Which driver loft?
There's no loft that suits every swing speed: how you hit the ball (up or down on it) matters as much as how fast you swing. Most golfers do best starting at 10.5 degrees, and because nearly every current driver has an adjustable hosel, you can tune it a degree or two either way after you buy.
What the testing shows
The studies disagree, which is the useful part. Golf Digest's TrackMan testing concluded that average golfers generally need more loft than they think, but that too much loft is worse than too little: its 95-mph swinger carried 10.5- and 12-degree drivers 20 to 25 yards farther than a 9-degree one, yet the 9-degree rolled out to more total distance. A later Golf Digest study with Club Champion found golfers swinging 80 to 100 mph hit lower lofts farther, with 3.2 mph more ball speed. And in Plugged In Golf's TrackMan test of eight golfers, two were longest with the highest loft, one with the lowest and one with the middle; loft made no difference to accuracy.
Why: the angle you hit the ball
Hitting up on the ball adds launch and cuts spin; hitting down does the opposite. In MyGolfSpy's numbers for a 95-mph swing, a 5-degree downward strike launched at about 9.9 degrees with 3,630 rpm of spin, and a 5-degree upward strike at about 15.7 degrees with 2,595 rpm: the same swing speed wants a different loft. Slower swings (72 to 83 mph) do best with a higher launch, about 14 to 19 degrees, and 2,600 to 3,000 rpm of spin.
A starting point
| Your drives | Try |
|---|---|
| Low, or they fall out of the sky | More loft: 10.5 to 12 degrees, or a higher hosel setting |
| Balloon high and stop dead | Less loft, or a low-spin head |
| Slice a lot | A bit more loft, and a draw-biased head (listed as Draw-biased under Head type on our driver pages) |
| No idea yet | 10.5 degrees, adjustable, then test |
A launch monitor fitting settles it in minutes, and most driver pages here list every loft a head comes in: browse drivers.
What to check on a used driver
Check the loft and the hosel setting in the listing: an adjustable driver may have been set a degree or two off its stamp. The stamp itself is approximate: MyGolfSpy Labs measured drivers and found the stamped loft was off 92% of the time, with real lofts about a degree higher on average. Check the face and crown for wear (condition grades), whether the headcover comes with it, and the shaft flex (shaft flex guide). Compare generations side by side, such as the Ping G440 Max and G430 Max.
Sources: Golf Digest: TrackMan says (driver loft and landing angle); Golf Digest (Australia): driver loft study with Club Champion; Plugged In Golf: do faster swings need lower lofted drivers?; MyGolfSpy: optimal launch and spin chart for drivers; MyGolfSpy Labs: the worst kept secret in golf (stamped lofts). Checked Oct 6, 2026.