Swing Speed

[TRUCKER]

There have been a few guys on here, HC 17, and above, claiming that their swing speed is in excess of 105 MPH. One was 110, another was over 110, another 118 MPH, etc. Is this possible? Or is this similar to the guys that claim to drive the ball, on average, 280 yards.

[jmanbooyaa]

Swing monitors and golf courses are 2  very different things. Anything is possible on a swing monitor. 

[pganapathy]

8 minutes ago, TRUCKER said:

There have been a few guys on here, HC 17, and above, claiming that their swing speed is in excess of 105 MPH. One was 110, another was over 110, another 118 MPH, etc. Is this possible? Or is this similar to the guys that claim to drive the ball, on average, 280 yards.

Not impossible, but the odds are fairly low.  There are multiple guys on the LDA who have very unorthodox swings, can't really play golf, but can hit the ball a long way.  Realistically, most of these guys are exaggerating, though the odd one will be capable of it.

[Darkfrog]

26 minutes ago, TRUCKER said:

There have been a few guys on here, HC 17, and above, claiming that their swing speed is in excess of 105 MPH. One was 110, another was over 110, another 118 MPH, etc. Is this possible? Or is this similar to the guys that claim to drive the ball, on average, 280 yards.

I’m a 17.4 HCP and my driver swing speed is 105-110. I’ve gotten as high as 113 after warmup and really going after it. I’m getting numbers from a GCQ launch monitor so I believe they're reliable, and on course distances back this up. Yesterday I had a drive carry 267 to the green of a short par 4. I think this carry distance is more or less aligned with a swing speed of 105-110  but I’m not an expert in this data.  My ball striking is on par with my HCP so I don’t often get the ideal theoretical carry for my swing speed. I played baseball as a kid, and have been taking swing lessons for over a year which has increased my speed a bit from when I started. 

[Killa]

31 minutes ago, TRUCKER said:

There have been a few guys on here, HC 17, and above, claiming that their swing speed is in excess of 105 MPH. One was 110, another was over 110, another 118 MPH, etc. Is this possible? Or is this similar to the guys that claim to drive the ball, on average, 280 yards.

of course it’s possible. I was over 100 last year and made significant changes to my swing over the last year. Will be on a trackman in a month or so. 
 

My average drive (gamegolf) is 242 yards, my longest 287. Both of these numbers have been significantly trending up the last few months, and my typical straight drive (not downhill) is about 250 yards now. 

[TRUCKER]

8 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

I’m a 17.4 HCP and my driver swing speed is 105-110. I’ve gotten as high as 113 after warmup and really going after it. I’m getting numbers from a GCQ launch monitor so I believe they're reliable, and on course distances back this up. Yesterday I had a drive carry 267 to the green of a short par 4. I think this carry distance is more or less aligned with a swing speed of 105-110  but I’m not an expert in this data.  My ball striking is on par with my HCP so I don’t often get the ideal theoretical carry for my swing speed. I played baseball as a kid, and have been taking swing lessons for over a year which has increased my speed a bit from when I started. 

 

3 minutes ago, Killa said:

of course it’s possible. I was over 100 last year and made significant changes to my swing over the last year. Will be on a trackman in a month or so. 
 

My average drive (gamegolf) is 242 yards, my longest 287. Both of these numbers have been significantly trending up the last few months, and my typical straight drive (not downhill) is about 250 yards now. 

🤦‍♂️...Just because you can crank up, or get after it, and reach these numbers,doesn't mean your swing speed is what you claim it to be. Hell, I'm sure when I swing as hard as I can, I too could generate 105, maybe more. Would I then claim that to be my swing speed? No. But I also don't claim these big driver distances, in the winter time, just because I did it once in the round. 

[Bonvivant]

Just now, Killa said:

of course it’s possible. I was over 100 last year and made significant changes to my swing over the last year. Will be on a trackman in a month or so. 
 

My average drive (gamegolf) is 242 yards, my longest 287. Both of these numbers have been significantly trending up the last few months, and my typical straight drive (not downhill) is about 250 yards now. 

Do you keep it in bounds? I don't understand how you can be driving 240 yards and playing off that much handicap if you are in bounds. Your full swing would be good enough to strike irons and hybrids and you should be GiR or nGiR on almost all holes. I'm not trying to diss your game, just to understand how your HDCP can be that high with that kind of distance.

[TRUCKER]

18 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

Do you keep it in bounds? I don't understand how you can be driving 240 yards and playing off that much handicap if you are in bounds. Your full swing would be good enough to strike irons and hybrids and you should be GiR or nGiR on almost all holes. I'm not trying to diss your game, just to understand how your HDCP can be that high with that kind of distance.

This X10. If iacas, nmgolf, or groucho have those speeds, I wouldn't think anything of it.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, TRUCKER said:

There have been a few guys on here, HC 17, and above, claiming that their swing speed is in excess of 105 MPH. One was 110, another was over 110, another 118 MPH, etc. Is this possible?

Sure it is. Some people just swing sticks really fast.

I averaged around 110 as a 20 and I’m around 112 now as a 13. I know former baseball players who can’t break 100 that can swing 120+.

[colin007]

Swing speed and where you make contact are totally different things. I think someone who's young and athletic can easily generate swing speed, but only hit the center of the face 1/100 swings.

[Keep It Simple]

Swing speed doesn't mean anything (unless you don't have it, then you are capped to how well you can play).

