Swing Speed

[Cantankerish]

8 hours 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.

It is essentially the same as the guys who claim to hit the ball far. But I am inclined to believe such claims.  My swing speed tops out around 110, all the way down to about 98 (I'm constantly tinkering).  My drives are consistently 265-280 when wind is not a factor.  Note that my club's loft is only 7.5, so I get some roll when it is in the fairway.  My game becomes progressively less impressive the closer I get to the hole.  You can see that I am a 17 atm, but that is down from the 25 or whatever I was when I joined the site.  It's not like I am swinging any faster.

I actually played with a very cool young guy named Kyle today.  He had no short game to speak of, and his driver stayed in his bag all day.  The guy is not going to break 100 any time soon.  But his 3-wood went 250 and more.  He just sent the ball every which way.  He is not the first golfer I have met like this, but perhaps the most severe.  A few weeks back, I met a very pleasant fellow named Gary who kicked my butt.  He is about 60 years old.  The guy can't hit the ball beyond 200 yards with any club, but his handicap is 6.

I understand that this is the internet and BS is part of the deal. But even in my limited experience, I can see that there is every kind of golfer.

Roll with it, TRUCKER, and enjoy the show.  Perhaps we will meet some day.  I can show you how to squander good drives, and you can teach me how to hit greens in regulation. 😉

[TRUCKER]

13 minutes ago, Keep It Simple said:

Let me dumb it down for you by answering your questions in the simplest way possible.

“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? ”  YES

”Or is this similar to the guys that claim to drive the ball, on average, 280 yards.”. NO

...That's my ball waving at your ball as it lands 230 in the fairway, and yours is 280 yards in the woods, with your 110 mph SS.

7 minutes ago, Cantankerish said:

It is essentially the same as the guys who claim to hit the ball far. But I am inclined to believe such claims.  My swing speed tops out around 110, all the way down to about 98 (I'm constantly tinkering).  My drives are consistently 265-280 when wind is not a factor.  Note that my club's loft is only 7.5, so I get some roll when it is in the fairway.  My game becomes progressively less impressive the closer I get to the hole.  You can see that I am a 17 atm, but that is down from the 25 or whatever I was when I joined the site.  It's not like I am swinging any faster.

I actually played with a very cool young guy named Kyle today.  He had no short game to speak of, and his driver stayed in his bag all day.  The guy is not going to break 100 any time soon.  But his 3-wood went 250 and more.  He just sent the ball every which way.  He is not the first golfer I have met like this, but perhaps the most severe.  A few weeks back, I met a very pleasant fellow named Gary who kicked my butt.  He is about 60 years old.  The guy can't hit the ball beyond 200 yards with any club, but his handicap is 6.

I understand that this is the internet and BS is part of the deal. But even in my limited experience, I can see that there is every kind of golfer.

Roll with it, TRUCKER, and enjoy the show.  Perhaps we will meet some day.  I can show you how to squander good drives, and you can teach me how to hit greens in regulation. 😉

[Mr22putt]

7 hours ago, Killa said:

40+ putts in a round

For a 29 cap...you're maybe only 1 or 2 putts worst than average of a cap 25+.

2016 REPORT: Overall Golfer Performance By Handicap | MyGolfSpy

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YOU (vs) OTHER GOLFERS How do you compare to other golfers in the US?

 

[ncates00]

8 hours ago, TRUCKER said:

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 don't care about swing speed--I go with BALL speed.  That is more important than clubhead speed because that is reflective of both 1) my club head speed and 2) my strike.  The more ball speed I produce, the happier I am--duck hooks notwithstanding 😀

A guy who says they swing 120+ or whatever speed, I'm already suspicious.  If the guy says he gets 170 or something BALL speed; I think this guy gets on a launch monitor and knows his game.

[billchao]

24 minutes ago, Cantankerish said:

It is essentially the same as the guys who claim to hit the ball far.

I don’t feel it’s the same at all. Swing speed is easily and commonly measured. Anyone who has hit on a launch monitor of some kind has an idea of what their swing speed is.

Average distance is far easier to lie about, to yourself and others. Most people don’t have an accurate way to measure distance on the course and it’s easy to remember only your best shots rather than factoring everything in. Whether you should or not is a different subject, but if we’re talking about a true average, absolutely. You need to count that 280 yard bomb you hit on 14 as well as the 100 yard worm burner you hit on 2.

[Cantankerish]

2 minutes ago, billchao said:

I don’t feel it’s the same at all. Swing speed is easily and commonly measured. Anyone who has hit on a launch monitor of some kind has an idea of what their swing speed is.

Average distance is far easier to lie about, to yourself and others. Most people don’t have an accurate way to measure distance on the course and it’s easy to remember only your best shots rather than factoring everything in. Whether you should or not is a different subject, but if we’re talking about a true average, absolutely. You need to count that 280 yard bomb you hit on 14 as well as the 100 yard worm burner you hit on 2.

That's a fair distinction.  You know the difference.  I just don't think the people his is talking about are typically going to recognize it.

[Darkfrog]

 

14 hours ago, TRUCKER said:

I think you guys get on these launch monitors, and swing for the fences, and tell everyone you average 110 mph SS, and drive the ball average 250.

Your opinion is wrong but don't let me keep you from it.

