Following Big Lefty Bubba Waston‘s Victory at the Travelers Championship, like many others I decided to do some digging on Bubba Watson News and came across an interesting article over at Golf Digest called Bubba Watson’s 10 Rules to hit it huge.
He lists out ten tips on getting more distance out of your driver and rule number one was a slap in the face to everything I’ve believed.
- You Probably Need More Loft
Bubba Watson used his wife as an example. Until recently, she’s been using a nine degree driver and carried the ball 170 yards. This year, before the Bob Hope Classic Pro-am, she switched to a 13 degree driver and instantly increased her carry to 215 yards with just about the same amount of roll that she was getting from the nine degree.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Why would a higher lofted driver give the same amount of roll as a lower lofted club, isn’t this one of the biggest contrasts between higher and lower lofted clubs?
Coincidentally, I was talking to a friend who’s a weekend hack and had a driver custom fitted. After hitting various degrees and types, the fitter put him on a 16 degree driver, which he hits between 240-250, with 280 being the absolute max. I’d never heard of a 16 degree driver.. 🙂
Bubba Watson also says to get a custom fit lighter shaft and says that alone can give you an extra 20 yards.
The other nine tips from Mr. Watson are below (see article for full explanation)
2. Utilize your best physical trait
3. Try a shorter shaft
4. Learn to hit a draw
5. Accept days when you don’t have it.
6. Tee off like you just made bogey
7. If you’re small, hit more balls
8. Flare out your front foot
9. Beware: Rust forms fast
10. *Turn everything
#10 I’m guessing that’s what the title is supposed to be, in the article there is a typo and it says “tee off like you just made bogey.”
It’s a good feeling that even professional publications like Golf Digest make mistakes every now and then. 🙂
Hope you had a stellar weekend!
– Dave