Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Want More Driver Distance?

Since I have been back in Australia I have been doing most of my coaching at the Golf Science Centre in Cheltenham. This facility is great and it has some really cool tools and teaching aids that I can use in my coaching session. As we are an indoor facility, the most important piece of equipment we use is a simulator. Our simulator is a state of the art set up which comes from a company called AboutGolf. It is very accurate and basically gives you ball flight indoors. This a great advantage as I don't have to worry about weather when I am coaching. I was always a sceptic when it came to indoor teaching but this simulator has converted me.

Another benefit of using the indoor simulator is it provides me with information that I would not normally get during a lesson. After each shot a screen is shown which shows me and my student their carry distance, total distance, club head speed, ball speed, launch angle, spin rate and club head path. These figures can be used to help coach the student and can also be used when club fitting.

This brings me to the title of this post, want more driver distance? Since being back in Australia I am club fitting again and I am seeing some interesting results during some of my fitting sessions. I have always believed that higher lofted drivers will help a slower swing speed golfer gain more distance as they will launch it higher with a more effective spin rate. What I am seeing now is more loft tends to help most players launch it better and gain more distance. When I am club fitting I am looking for the optimum launch conditions for each individual player to maximise their distance. The advantage in using the AboutGolf simulator is that the facts and figures are right there in front of the student and we can work together by coaching and club fitting to find the most amount of distance for them.

We have a lot of different club head, loft and shaft combinations you can try, I can help you decide between two drivers you already have or I can evaluate your current driver. All of this is a lot of fun and you can see the facts and figures for yourself. The driver fitting matrix in the picture will give you an idea of what specifications might suit you and there is also a great article on my website on the newsletter archive page. You can check out my website here. If you would like a more personal and detailed analysis just send me an email via the link on my blog profile or call me on 0402775546.

Until next time,

Brent