read more »
PAUL Many thanks for your kind words about the book! Much appreciated and glad to hear you enjoyed it. You’re thinking is sound on going over the various considerations when considering shortening an existing driver. Many times when a club is shortened by 2″ as you are considering doing, you would not want to go all the way to the same swingweight you had before with the club at 45.5″. The FEEL of a particular swingweight will be different depending on the length. So for most golfers, D1 at 45.5″ will not feel as head heavy as can D1 at… Read more »
Tom, Slightly off topic, but with our Irons. I can’t recall on the Web anyone mentioning that any Set of Irons we buy even top-of-the range by the prominent Club Manufacturers are never the same Swing weight through the entire Set (they all state/allow +/- Manufacturing Tolerances). When ordering from their Custom Fit Units these manufacturers never mention asking for a different Shaft Length changes the Swingwieght. Can I suggest that’s also an important issue where the Club Golfer should be encouraged to go to a Professional Custom Fitter (when they see the results if they don’t have a Set… Read more »
ROBERT Golfers who are very “into” their equipment all know that +/- tolerances exist and that at times the clubs they buy can be well off from the stated specs for the primary elements of loft, lie, swingweight and even a little bit for length. Most club nut guys who insist on using big company clubs will routinely take them to a clubmaker to have these off tolerance specs corrected because they know this is a regular part of clubs that are just made to a series of standard specs to be sold off the rack. However, we are talking… Read more »
Would adding weight to my driver lower the trajectory? That is what I am trying to accomplish.
JOHN No, if anything adding weight to the driver head could increase the shot height by causing the tip half of the shaft to bend more coming into impact and with it, increasing the loft at the moment of impact (dynamic loft). The only ways a club change can lower loft are, 1) getting a head(s) with lower loft to begin with, 2) using a much stiffer shaft which is self defeating because of the far worse effects of using too stiff of a shaft for your swing characteristics. It’s also worth a check to see if you are releasing… Read more »
Hey Tom, thanks for your years of helping us mortals figure out this great game. Besides just getting my new Sterling one length irons I’ve picked up a new shaft (VA Composites Slay 65 stiff) to put my driver length at 43.25” with a Ping G410 plus head. Using a Lamkin Crossline mid grip means, at least as I can tell, I need to add about 22g to the head to bring it up to D3-4, which feels right. Also how concerned should I be about tip&butt trimming effecting flex? My swing speed is 95-98. With this coronavirus lockdown getting… Read more »
Lance Thanks very much for your interest to want to learn about equipment info!! Do be careful when thinking about the final swingweight when you are going shorter AND using a heavier weight grip like what the Crossline mid size will be. A much heavier grip like this will force you to add a lot more weight to the head to get to a D3-4 swingweight and if you do that to go all the way to D3-4, when you swing the club the head might feel much heavier to you than did a D3-D4 swingweight at a previously longer… Read more »
Hi Tom, I know you have answered this before but can’t find or remember how you answered. What is the effect of gripping down a longer driver vs playing a driver with a shorter shaft?
MATT Yah, that is a strange one that one that I never have come to grips with totally in all of my work. No question that most golfers struggling with driver consistency who do grip down at least an inch or even more, will achieve much better shot consistency almost from day one. But there has always been this argument discussion that says technically if the golfer is gripping down an inch or two, isn’t the actual playing swingweight of the club used in that manner lower? Technically it is. And then following that comes the strange situation where if… Read more »
Tom first off you rock. So i noticed you said swing speeds between 90 and 100 should be using 11* of loft. About a year an half ago my average SS was 94 i used a stiff shaft with head loft of 10.5 but my launch angles were crazy low like 8-9.5° which i had a bad habit of having a downward angle of attack. Now my SS is well over 100 and currently play 8* driver and my AOA is alot more up on the ball thanks to some lessons and swing changes. But ive noticed lately that i… Read more »
ROCKY Thanks much !! I would not have said all golfers with a 90-100mph swing speed would be best fit into an 11* driver without also saying that the golfer’s ANGLE OF ATTACK on the downswing is a huge additional piece of information that is needed before coming up with the best driver loft for the golfer. Different golfers with the same swing speed quite often will have completely different angle of attack into the ball and it is a super critical point to know for recommending driver loft because of the effect the A of A has on the… Read more »
Tom you’re awesome. I joined the conversation over a year ago. I am still benefiting from your willingness to helping me grow as a golfer. Thank you Sir!
