Tips On How To Adjust Your Driver Set Up For Better Distance
Joel Tadman talks through six gear hacks that have the potential to generate more distance for you off the tee!
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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
00:04to lower scores, but what if I told you
00:06there were six easy ways you could get more distance
00:09out of your driver without changing your swing
00:12or without taking expensive lessons?
00:14Well, that's what we're gonna cover in this video.
00:16I'm on the driving range here
00:17at the beautiful Gogmogog Golf Club.
00:18It's gonna talk you through six gear hacks
00:21that are gonna give you more distance.
00:22So, without further ado, let's get started.
00:26Now, the first gear hack for more distance,
00:27and arguably the easiest to implement,
00:30I think, is just raising the tee height of your golf ball.
00:32So, typically, amateur golfers tend to tee the ball
00:34quite low with the driver, and that encourages
00:37an attack angle that is too steep into the golf ball.
00:39It's gonna generate a lot of spin,
00:41and it also causes the path to often come out to in.
00:44So, going too far to the left is gonna cause a slice
00:47and rob you of distance by implementing
00:48a 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
00:54above the crown of the driver.
00:55That's gonna encourage more of an upward hit
00:58on the golf ball, and that increases
01:00the speed of the 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
01:05your delivery into the golf ball,
01:07and you have more of an upward attack angle,
01:09you might wanna think about reducing
01:10the loft of your driver.
01:11You've got long drivers, they have, you know,
01:13two to three degrees of loft on their driver
01:15because they hit up on the ball so much.
01:17So, you might need to tweak the loft
01:19to get the best results if you do raise your tee height,
01:22but if you have half that ball above the crown
01:24of the driver, it should lead to longer drives.
01:30Now, the second gear hack, we kind of already
01:32mentioned it in the first one, it's all down
01:34to adjusting the loft of your driver.
01:35Most drivers these days are adjustable
01:38for loft via the hosel, and while I would recommend
01:41doing this in consultation with a PGA Pro,
01:43there are some gains that you can make
01:45by adjusting the loft of the driver,
01:47not only to suit a change in your swing,
01:49but also the conditions that you typically play.
01:51And if you're changing golf courses a lot,
01:54it might be worth making tweaks to the loft
01:55of your driver to increase that distance potential.
01:57For example, if the conditions of the course
02:00that you're playing are quite wet
02:02and there's not much run out, you might want
02:04to think about adding a little bit of loft
02:06to give you a little bit more height
02:07and a little bit more spin, which can increase
02:09your carry distance through the air.
02:11And obviously, yes, you're not gonna get
02:12as much roll out, but the conditions are gonna negate that.
02:14So, that's one way you can get more distance.
02:16On the flip side of that, if your course
02:18is quite firm or quite windy, you wanna keep
02:21the ball flight down, lowering the loft
02:23will give you lower launch, lower spin,
02:25a lower ball flight, and that should help
02:28you get more run on your drives
02:29and therefore more distance.
02:30And if it's keeping it down below the wind,
02:32it should also help accuracy as well.
02:34So, play around with the loft again,
02:36get on the driving range, think about
02:37the conditions that you're playing in,
02:39make that tweak to that ball flight,
02:41and it should give you more distance.
02:43Now, while most modern premium drivers
02:45are adjustable for loft, a lot of them
02:47also have adjustability in terms of weight settings
02:49within their head, whether it's at the back
02:51or interchangeable weights on the front.
02:53There's different ways you can move weight around
02:55to give you more distance potential.
02:57Most drivers that you get fitted for,
02:59you often just leave the weight settings
03:01where they were, but there are ways
03:02you can change it to give you more distance potential.
03:05So, for example, on adjustable drivers,
03:07you might better move more weight
03:08into the forward position of the head.
03:10That's gonna give you a lower center of gravity,
03:12gonna lower the spin, it's gonna give you
03:14more ball speed and distance.
03:16Yes, you might also see a reduction
03:18in your accuracy because of that less forgiving setting,
03:21but it's definitely a way you can achieve
03:22more ball speed and distance.
03:24Another way you should be able to get
03:27more distance via sliding weights that move laterally
03:29is by getting the weight more aligned
03:31with your common strike location.
