Driver ball fly height

[Sluggo42]

I was always a mostly low ball hitter, that would run forever. My new driver swing is getting extraordinary height, I mean wayyyy up there. But, it’s still going as far, even farther sometimes, compared to my old bullets.

i just don’t know what the better flight is. One thing the soaring shots do is stay straighter, and they don’t drive off a cliff either, they kinda stay where they land. They are definitely funner to watch. I get a lot of oohs and ahhhs from the boys, so that’s fun too…

Where do you guys flight your driver? Is it by choice or just what happens with your swing? When I was hitting the bullet balls, I always wanted a higher flight, but now I’m getting it, but I couldn’t really tell you why… my only real change is a longer backswing that even goes past level. A fairly slow beginning, then hot when I get it close to the ball.

i do this with the old mavrik with a cheap stiff shaft. I had it set at +2°, but the new swing has had me move it back to 9° and neutral. And it’s still highhhhhh

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

14 minutes ago, Sluggo42 said:

I was always a mostly low ball hitter, that would run forever. My new driver swing is getting extraordinary height, I mean wayyyy up there. But, it’s still going as far, even farther sometimes, compared to my old bullets.

i just don’t know what the better flight is. One thing the soaring shots do is stay straighter, and they don’t drive off a cliff either, they kinda stay where they land. They are definitely funner to watch. I get a lot of oohs and ahhhs from the boys, so that’s fun too…

Where do you guys flight your driver? Is it by choice or just what happens with your swing? When I was hitting the bullet balls, I always wanted a higher flight, but now I’m getting it, but I couldn’t really tell you why… my only real change is a longer backswing that even goes past level. A fairly slow beginning, then hot when I get it close to the ball.

i do this with the old mavrik with a cheap stiff shaft. I had it set at +2°, but the new swing has had me move it back to 9° and neutral. And it’s still highhhhhh

Check your ball position and tee height.

I can hit some high bombs in my setup but sometimes I can overdo it with a high tee and then i get toe-y. I have settled more mid/low and love it this time of year.

[fixyurdivot]

Out of curiosity, I just looked at my True Spec data and it showed my average driver height at 80 feet, my average LA was 15 degrees, and AOA 0.2 degrees .  I always considered my driver ball height pretty average but I really don't know?

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

What you describe doesn’t give a lot of details to say what’s good or bad.

Way up there doesn’t mean much, especially if someone has been hitting low bullets. Way up there could be too high from too much spin or it could be just what the golfer needs. 
 

Just stopping where they land could be a good thing or bad thing. Also could very based on course conditions. If the ball is ballooning as part of the way up there it’s not going to go anywhere when it lands. If it’s way up there but doesn’t have much spin it’s also not going to go anywhere because the descent angle is bad.

What is good is that you get balls that go further on carry than your old driver. A ball that stays on the air longer is going to have a chance to go farther. If carry distance is better than total distance with the new driver than that’s the better ball flight.

But in reality without seeing launch monitor numbers for both drivers on the same day can’t say which is better.

[RickyBobby_PR]

21 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

Out of curiosity, I just looked at my True Spec data and it showed my average driver height at 80 feet, my average LA was 15 degrees, and AOA 0.2 degrees .  I always considered my driver ball height pretty average but I really don't know?

 

Peak height is relative to ball speed, launch, etc. It’s been a minute since I looked at lpga averages for trackman but their avg ball sped iirc with in the 140s and peak height was about 75’

Their launch was around 13 and spin in the mid 2000s

One has to look at all the numbers and see what’s happening. 80 could be good or to could be low

[fixyurdivot]

49 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Peak height is relative to ball speed, launch, etc. It’s been a minute since I looked at lpga averages for trackman but their avg ball sped iirc with in the 140s and peak height was about 75’

Their launch was around 13 and spin in the mid 2000s

One has to look at all the numbers and see what’s happening. 80 could be good or to could be low

So you look at my numbers and immediately compare to LPGA averages... awesome .

[RickyBobby_PR]

17 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

So you look at my numbers and immediately compare to LPGA averages... awesome .

