I wanted to try more loft with the driver this season. I was using a G2 with 8.5 loft. I am now using a HiBORE with 10.5 loft. It's just not working out very well for me. I can't get enough distance. It's nice to be able to hit more fairways, but I would rather hit longer drives hehe.

Was the 2 degree loft change too much? It sure seems like it to me. My drives are pretty week and the ball just seems to run out of energy...starts okay, then just kinda dies off...draws often straighten out at the end and even fade...sweird...sfunny.

<br><br>Post edited by: mygolfdomain.com, at: 2006/05/16 16:56

Sometimes it is the shaft that makes the driver more so than the loft. Your 8.5 degree maybe coming at the ball at a different loft angle that the loft it reports because the shaft is too stiff or too weak. The same goes with the 10.5 degree. In theory the reason the manufactures are going back to the high loft is they found that the shafts that were produced a few years ago where crapy and causing the loft of the driver club face to de-loft or add loft depending on what the shaft was doing. Once they got the shafts to fit the club head they found that a more solid shot is produced at a higher loft angle. So if you are getting a weak shot out of a higher lofted club it could be the shaft (or the swing) that is causing the problem.

Most touring pros (even though most are swing some sort of prototype built club) are going to a more lofted driver now that the shaft technology has gotten better. Even with that they were going from a 6 or 8 degree loft driver to now hitting 8 or 9 degree loft drivers. Not much change for us but to them it is producing a 14 to 16 degree increase in the launch angle which now allows them to hit the ball higher and longer. The pro at my club took a 905S 9 degree and took it over the corner of a dog left with a ball flight of a three wood, but about 310 on the yardage walk off.
Have the shaft checked in either of those drivers and you will probably be real surprised to find out what you are really swinging. I was…my 9.5 degree 983E was coming in at ball contact at a 7 degree loft. I changed over to the 905R 10 degree and I am now coming in at a true 10 degree and taking the ball over the nets at the end of the driving range that is at 275. That was all it took for me….

I traded in the 10.5 HiBORE for a 8.5 TM 425 tonight. I hit a few drivers using the sim. I also tried a 9.5 TM 425 and there was a huge different in height with one swing with that one. I was pretty comfortable with the 8.5 G2 that I used last season. I wanted to try more loft this year than in the past, but the 10.5 HiBORE with the Proforce shaft just didn't work out for me.

Yes, the flex and kickpoint of the shaft can make an 8 degree fly like a 12 and vice versa. You need to make sure you have the right shaft too.

Two years ago I went to the Byron Nelson and watched DL3 and Ernie Els (some of the guys with very pure swings) hit their drivers. Back then they had some very low trajectory. That was back in the 5 to 6 degree (or lower) days. I was at the Colonial yesterday and spent the whole day walking around watching the Pro’s hit on the longer holes and now DL3 is hitting a 9.5 degree prototype 905R (you can stand so close to the Pro’s and their caddies at the Colonial I asked his caddie what he was hitting, but he would not give me the shaft breakdown). DL3 was blasting some very high and VERY LONG drives with that puppy. All of the pros were hitting so much higher than they were a few years ago.

I hit the TM 425 some today. I'm hitting it more like the 8.5 G2 that I played all of last year. I can draw the 425 and hit it on a trajectory that works best for me. The 10.5 HiBORE would most often be a high fade and I normally play a draw.