Changing launch angle by adding loft

[TimBuma]

I’m sure if depends on the player but curious how much you can change launch angle by adding or taking away loft from irons. I have a pretty steep AOA (-6) and tend to launch the ball low (13.5 to 14.5) with decent amount of spin (5500-6000 w/ 6 iron). I always struggle with peak height and descent angle. I would assume the iron head would be the biggest contributor but without wanting to drop a lot of money curious how much it can be changed by adding loft to irons. Thanks!

Edited October 21, 2021 by littletimbo182

[TimBuma]

Also would guess you could get decent results by a ball change 

[CROUSE99]

I watched an older TXG video earlier today that touched on using a different ball to influence launch and spin.  It was the one where they fitted a woman with Taylormade irons.  Try searching "txg average" and it should be one of the choices.  Even though her swing speed is lower than most men's, the same things should apply for faster swingers.

[Billfitz]

Depending on what you have for a shaft now you may find that a shaft change will have more effect than a loft change in increasing the launch angle.

[Howard_Jones]

7 hours ago, littletimbo182 said:

I’m sure if depends on the player but curious how much you can change launch angle by adding or taking away loft from irons. I have a pretty steep AOA (-6) and tend to launch the ball low (13.5 to 14.5) with decent amount of spin (5500-6000 w/ 6 iron). I always struggle with peak height and descent angle. I would assume the iron head would be the biggest contributor but without wanting to drop a lot of money curious how much it can be changed by adding loft to irons. Thanks!

For irons, launch angle is average 50% of loft, so if you bend them 2* weak, launch angle goes up about 1*.

Descent angle change with about 1* for each 143 rpm spin.

If club speed is 80 mph, 1* chance of loft = 208 rpm
Spin and club speed is related directly, so if club speed is 10% higher (88 mph) spin will be 10% higher where 208x 1.1 = 228 rpm spin from 88 mph for each 1* we change loft.

If you have a LM report with your numbers, you can now play around with them based on this info.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Howard_Jones

[Stuart_G]

13 hours ago, littletimbo182 said:

I’m sure if depends on the player but curious how much you can change launch angle by adding or taking away loft from irons. I have a pretty steep AOA (-6) and tend to launch the ball low (13.5 to 14.5) with decent amount of spin (5500-6000 w/ 6 iron). I always struggle with peak height and descent angle. I would assume the iron head would be the biggest contributor but without wanting to drop a lot of money curious how much it can be changed by adding loft to irons. Thanks!

 

Keep in mind this is just a very rough estimate - but each degree of loft would raise the launch angle by somewhere around 2/3 to 3/4 of a degree.    For more specific answer - look at the difference in launch angle between two of your clubs in the set. e.g. 8i vs 7i.      Take the difference in launch angle and divide it by the difference in static loft.

 

May help a little but not going to "fix" what really is a swing problem.  Of course that's true with more than just the loft adjustments.   Same applies to any other club characteristic as well: head c.g.,  shaft selection,  etc...   Adjusting loft is just a bit more reliable in how it might help compared to the other options.

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Stuart_G

[TimBuma]

Appreciate all the responses! 

[Howard_Jones]

2 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Keep in mind this is just a very rough estimate - but each degree of loft would raise the launch angle by somewhere around 2/3 to 3/4 of a degree.    For more specific answer - look at the difference in launch angle between two of your clubs in the set. e.g. 8i vs 7i.      Take the difference in launch angle and divide it by the difference in static loft.

 

May help a little but not going to "fix" what really is a swing problem.  Of course that's true with more than just the loft adjustments.   Same applies to any other club characteristic as well: head c.g.,  shaft selection,  etc...   Adjusting loft is just a bit more reliable in how it might help compared to the other options.

 

Look at PGA and LPGA average from Trackman.
For irons 5-9 where we expect 4* as static loft difference, the numbers goes from 2.0* to 2.3*, so we use 0.5* for each 1* of loft as a rule of thumb for irons. (actual from PGA stats is 0.5* to 0.57*)
(For drivers we use 0.83* launch difference for each 1* as average)

[Stuart_G]

 

13 minutes ago, Howard_Jones said:

Look at PGA and LPGA average from Trackman.
 

 

That's one way to look at it, but it also includes the effect of the extra length and ball speed and different impact conditions going from one club to another (which is also typically going to be different for pros than it is for amateurs).

 

I prefer to use Tutelman's equations.  Sure it's purely theoretical, but it's not a bad starting place.

 

https://tutelman.com/golf/design/swing2.php

 

But as we both said, they are only rough guidelines and neither are going to be all that dependable.

[TimBuma]

Looking at the PGA averages I’m pretty close to most of those numbers: 6 iron 93 mph, launch angle 13.5-14, spin 5800, height roughly 90 ft. But the big difference is the descent angle which I struggle to get anything over 45. Recent iron fitting I did all my numbers were in this range. Only iron head that made a difference was the ping i210 which launched up towards 15 for me, peak height near 95-100, and got descent angle to about 45-47.

[Howard_Jones]

24 minutes ago, littletimbo182 said:

Looking at the PGA averages I’m pretty close to most of those numbers: 6 iron 93 mph, launch angle 13.5-14, spin 5800, height roughly 90 ft. But the big difference is the descent angle which I struggle to get anything over 45. Recent iron fitting I did all my numbers were in this range. Only iron head that made a difference was the ping i210 which launched up towards 15 for me, peak height near 95-100, and got descent angle to about 45-47.

Here is my estimate for change then. (1* more static loft)
93mph is (13/80) or 16.25% more spin than 80 mph/208 = (208x1.1625) = 242 rpm more spin
Descent = 242 rpm /143 = 1.69* steeper   

[TimBuma]

So add a degree of loft to those numbers from the i210s or to the numbers from my current clubs? Cheers!