Try Not to Be Negative With Your Driver Attack Angle

Let me start first with a confession.
I have played golf for close to 40 years now and have been lucky enough to play off a single-figure handicap since I was a teenager.
But when it comes to the driver and terms like ‘attack angle’ I was late to the party in terms of understanding its impact.
And that lack of knowledge has cost me a lot of distance and shots over the years!
Golfing Focused Takeaways For Time Pressed Golfers
- The ideal driver attack angle is different for each golfer but between +2º and +4º is typically good for maximum distance
- Most amateurs hit down on the ball with a negative driver attack angle (-1.6º for average male amateurs according to Trackman)
- For a golfer with a near-average swing speed of 95mph hitting down with a negative attack angle of -7º compared to +7º will cost them 31 yards of carry and 33 yards of total driving distance.
- A positive angle of attack when hitting driver will maximize distance as it increases launch and decreases spin but it should not be considered in isolation!
Should You Swing Up or Down with Driver? the Distance Cost of Hitting Down
If you currently hit your driver with a negative angle of attack – in other words you hit down on the ball – you are in good company.
The majority of amateur golfers do this and Trackman, one of the leading launch monitor manufacturers, has measured that the average male amateur golfer has a negative attack angle of -1.6º.
However, when it comes to maximizing both carry and total distance off the tee, a negative attack angle is holding you back.
As a whole hitting up with a positive angle of attack when using driver will maximize distance by increasing launch angle and decreasing spin.
For a golfer with a near-average swing speed of 95mph for example, the difference between hitting down (-7°) versus up (+7°) can be dramatic:
- 31 yards more carry distance
- 33 yards more total distance
And this significant distance gap by hitting down on the ball with driver is evident in Trackman’s analysis of a very wide range of driver swing speeds.
CLUBHEAD SPEED | CARRY DISTANCE (-5º versus +5º attack angle) | TOTAL DISTANCE (-5º versus +5º attack angle) |
75mph | 143 vs. 164 yards (+21) | 166 vs. 187 yards (+21) |
80mph | 160 vs. 181 yards (+21) | 176 vs. 197 yards (+21) |
85mph | 175 vs. 197 yards (+22) | 199 vs. 223 yards (+24) |
90mph | 191 vs. 214 yards (+23) | 215 vs. 239 yards (+24) |
95mph | 207 vs. 231 yards (+24) | 243 vs. 266 yards (+23) |
100mph | 222 vs. 247 yards (+25) | 244 vs. 272 yards (+28) |
105mph | 237 vs. 263 yards (+26) | 260 vs. 288 yards (+28) |
110mph | 252 vs. 279 yards (+27) | 275 vs. 305 yards (+30) |
115mph | 266 vs. 295 yards (+29) | 290 vs. 321 yards (+31) |
120mph | 281 vs. 310 yards (+29) | 305 vs. 350 yards (+45) |
Understanding Attack Angle and Why It Matters for Driver Distance
Now that we know whether you should be aiming to hit up or down with driver from a distance perspective it is clearly important to understand why.
But before diving deeper lets quickly clarify what a negative attack angle – or ‘angle of attack’ as it also known – actually means.
Your driver’s attack angle is the vertical (up and down) angle the club is moving on at impact relative to the horizon.
A negative attack angle therefore means that the angle your driver is making with the imaginary horizontal line that represents the horizon when it makes contact with the ball is less than 0º.
This is not easy to visualize given the very small degree differences in different drives but the number displayed by launch monitors makes it obvious whether you are:
- Hitting UP ⬆️ on the ball, and have a POSITIVE (+) attack angle, or
- Hitting DOWN ⬇️ with your driver with a NEGATIVE (-) angle of attack.
And why that matters is that the optimal mix of the 3 key elements that determine driver distance – namely ball speed, launch angle, and spin rate – is dictated by two factors:
a golfer’s club/swingspeed and their ‘attack angle’ at impact.
- Club / swing speed, and
- Attack angle at impact.
As the attack angle changes the ‘optimal’ launch angle and spin rate for the golfer also change and when a golfer has a negative angle of attack more loft is needed to launch the ball.
