My Swing Speed Journey

[Voyager EMH]

Went to Ping Gainsborough today.
My first time ever doing this.
Was happily surprised to see driver speeds of 99/100 without forcing it at all.
Not bad for a 65-yr-old geezer, 5ft 11ins, 11st 3lbs.

Was recommended a 440LST 10.5° Alta CB Blue 55g stiff.

Shan't bother making any effort to increase my swing speed, though.

 

[VVega]

Was happily surprised to see driver speeds of 99/100 without forcing it at all.
Not bad for a 65-yr-old geezer, 5ft 11ins, 11st 3lbs.

Good going, just start taking creatine and you’ll be hitting it even faster 10% strength improvement apparently

 

[Voyager EMH]

Good going, just start taking creatine and you’ll be hitting it even faster 10% strength improvement apparently

It could be that I have plenty of my own naturally produced.
I've always performed well in cognitive and physical tests. Was a fast sprinter in my younger days.

 

[Springveldt]

Was at the golf studio last night and instead of doing a speed session with the sticks I had a session of just trying to get the ball speed as high as I could. I started with hitting a few different irons to warm up and then tried to get my 6 iron as fast as I could. Max speed with the 6 iron was 96mph with a ball speed of 130mph while still hitting functional shots. My playing speed with 6 iron is around 92mph and 125mph ball speed on good hits.

When I started the driver session I wasn't really generating any speed, was at 102mph with a "normal" swing and feeling like going flat out I was only getting it 104mph. I changed a couple of things, main one being standing closer to the ball and more upright and suddenly my speed jumped up. Normal swings were now in the 105mph range and going after it a bit more was up in the 109mph range. I crushed a few at those speeds with my fastest ball speed of the night at 159.5mph, had another at 159.3mph but just couldn't get it over the 160mph. Still, that is 2mph faster than ever before so I'm wondering if I've accidentally found something here. Will find out in my next session.

Hit about 30 drives at the end but unfortunately I forgot to send the report and it looks like Trackman hasn't saved the activity for me. Those 2 with 159mph ball speed both had carries over 270 yards, easily the furthest I've ever carried it. I also had one swing at 112mph but I thinned the drive and it only had 153mph ball speed. Still, that's my first ever swing over 110mph on Trackman while trying to hit a ball. In total I hit 4 drives out of the 30 outside of 25 yards offline (either side) so I had 26 of them within a 50 yard dispersion which was surprising as some of them I felt like I was really swinging out of my shoes.

 

[Klimski]

You really need an accurate measurement to answer that question.

If you're getting 125mph ball speed from an 85mph swing, speed training is probably exactly what you want as you're being pretty efficient with the speed you do have - 1.47 smash factor. For reference tour average is around 1.49 and a single digit handicap would be fine with 1.45.
However if you're getting that from 95mph you're at 1.31 which suggests you could gain a lot of distance just be being efficient and would probably gain speed from having a better swing pattern too.

On the bit about hitting better when not holding back, I always liken this to riding a bike - is it easier to balance riding at 0.5mph or 15mph? At higher speed the club will tend to stay on the path you set it on, if this is the wrong one it can be catastrophic and you can't recover, but if it's an acceptable one it's harder to manipulate it into a bad place. This is why speed training often yields some technical improvement too, plus you have to generally sequence well to generate speed.

Thanks for this reply. I have just had an indoor session with a new driver (so I was a bit apprehensive) but the speed is between 83-88 mph. Distance was inching towards a 210 total at a loft of 13 degrees. Adding a bit more speed for next season is a small goal. I would like to be on 90, which I feel is possible if I am a bit more dynamic with my feet - and a bit more trusting so that I get better release (whip is my thought). I am hoping for a small bump in total distance towards 220. That would help me move towards hcp 15 or better.

 

[VVega]

Crossfield posted his first report on getting 175mph ball speed before Xmas. Interesting to watch.

He went on about how his exercise routine is just at home but only showed some brief clips of doing. range of motion staff - slightly surprising.

Either way, to anyone who remembers that he printed 262 as his driver carry number on golf balls(now it’s his 3 wood on the course!), he is certainly proving that higher speed is achievable.

 

[Golf is fun]

Crossfield posted his first report on getting 175mph ball speed before Xmas. Interesting to watch.

He went on about how his exercise routine is just at home but only showed some brief clips of doing. range of motion staff - slightly surprising.

Either way, to anyone who remembers that he printed 262 as his driver carry number on golf balls(now it’s his 3 wood on the course!), he is certainly proving that higher speed is achievable.

What do you find surprising about that?

I don't think the video shows enough to know what his routine is, but given he is starting from a low baseline in regard to fitness, and he has said before he lacks motivation to go to a gym, to me this seems like a fairly obvious place for him to start.