Hand a driver to a professional baseball player or hockey player (or any great athlete) who has never played golf before and they'll likely have a very high swing speed despite not being a good golfer.

[Bonvivant]

Just now, Keep It Simple said:

Swing speed doesn't mean anything (unless you don't have it, then you are capped to how well you can play).

Hand a driver to a professional baseball player or hockey player (or any great athlete) who has never played golf before and they'll likely have a very high swing speed despite not being a good golfer.

We really aren't talking about that here though. We are on a golf forum here. Most people are actively trying to improve (mostly score or strike-centric practice or focus), so it isn't like these are people that have never hit a ball before. Most of the time, more distance equals lower scores in golf. To carry a true (not vanity or sandbag) handicap of ~20 but driving the ball 270 yards means that you are 50-70 yards above the average golfer at that handicap. That means that if our clubs are identical, you would be hitting a wedge into a green that I would have a 3-4 iron into. If we are playing even scores from there, you shouldn't be on golf forums talking about your swing speed and drives. You should be at an instructor figuring out WTF is killing your scores.

I'm using "you" as a catch all for the "I drive it 280 yard" guy.

[Killa]

52 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

Do you keep it in bounds? I don't understand how you can be driving 240 yards and playing off that much handicap if you are in bounds. Your full swing would be good enough to strike irons and hybrids and you should be GiR or nGiR on almost all holes. I'm not trying to diss your game, just to understand how your HDCP can be that high with that kind of distance.

40+ putts in a round will do quite a bit of damage to your handicap. And that 29 is my official hcp as of last year.  This should drop significantly this year, I expect the low 20s to high 10s, maybe even lower now that every round will be reported (until last year pretty much only tournament rounds counted over here) - my garmin golf hcp is 20,4. So when I’m driving it well (staying in bounds and out of hazards) I score in the low 90s and when not it’s over 100. 
 

And since I will work on my putting thoroughly through the winter I hope to be breaking 90 consistently this year (didn’t manage to do that yet, but I did score 40 on the back nine of a very long course). 

[Bonvivant]

13 minutes ago, Killa said:

40+ putts in a round will do quite a bit of damage to your handicap. And that 29 is my official hcp as of last year.  This should drop significantly this year, I expect the low 20s to high 10s, maybe even lower now that every round will be reported (until last year pretty much only tournament rounds counted over here) - my garmin golf hcp is 20,4. So when I’m driving it well (staying in bounds and out of hazards) I score in the low 90s and when not it’s over 100. 
 

And since I will work on my putting thoroughly through the winter I hope to be breaking 90 consistently this year (didn’t manage to do that yet, but I did score 40 on the back nine of a very long course). 

That's a lot of putts. I'm not accusing you, but if you had rounds that weren't recorded and you only recorded tournament rounds, your handicap is probably inflated, or at least inaccurate. I hope you can get your short game in order, because you should be under a 20 for sure with your distance. Good luck this year! 

[Killa]

2 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

That's a lot of putts. I'm not accusing you, but if you had rounds that weren't recorded and you only recorded tournament rounds, your handicap is probably inflated, or at least inaccurate. I hope you can get your short game in order, because you should be under a 20 for sure with your distance. Good luck this year! 

In Europe only tournament rounds count(ed) and rounds where your scorer was under 11,4hcp and you declared in the proshop before the start that your round will count towards your hcp. 

[Keep It Simple]

 

1 hour ago, Bonvivant said:

We really aren't talking about that here though. We are on a golf forum here. Most people are actively trying to improve (mostly score or strike-centric practice or focus), so it isn't like these are people that have never hit a ball before. Most of the time, more distance equals lower scores in golf. To carry a true (not vanity or sandbag) handicap of ~20 but driving the ball 270 yards means that you are 50-70 yards above the average golfer at that handicap. That means that if our clubs are identical, you would be hitting a wedge into a green that I would have a 3-4 iron into. If we are playing even scores from there, you shouldn't be on golf forums talking about your swing speed and drives. You should be at an instructor figuring out WTF is killing your scores.

I'm using "you" as a catch all for the "I drive it 280 yard" guy.

Want to know what else we aren't talking about here?  DISTANCE

Read the original post before commenting next time.  

[Bonvivant]

1 minute ago, Keep It Simple said:

 

Want to know what else we aren't talking about here?  DISTANCE

Read the original post before commenting next time.  

Come on man. You are making yourself look silly. Distance is the direct result of swing speed. Also, if you cared to read the last sentence of the original post, he does reference distance, and as a matter of fact, it's the distance you would expect with the swing speed that is in question.

[Darkfrog]

2 hours ago, TRUCKER said:

Just because you can crank up, or get after it, and reach these numbers,doesn't mean your swing speed is what you claim it to be. Hell, I'm sure when I swing as hard as I can, I too could generate 105, maybe more. Would I then claim that to be my swing speed? No. But I also don't claim these big driver distances, in the winter time, just because I did it once in the round

I didn’t say my speed was 105-110 when cranking it up. That’s my normal swing speed. This is what the launch monitor shows, and is also reflected by on course distances. I’m not going to try to convince you if you’re skeptical.

1 hour ago, TRUCKER said:

This X10. If iacas, nmgolf, or groucho have those speeds, I wouldn't think anything of it.

The golfers you referenced are + HCP, so I’m sure they have above average swing speed and excellent ballstriking. I never claimed to make center-face contact with optimum angle of attack which are variables more indicative of low HCP than just swing speed in a vacuum.