What loft is "HL"?

BrianD3

I picked up a used Nike driver with loft "HL", anyone know what this is? 13 degrees? 15 degrees?

I know that high lofts are generally regarded as being for those with low clubhead speed whereas I have a high clubhead speed. Perhaps I'll lose some distance but gain accuracy with this new driver.

BunkerMentality

I have a Hippo driver that has HL on it and it's supposed to be 12 degrees... don't know if that's standard or not. I do find that I hit the ball fairly high with it, so it kinda just stops dead after it (hopefully) hits the fairway

tom francy

i thought the HL. was for high launch....there should be a loft in degrees aswell .....mayb im wrong ,like sum of the TM burner woods had a tour launch and then high launch but there would also be the loft wrote on the side or bottom sumwhere

stockdam

What model is it?

If it's the SQ Dymo then it appears to be 13 deg.......


http://www.golfmagic.com/news/article.asp?UAN=5861


If it's the SQ Sumo then it may be 16 deg


http://www.golflink.com/review_1248_nike-sq-sumo-driver-review.html


SQ=SasQuatch.


16 degrees is some loft for a driver. I guess that puts it into the old "2 Wood" category.

BrianD3

This is the driver except my one says HL where this one says 10.5. There is no loft stated anywhere on my one


edit: I was just thinking about why don't they state the actual loft instead of saying high loft (or high launch if that's what it means) Is it something to do with the fact that high loft drivers are seen by many as being for wimps? So better to try to hide the loft

L.O.F.T

BrianD3 wrote: »

This is the driver except my one says HL where this one says 10.5. There is no loft stated anywhere on my one


edit: I was just thinking about why don't they state the actual loft instead of saying high loft (or high launch if that's what it means) Is it something to do with the fact that high loft drivers are seen by many as being for wimps? So better to try to hide the loft

Brian,
If you put it in the fairway and it works for you thats a result. High lofted drivers for wimps? Not in my opinion. The score that goes on the card is my only concern, how far / high i drive it is not.

stockdam

Brian, look at the first link I posted as it's for the Dymo.

"Loft options are: 9.5 and 10.5 (RH/LH), 11.5 and 13 HL (RH only), Women's 13 HL (RH only)."

"The High Launch model (13 degrees of loft), offers an even higher ball flight, "


So that indicates 13 deg.

Oh and forget the idea of a driver for wimps. Although I use a 9.5 degree driver I'd be perfectly happy also using a 13 degree one where I needed to reduce the risk of ending up in trouble (ok so I use a 3 or a 5 wood for that).

I'd use a ladies or seniors shaft if it suited my swing.

I do use ladies balls (Precepts)......oh err misses.

BrianD3

L.O.F.T wrote: »

Brian,
If you put it in the fairway and it works for you thats a result. High lofted drivers for wimps? Not in my opinion. The score that goes on the card is my only concern, how far / high i drive it is not.

I agree with you, I'm just saying that there is a perception out there that high loft is for hackers while lower lofts are for good players. I was speculating that this is a reason why Nike felt the need to call their high lofted driver "HL" rather than "13". I know the previous Sumo model had a "lucky 13" loft, maybe that didn't work out well from a marketing point of view.

@ stockdam - thanks for the links and info

Myksyk

BrianD3 wrote: »

I agree with you, I'm just saying that there is a perception out there that high loft is for hackers while lower lofts are for good players. I was speculating that this is a reason why Nike felt the need to call their high lofted driver "HL" rather than "13". I know the previous Sumo model had a "lucky 13" loft, maybe that didn't work out well from a marketing point of view.

You're right there is a perception out there about loft but it's misinformed. Tiger Woods has gone out to a 10.5 degree. Monty uses something like a 12 degree or more in fact.

PeterJamesDoyle

If you had someone to check the loft of the club for you, it will give you a more accurate idea. The loft can be higher on the top of the face than on the bottom, so where you hit it can also determine the launch.

I measured a 3 wood (Nike Sumo) for a member in my club. It said 15 degrees.
The top of the face was reading 17 degrees, but the bottom of the face was 12 degrees. Standing over it, you could see it did look like it was oval shaped.

When he hit it from the rough, he got a higher flight as the ball was sitting up slightly. But when he used it off the deck, he got daisy cutters as he couldn't get the clubface under the ball.

Experiment with teeing it lower, and then higher. On a windy day it may be to your advantage to know how the ball reacts off different parts of the face. Into the wind, tee it lower, wind behind you, tee it up.