The problem with that however is that additional loft needs to be combined with a higher spin rate to ensure the ball stays airborne for longer.
And unfortunately too much spin with a downward hit drive, even when it is struck well, will reduce the distance your golf ball will roll.
So What Should Your Driver Attack Angle Be?
Talk of any general ‘ideal’ is fraught with danger in golf because of the number variables are involved, including a golfer’s swing where one is never the same as another.
And although you have probably been aware much earlier than me about the general rule that hitting up on your driver is a good thing when it comes to increasing driver distance one thing I have learned quickly is that focusing on your ‘attack angle’ in isolation is a risky strategy!
So just like there is no no one size fits all when it comes to the optimal ball speed and launch conditions of drives there is also no ‘ideal’ angle of attack that applies to all golfers.
What we can say with certainty now though, thanks to our understand of attack angles and their influence on driving distances, is that a positive angle of attack is a good way to increase a golfer’s potential distance.
“The most common cause of power loss is hitting down on the ball. We know without a doubt that in order to maximise your distance when hitting the driver, based on whatever your clubhead speed is, that you want to hit up on the driver.”
Todd Kolb, Director of Instruction for USGolfTV
And that has principally come about thanks to the modern generation of launch monitors.
The original devices launched in the late 1990s allowed a step change advance in our understanding of why players hit the ball as far as they do but they initially only measured the key numbers:
- Club speed
- Ball speed
- Spin rate
- Launch angle
- Carry distance
- Total distance.
As a result, while this allowed people to understand whether their ‘launch conditions’ (i.e. launch angles and spin rates) were in the right ranges, or too high or too low, they couldn’t tell an instructor or golfer exactly ‘why’ this was.
But with the addition of metrics such as ‘attack angles’ into modern launch monitors we now know without a doubt (and what you probably did before me!) that to maximize driver distance you want to hit up with a positive attack angle based on whatever your club head speed is.
And because further metrics such as ‘dynamic loft‘ are now also measured it is possible for coaches to be clear on what piece of the puzzle is causing a golfer’s launch issues and therefore for them to lose distance.
It could be their angle of attack or dynamic loft, or it could be both!
Whatever it is though a good coach working with a modern launch monitor will help you to work out what it is and the distance rewards on offer can be substantial as I am now all too aware myself.
In a lesson last year I found that when I was hitting down on the ball with a -2.4º angle of attack at impact I was losing over 32 yards of carry distance and 43 yards of total distance compared to driving with a positive 2.3º attack angle with almost comparable swingspeeds of just over 100mph.
And I don’t know about you but that seems like a fair incentive to start working on hitting up on the ball on a consistent basis!
Can You Hit Up on Driver Too Much? It is About Strike Too!
While positive attack angles with driver are generally better for distance, there definitely can be too much of a good thing.
Many golfers can struggle to maintain accuracy if they hit up too much with their driver, especially with attack angles that are a long way from the negative ones they hit other clubs with.
Even the pros when they start going for big drives by aiming to hit up on the ball as much as they can, start to struggle with how well they strike the ball.
And remember the long drive specialists reaching attack angles up to 8º are only concerned with how far the ball goes and not where it goes.
Players therefore often hit down with driver to keep control of the ball.
A recent experiment by Club Champion Canada highlighted this trade-off perfectly when they took a golfer who hit the ball with a negative attack angle (-0.4º) and tried getting them to hit up on the ball instead.
When they increased the attack angle of this roughly 100 mph swing speed golfer to +5.5º instead he gained 35 yards of both carry and total distance.
But another also happened – strike quality suffered significantly.
And the result was therefore a much bigger dispersion in their +5.5º attack angle drives which out on the course would likely have resulted in long drives into lots of trouble!
By getting them instead to target a positive angle of attack closer to their normal one (+2.8º vs -0.4º) – the fitter was able to help them:
- nearly equal distance gains
- a near centre strike pattern, and a
- more consistent, controlled ball flight with a smaller dispersion pattern.
And that is a perfect example of why you can aim to hit up on the driver too much.
