Stick with high loft or go for lower degree

Hi I'm a 28 handicapper been playing golf for about 2/3 year trying to get at least once a week sometimes not able due to work, I started off with a cheap Dunlop set I picked up from sports direct, I'm here to talk about the driver which I used to slice quite a lot but managed to sort it out a bit and decided to buy a new set of wilson Di9's with a deep red driver high loft 13 degree, which started off the same as the Dunlop driver slicing it to the right but managed to work out why I was doing it and sorted through a little twist in the wrist to make sure I wasn't opening up the club on the down swing, now I'm quite consistent and last few rounds been hitting 70-80% of fairways and the other 20-30% are just off not really in to bad danger of the next shot, but now I'm hitting this quite we'll I feel the need to buy a driver now with 10.5 degree to try and grab that extra distance is it worth doing this or would you stick to being confident of hitting the fairway with what I have?

If you are that consistent, you dont want to be changing. Having a higher loft driver promotes straight back spin rather than slicey/hooky side spin. This is why its harder to hit the lower lofted drivers. Taylormade this year have launched their 'Loft+' campaign on this basis and have had most of their pros increase their loft by 1.5/2*.

Ashley,

1. The loft stamped on a driver can be up to 2 degrees out either way (I once measured one at 3.5 degrees out), so it's possible to buy a driver stamped '10.5' which has a higher true loft than one stamped '13.' Ridiculous but true.

2. If you swop driver heads than unless the shaft is the same your new shaft will almost certainly differently affect 'dynamic loft' that is true head loft at impact. Dynamic loft is influenced by whether or not your shaft is straight, advanced, or retarded at impact. If the face is manufactured 'open' or 'closed' is an entirely different matter.

3. I don't agree with Dave that driver head loft per se affects consistency vis a vis any propensity to induce ball side spin. If any head comes in square then the ball should fly straight. But I don't doubt for a moment that the golf industry may believe such to be the case. They still believe that adjustable drivers can change loft. Having said that: Send a ball way too high, and yes it reduces the distance it can travel sideways! Tour players can better afford to lose distance than regular golfers who are usually much shorter in length.

4. Below certain swing speeds it is more difficult to use very low lofted clubs. But I have taught many very slow swingers - just for fun / to boost confidence - how to get a very respectable drive out of my 6 degree drivers. Technique is ALWAYS more important than swing speed.

5. Several factors affect what amounts to 'ideal loft.' But if you are buying off the shelf drivers, rather than custom built ones, then I agree with Dave. If it's working then stick with it for the time being.

P.S. My writings are occasionally censored / removed. So maybe store if you wish to refer to this advice later?

If it ain't broke don't fix it! Golf is a hard enough sport as it is so if you have a real strength in hitting so many fairways then I would stick with that and see where you can improve your game elsewhere. the strengths and weaknesses section or targets tool on Golfshake are really good for that. I play off of between 18 and 25 and only hit 2-6 fairways a round. The others have explained loft fairly well so I won't go over old ground but if you want to try just head to a golf shop with a range or tracking system and try some stuff to see how you get on. I ended up with a 10.5 driver (having previously used a 12) but with a higher launching shaft so there's a right fit out there for everyone.

If your handivap is 28 and your hitting 70-80% of fairways and your other shots off the Tee aint that bad, then i'd forget about the driver as clearly other parts of the game where your going to need to make the shots up.Either that or your driving stats are off.

If you want to get better then concentrate on your shortgame. You drive the ball for an absolute maximum of 18 times a round, more like 12-15 for a normal golfer. This for a 28 handicapper leaves say 72-78 more shots to get round in 100. I'd concentrate on the other 72 if your serious about getting your handicap down.

Also Ive been for plenty of driver fittings and it only ever direct golf that have told me that more loft means better drives. Ball flight rules mean face angle dictates direction and path dictates spin to the sides bad swings wont get sorted by higher loft.

All the loft will do is decrease distance and mean it wont go as far sideways!!! And i wouldn't worry about what is stamped on a pro's clubs, they may have added 1.5 degrees of loft to the sticker but there wont be a tour player out there with more than 9 degrees of loft.

My last round was a 94 which is better than 28 handicap but I'm inconsistent with my scores ill break 100 1 round then ill not for next 3 rounds ill shoot around 100-105 until I can break 100 most times my handicap won't go down, driving was 1 of my big concerns which hopefully now I've sorted, I'm also trying to pick up on putting as the amount of 3 putts in a round was costing me a decent score again sometimes up to 10 3putts on a card is no good

I'd agree with the earlier posts, stop being macho about distance because you're hitting a lot more fairways than people with much lower handicaps than you. Now obviously if you only ever play monster courses and you are always being left with 200 yard plus second shots then it may be you need more distance from your drives, but somehow I doubt it. To really get better if you're within 150 yards of the flag you really should be aiming for a bogey with your handicap - if you aren't doing that then that's what needs working on. As someone older and much wiser told me, if you're faced with a 600 yard par 5 and hit your 7 iron 4 times (at about 150 yards a shot) you're on the green and putting for a par, more than likely a net birdie at worst.

Stop falling for the distance is god mantra, if your short game isn't up to snuff hitting a drive 300 yards isn't going to help much.

Cheers for your help I'm going to stick with it for time being and like most of ya have said going to concentrate on other parts of my game, thanks for your help people

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