In the spring of 2015, I did a blog series on how to increase distance with your driver. (See the blog series here! ) One of topics was making sure that your contact with the ball was in the optimum spot on the clubface. The image in this post shows face tape contact with the same driver head but with different shafts The image on the right shows face contact high on the face and towards the heel. This caused a higher than normal launch angle, an increased amount of spin, a much lower smash factor (efficiency rating) and a hard draw/hook. My first observation was that the club was too long and shaft was potentially too stiff. The driver this gentleman was using was a 65 gram, X-Stiff (7.0) at 45.5″. After testing on the TrackMan ball flight monitor and putting the results into our fitting system, we recommended a 75 gram, Stiff (6.0) flex at 44.5″. We also recommended a slight change in setup and ball position to align the ball farther toward the toe of the club at address. The image at the left shows the results in much improved face contact, and 16 more yards! The TrackMan numbers for the shorter, heavier driver, showed an increase in smash factor from 1.42 to 1.48 with a resulting increase in ball speed of 6 mph. Shot dispersion was 10 yards tighter and launch angle improved to 13.4 from 11.8. More distance, more accuracy and better consistency. That is what we look for in every fitting!
Dan Sueltz
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