 

[VVega]

What do you find surprising about that?

I don't think the video shows enough to know what his routine is, but given he is starting from a low baseline in regard to fitness, and he has said before he lacks motivation to go to a gym, to me this seems like a fairly obvious place for him to start.

- You can pause the video to see his programme on his app/ phone, it looks very basic

- I’ve not heard of anyone who can achieve 175mph and above without strength training.

- He’s not “just starting” and he has a goal to have 175 by Xmas - not many weeks are left.

 

[Golf is fun]

- You can pause the video to see his programme on his app/ phone, it looks very basic

- I’ve not heard of anyone who can achieve 175mph and above without strength training.

- He’s not “just starting” and he has a goal to have 175 by Xmas - not many weeks are left.

He was fast (in the big scheme of things) without training, he is just starting with fitness.

For someone with no fitness background, and who self admitted doesn't like the gym, this is exactly how I'd expect him to start off. At some point he will have to move on to more advanced training, but at his level some basic work will build him a foundation to avoid injury and prepare him for more advanced stuff later if he is interested in that.

Do you listen to the "Hack it out" podcast? He covers some of this there, the episode was a week or so back I think.

 

[Backache]

- You can pause the video to see his programme on his app/ phone, it looks very basic

- I’ve not heard of anyone who can achieve 175mph and above without strength training.

- He’s not “just starting” and he has a goal to have 175 by Xmas - not many weeks are left.

He said his current max was 172 so 175 isn't a huge jump.

 

[Springveldt]

He said his current max was 172 so 175 isn't a huge jump.

My max speed last week was 159 but 162 seems like miles away.

 

[Springveldt]

Forgot to update from Tuesday night after being at the golf studio. I changed my warm ups from my 8 iron to my 6 iron as Shot Scope is telling me I suck with my 6 iron so I'm trying to get more confidence with it.

After that I hit a few drives to get a warm up with that I then hit shots that felt like I would swing like out on course. No over swinging, trying to kill it types of swings.

	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Smash Fac.	Carry	Spin Rate	Club Path	Face To Path	Attack Ang.	Launch Ang.	Height
	Mph	Mph		Yds	Rpm	Deg	Deg	Deg	Deg	Ft
Average	103.3	148.3	1.44	239.9	3412	-2.8	0.6	1.6	14.5	118

I then did some speed training (fastest swings with green was 121mph, 116mph with blue and 111mph with red according to Trackman)

	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Smash Fac.	Carry	Spin Rate	Club Path	Face To Path	Attack Ang.	Launch Ang.	Height
	Mph	Mph		Yds	Rpm	Deg	Deg	Deg	Deg	Ft
Average	105.1	150.4	1.43	244.1	3308	-0.6	-0.3	1.6	14.2	117

As you can see, I got a pretty immediate jump in speed, maybe I wasn't as warmed up as I thought?

The spin rate is way too high, flight is way too high and I'm hitting slightly up on the ball. Land Angle isn't in the table but it was over 47 degrees, it's landing like a 7 or 8 iron. Smash factor is ok, not great but I'm clearly not finding the middle of the club face.

Trackman had the spin rate in italics so it was estimating the spin rate, so I was thinking about buying some RCT balls to make sure those spin rates are actually correct. Instead I've went and bought a Ventus Velocore Blue 6X shaft from GolfClubs4Cash to see if that makes any difference. I'm probably losing about 10 yards of carry through that spin rate. Current shaft is Hzrdus RDX Red Stiff that although it feels good these numbers would indicate it's not working for me.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

Forgot to update from Tuesday night after being at the golf studio. I changed my warm ups from my 8 iron to my 6 iron as Shot Scope is telling me I suck with my 6 iron so I'm trying to get more confidence with it.

After that I hit a few drives to get a warm up with that I then hit shots that felt like I would swing like out on course. No over swinging, trying to kill it types of swings.

	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Smash Fac.	Carry	Spin Rate	Club Path	Face To Path	Attack Ang.	Launch Ang.	Height
	Mph	Mph		Yds	Rpm	Deg	Deg	Deg	Deg	Ft
Average	103.3	148.3	1.44	239.9	3412	-2.8	0.6	1.6	14.5	118

I then did some speed training (fastest swings with green was 121mph, 116mph with blue and 111mph with red according to Trackman)

	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Smash Fac.	Carry	Spin Rate	Club Path	Face To Path	Attack Ang.	Launch Ang.	Height
	Mph	Mph		Yds	Rpm	Deg	Deg	Deg	Deg	Ft
Average	105.1	150.4	1.43	244.1	3308	-0.6	-0.3	1.6	14.2	117

As you can see, I got a pretty immediate jump in speed, maybe I wasn't as warmed up as I thought?