Haha. Yes and no. It’s easy to reference those numbers when comparing most amateurs numbers.

[Sluggo42]

3 hours ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Check your ball position and tee height.

I can hit some high bombs in my setup but sometimes I can overdo it with a high tee and then i get toe-y. I have settled more mid/low and love it this time of year.

Actually teeing it lower, and ball is same as before, about left instep…

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 minute ago, Sluggo42 said:

Actually teeing it lower, and ball is same as before, about left instep…

Where on the face are you hitting the ball with the new driver?

[Sluggo42]

2 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

What you describe doesn’t give a lot of details to say what’s good or bad.

Way up there doesn’t mean much, especially if someone has been hitting low bullets. Way up there could be too high from too much spin or it could be just what the golfer needs. 
 

Just stopping where they land could be a good thing or bad thing. Also could very based on course conditions. If the ball is ballooning as part of the way up there it’s not going to go anywhere when it lands. If it’s way up there but doesn’t have much spin it’s also not going to go anywhere because the descent angle is bad.

What is good is that you get balls that go further on carry than your old driver. A ball that stays on the air longer is going to have a chance to go farther. If carry distance is better than total distance with the new driver than that’s the better ball flight.

But in reality without seeing launch monitor numbers for both drivers on the same day can’t say which is better.

No ballooning at all, and same driver. Just a new swing. One friend calls it John Dalyish looking

I shouldn’t say no roll, but compared to old swing that was a lot of roll, it is modest. If I was guessing height, maybe 100 feet?, but no monitor numbers. But compared to all my buddies it seems like a moon shot, and it’s typically 20-30 yards longer than I used to hit.

It’s just odd for me to hit these shots, and I’m noticing iron shots are way higher too. I was always that penetrating type of trajectory, but now they just explode into the air and definitely carry more. But still remember I’m an older guy, so long bombs for me are the 260-280, not the 300+ avg that the WRX guys all average.

im not unhappy at all, and actually I like it, I was just curious if others hit towering drives, or not

[Sluggo42]

27 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Where on the face are you hitting the ball with the new driver?

Same driver- mavrik 9°- hitting the ball pretty well in the dead center, but I had one today that was a good 3/4” towards the toe, but it still went a mile. Gotta love the big head drivers

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

6 minutes ago, Sluggo42 said:

No ballooning at all, and same driver. Just a new swing. One friend calls it John Dalyish looking

I shouldn’t say no roll, but compared to old swing that was a lot of roll, it is modest. If I was guessing height, maybe 100 feet?, but no monitor numbers. But compared to all my buddies it seems like a moon shot, and it’s typically 20-30 yards longer than I used to hit.

It’s just odd for me to hit these shots, and I’m noticing iron shots are way higher too. I was always that penetrating type of trajectory, but now they just explode into the air and definitely carry more. But still remember I’m an older guy, so long bombs for me are the 260-280, not the 300+ avg that the WRX guys all average.

im not unhappy at all, and actually I like it, I was just curious if others hit towering drives, or not

Well no worries then. You are just swinging better and you aren’t used to the new height of your ball. Sounds like you don’t have a problem

[Sluggo42]

3 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Well no worries then. You are just swinging better and you aren’t used to the new height of your ball. Sounds like you don’t have a problem

Yessir, I hope I didn’t make it sound like a problem, it’s just very different, and it made me wonder how others classify their ball flights heights… 

[fixyurdivot]

50 minutes ago, Sluggo42 said:

But compared to all my buddies it seems like a moon shot, and it’s typically 20-30 yards longer than I used to hit.

Okay, I was kind of feeling a little empathy for your "hitting drives too high" concern/issue... until I got to this part. Now my response is simply deal with it .

[RickyBobby_PR]

9 hours ago, Sluggo42 said:

No ballooning at all, and same driver. Just a new swing. One friend calls it John Dalyish looking

I shouldn’t say no roll, but compared to old swing that was a lot of roll, it is modest. If I was guessing height, maybe 100 feet?, but no monitor numbers. But compared to all my buddies it seems like a moon shot, and it’s typically 20-30 yards longer than I used to hit.

