Jump to content

Open, Closed, or Square face Driver?


BNgolf70

Recommended Posts

For Drivers, I couldn't care less. I prefer to aim the clubface and FA doesn't matter if you do that.

On fairway woods though, I prefer an open face angle so that the trailing part of the sole of the clubhead does not contact the ground when playing off tight lies or when I'm wanting to fade the ball.

BT

 

Dr#1 Cobra Speedzone 10.5 – HZRDUS Yellow HC 65 TX @ 46”
Dr#2 Mizuno STZ 220 9.5 (10.5) - HZRDUS Smoke IM10 65 Low TX @ 46"

Mizuno ST190 15 - HZRDUS Smoke Yellow 70 TS @ 43"
Mizuno STZ 220 18- HZRDUS Smoke Yellow 70 TS @ 42"
Mizuno MP15 4-PW - Aldila RIP Tour 115 R
Cobra MIM Wedges 52, 56 & 60 – stock KBS Hi-Rev @ 35.5”

Odyssey V-Line Stroke Lab 33.5"
Grips - Grip Master Classic Wrap Midsize

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is completely player dependent.

Some golfers, when given a closed faced club, will get put off by it (react to it negatively) and will start making an even more slice producing swing. They will hate it.

Other golfers will "allow" the more closed face to start the ball a little bit more left for them and will love it.

The same goes for stiffer shafts, heavier shafts, offset, and virtually every single other component of club fitting. Sure, there are some very good guidelines to go by. But in the end, you have to try a little bit of everything to determine what you like and how you react to different things.

Also, you can fit to mitigate a miss, or you can fit to accentuate a miss, thus making sure the golfer HAS to make the correct in swing movements, which hopefully will create some commitment on the golfer's part. It's a ballsy move by a fitter or pro, but its something I have done. Take a slicer and open his driver up so much that it slices off the face of the earth if they don't commit to an inside path and better release. Now, I wouldn't suggest they go out and play in the Club Championship with it set like that, but for learning, it can be one tool to utilize.

As always, your mileage may vary here. Try out an adjustable driver and see where you like it.

AI Smoke TD 8° w/shaft TBD

Big Bertha 815 Alpha 14° w/Voodoo VS

'24 Apex UW 19° w/Rogue Silver

'16 Apex Hybrid 23° w/DG 
'24 Apex CB 5-7; '24 Apex MB 8-11 w/DG

MD2 55° + PM 1.0 58° w/DG
Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball Frankenstein (Fowler style)
[img]http://pxc86358mpx1hyn3hdxen4o1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/171831.png[/img]

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Need square to open face and no draw bias.Having one fade bias Fairway is very useful for me.Smooth swing needs Smooth shafts.

2020 18 July mid winterNZ
Ping Rapture 2006 10.5
Nike VrS 3wood
Callaway Razr Edge5 wood

MP100=33 9876 5/mp63
54     RTX2
60     RTX2
ProPlatinum NewportTwo
2002 325gram +8.NewGrip
Dont hesitate to buy one!






 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Open . Severe dislike for closed face clubs. Looks unnatural.

Driver: Callaway Paradym 9 set to 10 Draw

3W Callaway  Epic Flash

5w Callaway Epic Flash
Hybrids: 4-5 Epic Flash    
               6-7 Big Bertha 

               7 Ping G430 played as an 8 

Irons: PXG Gen4 XP 9-GW

Wedges: PXG 0311 52 56 degree Forged

Putter: Odyssey Rossie Pro 2.0 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2-3* open on 3W and 2-3* open and 2* flat on driver. Goal is to play a straight to slight fade and eliminate the lefts.

PXG  9* 0811 X  Hazardous Smoke Yellow 60g Stiff

Wishon 929HS 3W  Wishon Black 65g Stiff

Wishon 929HS 7W  Wishon Black 65g R 

PXG 0211 5i DG 105 Regular

Wishon 575MMC  5 - AW  Wishon Superlight Stiff

Ping Glide 3.0  54*  KBS 610 Stiff shaft

Ping Glide 3.0  60*  Z-115 Wedge shaft

PING Anser 3 Goose Neck Putter   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My preference is slight open face with driver and 3w...

DRIVER: Callaway AI Smoke TD 10.5*, Ventus TR Blue 6TX at 45"
3 WOOD: Callaway Paradym HL 16.5*, Diamana Flower Band White, D+ 82X Flex, tipped 1" at 42"
7 WOOD: Callaway Paradym 21*, Tensei AV white 75g S Flex, tipped 1" at 41"

IRONS: Callaway Apex MB 7-10, CB 4-6 -- DG TI S400

WEDGES: Callaway JAWS Raw 50, 54, 58 -- DG TI S400
PUTTER: SC Phantom 5, Stability Shaft, 33.25", Garsen Quad Tour grip (Toulon Chicago as back up)
BALL: Callaway CT X (current gamer), Srixon Diamond, -ProV1X and ProV1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a tendency to grip strong with my woods so for that reason an open face usually has a pretty straight ball flight for me.

