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PRESTIGE GOLF
PRESTIGE GOLF
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The Great Debate
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ommonly debated in the Prestige Golf office and clubhouse alike - what makes for a better game, and moreover what do most golfers prefer? Distance off the tee or accuracy? We ask the experts...
DISTANCE V ACCURACY
In past games the wrong combination of loft and shaft might have given you great distance but dubious accuracy, or vice versa. Essentially, you were sacrificing something. But Paul Rymer, Ping Fitting Centre Supervisor – who has over 15 years of fitting experience with the iconic brand – thinks you can now have both.
While most golfers don’t have enough loft on their driver and would benefit from more, for the others and those using differently designed driver heads, more loft can in fact lose them distance. So let’s delve a little deeper into driver loft and how it affects the distance of your tee shots. The ultimate combination for maximum distance is high launch, low spin. Having more loft will increase that launch angle. But if the angle of attack stays the same, more loft will also create more spin and thus reduce distance.
“If you focus on just one thing, such as maximum distance, then you’re kidding yourself. You should also put a premium on accuracy. We see a lot of people come into the fitting centre with the perception of what loft and shaft flex they need; this is often based on what they’re currently playing. The most common fault we see in amateurs is a preference for lower lofts. The majority of golfers require higher lofts to match their launch angle, ball speed and spin rate.”
Having the centre of gravity low and forward in the head serves to reduce the spin that more loft tends to create. But the way you deliver the club to the ball also has a massive effect on launch and spin. Let me explain. Often, the loft etched on to your driver is very different to the loft you present to the ball at impact – called dynamic loft. Dynamic loft will always be higher due to the shaft deflecting forward through impact. A golfer whose technique adds loft at impact, so creating even more dynamic loft, won’t necessarily benefit from a higher-lofted driver.
But it’s not just about getting the correct loft…“The shaft has a big part to play in this as well. The G25 is aimed at all levels of golfer; hence we offer four loft options. Each loft can be fine tuned by +/- ½ degree, which allows us to precisely fit the golfer to a loft that is best suited to them. We also use our propriety shaft which is designed with an optimum flex. This is married precisely to the torque and weight characteristics best suited to the person’s swing speed,” added Paul.
Comparatively, if a golfer hits down on the ball five degrees and presents 15 degrees of dynamic loft (so 20 degrees apart in total), they won’t get the low-spin numbers they desire. If you hit down on the ball, you would usually benefit from having less loft because you’d bring the attack angle and loft closer together, reducing spin.
Michael Vrska, Wilson’s Global Director of Golf, agrees. “You’ll get the right driver by optimising launch angle, ball speed and spin rates. Those parameters are what controls ball flight and if a player gets those right through a proper fitting, they will have a great driver. Forgiveness is certainly a factor as well, and it would be nice if the golfer liked the look of the club at address, but getting the right ball flight is far and away most important, especially for drivers.”
The characteristics of the driver head itself play a big part. All have different CG locations, which affect the launch and spin. I have my Nike Covert driver at 10.5°, but have to use a Ping G25 at 9.5° to get the same carry. TaylorMade’s SLDR is a very low-spinning driver head and a larger number of golfers will benefit from more loft with this particular model than they will other drivers.
We all know the saying “More loft equals more distance” but is this always the case?
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Really the best advice we can give is to test different drivers on a launch monitor and see which comes out on top.
Prestige Golf
Prestige Golf
www.prestigegolfonline.co.uk