Firstly let’s take a look at the club itself. I would hazard a guess that nearly 80% of golfers are using the wrong driver for their individual needs. A recent survey revealed that only around 5% of drivers are properly fitted to the individual! Most drivers are bought after a few swings on the practice range or even worse, on brand bias and a few waggles in the shop. Merely changing or building up the grip is not true custom fit! Each specification of the club should be taken into consideration before an accurate recommendation can be made.
The long and the short of it
It stands to reason that if the guys on these long driving tours are swinging shafts over 50 inches in length, then the longer the club the greater the shot distance. This is true to a degree, but while these guys are trying to hit one ball as far as possible and in play, the club golfer needs to keep the ball in play something like 14 times a round. The ‘standard’ length of drivers sold today is around 45-inch, which is much too long for the average golfer. The longer the club, the harder it is to hit the ball in the middle of the face. A 44-inch driver hit in the middle will always go further than a 45-inch driver hit out of the heel, and so shortening the driver will often, on average, give the golfer greater length off the tee.
Lofty ambitions
Here is another myth in golf: the less the loft the more the distance. How many golfers have you heard complaining that they hit their 3-wood further than their driver? This is down to two factors. The 3-wood is shorter so they hit it in the middle more often, and secondly, the 3-wood has more loft so gives a better launch angle. The crucial factor in fitting driver loft is the ball velocity generated by the golfer. The faster the ball speed the less loft is needed for the optimum ball flight and distance. As the average club golfer’s swing speed is not that fast (certainly not as fast as they think!) in most cases more loft is needed, not less. It is worth remembering that the less loft on the club, the more side spin is imparted at impact, and it’s side spin rather than back spin that kills the club golfer. A 43-inch driver with about 13-14° of loft would help most golfers drive straighter and longer. Such clubs used to be called 2 woods by the way.
Weighing in
The shaft has the biggest influence on the total weight of the driver. Over the years head weights haven’t really changed, staying around the 200g mark, and grips only vary from around 45g to 70g, but with the technological breakthroughs in shaft manufacturing the weight of shafts now come in from 140g right down to 40g. One of the major shaft companies believes that within the next few years it will have the capability to make a 10g shaft. The correct total weight for a golfer depends on their physical strength, coordination and tempo. A club that is too heavy can be difficult to control and reduce clubhead speed, while a club that is too light can have an adverse effect on timing and release. Another consideration of shaft weight is material; a graphite shaft may be lighter and so may increase clubhead speed, but steel shafts offer more control and better accuracy.
Balancing act
As in the rest of the set, the flex of the driver is crucial to distance, accuracy and trajectory. If distance is paramount to the driver fitting, it is often worth considering fitting a slightly softer flex, which will enable the golfer to load the shaft more, which in turn stores more energy to increase power in the swing. If accuracy is the top priority though, a firmer shaft will give more control over the release and face angle at impact. Fitting the correct flex of shaft will deliver the optimum balance between distance and accuracy.