I tend to hook closed faced clubs.

G430 LST 9.0 Ventus TR Red 6s

G430 LST 3 wood Ventus TR Red 7s

Stealth 2 Plus 5 wood Ventus TR Red 8s 

Callaway Apex Pro 3 hybrid Ventus Blue 8s

0311 XP 5 PX LZ 6.5

0311 P 6 P LZ 6.5

0317 T  7-P  PX LZ 6.5

RTX Zipcore  52, 56

PM Grind 60

Lab Link 1 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's personal preference. For me, it's square. That way, if the club is not behaving properly I can only blame myself, not the club.

10.5 deg Titleist 905R with stock UST Proforce V2 Shaft (Stiff flex)
Titleist 990 (3-PW) with stock Dynamic Gold in S300
Taylormade V-Steel 5W & 3W with Grafalloy Prolaunch Red shafts (Regular Flex)
2011 Adams Tom Watson signature wedges in 52 and 56 degrees with stock steel shafts (Player's Grind)
Rife Island Series Aruba Blade Putter

 

"Loft for loft, length for length, and shaft for shaft, the ball will go the same distance when hit on the sweet spot regardless how old the iron."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I despise closed face clubs - can tolerate square, but much prefer an open face angle by 2* or more so I can release as hard as I want without fear of going left. With a square face I still feel the need to hold off the club through impact to avoid going left. Closed face angle is just a non-starter, it wont be found in my bag.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to prefer a closed face and it was a great sort of training aid for me. As a junior I would roll the club face very open in the backswing which created the need for a lot of rotation coming down to get it back to square. As someone with really fast hips this meant a right miss was common because I didn't have enough time to square the club. A closed face helped with this and gave me confidence. Fast forward to late teens/early twenties and I had eliminated the excessive club face opening in the backswing, but still struggled with the old pattern of the aggressive release to square the club face in the downswing. Ironically, the closed club face helped me here too because it basically trained me to calm that flippy release, otherwise the ball would always go hard left. That led to a few years of a more upright swing with a neutral to closed club face and a hard turn hitting a hold off fade/power fade, where the closed club face helped get that "hold off" feeling. But that became one extreme that was the opposite of where I was as a junior, and as I worked to neutralize all of that, I slowly started to favor a more neutral to slightly open club face with the driver and an open face with the 3w and 5w.
The important thing about all that mess, to echo what @Dan Drake said above, is that its specific to ME. At any point a long that way it could have easily been opposite for someone else. And also the point about intentionally setting up the club to make your miss WORSE was something that worked as it did force me to fix a swing flaw. Figuring out whether you then need to or want to change away from that is another tricky issue.

  • Like 1

Titleist TSi3 9* Tensei AV White 65TX 2.0 // Taylormade SIM 9* Ventus TR Blue 6TX
Taylormade Stealth+ 16.5* Ventus Black 8x // Taylormade SIM Ti V2 16.5* Ventus TR Blue 7X
Callaway Apex UW 19* Ventus Black 8x // Srixon ZX Utility MKII 18* Graphite Design AD-IZ 95X
Callaway X-Forged Single Diamond 22* Nippon GOST Hybrid Tour X 
Bridgestone 
J40 DPC 4i-7i 24*- 35* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Bridgestone J40 CB 8i-PW 39*- 48* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0

Taylormade Milled Grind Raw 54* Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Vokey SM6 58* Oil Can Low Bounce K-Grind Brunswick Precision Rifle FCM 7.0
Scotty Cameron Newport Tour Red Dot || Taylormade Spider X Navy Slant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Square for me every time. I like to know that if a shot is going left or right too much that it was because of me and not the way that the club is set up. If I were a choice between open and closed, it would be open. I can deal with the ball going right but hate to see it going left.

Titleist TSR2 8.25* Project X EvenFlow T1100 White 6.0
Titleist TSR3 15* Project X Hzrdus Smoke RBX 6.0
Titleist U505 3 Iron Project X Hzrdus Smoke RBX 6.0
Titleist T200/T150 4-PW KBS Tour Stiff
Titleist Vokey SM9 50.08F, 54.12D (Raw) & 60.04L (Raw) True Temper S200
Scotty Cameron Futura 5S
ProV1 2023

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Open. Having grown up with wooden clubs (most of which were made 2 degrees open as standard), even square looks closed to me.

I can square or close open faced clubs for shotmaking purposes, but I have a difficult time opening square or closed face clubs. Same as with wedges, where my preference is to start with a 60 degree and hood or close it as necessary. I don't play a lot of open faced pitches because I'm just not very good at it.

 

 

 

"You think we play the same stuff you do?"

