Measured difference with adj FW hosel?

[hanfrac]

I have Cobra F8 3/4 and 5/6 woods.  I believe the range is 13-16 deg and 17-20 deg.  I've been playing with them at 15.5 and 18.5 for the past month and I use Arccos sensors.  They both have HZRDUS Smoke stiff shafts, cut slightly short of standard.  I use them each both off the tee and off the deck.

 

Arccos is saying that for tee shots, the 2 woods travel about the same distance, give or take.  There may be slight bias where I use the 5/6 on more downhill tee shots.  Interesting, off the deck, the 5/6 is 8 yards longer than the 3/4, perhaps due to more consistent contact and being shorter in length.  I'm debating setting the 5/6 to 17 deg and taking the 3/4 out of the bag.

 

Question - does anyone have a data-driven view of how effective the loft adjustments are?  I know that the actual loft isn't change, it's lie angle and face angle.  What I'm wondering is whether I introduce other factors if I play the club at 17 deg (which I presume means it's 1.5 deg open) vs at 18.5, which is square.  If I can square up the head, how much further will the 17 deg go than 18.5?  I've tried to find youtube videos for this, but haven't found anything specific to this.  I'm a little concerned that opening the face up 1.5 deg may give me more "right" than "longer."

[Stuart_G]

12 hours ago, hanfrac said:

I have Cobra F8 3/4 and 5/6 woods.  I believe the range is 13-16 deg and 17-20 deg.  I've been playing with them at 15.5 and 18.5 for the past month and I use Arccos sensors.  They both have HZRDUS Smoke stiff shafts, cut slightly short of standard.  I use them each both off the tee and off the deck.

 

Arccos is saying that for tee shots, the 2 woods travel about the same distance, give or take.  There may be slight bias where I use the 5/6 on more downhill tee shots.  Interesting, off the deck, the 5/6 is 8 yards longer than the 3/4, perhaps due to more consistent contact and being shorter in length.  I'm debating setting the 5/6 to 17 deg and taking the 3/4 out of the bag.

 

Question - does anyone have a data-driven view of how effective the loft adjustments are?  I know that the actual loft isn't change, it's lie angle and face angle.  What I'm wondering is whether I introduce other factors if I play the club at 17 deg (which I presume means it's 1.5 deg open) vs at 18.5, which is square.  If I can square up the head, how much further will the 17 deg go than 18.5?  I've tried to find youtube videos for this, but haven't found anything specific to this.  I'm a little concerned that opening the face up 1.5 deg may give me more "right" than "longer."

 

You're not going to find much that's really useful.  It's 100% subjective as to how individuals respond to the face angle/loft change.  So it can and will be different for different individuals.    The only way to figure it out is go test the club at the various settings and see what happens to your ball flight and shot shape.  That's the only data that will answer the question for you.  

 

Some people will try to make the distinction based on how you address the club.  Whether you sole it or hover it at address.  But that's really a very unreliable over-simplification.

 

And for technical clarity, the "static loft" doesn't change but the "effective loft" does.   So it really comes down to how sensitive the player is to the face angle change.

 

If during this testing you see a change in the left/right tendencies, then you are one who has at least some sensitivity to the face angle and should choose the adjustment position based on the desired left/right ball flight and then change the base head loft to manage launch/spin.

 

If you don't see any change to the left/right ball flight, you are likely getting the benefits of the effective loft change.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Stuart_G

[hanfrac]

Thanks for the response.  If I hear you right:

- I need to test for myself (which is hard, because even as a 4-5 index, I don't find myself to be that consistent with my FW wood ball striking)

- you're also saying I can test 1.5 deg open with the standard lie angle and 1.5 deg open with the upright (draw) lie angle.  If I do the first and get results going more "right," then I have another option.  If I can hit it straight at 1.5 deg open, I'm probably getting whatever benefit there is to get from lower loft

 

For the past XX years, I've not been thinking critically about these hosel adjustments and have assumed that going from 15 to 16 or whatever would just do what I assume it would do, which is launch the ball slightly higher.

[Celebros]

Here's my anecdotal experience with nearly the same clubs you use - I play the Cobra F8+ in both the 3-4 and 4-5 wood. 

 

I originally played the 4-5 wood set at 16.5* as my only fairway wood, but towards the end of last year added the 3-4 wood set at 14.5*, lofted up my 4-5 wood to 19*, and removed my 3-iron from the bag.  Going from 16.5* to 19* (0.5* from the maximum range in loft) in my 4-5 wood produced the expected results - higher launch/flight, shorter overall distance.  I have not noticed any changes to my fade/draw tendencies with the change in loft.

 

Since adding the 3-4 wood, I've had it set at 14.5*, but have tested it at 13.5* as well and also saw the expected results.

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Celebros

[Stuart_G]

3 hours ago, hanfrac said:

Thanks for the response.  If I hear you right:

- I need to test for myself (which is hard, because even as a 4-5 index, I don't find myself to be that consistent with my FW wood ball striking)

 

You dont' need to be overly precise or analytical.  Just look at general tendencies and what kind of atypical bigger misses might be creeping into the results.   If I can figure it out as a 14, you'll be able to at 4-5 🙂

 

 

3 hours ago, hanfrac said:

- you're also saying I can test 1.5 deg open with the standard lie angle and 1.5 deg open with the upright (draw) lie angle.  If I do the first and get results going more "right," then I have another option.  If I can hit it straight at 1.5 deg open, I'm probably getting whatever benefit there is to get from lower loft

 

I didn't say it but you can.   The lie angle certainly can influence the results but it's typically not a lot.  Maybe 2-3 yards offline for each degree the lie angle is off.   When the face angle is an issue it tends to have more of an effect.

 

 

3 hours ago, hanfrac said:

For the past XX years, I've not been thinking critically about these hosel adjustments and have assumed that going from 15 to 16 or whatever would just do what I assume it would do, which is launch the ball slightly higher.

 

Better players tend to be able to compensate somewhat even without thinking or being aware of what they are doing.  When it comes to golf, the power of the mind can certainly get in the way but it cal also be a good thing on occasion.