I remember being confused by all the talk about launch angles when I first started playing golf. Though it’s important to understand launch angles, it can be quite overwhelming.

Which golf club launches the ball the highest? And does loft really matter? We answer these questions and more here.

Which Golf Club Has The Highest Launch Angle?

Out of all the golf clubs in your golf bag, the one with the highest launch angle is the lob wedge. A standard lob wedge has anywhere from 58 to 64 degrees of loft, depending on the golf club manufacturer. 

Though lots of amateur golfers only carry a pitching wedge and a sand wedge in their bags, every golfer on the PGA Tour uses a lob wedge regularly during tournaments. Pros usually hit their lob wedges between 75 and 95 yards.

Golfers use a lob wedge when they are fairly close to the green and want to hit a high shot that lands softly near the pin. Another optimal time to hit a lob wedge is when you are trying to get your golf ball over a tall tree.

The Importance of Launch Angle

Why all the talk in golf about launch angle? Because it strongly affects how far the golf ball will travel, especially when hitting your driver off the tee.

Still confused? Think about it this way. Have you ever really crushed a drive off the tee but had the golf ball teed up too high? It is so frustrating!

Though the ball may have felt great coming off the sweet spot of the clubface, the extremely high launch angle caused your shot to go high up in the air but not far enough down the fairway. Needless to say, you probably wished you would have teed the ball just a tad bit lower.

The reverse can also be true. You don’t want a launch angle that is too low because the golf ball will fall to the ground too quickly. This also causes a loss of distance.

Causes of a High Launch Angle

Lots of things can cause a golfer to hit the ball with too high of a launch angle. Thankfully, with lots of practice, any of these common flaws can be corrected rather easily.

1. Poor Balance / Footwork

One of the main causes of a launch angle that is too high is poor balance and footwork during the swing. For example, if a golfer keeps too much weight on their back foot during the swing, the result will usually be a ball flight that is too high. 

A good way to remedy this problem is to practice hitting shots with all of your weight on your front leg. This will help you get used to hitting the ball with most of your weight pressing toward your front foot. The best way to improve your shot trajectory is to improve your balance and footwork during your swing.

2. Hitting Behind the Golf Ball

If you are constantly launching your shots at a steep angle, you may be hitting slightly behind the golf ball. This will cause a high launch angle and a loss of precious clubhead speed. Less swing speed means less ball speed and a loss of distance.

If you suffer from this common problem, work on keeping your hands ahead of the golf ball through impact. This will help lower your launch angle and allow you to hit the ball a bit further.

3. Using a Shaft that is Too Flexible

The type of shaft on your golf clubs can have a profound impact on your launch angle. Most off-the-shelf shafts have a lot of flex in them to help high handicappers get the ball into the air more easily. 

As a general rule, shafts that have more flex in them promote a higher launch angle. If your launch angle is too high, experiment with using a staff that is stiffer. This could help lower your launch angle tremendously and will add more mph to your swing speed.

Wedges With The Highest Loft

We already mentioned that the lob wedge has the highest loft of any club in your bag. Here is a list of the wedges with the highest loft (from highest to lowest).

Sand Wedge

The club with the second-highest amount of loft is the ever so lovable sand wedge. The sand wedge has slightly less loft than the lob wedge. Most amateur golfers will hit their sand wedge about 80 yards.

As its name suggests, the sand wedge is mainly used to get the ball out of a sand trap. Most sand wedges have a loft between 54 and 58 degrees.

Gap Wedge

A gap wedge is often called the A-wedge or approach wedge by some golfers. It has a loft of 51 to 53 degrees. When hit correctly, the majority of golfers will hit their gap wedge about 100 yards.

Pitching Wedge

The pitching wedge is the lowest lofted wedge in the bag. It’s a popular choice for approach shots that are 110 to 120 yards away from the green. 

A pitching wedge is a crucial tool for chipping and pitching. Most pitching wedges have a loft of 46 to 48 degrees.

Irons With The Highest Loft

Now that we covered the lofts of all the wedges, are you curious about the loft in your set of irons? Here is a handy list that includes each iron, its degrees of loft, and how far the average golfer can hit each club.

As you can see from the list, there is a direct relationship between the degrees of loft and the total yardage. More loft means higher trajectories but less yardage.

How to Raise or Lower Your Launch Angle

Want to raise or lower your launch angle? Here are the variables that you can change to do either.

1. Pay Attention to Shoulder Tilt

The angle of your shoulders while addressing the golf ball has a big impact on your launch angle. To raise your launch angle, lower your right shoulder slightly. To lower your launch angle, keep your right shoulder a little bit higher.

2. Check How High You Tee The Ball

Remember our story about teeing up the ball too high? It affects your launch angle. To increase your launch angle, tee the ball up higher. To decrease your launch angle, tee the ball up lower.

3. Experiment with Your Ball Position

Want to raise your launch angle? Play the ball more toward the heel of your front foot. This will help you help hit up on the ball when hitting your driver.

Want to lower your launch angle? Play the ball a little bit further back in your stance. This will decrease your angle of attack.

4. Get a New Driver

All of the new drivers on the market allow you to adjust the degrees of loft. This makes it easier than ever to raise or lower your launch angle.

Most driver brands offer an adjustable range of 9 to 12 degrees. Just be sure to not lose the little tool that allows you to make these adjustments.

Mike Noblin

Mike has been involved with sports for over 30 years. He’s been an avid golfer for more than 10 years and is obsessed with watching the Golf Channel and taking notes on a daily basis. He also holds a degree in Sports Psychology.

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Spine angle, posture, and stance are some of the most important elements of any golfer’s swing. Whether you are new to the game or have been playing your whole life, spine angle is going to make a difference.

