If I get one question more than any other it’s “how do I get more distance with my driver?” New head with different loft? Fancy new upgraded shaft? Maybe and maybe. The secret for many players actually lies within their golf swings. Specifically in one part. Attack Angle.

I know. You’ve been teaching for so many years and you focus on fundamentals- grip, alignment, posture, setup, etc. All are super important and vital for good, solid golf shots, but if you want to make ball go far, you have to route the club into the ball correctly. If the player can’t make solid contact, this is not event an option, but if he can… have a look at it.

So, what is attack angle? Simply put, it’s measured in degrees and it’s the angle the club head is traveling at impact – with 0° being parallel to the ground. A positive angle means the club is traveling upward at impact, while a negative angle means the club is traveling downward at impact. Negative angles produce more spin and are great for irons (think hit ball first, then take a divot). Angles approaching zero are ideal for fairway woods and hybrids – think sweeping type of impact. A driver, however needs a positive attack angle. The ball is on a tee, so we have to hit up on it,

right?? 8-9 people out of 10 don’t. Even with good players, it’s not much better than 50-50. Tour players- about 20% hit down on it with the driver. Is it a big deal? For a tour player, the difference between -5° and +5° is roughly 60 yards. Sixty. Six-Zero. This is based on tour level swing speeds, so for an average male player who swings it at 90mph, and hits it at -3°, he might gain 20-25 yards if he can get it to +3°. If you’re fitting him for a driver and he’s playing an off the rack 15 year old driver, you might be able to get him another 15-20 yards by putting him in the right driver. I know, you’re thinking no way I can find a guy 40 yards. You can!! I do it at almost every fitting event. I’ll show you how. Read on.

What does a downward attack angle do? Lots of things, and all are bad for a driver. The three biggies are it adds spin ( a LOT of spin), it creates more of a glancing blow with the club head which lowers ball speed, and it lowers launch angle. How much spin? Depends on the player. Negative 3-4° will probably add

1000-1500 rpm of spin. Yeah, ewww. Say he’s otherwise got a good swing that should generate 2500 rpm of spin, that attack angle could get him to 3500+ rpm of spin. That will reduce his carry distance by at least 15 yards and the total by even more. It will also have a major effect on launch angle. Think of it this way… say he has a 10.5° driver, and you see his launch angle is 8°. How is that possible? Assuming he releases his hands at impact and the shaft returns to its address position (not likely, but play along), but he hits it with a -2.5° attack angle. Subtract the two and voilà, 8°. Let’s say he holds on in the downswing too (common for players trying not to slice it, right?). You could see a launch angle number in the 6’s. More likely is the “trick”. The player who releases it early (casts it) will trick you into thinking the launch is OK, so the swing is OK. This will take away from that deficit, so if you only look at launch angle, it might look OK. Say he casts it 3° and hits down on it 3°. Launch angle will be close to the loft of the head. We look for 10-14°, so, check that box, right? That’s yuck and yuck. You know that shot is no good, so dig deeper and figure out WHY it’s no good. Don’t fall victim of not digging deep enough.

A negative attack angle is also called “steep”. It generally results from a player who initiates the downswing from the upper body, which will cause a lateral slide towards the target. The more this happens, the steeper the swing and the more negative the attack angle. One spec we show is “low point”, which shows where the

club bottoms out relative to impact- it will be the same in inches as degrees for almost every swing. -3° attack angle = low point of 3” after impact. Yes, the ball was teed up on your left instep, but the club bottomed out on the other side of your foot. It’s a great illustration.

How to fix it? Some players think to hit it from the inside (hook it), some think hit up on it, and some say to keep your head behind the ball. Whatever works.

For comparison, most “bombers” on Tour are about 5° up with their driver. Remember when Bryson hit that one over the water on #6 at Bay Hill last year? Attack Angle was north of 8° up. You want to make it go farther? Work on improving your attack angle. It’s not an easy change – it can take years, but it’s worth it if you can do it. Any small improvement pays big dividends!!

So, how does changing attack angle from a negative to a positive get me all that yardage? Let’s say it’s from -3° to +3°. All other things being equal. You’ll drop at least 1000 rpm of spin. That’s a good 15 yards. You’ll gain roughly 3mph in ball speed due to a more solid strike. That’s another 10 yards. Your launch angle will be higher, which will add another few yards in carry and total. Now, if you incorporate this into club fitting, you can LOWER the loft of the head, which we learned a few weeks ago will also lower the spin by 300-400 rpm gaining an extra 6-8 yards. And, if you reduce slice spin to even neutral spin, you drop another couple

hundred rpm of spin gaining another few yards. Now, optimize him with the right head and shaft and Is 40 yards that far out of the realm of possibility???

Hope this helps. Until next time – happy fitting!!