In regards to distance – if I increase shaft length by .5″, will that be sufficient to compensate for 2* weaker (34* vs 32*) loft…assuming strike is the same?
Britt Lindsey Answered question January 18, 2024
In regards to distance – if I increase shaft length by .5″, will that be sufficient to compensate for 2* weaker (34* vs 32*) loft…assuming strike is the same?
1″ in length is equal to 1 MPH of club speed. 1 MPH of club head speed is equal to 2.3 yds. 1 deg. of loft equals 2.5 yds.
So, a 1/2″ increase in length will generate a slight increase in clubhead speed (.5 MPH = 1.15 yds approx.). 2 degrees weaker loft will shorten length by 5 yards. The length will not compensate for the loft.
Obviously the amounts can vary from player to player, but I have never seen numbers that vary much off of the above in testing. The numbers above are solid, time tested, robot tested and human tested numbers that we use as a base for the immutable laws of distance.
Britt Lindsey
I asked Tom Wishon a similar question and he told me that for standard iron gapping, 80% difference is due to loft and 20% due to length.
Another way of looking at it, 1mph of extra clubhead speed will give you approx 2yards of distance. So how much extra speed will half in inch give you?
I use trackman a lot, but never paid any attentio to the clubhead speed gaps between irons. I suppose i should.