![]() ![]() That’s turning a 7-iron to a 6-iron or a 5-iron in terms of the loft at impact (which is technically known as “dynamic loft”). Instead, you want a negative angle of attack where you’re delofting the club at impact. Conversely, of course, a positive angle of attack with your irons likely means you’re thinning or topping the ball or even missing it entirely. How much? A recent test from the clubfitting wizards at TXG Tour Experience Golf in Canada showed the difference between a positive angle of attack and a negative angle of attack with the driver, with swing speed and ball speed as a constant, might be as much as 35 yards. Short answer: If you’re maintaining or increasing your clubhead speed and your ball speed with the driver, and you have a positive angle of attack, you will see more distance. You can simply flip the club through impact (which actually reduces club head speed), rather than having them move the club on a slightly ascending path in response to a proper body turn. Still, you can have a positive attack angle with the driver and it may not indicate you’ve made a good swing. A positive attack angle with the driver is one way to help shots launch higher and with less spin (the recipe for distance). It certainly shouldn’t be the same for all clubs, and ideally it should be a positive number for tee shots with the driver and likely a slightly negative number with iron shots. Generally, unless something very strange is happening or you’re hitting the turf a foot behind the ball, this number will be in the single digits. The number is measured in degrees as a positive or negative number, unless your path toward impact is perfectly level (in which case your angle of attack would be zero). A high launch angle gives you more margin for error than an ultra-low spin number.Īngle of Attack: This refers to the upward or downward path of the clubhead as it’s traveling toward impact. As well, if your swing speed is below 95 miles per hour, a few hundred rpm’s of spin won’t mean as much to your best distance as getting the launch angle up in the right place. A very low spin number off the driver on a center hit is fine, but if you mis-hit that same shot a little high on the face, you might not have enough spin to keep the ball in the air. Again, be careful about focusing on getting lower and lower spin numbers, especially if you’re not generating a lot of clubhead speed. (Technically, if a ball had sidespin it wouldn’t get off the ground.) Combining relatively higher launch with relatively less spin is generally a recipe for distance with any club, although with irons the less spin you have the more your shots will roll out on the green. Most launch monitors see both the amount of backspin, in revolutions per minute (rpm) and the way that the axis of spin rotation is tilted, what some folks incorrectly call sidespin. Spin rate: Every shot has backspin, even a putt. A launch monitor speaks the truth, even when that truth is hard to take. Even worse, Arccos reports that the average 10-handicapper expects his 7-iron to go 165 yards when in truth it only goes 148. ![]() According to average golfer data accumulated by Arccos, the stat-tracking platform that uses grip-based GPS sensors, the average driving distance for a male 11- to 15-handicapper is 219 yards. ![]() Finally, if you’ve never been fit before or don’t otherwise keep track of your distances with a GPS app like Arccos, don’t be surprised that the distances you’re seeing are less than you think. For example, Titleist recommends that a landing angle for the driver around 37 degrees is pretty good and below 30 degrees is never a good fit, while a middle of the road 7-iron’s landing angle is between 45 and 55 degrees. To optimize total distance with the driver in most conditions, you’ll want a landing angle in the high 30s. What you might want to do is pay attention to one of the obscure numbers on the launch monitor called landing angle. (If the guy behind the launch monitor is talking about total distance when you’re evaluating irons, immediately leave the area because this person is not helping you.) Since all launch monitors tend to have their own ways of calculating bounce and roll, sometimes total distance can be overstated. Total distance should be your focus on evaluating drivers carry distance is most important in irons. Carry/Total distance: You know what these are: how far the ball flies through the air and how far away from you the ball is when it stops bouncing and rolling. ![]()
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