Hi Tom,my problem is high ball flight. I am an older player and after 50 years of golf I still launch too high to suit me. I play an 8.5* M4 with a senior shaft. I have tried every setting on the club (down to 6.5*) and many different shafts, different flexes as well. I am an equipment junkie so I constantly try things. At my age (70) I think I am maxed out as to length (210) but I know the ball will go farther if I could hit it lower. Do you have any thoughts about something I… Read more »
RANDY I’ll be at that same age number in 2020 so I am thinking with my experience in studying tons of golfers in fitting research that the reason for your high flight is not the club or shaft or anything to do with equipment. I’m thinking that it’s because you are allowing the clubhead to pass the hands before impact which increases loft and from that causes the higher shot. WIth the driver the proper position is a straight line down from the left shoulder, left arm, through the hands and down the shaft to the head. With the irons… Read more »
Hi Tom, I have Ping G SFT driver which I cut to 44” based on your recommendation. Looks like I need to add about (1.5” x 12g) to the head to bring SW back to original spec. My plan is to replace removal weight with 17g one and add some heavy duty lead tapes.
Could adding too much weight in concentrated spot (for example using much heavier 17g removal weight), negatively affect performance?
Thank you!
TIM For golfers with a driver clubhead speed under 90-95mph and who are average ability to below avg ability ball strikers, a concentration of 20 grams in one area of the head will not really result in a consistently perceptible change of ball flight from what they are used to seeing. But as clubhead speed increases over 100mph and especially over 105-110mph AND combined with being a decent ball striker who hits more than half of the shots on center, a concentration of 20g or more in one area of the head would result in a more consistent change of… Read more »
Tom,
I was fit for a new Titleist TS2 Driver 45.25 inches but a D7 swingweight. Do you find that to be generally a heavy swingweight? I want to say it’s 4 points above standard. What are the benefits of a heavier Driver? I’m 53 and swing around 95mph, average around 230-240 yards, including rollout. I can change the weight to 4g less with a separate weight I bought. The weight is toward the back of the head and replaceable. Thank you.
CLIFF Keep in mind there are two different weights when it comes to a golf club, the TOTAL WEIGHT and then the head weight feel which is measured as the swingweight. yes for sure D7 is a very high swingweight and would be in today’s equipment 6 swingweight points higher than average. What happens if a golfer ends up with too high of a swingweight can be, 1) a noticeable increase in the amount of effort to swing the club on the downswing to impact, in some cases so much more than the golfer starts to move around more as… Read more »
Mr. Wishon, I have an 11-year-old daughter who is a pretty good local golfer (adveraging low 40s for 9 holes on the US Kids tour). However, she’s not as long of a hitter as I would expect for her swing speed, which is 60-62 mph. She uses a US Kid’s UltraLight 54 driver. Her typical swing specs are as follows: ~4* out-to-in path with face about 3* open to path, AoA of about 1.5 to 2* up, backspin ranging from 2,400 to 2,900, and smash factor of 1.35 to 1.4. Carry on a GCQuad is about 100 yards. We’re exploring… Read more »
DANNY That’s VERY impressive your daughter is averaging low 40s in her play at just the age of 11. Wow that is a fantastic start to the game for her. Typically a golfer with a 60mph clubhead speed with the driver would average a maximum carry distance of around 110 yds depending on the loft of the driver being used. Much higher lofts will carry the ball longer for slower swing speed players. You did not say what the loft of her driver is. But if it is less than 15-16* then that would be way too low of a… Read more »
I am in the market for a new driver and looked through your recommendations. You list out a clubmaker near me but when I contacted him, he said he doesn’t do radar fittings anymore. Instead, he uses frequency of the shaft and eyeballs swing speed, tempo, and release point through a few swings at waffle balls.
Is this a true fitting by your standards or would a person need a little more data such as spin rate and angles of attach to truly fit you for the right club?
