Steve Pratt's Hit it longer.com

Now with over 1000 hours logged on the Trackman Pro Golf Launch Monitor, between my students and myself, I can say one thing for certain:  All golf drivers are not created equal.

One way they are very dissimilar is in their lofts.  Whatever is painted on the bottom is not necessarily how it will play.  In fact, the same exact model and brand in the same lofts may even play differently.

You see, most drivers are made in foundries in China, and they don't often come out exactly the same.  What the OEM's, short for original equipment manufacturers, don't openly display that there is a +/- 1/2 degree in the loft of the head sitting in your golf bag now.  So although it says 9.5 on it, it could be anywhere between 9.0 and 10.0.  While most players won't be able to tell the difference, better players will wonder why their ball flight isn't exactly the way they thought it would be.

But this is only the small issue with drivers.  The big issue is where the center of gravity is located in the clubhead.  Again, for our example, let's use the most popular loft on the market, the 9.5.  In my testing on Trackman, I have discovered that between al lthe different major club manufacturers, and some of the smaller ones that are used primarily in long drive, a 9.5 driver can play anywhere from 8 degrees to 12 degrees.  Although some of this difference is in the shaft that comes with the head, a big portion of it is the way the club is weighted.

How can you tell the difference?  Start with the way they advertise it.  Every year, club companies change their models, and change the advertising pitch that goes with it.  They have to keep up with each other, and very seldom do they ever go more than one season without releasing a new driver or two.

So, back to the advertising - look for the cues.  If the commercial says the driver will help you get the ball airborne easier, this is code for putting the center of gravity lower to the ground.  When your ball strikes above the CG, it causes it to spin more.  This could be a good thing for someone with a low swing speed, but too often these clubs end up in the hands of faster swingers and cause them to hit nothing but high balloon balls.

Conversely, if the commercial says that you will get a more penetrating flight, this means that the CG ended up higher on the clubhead.  Your drives will tend to have lower backspin, and launch at a lower angle as well.

So between the variance in loft, and big difference in a driver's center of gravity, you don't really have a good idea how that driver will play until after you've spent the money.

Unfortunately, I have found that probably 50% of all golfers have the wrong type of driver in their bags currently.  There are so many calculations besides clubhead speed that go into an optimal flight, but generally this is all golfers get fitted for at the major golf supermarkets.  In these 50% of golfers, the distance loss is between 20 and 50 yards.  For better golfers, this is a game changer - probably enough to cut their handicaps in half.

So which golf drivers play higher and which ones play lower?  You'll have to tune in tomorrow when I review my list of drivers which play differently than the stated loft.  In the mean time, if you aren't getting the distance that you feel like you should be, consider allowing me to build your next driver for you.  Most of the people I build a club for pick up tons of distance.  Go to www.hititlonger.com/pro_shop/build_a_driver  to get started.