SpecMyBag

Driver Specifications: Loft, Length and Launch

The driver is the club most golfers buy on the wrong information. Loft is chosen by ego, length is chosen by whatever the shop had in stock, and neither decision is checked against the two numbers that actually govern it: how fast the head is moving, and whether it is moving up or down at impact.

Your driver loft window

Swing speed sets the window. Attack angle decides where inside it you land — and it moves the answer further than speed does.

Driver swing speed

Clubhead speed with the driver. Most male amateurs are 85–100 mph.

Negative if you hit down on the driver, positive if you hit up. This moves the answer more than swing speed does.

Every question in this section

The rest of the bag

Specifications do not work in isolation. A driver loft that suits your speed is the wrong loft if your attack angle is steeply negative, and a wedge ladder is only correct relative to the pitching wedge above it. Work through the full-bag tool on the homepage when you are ready to see all of them at once.