scotts33 Several weeks ago I decided to stop trying to hit up on the driver because I thought it was making the contact pattern bigger than it would be if I used a level swing. I was right.
Overall I gained some distance with the level approach. I had to loft up, though. Then I read an article about gaining distance from higher launch, and I tried to go part way back to what I used to do. I think I've just ended that experiment because I can't see where it is getting me anything. And if anything I seem to be getting fewer of my longest drives that I was getting with the level type swing.
Also, I think swinging up tends to move your swing plane to the left, and introduce an open face. It might be good for someone fighting hooks. My best drives used to be slight fades that started just left of center. With the level swing it's opposite, the best ones are slight draws.
I try to hit a little above center. From everything I read, that's very important for distance. For instance if you hit up 5 degrees but hit a little below center, you've lost, not gained. I used to do a lot of that. Anyway I guess the bottom line is that hitting up gave me higher launch but I couldn't consistently do it well enough to get farther down the fairway.