Golf Club Components Are Not All Equal

You've seen the infomercials for the longest drivers ever. Your friend destroys the ball with his $500 driver. Someone else tells you that their $50 driver hits it as far as any other on the market. The golf magazines are promoting whatever is new on the market (and whoever is purchasing the most advertising in their magazine). Your local pro has his favorite that is, of course, on sale this week.

Are you thoroughly confused about which driver you should be using? Follow me on this page for information on the component parts of drivers for golf. We will be breaking down the individual pieces of a driver so that you can ask the right questions before putting your money on the table online or at a brick and mortar store. When you're ready for that, go here to buy:

Golf Drivers at TGW.

If you arrived at this page before reading my Equipment Page, click here for your foundational understanding of the parts of golf clubs and then come back for specifics on the driver. Golf Club equipment definitions

Next item- Very important!: Check out this website. This is the best independent golf club testing site out there and this is the link to the drivers page: Rankmark

Here's another recommended site for help with choosing the right driver for you: Golf drivers review

Are bigger drivers better? Maybe. Generally speaking, since the advent of the use of titanium in constructing metal woods, makers have been able to increase the size of a driver head without significantly increasing the weight. For most beginning golfers, this will help their driving game for two reasons: 1. large heads increase the area of the face of the head so that the sweet spot is also bigger. This can give more consistency to someone who has trouble making solid contact. They will, in effect have better misses. 2. The larger head moves the center of gravity back which tends to make the ball go higher. For those that have trouble getting the ball off the ground, this will help.

Larger heads on drivers may be detrimental to the golfer if, at address, he/she thinks the driver is unattractive or just doesn't set well in his/her eyes. Don't underestimate this when choosing a driver. Remember that golf is 90% mental. You have to be in love with your driver, after all, it's the #1 wood!

Also, the larger head actually has some extra air resistance which could actually slow your swing down. Just stand by someone swinging a large head driver and listen to the swish compared to that of a 3-wood, it's real.

Another possible detriment is that it is more difficult to bring the club around with these drivers. I use one of these at 400cc and, to be honest, it took some time to get used to using a little more oomph to avoid slicing than I did with my old driver.

Which material hits the ball farther- graphite, steel, persimmon, or titanium?Ask any serious golf clubmaker and they will tell you that the difference between these materials, as far as distance with all other things being equal, is insignificant.

How long should the shaft of my driver be? You may be surprised to learn that it's not necessarily the height of the golfer that determines the length of the driver. Shaft length is a very individualistic choice and there is an optimum length for every golfer depending on what they want to improve in their driving. Longer shafts can create faster swing speeds using the principle of leverage- up to a point, because the longer the shaft, the heavier the whole club is. A short golfer can use a longer shaft as long as the lie angle is correct. The opposite can be true for a tall golfer. Any golfer may actually benefit from a shorter shaft if they are having trouble with accuracy. A shorter shaft makes it easier to make contact for straighter drives. If you are wild off the tee, try a shaft less than the standard 43-44 inches. If you are straight and short off the tee, a longer shaft can gain some yards.

All the pros play drivers with less than 10 degree loft. Do lower loft golf drivers get you more distance? First off, not all the pros play those low lofted drivers. Secondly, recent articles in major golf magazines have pointed to some studies done that show that most golfers are playing golf drivers with not enough loft if distance is their objective. Loft is mostly dependent on swing speed with the higher swing speeds needing lower loft. But don't forget about considering WHERE you play your golf. If you play fast, dry courses, then a bit less loft might be your ticket. If you play in a wetter climate or on courses that water their fairways a lot, then keeping the ball in the air will get you more distance than rolling it, simple physics.

How important is COR (coefficient of restitution)? See equipment page for COR definition. If you believe the latest equipment ads and articles in golf magazines, everyone will gain 20 yds by playing the golf drivers with the maximum .83 COR. This is really only true for those with very fast swing speeds. A fast swing speed is anything over 100 mph. Under 100 mph, the golfer's swing will not distort the clubface enough to have any "trampoline" effect.

As of 2006, all clubs are pretty much the same COR anyway and we don't have to even worry about it anymore unless we're buying a used club like at

Callaway golf preowned

Remember, Callaway made some clubs that exceeded the current maximum COR (could get you some more yards even with slower swing speeds) and are considered illegal in tournament play. (who would know on a friendly weekend game?)I didn't tell you that...

Greens and fairways!

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