It’s just odd for me to hit these shots, and I’m noticing iron shots are way higher too. I was always that penetrating type of trajectory, but now they just explode into the air and definitely carry more. But still remember I’m an older guy, so long bombs for me are the 260-280, not the 300+ avg that the WRX guys all average.

im not unhappy at all, and actually I like it, I was just curious if others hit towering drives, or not

 

9 hours ago, Sluggo42 said:

Same driver- mavrik 9°- hitting the ball pretty well in the dead center, but I had one today that was a good 3/4” towards the toe, but it still went a mile. Gotta love the big head drivers

So sounds like the new swing is producing better contact which is producing better launch characteristics.

Low line drive type of shots are going to run out more because they are coming with a low land angle and going to be hot compared to a ball that’s coming in higher with a better lane angle. 
 

Too many amateurs hit the ball too low in the air and still think they hit it high.

My peak height with irons and driver is over 100’. With irons some of it comes from too much loft at impact. Driver I have decent launch characteristics and swing around 105

[GPS111]

Don't lose sight of flex point of the shaft on ball height either. We have to remember this is how ball flight was influenced before larger heads and settings we could change.

High, mid, or low kickpoint will have an influence on ball flight, especially with all of the tuning that can be done.  I have two driver shafts I use.  Both are same flex and length but one gives a high 90-105 ballooning flight  and the other a mid-high 50-60' more boring flight with the same swing, set-up, and club head settings.

[RickyBobby_PR]

22 minutes ago, GPS111 said:

Don't lose sight of flex point of the shaft on ball height either. We have to remember this is how ball flight was influenced before larger heads and settings we could change.

High, mid, or low kickpoint will have an influence on ball flight, especially with all of the tuning that can be done.  I have two driver shafts I use.  Both are same flex and length but one gives a high 90-105 ballooning flight  and the other a mid-high 50-60' more boring flight with the same swing, set-up, and club head settings.

Not necessarily.

if it affects how the shaft feels for a person and affects their swing then it will have an impact on flight 

[Sluggo42]

13 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

My peak height with irons and driver is over 100’. With irons some of it comes from too much loft at impact. Driver I have decent launch characteristics and swing around 105

This is what I was looking for… I wish I could measure mine somehow… but it’s easily twice as high as the other guys… I like it

[RickyBobby_PR]

9 hours ago, Sluggo42 said:

This is what I was looking for… I wish I could measure mine somehow… but it’s easily twice as high as the other guys… I like it

Finding a launch monitor like trackman, gcquad, flightscope is what you need if you wanted to know what’s going on. Places like pgasuperstore, 2ndswing have them and 2ndswing I believe is back to renting out bays again.

Watch a pga tour event and look at the peak height when they show it in the screen. You will find many pros on driver are over 90’ and some over 100’

Their irons are going to vary based on the shot they hit but watch that as well. I realized that I didn’t hit the ball high enough after my first pga tour event in person 

 

[Shapotomous]

On 8/17/2022 at 6:18 PM, Sluggo42 said:

I was always a mostly low ball hitter, that would run forever. My new driver swing is getting extraordinary height, I mean wayyyy up there. But, it’s still going as far, even farther sometimes, compared to my old bullets.

i just don’t know what the better flight is. One thing the soaring shots do is stay straighter, and they don’t drive off a cliff either, they kinda stay where they land. They are definitely funner to watch. I get a lot of oohs and ahhhs from the boys, so that’s fun too…

Where do you guys flight your driver? Is it by choice or just what happens with your swing? When I was hitting the bullet balls, I always wanted a higher flight, but now I’m getting it, but I couldn’t really tell you why… my only real change is a longer backswing that even goes past level. A fairly slow beginning, then hot when I get it close to the ball.

i do this with the old mavrik with a cheap stiff shaft. I had it set at +2°, but the new swing has had me move it back to 9° and neutral. And it’s still highhhhhh

I dug out some trackman data from the Sub70 vs. Ping G410 driver testing I did and my avg height was 87'.  This was with a avg swing speed of 100mph, ball speed of 148mph and AoA of 3.1.  I can flight it lower if I want to hit a semi stinger to get a lot of run.  If I try to hit it higher than normal I can get hooky with it.  