03:33So if you know that you're hitting the ball
03:34a lot in the toe portion of the face of your driver,
03:37having more weight in the toe is gonna get
03:39more mass behind where you're striking the ball,
03:41and that's gonna give you more ball speed
03:43and hopefully more distance.
03:44So really think about whether your strike pattern
03:47is moving around, especially if it's moving around
03:49based on where it was when you got fitted.
03:50It might mean that you need to make a change
03:53to give you a little bit more stability
03:54and distance from your driver.
03:56So think about the movable weight options within the head.
03:58Could give you more distance overall.
04:01Now one pretty simple gear hack that's gonna give you
04:04more club head speed and therefore more distance potential
04:06is to lengthen the shaft.
04:08We've seen the governing bodies out on tour
04:10reduce the maximum shaft length from 48 down to 46 inches,
04:15and that's because they know a longer shaft
04:17will give people more club head speed
04:19and therefore more distance,
04:20and they're trying to counteract that.
04:22You think about the longer the shaft,
04:24the further the club head is away from your hand,
04:26the more distance it's traveling,
04:27therefore it's got more time to generate more speed.
04:30So definitely something to consider.
04:32We 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
04:42more speed potential.
04:43The only caveat to it is you may well have a reduction
04:46in the control and the delivery of the club face.
04:48For example, this driver shaft that I've got
04:51is actually a little bit shorter than the one I had before
04:53because I wanted to have a little bit more control
04:55of the direction the golf ball was going.
04:57So it's definitely a trade-off.
04:59So while a longer shaft might see you lose
05:01a little bit of control of where your golf ball is going,
05:04it's definitely gonna help you increase your club head speed
05:07and therefore give you potential for more distance.
05:15Another gear hack that might help you
05:17get a little bit more distance without changing your swing
05:19is to opt for lighter components within your club,
05:22especially the grip.
05:24We see often grips can come in at standard
05:26around 50 to 60 grams,
05:28and there are lightweight options out there
05:30that might help you reduce the overall weight of the club
05:33and help you swing it faster.
05:34Generally speaking, the lighter something is,
05:36the easier it is to move.
05:37There are some caveats to that.
05:38Obviously it will affect the swing weight
05:40and there is an area of diminishing returns
05:42when you're taking weight out.
05:44They might get to a point where actually
05:45it's more difficult to swing faster,
05:47but definitely experiment with potentially
05:49trying a lighter grip,
05:50maybe taking a little bit of weight out of the shaft.
05:53That might help you swing the club a little bit more faster
05:56and therefore translate into a bit more distance.
05:59And the final gear hack to give you more distance,
06:01it comes down to these golf balls,
06:03and specifically changing into
06:05a more distance-orientated golf ball,
06:07one that's typically a two or a three piece,
06:10often has an Ionoma or a Cerlin cover,
06:12and certainly has a higher compression
06:14than most golf balls out there.
06:15That's gonna give you more ball speed,
06:18more distance, often lower spin as well.
06:20Yes, it does have a firmer feel,
06:22so you're gonna be sacrificing control
06:24in and around the greens,
06:25but if distance, again, is your number one priority,
06:28switching golf balls is a really easy way to achieve that.
06:30And don't forget, the rules of golf allow you
06:33to change, make a model of golf ball
06:35on every hole that you're playing.
06:36So every tee shot, you can switch into
06:39a more distance-orientated golf ball
06:40on a par four or a par five.
06:42It's gonna give you more potential
06:43of getting on the green in two
06:45or on a par five, reaching the green in two
06:47and give you a better chance for birdie.
06:49So take advantage of that rule in golf,
06:50switch the golf balls if you want to
06:52on an appropriate hole.
06:53But generally speaking, a distance golf ball,
06:55a firmer golf ball, is gonna give you
06:57a bit more distance, and as an added benefit,
06:59they tend to be a little bit cheaper as well.
07:01So there you have it, six quick and easy gear hacks
07:04that could potentially give you more distance.
07:06I hope you enjoyed this video.
07:07Do comment down below.
07:08Are there any that I've missed?
07:10Is there any that you're really excited to try?
07:11I'd love to hear from you, but hopefully
07:13you've taken away one or two really good pointers
07:16that you're gonna implement in your own games
07:18and that's gonna give you more distance off tee.
07:20But that's all from me from the range here
07:22at Gogmogog Golf Club in Cambridge here.
07:23I'll see you next time.
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