The spin rate is way too high, flight is way too high and I'm hitting slightly up on the ball. Land Angle isn't in the table but it was over 47 degrees, it's landing like a 7 or 8 iron. Smash factor is ok, not great but I'm clearly not finding the middle of the club face.

Trackman had the spin rate in italics so it was estimating the spin rate, so I was thinking about buying some RCT balls to make sure those spin rates are actually correct. Instead I've went and bought a Ventus Velocore Blue 6X shaft from GolfClubs4Cash to see if that makes any difference. I'm probably losing about 10 yards of carry through that spin rate. Current shaft is Hzrdus RDX Red Stiff that although it feels good these numbers would indicate it's not working for me.

Drop this spin numbers below 3k and you will add plenty of yardage. Good work mate

 

[VVega]

Trackman had the spin rate in italics so it was estimating the spin rate, so I was thinking about buying some RCT balls to make sure those spin rates are actually correct. Instead I've went and bought a Ventus Velocore Blue 6X shaft from GolfClubs4Cash to see if that makes any difference. I'm probably losing about 10 yards of carry through that spin rate. Current shaft is Hzrdus RDX Red Stiff that although it feels good these numbers would indicate it's not working for me.

It’d be interesting to see the numbers from Quad or more modern TM (e.g. TM IO) as the spin is indeed v high. Does your setup show strike location? That can drive the spin up a lot.

FWIW, I used Hzrds RDX Red and Black and the spin difference was insignificant compared to using different loft heads. For me, Sim 2 8* was great to bring the spin down but now moved to a Cobra LS at 6* which is even better (for me).

TLDR check the strike location but a lower loft /possibly low spin head is the best option to move the flight and the spin down.

PS what head/loft are you using now?

 

[Springveldt]

It’d be interesting to see the numbers from Quad or more modern TM (e.g. TM IO) as the spin is indeed v high. Does your setup show strike location? That can drive the spin up a lot.

FWIW, I used Hzrds RDX Red and Black and the spin difference was insignificant compared to using different loft heads. For me, Sim 2 8* was great to bring the spin down but now moved to a Cobra LS at 6* which is even better (for me).

TLDR check the strike location but a lower loft /possibly low spin head is the best option to move the flight and the spin down.

PS what head/loft are you using now?

I’m going to buy some RCT balls this week just to be sure the spin is right. Spin Loft wasn’t bad, usually in the 15-16 range, hitting slightly up. Maybe I need to work on hitting more up or controlling the dynamic loft a bit better but Trackman says PGA Tour average spin loft is 15.

It’s a Trackman 4 but it struggles with impact location for some reason. I’m not sure if Trackman uses its camera for impact location, if it does that will be the issue as we don’t have a spotlight above the hitting area so it may not be bright enough. I’ll usually pretty good at feeling the impact location and know instantly if it’s out the toe or heel.

Just checked the last session and the impact location is missing, I’ll play with the settings next time to see if I can get them on.

Head is a TSR3 at 9 degrees but lowered to 8 which I’m still hitting 120 feet into the air.

 

[VVega]

I’ll usually pretty good at feeling the impact location and know instantly if it’s out the toe or heel.

What about the bottom - that will spin and balloon the ball flight. Generally, to max the distance we are looking for the strike that is high on the club face strike with positive AoA that will produce high launch /low spin “knucklebombs”

Head is a TSR3 at 9 degrees but lowered to 8 which I’m still hitting 120 feet into the air.

Lofting down would normally open the club face (by 1.5* for Titleist) which will promote the “power fade” which will spin more too.

Looking at my data I get 120ft height when it’s also over 100ft right in contrast with 90ft height on straighter shots.

 

[Springveldt]

What about the bottom - that will spin and balloon the ball flight. Generally, to max the distance we are looking for the strike that is high on the club face strike with positive AoA that will produce high launch /low spin “knucklebombs”

Lofting down would normally open the club face (by 1.5* for Titleist) which will promote the “power fade” which will spin more too.

Looking at my data I get 120ft height when it’s also over 100ft right in contrast with 90ft height on straighter shots.

I'm seeing crazy heights on all kinds of shots, straight ones, slices and pull hooks. As you say I might be catching them a bit low but I'm using the highest rubber tee that is in the studio, it's a blue one that goes through the mat, it's probably around the same height as a pink castle tee, I can see about half the ball above the driver.

Titleist uses the 2 cogs on the adapter so you can adjust loft and lie independently. I've got it set to D1 which is lower loft (thought it was -1 but it's -0.75) and standard lie so it shouldn't open the face if I square it up at address. It will sit open if I ground the driver and don't adjust but I slightly turn the toe in before gripping.

