Golf Digest’s robot test found that hitting up helped some driver lofts far more than others. Here is how golfers over 40 can interpret the results.
On October 22, 2026, Golf Digest published a driver test using Golf Laboratories’ swing robot and a Titleist GTS2 driver. It asked a familiar equipment question: does hitting up with the driver produce more distance?
The answer was not a blanket yes. Golf Digest found that the distance benefit changed with loft and club speed. An upward strike helped some tested combinations much more than others.
Attack angle describes whether the club is moving down, level or up when it meets the ball. In this test, the robot delivered the driver at 2 degrees down, neutral and 2 degrees up.
Golf Digest explains that hitting up increased dynamic loft, meaning the loft delivered at impact. It also raised launch. Hitting down lowered launch while spin stayed roughly similar.
The starting point mattered. The 8-degree head started with low launch and gained more from the upward delivery. The 10-degree head already launched higher and spun more.
This distinction separates the loft printed on a driver from the loft presented at impact. The test was not simply a contest between driver heads. It also changed how the club arrived at the ball. The finding rests on that combination of equipment and delivery.
Club speed was not the only difference between the test setups. The robot delivered one to two degrees less dynamic loft at 105 mph than at 95 mph with the same head and attack angle. Golf Digest cautioned that this lower starting launch helped explain the faster setup’s greater response.
Golf Digest reported these increases in total distance when attack angle changed from 2 degrees down to 2 degrees up:
Those are total-distance gains, not carry gains. The smallest and largest gains came from the same swing speed and the same change in attack angle.
That does not make the lowest loft the automatic choice. With the 2-degree-down delivery, the 8-degree head peaked at 33 feet and carried 207.6 yards. That was 12.5 yards less carry than the 10-degree head.
The 8-degree head therefore illustrated both sides of the story. It had the largest total-distance improvement at 95 mph when delivery changed. Yet its downward-delivery carry was shorter than the 10-degree head’s. Less loft was not a shortcut to longer flight across the tested conditions.
The 8-degree head gained nearly 28 yards when the robot changed from hitting down to hitting up. Golf Digest reported that the 9-degree head gained about half as much before added spin began to offset the benefit.
The 10-degree head gained essentially no distance from the upward strike. Its flight climbed more than 100 feet high and descended steeply. It finished in essentially the same place as the shot hit with a negative attack angle.
Under the same upward attack angle, the report found a 17-yard difference between the 8-degree and 10-degree heads at 105 mph.
Neutral delivery produced another useful result. All three lofts carried nearly the same distance at both tested speeds, according to Golf Digest.
That makes the neutral result a useful counterweight to the largest gain: a loft comparison and an attack-angle comparison answer different questions. The first compares heads at a given delivery. The second compares how a particular head responds when delivery changes. The report showed why both belong in the discussion.
The test boundaries are specific. This was an indoor robot test of one driver model with three lofts and two speeds. It used three attack angles and six center-face shots per combination. A Foresight launch monitor modeled carry and total distance rather than measuring outdoor shots.
Golf Digest describes 95 mph as a common amateur speed and 105 mph as a faster-player speed. The article does not assign either speed to golfers over 40 as a group. The report provides no age-specific results and does not assess comfort, mobility, injury prevention or the physical suitability of a swing change. Its yardage gains are not a forecast for an individual golfer.
The comparison below applies the report’s test variables; it is not a procedure validated for every player.
For an experienced recreational player, the value is replacing a broad swing cue with a measurable question about the current setup. The issue is whether that combination needs more launch, not whether every golfer should hit up.
This fits Golfergy’s focus on practical research-led guidance for mature golfers. For related reading, see our look at recreational driver numbers and movement checks for experienced golfers.
A fitting conversation can use the same basic variables as the report. The aim is to compare ball-flight outcomes, rather than make an attack-angle reading positive at any cost.
The comparison is also a way to avoid solving the wrong problem. The test’s low-launch starting point responded strongly to hitting up. Its higher-launch setup did not share the same benefit. The fitting question is which pattern matches the current ball flight.
The upward setting was a comparison condition, not a universal target for recreational players.
When pain or a health concern affects a personal swing decision, seek advice from a qualified healthcare professional.
Golf Digest’s test showed that attack angle and driver loft work together. An upward delivery added substantial distance to some combinations and essentially none to another.
The open question for an individual golfer is which combination produces the most useful launch and distance with their own swing. That calls for a personal comparison of outcomes, not a distance promise taken from the largest robot gain.
Start with the current setup. Let the launch and distance results guide the next equipment or delivery discussion.
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