Several years ago, I struggled with spine angle, especially at impact and what I learned from it made me a better player and teacher. Let’s take a look at whether or not spine angle matters in your golf swing.

How Your Spine Angle Affects Your Golf Swing

Spine angle affects the golf swing in two major ways. The first is the consistency of the shot, and the second is the length and power of your swing. Without a proper spine angle and spinal stabilization, your golf game will suffer.

Golf Shot Consistency

When spine angle changes in the swing and there is excessive upper body movement, the results are typically thin shots, fat shots left and right golf shots, and even a topped shot. There is no consistent miss for a golfer struggling with the proper spin angle.

As your angle changes, the clubface is delivered to the ball in a different way each time. The spine angle creates path problems and will need to be fixed using drills and mental imagery.

Rotation and Power In The Swing

A spine angle that is incorrect from the start or starts to change throughout the golf swing will, without a doubt, cause a lack of power. Typically the body rotation is not nearly as good, and without this full rotation, power is compromised.

The good news is that focusing on body rotation can be a great way to fix your golf swing spine angle.

The Correct Spine Angle for a Golf Swing

The correct spine angle for a golf swing is typically around 35 to 45 degrees. The spine angle can change based on your height, posture, and the physical characteristics of your body and golf swing.

As good as it is to know what this proper spine angle is, the fact I would like you to focus on more is the ability to maintain your spine angle throughout your golf swing. The more you can keep your tilt in your golf swing until after impact, the better your chances of solid golf shots.

How to Keep Your Spine Angle in Your Swing

Keeping your spine angle in your golf swing typically takes a combination of mental drills and physical drills. Let’s look at some of the best ways to maintain your spine angle in your swing. I’ve personally used each of these drills, and they helped me cover the ball better at impact.

Create The Mental Picture

One of the most important ways to keep your spine angle in your swing is to start putting together the proper mental imagery. Do you know what the correct spin angle looks like?

So many golfers try to fix things like tempo, body rotation, and club path without looking for the root cause of the issue. As a golf professional, I always tried to find the cause of the problems in the swing before offering the proper solutions.

Take a look at what proper spine angle looks like in a golf swing and how those players keep the tilt on a fixed point throughout the entire motion.

Get Your Head Straight

When I struggled with spine-angle issues in my swing, it felt like I was dipping my head. The head should stay relatively still throughout the golf swing, and if it doesn’t, this could be a sign of spine angle issues.

My issue with head movement was on the backswing. As I tried to gain more power, my head would dip down a bit, and then the spin angle would have to change from being too low in order for me to make a solid impact with the ball.

The best way for me to fix this was to focus on keeping my chin on an imaginary shelf as I swung the golf club. My body rotation improved; I had less lateral sway and more consistency at impact.

Start this with some small swings and then increase to full swings when you get the concept down.

Use Alignment Sticks

Alignment sticks can be a great help when working on spine angle in your golf swing. Plenty of drills will help you try and maintain the angle, but my favorite is the backside drill. With the backside drill, you will set up an alignment stick so that it is sticking straight up out of the ground.

When you are set up and ready to hit, ensure your backside is pushed up against this stick. As you swing back, you should also feel the pressure of the stick on your backside. If your lower body moves because of a spine angle change, the connection with the alignment stick is gone, and your spine angle has cost you another center strike.

Of course, after you make an impact with the ball, it’s entirely acceptable to rotate forward and remove your backside from the alignment stick.

Head On The Wall Drill

Another great drill to practice keeping that lower spin in place throughout the swing is to set up without a club as if you are going to hit a golf ball. Stand close enough to a wall that your head is on the wall as you take imaginary golf swings.

You will know the position of your head on the wall, and if you can ensure that this position does not change and your upper back simply rotates instead of slides, your spine angle has likely been maintained throughout the entire swing.

Avoid Excessive Forward Bend

How can your spine angle be maintained throughout the swing if it doesn’t start correctly? One of the more common issues golfers have with spine angle is an incorrect bend from the start of the swing. Many amateur players confuse an athletic stance with one that is bent over.

The forward bend in the setup does not allow for enough room at impact. Therefore as a player moves into the impact position, they have to increase their spin angle. This feels like “standing up” through impact. You have likely seen golfers do this or done it yourself at times.

It can take time to find the perfect posture and setup, but one thing to watch out for is an excessive forward bend; get on the right track from the start of the swing.

Focus On Weight

Weight should be centered over your feet in your golf swing; if your weight is moving from heel to toe or toe to heel, the spine angle is likely to change as well. The great thing about this is that you can focus on maintaining weight in the center of your feet even without a club in your hand.

Setup with your arms across your chest and take golf swings that allow you to feel your weight centered. The more control you feel here, the better your chance of a powerful shot with great ball flight.

Less Can Be More

Excessive movement throughout the entire swing is always a source of issues. When you watch professional golfers play the game, it’s easy to see how efficient their golf swings are. Most amateur golfers over complicate the golf swing. With all the information out there combined with the desire to play well, this is no surprise.

Take some small swings on the range; feel as though you only allow the club to go back ¾ of the way. Do a few slow swing drills to ensure that you are in control of your golf club. Remember that hitting the ball far is a good thing, but hitting it accurately is better.

If you have the proper sequence, are a strong person, and have good balance, there is no reason to overcomplicate the swing and change your spine angle.

Brittany Olizarowicz

Britt O has been playing golf since the age of 7. Almost 30 years later, she still loves the game, has played competitively on every level, and spent a good portion of her life as a Class A PGA Professional. Britt currently resides in Savannah, GA, with her husband and two young children.

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