What Distance Do You Hit Your Driver? | The Ideal Attack Angle, Loft & Club Speed Comparison

There are many ways to hit your driver far. The ideal attack angle is at the top of the list along with playing the correct loft on your driver, club shaft for your club speed and head design to increase or decrease spin rate. Do you drive the ball the optimal distance (carry & roll). Typically, the ideal landing angle is 30-40 degrees with a driver. Is the ball flight high or low? Just because a certain player in your group has a lot of club head speed it doesn't mean that they will hit the ball further than you. You also need to consider the importance of hitting the fairway and the wind direction. Just watching The Open Championship this week professional golfers such as Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Kim, Cameron Young, Jason Day, Jon Rahm & even Brian Harman they all have the ability to modify their attack angle depending on what the conditions favor (Fairway Finder vs Long Drive). When club fitting the goal is to get the golfer in the most optimal carry distance, landing angle and total distance regardless of if this is with an iron or driver. This is why certain players play more or less loft. Using the Trackman optimizer you can learn a lot about how far your driver should go, what the optimal loft to play and what is the ideal attack angle with driver.

For this videos test, Thomas Campbell PGA Member and Director of Instruction at Swing Lab conducts a test with swing speeds ranging from 95-110 mph and with 12 degree and 9 degree of loft and an attack angle around zero and positive 5*. The driver used is the Callaway Paradym.

Swing Lab Performance Golf is a high-performance golf training & fitting facility that opened in February 2023. We are located in Lakeville, Minnesota and utilize top of the line technology to revolutionize the way golfers improve their game. Our technology includes Trackman, Quintic, Zen Green Stage, Putt View & Swing Catalyst. We also offer club fitting services for all the major manufacturers including Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist, Mizuno, Cobra & Srixon / Cleveland Golf come see us to gain some distance, improve your dispersion or to make more putts.

Thomas Campbell Golf:

[edmc]

Just subscribed I was wondering where Thomas had gone to from 2nd swing I look forward to watching your videos again 👍🏻

[eriklund]

Great video. It's nice to see moderate swing speeds tested! Thank you, gives me some answers to questions Iv'e been wondering about.

[seanconnors]

Great information and mirrors what I am seeing in my golf game. Early in 2023 got a 12 degree Sim2 Max driver head and have seen increased carry distance, accuracy and confidence with driver. Driver has now become one of my favorite clubs in the bag!


Appreciate Thomas putting out videos with great information.

[glennrudolph]

4:10, what is the low spin driver you talk about?
I have the Callaway paradym 9, but my spin is 2800-3200 carrying 270-280 with range balls (bushnell launch pro numbers). Newish to golf, but played tennis my whole life. The launch angle idea is second nature to me.

[jizzle]

Just found you, great video and takeaway knowledge about the golf swing that is easy to understand!

Perhaps a suggestion: would it be possible to move the camera so it’s filming closer to down the line? From this angle it is challenging to see the full swing, delivery of the club and also how he’s making these swing changes (ie hitting more down or up)

[jtflem]

Great video Tom. Loving the new channel. Would love to see a video on swing speed. How do you swing the club that fast?

[michaeltaylor]

Hi Thomas, keep up the good work these are brilliant articles that you produce. I am a high handicap golfer and the technical information you create helps no end to help improve my swing. keep your tutorials coming. Thanks

[joebouscaren]

Love your swing, channel, and straightforward presentation style.

I have a gcquad on the third floor of our home and am very well acquainted with all the numbers and their General relationships.

There were times in this video when the verbal explanation did not coincide well with the graphics and it got confusing.

I would also like to have had dispersion differences addressed. Thank you!

[CarolinaGolfer]

Another great video on how club specs and swing specs can change the performance of the same club greatly.

[michaelreilly]

Very good demonstration Thomas! The differences in attack angle, club loft, and club speed suggest benefits in both proper fitting and technique optimization can improve driver distance potential at almost any swing speed if I am clear on the principles defined here.

[cmehta]

I also would love to see a video on swing speed. I'm 52 years old and can't get a swing speed past 90mph...would love to get to 95mph so a video on how to help would be great!!!!

[nedgermany]

I hit up 11 degrees. Club set to 6 degrees. Use a number 8 birtee. 2 inches. Spin 1500. Ballspeed 156-160. Ball goes forever 275-295 carry on GC3. Launch angle is 19-21 degrees

[fraserh]

Amazing the way you change these parameters while still hitting straight shots. I know my attack angle is too neutral, how do I increase it without jeopardising all the good things I'm doing? (105mph driver speed - hitting it pretty straight but often short)

[sublimegolf]

If you have higher spin due to a negative AOA, do you still recommend a higher loft?

[dominickfiorello]

I increased my loft to 11 and got a much better carry distance but with less roll out. My swing speed is about 87. Not sure what to do.

[lkae]

Think I was pretty close the other day-- 272 avg for 11 drives. Trackman shows 272 is optimal for 100mph.

[khemheru]

no mention of golf shaft for AoA. Does that help reduce spin and increase AoA too? (curious)

[ashleywalls]

I have plenty of distance... a fairway or 2 would be nice ;/

[ruggerboy]

What do you think woud happen with a 96mph swing speed, an attack angle of up 5 and a 9.5 degree head.

[jacobmccain]

My attack angle is honestly probably too high (5-7* up), and due to my ~100mph SS I was seeing too low spin at my 10.5. Went to a 12* Paradym and it has added carry while getting my spin over 2k.