Tips On How To Adjust Your Driver Set Up For Better Distance

Golf Monthly

Joel Tadman talks through six gear hacks that have the potential to generate more distance for you off the tee!

Transcript

00:00Now, we all want to hit the golf ball a little bit further.

00:02The stats tell us that that is the quickest way to lower scores.

00:05But what if I told you there were six easy ways you could get more distance out of your driver

00:10without changing your swing or without taking expensive lessons?

00:14Well, that's what we're going to cover in this video on the driving range here at the beautiful Gogmagog Golf Club

00:18is going to talk you through six gear hacks that are going to give you more distance.

00:22So without further ado, let's get started.

00:24Now, the first gear hack for more distance, and arguably the easiest to implement, I think,

00:29is just raising the tee height of your golf ball.

00:32So typically, amateur golfers tend to tee the ball quite low with the driver,

00:36and that encourages an attack angle that is too steep into the golf ball.

00:39It's going to generate a lot of spin, and it also causes the path to often come out to end.

00:44So going too far to the left is going to cause a slice and rob you of distance

00:47by implementing a glancing blow on the golf ball.

00:50So with the tee height, raise it up a little bit.

00:52Try and have at least half the ball above the crown of the driver.

00:55That's going to encourage more of an upward hit on the golf ball,

00:58and that increases launch, and it also reduces spin.

01:01That's a recipe for more distance with your driver.

01:03One thing to think about if you do change your delivery into the golf ball

01:07and you have more of an upward attack angle,

01:09you might want to think about reducing the loft of your driver.

01:11You've got long drivers.

01:12They have two to three degrees of loft on their driver because they hit up on the ball so much.

01:17So you might need to tweak the loft to get the best results if you do raise your tee height.

01:21But if you have half that ball above the crown of the driver, it should lead to longer drives.

01:30Now, the second gear hack, we've kind of already mentioned it in the first one,

01:33it's all down to adjusting the loft of your driver.

01:35Most drivers these days are adjustable for loft via the hosel.

01:39And while I would recommend doing this in consultation with a PGA Pro,

01:43there are some gains that you can make by adjusting the loft of the driver,

01:46not only to suit a change in your swing, but also the conditions that you typically play.

01:51And if you're changing golf courses a lot,

01:53it might be worth making tweaks to the loft of your driver to increase that distance potential.

01:57For example, if the conditions of the course that you're playing are quite wet,

02:02and there's not much run out, you might want to think about adding a little bit loft

02:06to give you a little bit more height and a little bit more spin,

02:08which can increase your carry distance through the air.

02:11And obviously, yes, you're not going to get as much rollout,

02:12but the conditions are going to negate that.

02:14So that's one way you can get more distance.

02:16On the flip side of that, if your course is quite firm or quite windy,

02:20you want to keep the ball flight down.

02:23Lowering the loft will give you lower launch, lower spin, a lower ball flight,

02:26and that should help you get more run on your drives and therefore more distance.

02:30And if it's keeping it down below the wind, it should also help accuracy as well.

02:34So play around with the loft again, get on the driving range,

02:36think about the conditions that you're playing in,

02:38make that tweak to that ball flight, and it should give you more distance.

02:43Now, while most modern premium drivers are adjustable for loft,

02:46a lot of them also have adjustability in terms of weight settings within their head,

02:50whether it's at the back or interchangeable weights on the front.

02:53There's different ways you can move weight around

02:55to give you more distance potential.

02:57Yes, most drivers that you get fitted for,

02:59you often just leave the weight settings where they were,

03:01but there are ways you can change it to give you more distance potential.

03:04So for example, you know, on adjustable drivers,

03:06you might be able to move more weight into the forward position of the head.

03:10That's going to give you a lower centre of gravity,

03:12going to lower the spin.

03:13It's going to give you more ball speed and distance.

03:15Yes, you might also see a reduction in your accuracy

03:19because of that less forgiving setting,

03:20but it's definitely a way you can achieve more ball speed and distance.

03:24Another way you should be able to get more distance via sliding weights that move laterally

03:29is by getting the weight more aligned with your common strike location.

