The Three MYTHS of Distance (Length, Loft, and shaft)

By: Ben Poston

The Three MYTHS of Distance (Length, Loft, and shaft)

1. The Myth of Longer Club Length.

Myth – Longer Clubs length will give you more distance:

FALSE - Longer club length will NOT give you more distance with the woods.

The only golfers who are able to increase distance by going to longer club length on their woods are those golfers who have both a smooth tempo AND a very good set of swing fundamentals (i.e. good turn, good balance, smooth downswing transition, and a good rotation through impact with the body. The only possible exceptions to this are golfers who are very tall AND have short arms. If you don’t have the swing skills mentioned above, avoid drivers that are 45 inches and longer for men, or 44 inches and longer for women. If you hit a long solid shot four out of 10 times or less with your driver, then go with a shorter length. If you do, you’ll improve your overall distance because for every ½ inch you hit the driver off-center, you are going to lose 5-7 percent of your potential distance.

2. The Myth of Lower Loft

Myth – the lower the loft the more distance you’ll get:

FALSE - More Loft on the driver will increase distance for 80 percent of all golfers.

That’s right, MORE loft, not less. If you swing the driver 90 mph or less, AND you do not hit the ball sky high with your current 9-, 10-, 11-degree driver, then you are definitely a candidate for increasing distance off the tee with an increase in driver loft.
Here’s why – golfers with a driver swing speed of 90 mph and less do not generate enough backspin off the tee to let the ball to create its own lift to hold it in the air and maximize carry distance. The best way to maximize carry distance in this case is to launch the ball off the tee at a higher angle so it can stay in the air longer to take full advantage of the speed at which the ball was hit. Have you ever noticed when you’re using a water hose that you can only reach farther distances when you angle the hose at a higher angle? The same principle applies to the Launch Angle of the golf shot off the tee.

3. The Myth of Using an Expensive Shaft

Myth – Changing your golf shaft to a more expensive shaft will always increase your distance:

FALSE (sort of) - The Shaft can only increase distance by affecting either the Launch Angle or the Total Weight of the clubs.

If your golfing buddy tells you he gained distance from a change in shafts, it can only be because of one or a combination of the following factors: 1) The new shaft was much lighter in weight than the old shaft. 2) The new shaft generated a higher launch angle because it is more flexible overall or it’s more flexible in the tip half of the shaft. 3) The club with the new shaft was built to a combination of length, total weight and head weight that intentionally (or accidentally) matched better to the strength, tempo, rhythm, swing movements of the golfer. Remember this - the tour pros rarely if ever use the stock, standard shaft that is normally installed in the heads with which they play. They experiment or seek experienced fitting advice to choose the shaft with the best combination of weight and overall distribution of the shaft’s flexibility that best matches their strength, tempo, rhythm, swing movements. Sometimes this can result in a switch to a more expensive shaft – but not always. The thing to remember is that if you need to make you change your shafts for the right reason.

Article Source: http://www.bettergolfarticles.com

Ben Poston Owner and Clubmaker at Triangle Custom Clubs - where you can get custom golf clubs made to the way you play! www.trianglecustomclubs.com

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