Driver question

I've been using a Cleveland Launcher 11.5, the shaft is a NV55, I use the senior shaft because I had a shoulder injury and the lighter shaft seems to allow me to have good speed and strength for an entire round of golf. My question is recently I was playing a round with a friend of mine and he also uses a cleveland driver however his loft is 14 and also a senior shaft. I tried his driver and because of the higher loft I had to tee it down very low, what I found however is I could swing the club with much more speed without hooking it or fading it as much as when I do when I over swing my club. With my 11.5 loft I average 240 to 250 yards but with this club and the added swing speed I was hitting the 260 to 265. why am I able to swing this club with much more speed and not loose control of my drive like when I use my 11.5? does the higher loft have anything to do with it? Oh btw I have one of those portable battery operated raders and with my club I average 95 mph and with the 14 degree club I was swing 98 to 99 mph.

Maybe after you hit it a few times and it went straight you began swinging with more confidence and therefore ramped up the speed. Maybe you are getting less side spin and the ball is flying a little better. I am interested in the concept of a higher loft driver and will try a few out when I decide to get a new one. My current driver is a 10.5. Are you drawing the ball more with your friends driver?

During that round I hit his driver 4 times and all but three times I hit the ball straight and long, my longest was 270 yards which I seldom do, one was 262, one was 264 and one went right and I didnt mark it with my skycaddie. After our round we went to the range because I wanted to hit the driver a bit more. I hit 20 more balls and I was swinging for the fences and hitting them straight and long, around the 15th ball I started to get a bit tired and I obviously wasnt as straight and long but to answer you question, no I for the most part didnt get more of a draw what I got was more distance with the swing speed. Seemed like I could really cut loose and get the ball up and long as opposed to my regular 11.5 where if I cut loose with my swing I mostly get a huge draw almost a hook. I'm not unhappy with my 11.5 because I can swing smoothly and still get 250 out of my drive but man to be able to swing with more speed and get further is great, it's just that the 14 degree's freaks me out, or is that just my ego saying all the long hitters use lower lofted drivers?

I'd vote for ego. Hell, some of the pros use as low as a 7 degree loft. That is just crazy for the average golfer I think. Look, when you are hitting past your playing partners, just don't tell them it's a 14 degree loft. Seriously though, I haven't tried a high loft driver yet but I am very interested in the concept. I like the idea of a high long shot that lands in the fair way and doesn't roll much. Unless you are deadly accurate hitting the correct lines in the fairway or you are just a short hitter, roll will usually get you in the rough.

It went straighter because the added loft makes the backspin more dominant over the side spin. It went farther because you were hitting it harder.

Hmmm... sub 100 swing speed. High launch OEM driver teed lower...

I wouldn't consider 3 mph 'much more speed' - even if you were nutting it, it might garner you 8 yards, all other launch conditions the same.

What I would suspect is going on here is the following:

kbp talks about the added backspin due to the higher loft - certainly an element in the straightness factor.

I think that you're getting better launch conditions with your friends' driver. I'd be interested to see the result if you teed up your friends' driver the same way you tee up yours, or conversely, tee yours down. I'm not convinced you'll lose distance if you're still hitting the ball above the middle of the face.

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