FRANK While there are some VERY experienced clubfitters who can eyeball a lot of the golfer’s requirements to come up with proper fitting specs, it is not exactly an approach that wins the confidence of very many golfers. I know I can do that and I know several clubmakers who after MANY fittings can as well, but it’s just not the way to win over the golfer and make them feel good about the fitting session. What you might do is ask him to provide you with contact information for a couple 2-3 golfers who he has fit and contact… Read more »
I’m 63 years old and have been playing golf for over 50 years. My swing speed with a driver is 85 to 90 mph. I have worked hard on increasing angle of attack and 9 to 9.5° of loft gives me my best carry and roll.I play 5.5 handicap now. You suggest a loft of more than 11° would suit my swing speed. I have tried them and they reach for the stars, a balloon flight with no roll out. My attack angle is positive. My average drive is 230 to 240 yards. Smash factor usually over 1.45. Spin about… Read more »
Graham I never like to suggest a loft based on the clubhead speed only because the angle of attack plays such an important role in determining what loft is best for what golfer with the driver. If a golfer says nothing about their angle of attack then one can only go on the clubhead speed when making a loft recommendation and in such a case there can be a situation as you describe where the loft that is generally OK for an 85-90mph speed ends up not being right because the presence of a more upward angle of attack was… Read more »
I promise this is my last question related to this… I added the 25g grip to the 44″ club and it feels very light. Weighing it on my non-digital postage scale it looks to be about 10.25 ounces. My 4 and 7 are both 12 ounces and I can feel the difference holding the club. I know you mentioned not trying to get it to a particular swing weight, but for comparison sake if I were to get the club to D3, once with a 25g grip and once with a 50g I would imagine I would have two pretty… Read more »
DAVE No problem!! At 10.25 oz vs 12oz for the other clubs, you are feeling the TOTAL WEIGHT difference which is independent from the head weight feel. These are the two separate weight feel elements of every golf club and they both USUALLY have to be balanced for a golfer to feel good about the overall weight feel of his clubs. I say USUALLY because by adding head weight through experimentation it can be possible to HIDE the light total weight of a club with a heavier head weight feel. This is because as you keep adding head weight, the… Read more »
Waiting on my lead tape and lighter grip to show up in the mail but I couldn’t help myself and cut the driver to 44″. Today I played it as is at C2.5 and that didn’t work so well. (Tried using foil tape and 2 quarters on the back of the sole, but they were gone pretty quickly.) When I get the lead tape would it be fine to wrap it around the ferrule? as far as changing any characteristics of the head and ball flight? The end of the shaft seems less obtrusive visually to me for some reason.… Read more »
DAVE It’s good you tried to play the driver after the cut with no head weight added so you can see the importance of having enough “heft” in the head to enable you to achieve the timing and rhythm you need to hit the ball ok. Now you can do the lead tape addition a little at a time and learn some more about the importance of head weight feel AND to learn what YOU react better to with your swing characteristics and sense of feel. Don’t put the lead tape on the ferrule. It’ll look way too odd before… Read more »
Well I feel like a heel for giving you the wrong information for your very descriptive response. That was a typo of sorts, the the shaft is currently 45.75 But everything you told me still applies I think, just less tape it sounds like. Right now thinking of going to 44.5 which would be -1.25″ so -7.5 in swing weight, so D3 down to C5.5. With the grip, +5 SW, gets me back to D 0.5 My fairways (4 & 7, though I can’t and don’t really hit the 4) are D1 so that seems pretty workable. But it sounds… Read more »
DAVE OK< that makes a lot more sense. Lots of companies have their standard driver length between 45-46" so this falls into that. Everything I told you still applies, yes. Your calculations in your comment are correct. You might also try cutting down the 4 wood by 1" and doing the same lead tape experimenting for the head weight feel and you may be surprised that one improves for you as well. Length in the woods and driver is a SUPREMELY critical spec for golfers. And over the past few decades the big companies have all been pushing their lengths… Read more »
I’m relatively new to golf and using a stock 47.5 regular flex G10 10.5 driver, with supposedly a D3 swing weight. I’m looking at cutting it down to 44.5. From reading this that would reduce the swing weight by 7.5 points (does that -3 per 1/2″ apply to graphite too?). I don’t know how much the stock ping grip weighs, but assuming it’s 50grams, if I use a 25 gram grip that in theory adds back 5 swing weight points. Just curious if that change in grip weight is going to help at all as far as keeping the feel… Read more »
DAVE Thanks very much for your comment/question. Yes, all of the comments have to be approved before they are posted because as you well know, these days all comments fields on websites are targeted by tons of spam. I am the only person who handles this comments part of the website because I very much like answering myself, but I do not always get to check to see what’s come in to approve it every day. But since you are reading this you are now “approved”!! Wow, I had no idea you could buy a stock driver at 47.5″ in… Read more »