Supported By: Srixon Golf

WHEN TO CHANGE DRIVER HEAD LOFTS

Today’s driver market has adjustable heads from about every single manufacturer. This begs the question, should you switch to a different loft head or use the adjustable sleeve on your driver? The answer really comes down to what you’re actually looking for in performance differences moving up in loft. Adjusting the sleeve comes with it’s own set of variables, as does moving to a different lofted head so which one is going to be a better change for your game? With some help from our friends at Srixon Golf we’ll break it down using their new ZX5 MKii drivers.

If you haven’t read our topic on using the adjustable loft sleeve we recommend you do that before continuing to read the rest of this topic.

The biggest question that we need to ask is what change are you really trying to make? If you’re only concern is that you need to encourage more launch your best bet is to step up to the higher lofted head. This will maintain any adjustments that you have made to the adjustable sleeve. A 10.5 head at the standard loft sleeve setting is going to have the same face angle and lie angle as a 9.5 head at the standard loft sleeve setting. This is the same for any of the settings. If you have the sleeve adjusted the same on both heads, the only variable that you will have changed is the loft of the club. This is particularly great for players who feel really dialed in with their adjustment sleeve, and maybe have found a shaft that works great for their needs and is delivering the face square at impact but is launching either too high or too low. Taking that loft sleeve adjustment and moving it into a lower or higher lofted head will help fix that launch issue without affecting the ball flight.

Keep in mind that delivering more loft is always going to increase the amount of spin produced. Exactly how much is going to depend on each player. If you’ve found a head and shaft combination that you’re really getting along with and the numbers are close to perfect, you may be able to dial in some spin conditions by switching to the higher or lower lofted head. Every player has a perfect combination of speed, spin, and launch that results in the best ball flight for their game. For example, let’s say you’re producing extremely efficient smash factors with a 9.5 degree head. This usually means that you’re finding the center of the face well and that the head and shaft combination is successful. But if you’re not producing an ideal launch and spin window with that efficiency you aren’t going to be getting the most out of that golf club. If you’re a little bit low in the spin window, you may want to think about going up to the higher lofted head, and if you’re a little bit high in the spin window you may want to think about going down to the lower lofted head.

Thanks to our friends at Srixon for providing us with the driver heads that you saw used in today’s topic. To purchase your own ZX MKii Series driver, or to learn more about all Srixon Golf products, head over to their website at us.dunlopsports.com/srixon