03:33So if you know that you're hitting the ball a lot in the toe portion of the face of your driver,

03:37having more weight in the toe is going to get more mass behind where you're striking the ball,

03:41and that's going to give you more ball speed and hopefully more distance.

03:44So really think about whether your strike pattern is moving around,

03:47especially if it's moving around based on where it was when you got fitted.

03:50It might mean that you need to make a change to give you a little bit more

03:54stability and distance from your driver.

03:55So think about the movable weight options within the head could give you more distance overall.

04:01Now, one pretty simple gear hack that's going to give you more club head speed

04:05and therefore more distance potential is to lengthen the shaft.

04:08We've seen the governing bodies out on tour reduce the maximum shaft length

04:12from 48 down to 46 inches.

04:15And that's because they know a longer shaft will give people more club head speed and therefore

04:19more distance, and they're trying to counteract that.

04:22You think about, you know, the longer the shaft, the further the club head is away from your hand,

04:26the more distance is travelling.

04:27Therefore, it's got more time to generate more speed.

04:30So definitely something to consider.

04:31We see stock shaft lengths going up a little bit,

04:35often with generation and generation of product launches.

04:38So think about what length of your shaft is.

04:41Definitely a longer shaft will give you more speed potential.

04:43The only caveat to it is you may well have a reduction in the control and the delivery of

04:48the club face.

04:48For example, you know, this driver shaft that I've got is actually a little bit shorter than

04:52the one I had before because I wanted to have a little bit more control of the direction the

04:56golf ball was going.

04:57So it's definitely a trade-off.

04:59So while a longer shaft might see you lose a little bit of control of where your golf ball is going,

05:04it's definitely going to help you increase your club head speed

05:07and therefore give you potential for more distance.

05:13Another gear hack that might help you get a little bit more distance without changing your swing

05:19is to opt for lighter components within your club and especially the grip.

05:23You know, we see often grips can come in at standard around 50 to 60 grams and there are

05:28lightweight options out there that might help you reduce the overall weight of the club

05:33and help you swing it faster.

05:34Generally speaking, the lighter something is, the easier it is to move.

05:37There are some caveats to that obviously will affect the swing weight.

05:40And there are is an area of kind of diminishing returns when you're taking weight out.

05:44They might get to a point where actually it's more difficult to swing faster,

05:47but definitely experiment with potentially trying a lighter grip,

05:50maybe taking a little bit of weight out of the shaft that might help you swing the club a little

05:55bit more faster and therefore translate into a bit more distance.

05:59And the final gear hack to give you more distance, it comes down to these golf balls

06:03and specifically changing into a more distance orientated golf ball.

06:07One that's typically a two or a three piece, often has an ionoma or a surlin cover

06:12and certainly has a higher compression than most golf balls out there.

06:15That's going to give you more ball speed, more distance, often lower spin as well.

06:20Yes, it does have a firmer feel, so you're going to be sacrificing control in and around the greens,

06:25but if distance again is your number one priority, switching golf balls is a really easy way to achieve that.

06:30And don't forget, the rules of golf allow you to change, make a model of golf ball on every hole

06:36that you're playing. So every tee shot you can switch into a more distance orientated golf ball

06:40on a par four or a par five, it's going to give you more potential of getting on the green in two

06:45or on a par five, reaching the green in two and give you a better chance of a birdie.

06:48So take advantage of that rule in golf, switch the golf balls if you want to on an appropriate hole,

06:53but generally speaking, a more, a distance golf ball, a firmer golf ball,

06:56it's going to give you a bit more distance and as an added benefit,

06:59they tend to be a little bit cheaper as well. So there you have it, six quick and easy gear

07:03hacks that could potentially give you more distance. I hope you enjoyed this video,

07:07do comment down below. Are there any that I've missed? Is there any that you're really excited

07:11to try? I'd love to hear from you, but hopefully you've taken away one or two really good pointers

07:16that you're going to implement in your own games that are going to give you more distance off the tee.

07:20But that's all for me from the range here at Gogma Gog Golf Club in Cambridgeshire. I'll see you next time.

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