Relationship Between Club Head Speed and Ball Speed

[mikejohnchapman]

We have a Trackman range at the club and despite only being able to use range balls the numbers that come out are fun to look at. One statistic produced is club head speed with is interesting but unfortunately it doesn't show ball speed. This could be because the balls used are lower compression but it does "convert" them to calculate "true" distance.

I have looked to see if there is a rule of thumb which covers the relationship between club head speed and ball speed but can't find one.

Does anyone have any experience of a ratio that applies and is this specific to a particular ball?

 

[upsidedown]

Basically the calculation is your ball speed is 1.5 times faster than your swing speed. So, if you swing a club at 100mph, the maximum you can expect would 150 mph ball speed.

My local Trackman range does Ball speed and find distance quoted pretty much what I'd expect when using the practice widget. However if playing " a course" distances are all over the place ,drives nowhere as long and little chips for for ever

 

[bobmac]

Basically the calculation is your ball speed is 1.5 times faster than your swing speed. So, if you swing a club at 100mph, the maximum you can expect would 150 mph ball speed.

Is that assuming you hit the sweet spot?

 

[upsidedown]

Is that assuming you hit the sweet spot?

One would assume so as we know the off centre hits never go so far

 

[mikejohnchapman]

Basically the calculation is your ball speed is 1.5 times faster than your swing speed. So, if you swing a club at 100mph, the maximum you can expect would 150 mph ball speed.

My local Trackman range does Ball speed and find distance quoted pretty much what I'd expect when using the practice widget. However if playing " a course" distances are all over the place ,drives nowhere as long and little chips for for ever

Thanks, I guess the display is configurable when installed so maybe they went for club head speed vs ball speed due to the balls being used.

Funny to look at roll distances at the moment which can be measured in inches on the course not yards as calculated by Trackman.

 

[Swango1980]

Basically the calculation is your ball speed is 1.5 times faster than your swing speed. So, if you swing a club at 100mph, the maximum you can expect would 150 mph ball speed.

My local Trackman range does Ball speed and find distance quoted pretty much what I'd expect when using the practice widget. However if playing " a course" distances are all over the place ,drives nowhere as long and little chips for for ever

Is that not assuming that you swing to almost perfection? Basically, the ratio between the club head speed and ball speed is the Smash Factor

Having had a look, the averages are as follows (for driver):

PGA Tour: 1.49
Scratch: 1.49
5 HCP: 1.45
10 HCP: 1.45
Average golfer: 1.44
Bogey Golfer: 1.43

So, 110mph swing speed might get a ball speed of 164mph for a Tour Pro, and 157 for a bogey golfer (obviously the bogey golfer will generally have a slower swing speed anyway). Also, these are averages, so I'm not sure how much individual golfers vary outside these averages. I suspect it could be quite a lot. I've just bought a device that measures both, so will investigate it a little come the New Year.

The Smash Factor is also different for different clubs. For a 6 iron, for example, it is 1.38 for a PGAT pro.

 

[Voyager EMH]

A ball starts off stationary and finishes stationary. It accelerates and decelerates.
Where in it's path is it's speed measured and how?
Is this its maximum attained speed?