Change in driver design is simple…it goes further. Drivers have big profit margins and even better for OEM’s, lots of golfers are unafraid to buy a new driver every season, if not in the middle of the season. That’s how Taylor Made became what it is today, how Callaway became Callaway, pretty much rejuvenated Titleist and helped keep Ping in the fold. High Launch + lower spin = more distance. More distance = $$$$. OEM’s don’t care if it ruins your swing.
I know what you mean about striking the ball worse with titanium. I had a friend who played at U. of Miami. Best ballstriker I ever played with and I played with Wayne Levi when I was a junior golfer, a year after he won 4 events and the PGA Tour player of the year.
His ballstriking didn’t get worse as we went to titanium, but he became less effective.
My theory is this. There is nothing wrong with hitting a little up on the ball with the driver. In fact, I think it takes quite a bit of talent and precision in the swing to do so. I honestly believe that Jack Nicklaus hit up on the ball more often than not. And I believe the same for Mike Souchak and Mike Austin.
But, that was the beauty of it. Nicklaus’ swing and skill allowed him to consistently hit up the ball a little bit with persimmon. The rest were usually forced to hit down with persimmon or we’d hit a sky ball or an ugly shot.
Now with titanium, it doesn’t take nearly as much skill and swing mechanics to consistently hit up on the ball and hit it well. Furthermore, I believe Nicklaus, Souchak and Austin probably hit up on it no more that +2* (outside of some rare occasion). Now you get golfers, particularly female golfers…hitting +5, +8, +9* up on the ball.
As far as hitting up on the ball and ruining the golf swing, I’m a bit torn on that one. Technically, I don’t think it’s all that big of an adjustment. You essentially just need to get the ball in front of the low point. That way you reach low point and the clubhead starts working upward. I wouldn’t suggest trying to hit up with a 3-iron off the tee because we typically take a divot with the 3-iron. But with a driver, we just don’t take a divot, so I think technically hitting up doesn’t always equate to creating worse swing mechanics.
However, I think when it comes to hitting up on the ball, golfers tend to ‘cheat.’ They’ll find other ways to get the ball in front of the low point, like ‘hanging back.’ If you look at Lag’s hands at what ABS calls ‘P3’, his hands are much more closer to the target than your average LPGA player. I think that’s a good thing for Lag and golfer’s in general. I think Lag’s hands being more forward ensures a better strike and will provide more force into the ball. It also means that you have to pivot correctly in order to do that.
But with the LPGA player, where almost every single player hits up on the ball with the driver, they are cheating hitting up on the ball and using poor mechanics and a poor pivot action to do so.
In other words, I think Lag could hit up on the driver pretty successfully just by altering the ball position and he would hit it a mile. And he would still be able to maintain his excellent swing mechanics, alignments and motion. But for other golfers who don’t know much about what they are doing, their swing gets worse when they try to hit up on the ball.
3JACK