                                             --Rory McIlroy 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Our picks

    • 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open - Discussion and links to Photos
      Please put any questions or Comments here
       
       
       
      General Albums
       
      2024 Texas Children's Houston Open - Monday #1
      2024 Texas Children's Houston Open - Monday #2
      2024 Texas Children's Houston Open - Tuesday #1
      2024 Texas Children's Houston Open - Tuesday #2
      2024 Texas Children's Houston Open - Tuesday #3
       
       
       
       
      WITB Albums
       
      Thorbjorn Olesen - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Ben Silverman - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Jesse Droemer - SoTX PGA Section POY - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      David Lipsky - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Martin Trainer - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Zac Blair - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Jacob Bridgeman - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Trace Crowe - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Jimmy Walker - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Daniel Berger - WITB(very mini) - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Chesson Hadley - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Callum McNeill - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Rhein Gibson - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Patrick Fishburn - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Peter Malnati - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Raul Pereda - WITB - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Gary Woodland WITB (New driver, iron shafts) – 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Padraig Harrington WITB – 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
       
       
       
       
      Pullout Albums
       
      Tom Hoge's custom Cameron - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Cameron putter - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Piretti putters - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Ping putter - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Kevin Dougherty's custom Cameron putter - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Bettinardi putter - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Cameron putter - 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Erik Barnes testing an all-black Axis1 putter – 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
      Tony Finau's new driver shaft – 2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
       
       
       
       
       
      • 7 replies
    • 2024 Valspar Championship WITB Photos (Thanks to bvmagic)- Discussion & Links to Photos
      This weeks WITB Pics are from member bvmagic (Brian). Brian's first event for WRX was in 2008 at Bayhill while in college. Thanks so much bv.
       
      Please put your comments or question on this thread. Links to all the threads are below...
       
       
       
       
        • Like
      • 31 replies
    • 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational - Discussion and Links to Photos
      Please put any questions or comments here
       
       
       
      General Albums
       
      2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational - Monday #1
      2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational - Monday #2
      2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational - Monday #3
       
       
       
       
      WITB Albums
       
      Matt (LFG) Every - WITB - 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
      Sahith Theegala - WITB - 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
       
       
       
       
       
      Pullout Albums
       
      New Cameron putters (and new "LD" grip) - 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
      New Bettinardi MB & CB irons - 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
      Custom Bettinardi API putter cover - 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
      Custom Swag API covers - 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
      New Golf Pride Reverse Taper grips - 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
        • Like
      • 15 replies
    • 2024 Cognizant Classic - Discussion and Links to Photos
      Please put any questions or comments here
       
       
       
       
      General Albums
       
      2024 Cognizant Classic - Monday #1
      2024 Cognizant Classic - Monday #2
      2024 Cognizant Classic - Monday #3
      2024 Cognizant Classic - Monday #4
       
       
       
      WITB Albums
       
      Brandt Snedeker - WITB - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Max Greyserman - WITB - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Eric Cole - WITB - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Carl Yuan - WITb - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Russell Henley - WITB - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Justin Sun - WITB - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Alex Noren - WITB - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Shane Lowry - WITB - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Taylor Montgomery - WITB - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Jake Knapp (KnappTime_ltd) - WITB - - 2024 Cognizant Classic
       
       
       
      Pullout Albums
       
      New Super Stoke Pistol Lock 1.0 & 2.0 grips - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      LA Golf new insert putter - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      New Garsen Quad Tour 15 grip - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      New Swag covers - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Jacob Bridgeman's custom Cameron putter - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Bud Cauley's custom Cameron putters - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Ryo Hisatsune's custom Cameron putter - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Chris Kirk - new black Callaway Apex CB irons and a few Odyssey putters - 2024 Cognizant Classic
      Alejandro Tosti's custom Cameron putter - 2024 Cognizant Classic
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
        • Like
      • 2 replies
    • 2024 Genesis Invitational - Discussion and Links to Photos
      Please put any questions or comments here
       
       
       
      General Albums
       
      2024 Genesis Invitational - Monday #1
      2024 Genesis Invitational - Monday #2
      2024 Genesis Invitational - Tuesday #1
      2024 Genesis Invitational - Tuesday #2
      2024 Genesis Invitational - Tuesday #3
      2024 Genesis Invitational - Tuesday #4
       
       
       
       
      WITB Albums
       
      Rory McIlroy - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Sepp Straka - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Patrick Rodgers - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Brendon Todd - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Denny McCarthy - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Corey Conners - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Chase Johnson - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Tiger Woods - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Tommy Fleetwood - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Matt Fitzpatrick - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Si Woo Kim - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Viktor Hovland - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Wyndham Clark - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Cam Davis - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Nick Taylor - WITB - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Ben Baller WITB update (New putter, driver, hybrid and shafts) – 2024 Genesis Invitational
       
       
       
       
       
      Pullout Albums
       
      New Vortex Golf rangefinder - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      New Fujikura Ventus shaft - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Tiger Woods & TaylorMade "Sun Day Red" apparel launch event, product photos – 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Tiger Woods Sun Day Red golf shoes - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Aretera shafts - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      New Toulon putters - 2024 Genesis Invitational
      Tiger Woods' new white "Sun Day Red" golf shoe prototypes – 2024 Genesis Invitational
       
       
       
       
       
      • 22 replies

×
×
  • Create New...