And why, if it means you can control your drives much more effectively, it is sometimes ok if you hit down on driver with the longest club in the bag.
Focusing solely on your angle of attack number, even if it’s positive as we are told it should be, is not a great strategy.
It is much better to understand it in the context of ALL the elements that determine driver distance.
That’s also where a good and experienced club fitter can really help you.
Because when they fit you for a driver they want to make sure they get the best result for the player and not just for the launch monitor numbers.
Why Do Pros Have a Negative Attack Angle on Driver? Some Do Some Don’t
Given how clear it is now that hitting ‘up’ on the ball with a positive attack angle with driver is the best way to maximize distance it may seem curious why the average on the PGA Tour is -0.9º.
Indeed former world no.1 Brooks Koepka is well known for his negative angle of attack with driver.
Pros hitting driver with a negative attack angle when hitting the longest club in the bag is however not a consistent thing despite that average.
Rory McIlroy for example, one of the best drivers in the world over the past decade or more, typically has a positive attack angle of between 2º and 4º and higher when he goes for a big hit.
“Angle of attack is a huge factor in how far you can hit the golf ball and optimizing your launch conditions … A typical drive (attack angle) is probably 2º or 3º, or 3º or 4º (and) 6º, 7º, 8º (when I’m going for power)”
Rory McIlroy in conversation with Me and My Golf.
Why do PGA Tour pros on average therefore still hit down?
It’s all about control and consistency. Course management is often more important than maximum distance to them.
Marc Leishman’s quote is a great example of this and clearly shows he knows, as we all do, that hitting up on the ball with a high positive attack angle will give him more distance.
“I played a big draw, and I hit it miles, but occasionally it didn’t come off and I’d hit this big block. Hit just one of those a round and you’d be dead. (So) I started teeing it lower and hitting this high spinny fade into play. It didn’t go far but I knew I could control it, then over the years I learned to hit it further.”
Marc Leishman (Golf.com)
But he also is well aware that his ‘bad’ shot with this can result in a scorecard wrecking number and as a result he often chooses to hit with a lower negative one to deliver a more consistent result.
However the key difference with the pros is their high swing speeds often averaging over 120 mph allow them to make this trade off.
Leishman still averages over 305 yards on the LIV Tour while Koepka’s Trackman numbers show he is still able to ‘CARRY’ his drives nearly 300 yards with a negative attack angle of -3.7º!
Unfortunately average golfers typically do not have this luxury and need to wring every last yard of distance out of their driver to score well.
Remember no matter what myths you hear about how the short game is more important than the long game there will be a ceiling on how much you can improve based on how far you can drive the ball.
To which point interestingly LPGA Tour players have maintained a consistent +2º average attack angle for years.
Indeed the current average driver angle of attack on the women’s Tour is +2.8º.
And that is likely because with LPGA Tour pros averaging 257 yards off the tee, compared to the over 300 yards PGA Tour pros average, they are aiming to maximize driving distances to a greater extent than their male colleagues.
Also with average driver swing speeds similar to the average male amateur (96 mph vs. 93.4 mph), their approach to driver attack angles offers valuable lessons for recreational golfers looking to maximise distance.
A Critical Reminder – The Iron Exception!
As the folks at Trackman often note “we need a driver swing and a swing for everything else.”
Why?
Because while hitting up with a positive attack angle helps to maximise distance with driver, the opposite is true with your irons.
Your iron attack angle should be negative because hitting down on the ball with your irons:
- Generates more spin therefore improving stopping power to hit and hold the ball on the greens, and
- Enhances accuracy and control over distance which is the priority with iron play.
If you are not hitting down on the ball with your irons you will likely face problems with inconsistent strikes as well as poor distance and direction control.
So when it comes to talk of attack angles it is very important that we are clear that driver is the only club where we want to hit up on the golf ball with a positive number.
For the rest of the clubs in your bag when the ball is on the ground we want that angle of attack to be negative.
Before You Go …
To find out what spin rates and launch angles need to fit with your driver attack angle to help you maximise distance check out our next article.
Ideal Spin Rate and Launch Angle for Driver? That’s Personal!
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