This Driver Hack Could Help Players at Riviera

This week at the Genesis Invitational, the biggest storyline at Riviera Country Club hasn’t been a player or shot, it’s been the weather. Heavy rain soaked the low canyon course layout, leaving the course saturated and forcing play to be paused during Thursday’s opening round.

This left players dealing with soft conditions, and as expected, adjusting their wedge setups—as Titleist’s Aaron Dill pointed out earlier in the week.

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But beyond wedges and bounce, there’s another gear tweak that could quietly make a difference. I'll warn you, it has everything to do with driver loft and it might sound counterintuitive: I’m talking about lofting up!

Yes, you read that right, and no, I'm not crazy. In certain conditions, players will actually add loft to their driver slightly to gain control.

Unless the course is completely unplayable, like it was early Thursday, rain won’t stop play. What it does introduce, though, is moisture. And when there’s moisture between the clubface and the ball at impact, friction drops.

(And yes, that’s exactly why wedges feature face textures and milling patterns to help maintain spin in wet conditions.)

Although most golfers believe that friction only has a major impact on short irons and wedge shots, when it comes to the driver, it's equally important. This is why companies like Ping intentionally add face-roughness to their drivers to help reduce spin inconsistencies, because the last thing you want at 180mph ball speed is a funky and unpredictable spin rate and launch angle.

When you add the fact that the top players in the world live in a tight spin window on the lower-end of the ideal spectrum to maximize distance, and then introduce moisture, you have the potential for some pretty squirrelly ball flights. A knuckelball might be an effective pitch in baseball, but it's not an effective way to hit fairways on the PGA TOUR, especially when you have to deal with Kikuyu grass.

By adding a touch of loft to their drivers with the help of the adjustable hosel, players can feel confident that they can hit drives in the wind and produce enough spin to help keep the golf ball on line and in control in wet weather.

So next time you're about to play in the rain, although it might not be at Riviera Country Club, lofting up your driver to reduce spin fluctuations could be your ticket to gaining an advantage and playing better golf with more control off the tee.