Assuming you already have been fit for your current gamer driver, let’s unpack what you can do to further fine-tune your boom stick. (If you haven’t been fit, what are you waiting for? You’re leaving shots on the table.)
The easiest way to tune up your gamer driver is to adjust your clubface for your specific needs. Modern drivers offer a ton of opportunities to dial in your ideal launch characteristics and shot shape. Likewise, these engineering marvels can actually make you look like you are a lot better than you are.
What is the biggest lever to adjust first?
Adjusting the loft on your driver will have the biggest impact on launch and spin. Many of today’s drivers can be adjusted by as much as +/- 2°. Depending on how you deliver the driver through impact, that amount of adjustability can move spin by up to 1,000 RPMs and move your launch window by several degrees.
That is a huge change in how your ball flight looks down range. But modern drivers also has movable weight; shifting weight can move the center of gravity and begin to change how the ball comes off the face and looks down range.
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Where should you put the movable weight?
There are at least three things to consider when you are testing where to place this discretionary weight.
1. Where you hit it on the face: If you miss toward the toe or heel, some players respond better to placing the mass directly behind their strike location; others see better results by placing the weight on the opposite side of the miss location. For example, if you miss on the toe, place the weight in the heel.
2. Moving the heavier weights from front to back, or back to front: This can have a similar effect to adjusting loft, although moving weights is a smaller lever to pull than adjusting loft. Weight adjustments are secondary to the loft adjustments when it comes to dialing in launch and spin.
3. Where you miss it down range: A player who hits a push or slice may find that adding weight to the heel will help them return the face to square through impact. One the other end of the spectrum, moving the weight toward the toe can help a player who hits a pull or has a fast release through impact.
Is the lie angle of your driver important?
Yes! The lie angle of your driver can change the start direction of your tee shots. Too upright, you may hit it off the heel or be closing your face in relationship to your target through impact. Not good.
A lie angle that is too flat, meanwhile, could result in a push or a toe strike. You guessed it, those aren’t ideal results, either. Working with a fitter or golf professional, and using the assistance of a launch monitor, you can make the appropriate adjustments to deliver the face in the best setting possible.
TaylorMade Qi35 Custom Driver
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Another trick of the fitting trade…
When you are adjusting loft, every degree of loft that you add or subtract also changes face angle by as much as 2°. This means you could take a higher, or lower, lofted head and use the adjustable loft sleeve to help a particular miss or “build in” a shot shape bias.
Since most of us have an issue with the lateral miss (aka slice), your fitter may take a lower lofted head and adjust it to the “higher” setting. On a fixed sleeve, like the TaylorMade FCT, that adjustment would close the face by 4° and make the lie angle of your driver more upright. Shift the moveable weight in the heel and you have an anti-slice machine that will reacquaint you with the center of the fairway.
All the above adjustment options are some “tricks of the trade” I have used in thousands of fittings to help players find the fairway more often. If all of this sounds like too much to process, no problem. Book a fitting with our friends at True Spec and have one of their professional fitters walk you through the process. Enjoy the short grass!
Ready to take your driver to the next level? Find a fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.
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