Adjustable Golf Drivers Explained – Are They Effective & Worth Buying?

Adjustable Golf Drivers Explained – Are They Effective & Worth Buying?

Drivers are typically the most expensive club in your golf bag. Although they are not used nearly as much as the putter, the driver tends to steal the show in your bag. If you are a great driver of the golf ball, you will typically score quite low as well.

With the driver being so important, it is imperative to make sure that you choose something that is the proper fit for your game. This is where the adjustability comes in.

Playing with a driver that is adjustable allows you to have a custom fit club each time you hit the links. You get to adjust the loft, weighting and face angle for different types of courses or simply to suit your game. There is undoubtedly a lot of value in that.

However, let’s take a bit of a deeper look into whether or not an adjustable driver is worth buying.

Adjustable Drivers – How It’s Going To Help

The main ways that an adjustable driver is going to help you is by allowing you to adjust the loft.

Good Loft For Beginners And Slow Swingers

One of the main problems high handicappers and others with slower swing speeds have is getting enough trajectory on the ball and by adjusting the loft upwards, it makes it a lot easier to get a good ball flight.

Adjustable Weighting

The weighting on adjustable drivers can be moved around too. This can put the weight at the back to allow a higher ball trajectory or front for a lower ball flight.

Fixes A Hook Or A Slice

You can also move the weighting around the sides of the driver and this is going to help to correct your swing and hopefully cure your hook of any slices and hooks.

You Don’t Have To Upgrade Your Driver As Your Game Improves

We all know that as we get better at the sport, our swing is going to change in a number of ways and we are more than likely going to be hitting a driver that is not best suited to us, even if we got fitted for it in the beginning.

An Adjustable driver allows you to simply adjust the settings and allow the club to grow along side your game.

Obviously saving you money on not having to upgrade your driver all the time.

One word of caution is to understand that this is not going to be a magic bullet and make you the new Dustin Johnson off the tee but it is going to help have the absolute best driver settings for your game, without having to dish out more cash on

How Drivers Used To Be?

If you have not been around the game of golf for a long time, you may not remember the days when you would have to choose a loft for your driver. You would do research, consult with your friends, try out a few, and still be stuck between 9.5 and 10.5 degrees.

It could take weeks to try and make up your mind about what should work best for your game and the direction your game was headed. The day the adjustable drivers came out, this all became a thing of the past.

Choosing the driver to purchase became much easier, and players instantly got more value for the club in their hands. Having been in the golf business for so many years, the adjustable driver has truly changed the game.

What Is An Adjustable Driver

An adjustable driver is a driver that can be changed, usually with the turn of a wrench. When you adjust or change your driver, you can get it to be more of a custom fit for your game.

The adjustability allows a golfer to change the ball flight or the trajectory of the shot as well to match the hole or the course they are playing or as their game adapts and changes.

When you adjust the clubhead on your driver, you can change the way you hit your shots. Some people wonder if an adjustable driver has anything to do with the shaft and the grip.

Although an adjustable driver can have a replaceable shaft, the shaft is not adjustable, and the grips are not the adjustable parts.

Features and Benefits of An Adjustable Club Head

There are a few ways that you can adjust a club head on a driver. Your club will either have weights, an adjustable hosel, or both.

Face Angle & Loft

With an adjustable hosel, you can change the face angle of the club or the loft as well.

When you change the loft on your driver, the ball will fly higher or lower. If you change the face angle, you can go from a neutral face to a slightly closed or slightly open. When you start working with the weights on the club head, you can customize the flight.

Driver Weighting

The weights on the club head can be adjusted to help a golfer fix a slice, hook or get more or less spin. There are many variables once you start playing around with the capabilities of an adjustable driver.

Can You Adjust a Driver Between Holes?

A driver that is in your bag will need to be set before the round, and you will have to leave this set for the course of the entire round. If you change a setting on your driver in the middle of a round this is considered to be altering your equipment.

Altering equipment is against the rules of the game.

When you finish your round or before starting your round, you can easily adjust your driver with the tool that was given to you when you purchased the club.

All adjustable drivers are sold with the wrench to help make adjusting very easy.

The wrench is a torque wrench, so you won’t be able to overtighten the driver and cause damage to the clubhead.

Are Adjustable Drivers More Expensive

Adjustable drivers were priced a bit higher than standard drivers when they first came out. However, as time has gone on, the drivers are now sold for the same price as a standard driver.

This is because technology is something that everyone wants and needs access to while more supply has brought the price down.

It is much more common to have an adjustable driver today than it was seven or eight years ago. Since the technology is current and becoming standard, the pricing on the adjustable drivers is now the same as the non-adjustable drivers.

Who Adjustable Drivers Are Going To Suit

The great thing about adjustable drivers is that they work for a golfer regardless of their handicap. It does not matter if you are a scratch golfer or a high handicapper; you can benefit from the technology of an adjustable driver.

Lower handicap players will notice very slight changes in loft and lie when they make adjustments to their club. Higher handicap players will find that they need to make major adjustments to the club to notice differences in the way their ball travels.

This is just because the lower handicappers tend to have a bit better feel.

What Elements Of Your Drives Will An Adjustable Driver Improve?

