jonag, we put the effective loft equivalents in the catalog when the driver has a either a slice or hook face angle. Because of the way driver lofts are measured (the angle across the sole to the face), any hook or slice has a direct affect on the loft. In other words, if you take the Glider S driver with 10 degrees loft, it has 10 degrees of loft only when it impacts the ball at the 1 degree of hook that is built into it. We usually use the 1 degree of hook at address to compensate for a problem we have getting the face back to square at impact. So, if a driver has 1 degree of hook and 10 degrees of loft, you need to add the hook face angle to the loft face angle and it gives you 11 degrees “effective loft” at impact.
Do this; set the driver on a hard surface with the grip loose in your hands. You should see that the face is slightly closed (1 degree). Next, rotate the face angle from hooked to square at address. Notice that when you do this the loft increases. The loft will increase by the amount of hook when you square the driver face. Conversely, the loft will decrease by subtracting the amount of any slice (open) face angle built into the club.
The best way to measure any drivers loft is in a Golf Club Gauge with the drivers lie angle set to the manufacturer’s specification and the face square. Now, simply put the loft gauge up against the face and measure the “real” or “effective loft” of the club. This always gives you the apples to apples comparison of any drivers loft from one to another by eliminating both the face angle (if any) and the variations of how each manufacturer measures their stated lofts. Also, as we all know, some driver lofts stated in the manufacturers specifications and on some drivers are not correct.
