High lofted drivers

[Ditty_72]

Why are they so popular, and at what loft do you draw the line?

I'm seeing drivers with a lot of loft recently. Just now, I'm bidding on a Ping G2 driver with 15.5 degrees of loft (for experimentation :drinks: ) and I've seen some other drivers, like the Nike Sasquatch with the Lucky 13 and Sweet 16 lofts, and others with at least 12 degrees of loft. This is cool becuase it gives you more options, but why? Why would anyone need a driver that goes that high?

[Johnny]

getting you launch angle up with low spin is all the rage nowadays but it is not the whole story, so dont just let people tell you or better yet lie. You have to look at how you want to play maximize distance or maximize carry etc etc..the course conditions that you are mostly to play etc etc...

[binneguru]

for me it was 9.5 in the Ft-3 with 118mph swing speed. Anything higher launched too high. Please don't take recommendations from the board make sure you take the driver you like the looks of on a monitor. If the #s match take it out for a round. If you like it buy it :drinks:

[sergizmo]

A lot of it has to do with modern balls, they tend not to spin as much and therefor more loft is required.

 

Generally speaking, higher lofted drivers will tend to go straighter due to a higher backspin-sidespin ratio.

 

As a lowball hitter, I'm looking at the SQ 13* and G5 12*. There is no point in carrying a driver if you hit your 3 wood further. And yes, I hit my 3 wood further than any 10* driver.

 

I know there is something wrong with my driver swing to be launching it that low, but I want an easy fix. :drinks: Loft is it.

[dfung]

The high lofts are more available now because only golfwrx readers swing 115mph with an x-flex shaft. Regular humans see two benefits from higher loft - more carry and less slice. If you need this much loft, a 3-wood would be an alternative (and is the traditional recommendation), but if you can deal with the shaft length, the big head size will be much more forgiving.

 

I have to admit, I'm sort of surprised that that SQ Lucky 13 doesn't come with a 42" shaft. Tiger ain't gonna play it, but your grandpa willl probably start hammering 200+ yd drives and the next thing you know he'll be dyeing his hair and dating strippers!

[Lord Thomas]

Like Serge, I am a low-ball hitter, and I was really struggling with my driver last year. I found a Lucky 13 Ignite, and it gave me a playable option off the tee. After working on my swing, I put a lower-launch shaft in the Ignite, and after further working on my swing I went back to my 540 XD TP which I was trying to play before the Ignite with little success.

 

With the current trend toward high launch and low spin, it is easy to simply add loft to maximize launch conditions rather than improve the swing.

 

-Thomas

[TheBUNKY]

For me, on the monitor it was down to the 11.5 NVG2 with a regular flex shaft and the 10.5 NVG2 with the stiff flex shaft.

 

I was only two yards longer with the 10.5 NVG2 and the store had one in stock. Plus, I was grouping the balls together in a small area.

 

From now until the end of my days, I will never ever hit a driver with less than 10.5 degrees of loft and no more than 15 degrees.

 

I don't carry a 3 wood, only a 17 degree hybrid.