Fixing the Slice

One of the significant reasons golfers want to purchase an adjustable driver is to fix a slice. A slice is a very difficult swing flaw to correct, and if you don’t have the proper tools or understanding to correct it, you will struggle to get it done.

Some players try for years but still can’t learn to release the golf club. If you get an adjustable driver, you can set it up to be very forgiving and less likely to slice.

This is, of course, not going to be a fool proof method, but it absolutely can work to help you learn to control your driver a bit more.

Many golfers want to fix the slice but choosing an entirely draw bias driver will leave you stuck with that club. Instead, having an adjustable driver gives you some flexibility in what you can do with the club. If you ever happen to fix the slice completely, you can switch the driver back to a more neutral position.

Also Fixes A Hook Or Flight Trajectory Issues

This same method can be used for a slice, a hook and ball flight, or trajectory off the tee as well. Many golfers don’t realize that the more loft a driver has, the more forgiving it is. Setting your loft high one day can be a great way to test what you truly need in a club and what will work best for your game.

Pros And Cons Of Adjustable Drivers

We have clearly demonstrated a majority of positives about the adjustable drivers. To have a club that is custom fit to your game that day is truly a remarkable advancement in technology. What we haven’t mentioned yet are the disadvantages to the adjustable driver.

Club Is Heavier

The first disadvantage has to do with the weight. The weight of the driver is going to be heavier when it is adjustable. All of those screws, the adjustable hosel, they add weight to the club head.

This extra weight will not bother most golfers. However, you will notice that some super game improvement clubs or drivers built for seniors are not adjustable.

Most of the Cleveland drivers are not adjustable. They find that if they leave the loft and the weight fixed, they can lower the center of gravity and give their customers much better performance.

Overthinking The impact Of The Adjustments

The second disadvantage of an adjustable driver is that people can get a bit hung up on the adjustments. Some golfers will get stuck on the idea that the loft is a half degree off, and it can end up ruining your round.

One helpful tip is to set your driver and then forget it. Do not even think about the setting and what it is; you can’t change it until the round is over, so you must just learn to play with it.

What About Adjustable Woods

With driver adjustability being so popular, we have certainly seen the trend in the golf world to more adjustability throughout the entire set of clubs.

Ping even makes adjustable irons. Adjustable fairway woods are a brilliant addition to your golf bag.

An adjustable fairway wood can be great when it comes to properly loft gapping a set. If you have a hybrid that is similar in the loft to your fairway wood, you can adjust the fairway to give you some different performance than the wood.

This is a great way to allow your golf clubs to work for you.

Can You Still Get Fitted For An Adjustable Driver

You can and should get fitted for an adjustable driver.

When you go for your fitting, the fitter will choose something that can be adjusted and set to the specifications you need.

When you go with something adjustable, it also gives you a bit of room should your swing ever change over time.

We all know that can certainly happen!

Best Adjustable Drivers On The Market

Now that you know everything there is to know about adjustable golf drivers let’s take a look at some of the best ones on the market.

Check Out Our 10 Best Adjustable Drivers Here

Cobra Speedzone Driver

The Cobra Speedzone is the latest release for Cobra, and it improved on the success of the F9 driver from last year. The Cobra is built with four goals in mind. The goals are to have a lightweight club head with forgiveness, a streamlined shape, and a very high moment of inertia.

Cobra hit all of their goals with the Speedzone. This driver appeals to all handicaps and has any kind of adjustability you could look for in a driver. Another great thing about Cobra clubs is that they are always offered at a very fair price. If you have been looking for something adjustable, this driver is a win.

Check Out More Reviews Here:

TaylorMade Sim Max

The TaylorMade SIM Max drivers are known for having their adjustable loft sleeve. The loft sleeve helps golfers to get the face angle and loft that they need for success. The TaylorMade SIM Max is a club that is built for speed and distance.

If you like to hit the ball a long way, but you still want a bit of forgiveness and adjustability, the SIM Max is a driver we would seriously consider. The TaylorMade twist face technology provides lots of forgiveness to those golfers that tend to miss the sweet spot from time to time.

Check Out More Reviews Here:

Titleist TS2 Driver

Titleist drivers are usually built for the best players out there. The TS series brings some forgiveness to their driver series. Titleist was one of the leaders in adjustability in a club. They have had an excellent fitting system in place for many years.

For golfers that play Titleist drivers, you will eventually learn your fitting code and be able to set any Titleist driver to the exact specifications that you need for your game.

This is undoubtedly some impressive technology that we have come to expect from Titleist.

Check Out More Reviews Here:

Check Out Our 10 Best Adjustable Drivers Here

Conclusions – Do We Recommend Adjustable Drivers And For Who

Adjustable drivers have changed the game of golf. One size does not fit all when it comes to golf equipment. Each year it is becoming more and more apparent that custom equipment is the way of the future. Adjustable golf drivers are very much worth the money that you pay for them.

Golfers of all handicap levels can benefit from an adjustable driver; however, we really like these clubs for players who are working on improving their game. You can set your driver to be a bit more forgiving in the beginning. As you improve, you can change the performance. When you become a scratch golfer, you can have the driver set to suit your needs at this time.

Without the adjustability, you would have had to purchase three drivers to get from the high handicap to the low handicap stage.