Can a Duffer Benefit Hitting a Krank Driver?
August 23, 2024
Regardless of your skills, hitting the ball with a modern driver gives you a distinct competitive advantage. Fact is, today’s clubheads and shafts allow you to hit the ball farther and straighter than using a cheap, outdated club. Most experts agree that, with all things being equal, the driver clubhead has more effect on the ball’s flight than the shaft. But, having the right shaft for your swing is important too.
Although you do need to develop good basic skills, the latest cutting-edge technologies can help you improve your score and capitalize on your efforts at the driving range. Plus, a more expensive driver will likely maintain its integrity and last longer than a “bargain bin” big stick. Hitting balls every week with a custom-fitted driver will allow you to improve your score much quicker.
Optimizing a driver to match his or her swing speed can immediately help a recreational golfer lower their score. Krank drivers built to be game-improving clubs have a larger sweet spot, better center of gravity, and a face-flex matched to your natural swing speed. This makes them more forgiving for a slightly off-center contact with the ball and longer off the tee with the correct face thickness.
How the driver has changed...
Centuries ago, the entire driver was carved out of wood. The earliest clubheads were hand-crafted from denser hardwoods like holly, beech, apple or pear. Golf shafts were originally ash or hazel whittling wood and later almost exclusively crafted from hickory. By the twentieth century, elite driver heads were fashioned from persimmon wood. Due to the weight of the very dense wood, these heads were much smaller than today’s metal drivers and had a much smaller sweet spot.
In the late nineteenth century, club makers were experimenting with both solid steel shafts with drilled holes to reduce drag as well as steel tubes. Although steel shafts were available at the turn of the century, it would be twenty-four years before the USGA allowed Herbert Lagerblade to use a steel-shafted driver off the first tee at the 28th U.S. Open Championship in Birmingham, Michigan at Oakland Hills Country Club. Although Lagerblade quickly admitted he proved the shaft wasn’t a superior advantage, Bill Mehlhorn finished third with a steel-shaft driver.
Fiberglass driver shafts appeared in the 1950s and by the late 1960s included winding graphite filaments. This produced a more durable glass shaft that was a lightweight alternative to steel shafts. Plus, it allowed a shifting in overall club weight that helped golfers generate more clubhead speed for improved distance off the tee box. A lot of recreational golfers were looking to reduce pain from arthritic hands, elbows or shoulders and graphite reduces vibration by over 30%. In 1979, TaylorMade released the “Pittsburgh Persimmon” as the first steel head driver.
Precision Driver for Recreational Golf
Hollow-steel metalwoods quickly replaced the smaller, dense persimmon wood driver heads and the world’s first stainless steel driver (the Big Bertha) hit the market in 1991. This launched the oversized driver head revolution that resulted in the USGA limiting the maximum volume of head to 460 cubic centimeters, which is still the limit used in tournament play today. Over twenty years ago, Lance Reader began designing driver heads that were precision engineered for maximum performance in the annual World Long Drive Championship.
Krank Golf exploded on the long drive golf scene and Reeder’s efforts has resulted in 26 World Long Drive Championships and a recent 124th U.S. Open Championship at Pinehurst. But that’s what a Pro can do with Krank Formula Fire Driver in hand, so how does it help a recreational golfer or Sunday duffer improve their score. That’s where Lance Reader’s understanding of how to apply club head technology differently for someone with a clubhead speed producing a 450-yard drive in comparison to that of an amateur.
The fact is Krank Golf is the only golf driver manufacturer in the world that makes the same driver clubhead in three different face thicknesses. It’s all based on the simple science of TRAMPOLINE EFFECT. Recreational golfers that have no interest in playing tournament golf have always been forced to hit the same face thickness as a Long Drive World Champion. And only because the USGA and PGA seem to think it important that TOUR golfers are hitting the exact same clubs that you are, which is simply not true.
Ready to Krank It Like a Champion!
Well, we are ready to help you get started. If you’ve been following Krank Golf over the years, you know that we’re committed to maximizing the driver face spring effect for all swing speeds. That’s why we micro mill the ultra-hardened Beta-Titanium X2 face on every driver head, so you have the correct spring back without having to swing the club at some unbelievable speed. Simply stated our precision engineering and attention to detail improves ball speeds for increased distance and accuracy off the tee.
COR is the measurement of how a ball, slingshots off the face of a driver. The conforming COR limit of the USGA is .830. We have increased the Formula FIRE Driver COR to .890 for non-USGA approved drivers. The result is increased ball speed, decreased spin, and of course, longer drives. If your swing speed is under 105 MPH and you want to absolutely maximize distance off the tee box and don't care if the driver you hit in on the USGA Driver Conforming List, a Formula FIRE X or Formula FIRE XX driver is right for you.
Less than 1% of the golf played around the world is played in USGA Sanctioned Golf Tournaments. If you compete in USGA sanctioned golf tournaments, you need to play an approved driver; that’s a Krank Formula FIRE Pro. It is on their list. If you are a recreational golf who wants to maximize driving distance off the tee box, go to our Driver Selector Graph and click on the section that applies to your average driving distance. Both the X and XX drivers are meant for non-tournament play and are thinner faced drivers for slower swing speeds.
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Krank Golf isn’t new to winning. We have 26 Professional Long Drive World Championships behind our clubhead technology. If you are tired of giving away crucial yardage, the right Krank Formula FIRE driver and fairway woods will allow you to hit the ball farther off the tee and straighter down the fairway. Click here for our DRIVER FITTING TOOL and start designing a club that is custom built for your swing.