Next session I might try the D2 setting which will sit the driver 1.5 upright as well to offset the face being opened. I'll also give the lofting up options a try as they close the face and I'll also play around with the CG setting at the back as that is sitting at neutral just now as well. That's the benefit of having 5 hours a week on Trackman, I can tinker to my hearts content and totally wreck my game for next year.

I've been digging into my last session report and I think the issue is my dynamic loft. I averaged 15.3 degrees on my last set of swings and Trackman blog is telling me that it's too high, PGAT is 12.8, scratch is 13, 5 hcp is 13.2, 10 hcp is 14.1 and average golfer (14.5 hcp) is 15.1. So basically I'm a chopper with my driver. I used to have the issue with my irons but I'm knocking about 8 degrees of the static loft with irons now, i.e. my 8 iron is 34 static loft but usually around 26 dynamic loft at impact. Looks like I've got work to do with the driver, I probably need to get it down into the 13 range rather than 15 unless I can change my AOA to be 3 or 4 up.

 

[Depreston]

I'm seeing crazy heights on all kinds of shots, straight ones, slices and pull hooks. As you say I might be catching them a bit low but I'm using the highest rubber tee that is in the studio, it's a blue one that goes through the mat, it's probably around the same height as a pink castle tee, I can see about half the ball above the driver.

Titleist uses the 2 cogs on the adapter so you can adjust loft and lie independently. I've got it set to D1 which is lower loft (thought it was -1 but it's -0.75) and standard lie so it shouldn't open the face if I square it up at address. It will sit open if I ground the driver and don't adjust but I slightly turn the toe in before gripping.

Next session I might try the D2 setting which will sit the driver 1.5 upright as well to offset the face being opened. I'll also give the lofting up options a try as they close the face and I'll also play around with the CG setting at the back as that is sitting at neutral just now as well. That's the benefit of having 5 hours a week on Trackman, I can tinker to my hearts content and totally wreck my game for next year.

I've been digging into my last session report and I think the issue is my dynamic loft. I averaged 15.3 degrees on my last set of swings and Trackman blog is telling me that it's too high, PGAT is 12.8, scratch is 13, 5 hcp is 13.2, 10 hcp is 14.1 and average golfer (14.5 hcp) is 15.1. So basically I'm a chopper with my driver. I used to have the issue with my irons but I'm knocking about 8 degrees of the static loft with irons now, i.e. my 8 iron is 34 static loft but usually around 26 dynamic loft at impact. Looks like I've got work to do with the driver, I probably need to get it down into the 13 range rather than 15 unless I can change my AOA to be 3 or 4 up.

Put the data into chat gpt see what it says

 

[garyinderry]

Forgot to update from Tuesday night after being at the golf studio. I changed my warm ups from my 8 iron to my 6 iron as Shot Scope is telling me I suck with my 6 iron so I'm trying to get more confidence with it.

After that I hit a few drives to get a warm up with that I then hit shots that felt like I would swing like out on course. No over swinging, trying to kill it types of swings.

	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Smash Fac.	Carry	Spin Rate	Club Path	Face To Path	Attack Ang.	Launch Ang.	Height
	Mph	Mph		Yds	Rpm	Deg	Deg	Deg	Deg	Ft
Average	103.3	148.3	1.44	239.9	3412	-2.8	0.6	1.6	14.5	118

I then did some speed training (fastest swings with green was 121mph, 116mph with blue and 111mph with red according to Trackman)

	Club Speed	Ball Speed	Smash Fac.	Carry	Spin Rate	Club Path	Face To Path	Attack Ang.	Launch Ang.	Height
	Mph	Mph		Yds	Rpm	Deg	Deg	Deg	Deg	Ft
Average	105.1	150.4	1.43	244.1	3308	-0.6	-0.3	1.6	14.2	117

As you can see, I got a pretty immediate jump in speed, maybe I wasn't as warmed up as I thought?

The spin rate is way too high, flight is way too high and I'm hitting slightly up on the ball. Land Angle isn't in the table but it was over 47 degrees, it's landing like a 7 or 8 iron. Smash factor is ok, not great but I'm clearly not finding the middle of the club face.

Trackman had the spin rate in italics so it was estimating the spin rate, so I was thinking about buying some RCT balls to make sure those spin rates are actually correct. Instead I've went and bought a Ventus Velocore Blue 6X shaft from GolfClubs4Cash to see if that makes any difference. I'm probably losing about 10 yards of carry through that spin rate. Current shaft is Hzrdus RDX Red Stiff that although it feels good these numbers would indicate it's not working for me.

I move my driver settings about from time to time. Usually lower is better. I hit this at the range one day and was like, what am I playing at... get that loft lowered.

 

[Backache]

I move my driver settings about from time to time. Usually lower is better. I hit this at the range one day and was like, what am I playing at... get that loft lowered. View attachment 59958

3 yards of backspin?