I looked up PGA tour avg's and it is 99'.  Kevin Chappell and Cam Davis are highest at 127'.  Chappell's highest apex is 191' - whatta moon shot!!  

[GPS111]

On 8/18/2022 at 6:58 AM, RickyBobby_PR said:

Not necessarily.

if it affects how the shaft feels for a person and affects their swing then it will have an impact on flight 

I don't disagree but it can't not be considered.  Until we could adjust everything it was THE way to control flight through equipment.  Now with all of the other adjustments it is still a consideration on how you are fit for clubs and ball flight.  Explained well in this link.

https://golftips.golfweek.usatoday.com/flex-point-golf-shaft-20118.html

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

14 minutes ago, GPS111 said:

I don't disagree but it can't not be considered.  Until we could adjust everything it was THE way to control flight through equipment.  Now with all of the other adjustments it is still a consideration on how you are fit for clubs and ball flight.  Explained well in this link.

https://golftips.golfweek.usatoday.com/flex-point-golf-shaft-20118.html

 

Actually the easiest way these days to affect flight is thru loft. Shafts affect feel and weight. That is their job.

How those two things feel to the golfer will have an impact on how they swing. Shafts themselves don’t affect launch or spin. The human factor is what causes balls to and spin based on how the club is swung

From a very experienced and respected retired fitter with tons of data over many year of fitting anyone from your average golfer to tour pros

https://forums.golfwrx.com/topic/1860305-shafts-when-to-change-and-when-to-tweak-lofts/

[Sluggo42]

I hit a 6 iron today that went about 160ish, with my p790. It had to be at least 100’ up. I mean it was crazy high. Ended up about 4” from its landing spot on the green- actually made that birdie putt. It seems they all go high, but go different distances- 

any idea if all clubs are similar in height?

[cnosil]

20 minutes ago, Sluggo42 said:

 

any idea if all clubs are similar in height?

Theory is that all clubs go about the same height. So your 8 iron height should be about the same as your driver height unless you are trying to do something specific.  

[The 19th Hole]

I swing at about 107-110 with a ball speed of about 155-163 depending on contact. My attack angle is roughly +6. My driver height commonly is 120' or more. So 80' would be my "low" shot. It's all relative to how you swing and where the ball stops. Don't worry too much about how it got there. If it keeps you in play and your not loosing distance to the point that you cant' reach the green then run with it. 

As to the same heigh question, I think that is more related to the irons and I can say that all my irons 3-PW go pretty much the same heigh. I don't think woods are in that same boat as the clubs are so much different design (head shape, material, shaft material, shaft length, Teed up!, Ect.) 

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, Sluggo42 said:

I hit a 6 iron today that went about 160ish, with my p790. It had to be at least 100’ up. I mean it was crazy high. Ended up about 4” from its landing spot on the green- actually made that birdie putt. It seems they all go high, but go different distances- 

any idea if all clubs are similar in height?

Theoretically yes. Tom O from Cobra golf did a shirt video on this several years back for another forum explains it all.

[vandyland]

My ball flight is high but probably low relative to my driver loft (13 degrees). I like where it flights though.

 

[Ben_Howell34]

To me there are two things that matter in driving: distance and consistency to stay out of trouble. If you are hitting it farther and the same or slightly better accuracy, I’d say stick with the new swing. But I’m not Hank Haney or anything… 

[Sluggo42]

1 hour ago, Ben_Howell34 said:

To me there are two things that matter in driving: distance and consistency to stay out of trouble. If you are hitting it farther and the same or slightly better accuracy, I’d say stick with the new swing. But I’m not Hank Haney or anything… 

But did you stay at a holiday inn last night?

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 hours ago, vandyland said:

My ball flight is high but probably low relative to my driver loft (13 degrees). I like where it flights though.

 

I can see what longer drivers don’t work for your swing. But to be a 4.5 you’ve learned to make the swing work for you