I never said I averaged 110 swing speed. I said my typical driver swing speed is 105-110. I also gave an example of a drive with carry distance that aligns with my swing speed.

15 months ago, after many years of being a 110-120 (average score, not swing speed) golfer and a particularly bad case of shanks I started taking lessons. I started keeping a handicap roughly around the same time as lessons, and have gone from 26 HCP to a 17 HCP in this time. For the first 6 months I took 2-3 lessons a month, and 1 lesson a month since. My lessons at a small golf teaching facility with launch monitors, cameras, etc., and after each lesson I have an hour practice session on the launch monitor.  I have had plenty of time on the launch monitor to know what my swing speed is.

15 hours ago, TRUCKER said:

The male ego...🤣

No ego here. If I wanted to brag about my swing speed to get attention I would go to the r/golf sub-Reddit, not a forum of golf enthusiasts.

[TRUCKER]

Oh, Ok. Since it's your typical SS, and not your average  SS, that changes everything...

[Killa]

12 hours ago, Mr22putt said:

For a 29 cap...you're maybe only 1 or 2 putts worst than average of a cap 25+.

2016 REPORT: Overall Golfer Performance By Handicap | MyGolfSpy

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YOU (vs) OTHER GOLFERS How do you compare to other golfers in the US?

 

That could well be but I truly only count the putts that start on the green. So fringe putts don’t count. 

And gamegolf has me pretty much on par with a 20 capper on tee shots and approach shots, but I lose 2 strokes in my short game and 3,5 on putting. 
 

 

[billchao]

1 hour ago, Darkfrog said:

I never said I averaged 110 swing speed. I said my typical driver swing speed is 105-110. I also gave an example of a drive with carry distance that aligns with my swing speed.

So your average is closer to 107 or something. Same difference, pretty much. Most people are going to swing a club within like 5mph from their average from swing to swing or something like that. Not sure why someone would question your swing speed, but ultimately, who cares if they do?

Distance is a different matter. Quality of contact is a big factor. That 280 yard bomb you hit on 3 and the 200 yard slice you followed it up with on the next hole? They were likely hit with very similar club head speeds.

[Mr22putt]

2 hours ago, Killa said:

That could well be but I truly only count the putts that start on the green. So fringe putts don’t count. 

And gamegolf has me pretty much on par with a 20 capper on tee shots and approach shots, but I lose 2 strokes in my short game and 3,5 on putting. 
 

 

I think that report only counts putts on greens too.

[Darkfrog]

2 hours ago, billchao said:

So your average is closer to 107 or something.

Spot on, 106.6, range from 104-109, checked with 20 swings using a Garmin Truswing last night / this morning. Probably not the most accurate device, but confirms the GC Quad numbers.

2 hours ago, billchao said:

Distance is a different matter.

Definitely. My ball striking is on par with my handicap (not great), and my true average certainly reflects this. My ShotScope club tracking device tells me my true average distance in 2019 (all drives) was 236 yards, while the "performance average" was 267 yards. According to ShotScope, "performance average" is a statistical manipulation that removes high and low outliers to give a more representative number for gapping purposes.

I decided to give up on the ShotScope this year because I've decided the big watch is annoying - not sure what I'll replace it with yet, as I do like to see where I am gaining/losing strokes. Game Golf seems popular here, but totally separate discussion topic.

2 hours ago, billchao said:

but ultimately, who cares if they do?

Yeah, it's the internet, I can't really do anything about it either way.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Darkfrog
deleted word

[Nail]

On 1/19/2020 at 11:30 PM, billchao said:

Faster swings = bigger misses.

I guarantee the majority of poor golfers with fast swings aren’t swinging any harder (effort-wise) than you are. They just swing faster than you.

The same question could be asked about any speed for a high handicap player. Why swing your driver 90 mph when you can’t control it? Just bunt it down the fairway, putt it if you have to. You’ll stay out of trouble, but I guarantee you won’t play golf for very long.

Funny enough I can still answer this question because my driving is awful. I absolutely do know where my ball is going. The problem is, I need a football field as my target and they just don’t build golf courses like that.

If you’re going to pick only one data point, ball speed is more important than swing speed. Swing speed sets the limit of what ball speed can be produced, but a guy who swings fast and makes poor contact is still going to produce slower ball speeds than he potentially could.

Great post, i'm another with a fast swing speed but a high handicap. I tire of people telling me to slow down my swing(you tried to murder that one) when i hit a bad drive but tell me great drive when it goes straight down the fairway. 

I don't try to swing hard, its just the speed i swing. Hitting the center of the clubface is a different story, I can carry a drive 280+ but my average drive is 250-260 because of all the bad ones. 

I was playing with a couple of older guys for the first time recently, I parred the first three holes and had two cracking drives, one of the guys said "you wont be off 16 for long with your distance"

Two disaster holes followed with two balls into a water hazard, and then some duffed chips etc, and i said to the guy "now do you see why i'm off 16" he laughed and said "ah you have a few things you need to work on alright"

Moral of the story, fast swing speed does not always mean low handicap

[Lugowskins]

On 1/19/2020 at 11:28 AM, 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 curious about this as I don't have a handicap but usually shoot mid-high 80s. I have been playing on a simulator this winter and with range work (which I never really did before) my swing feels great but my swing speeds with the driver have been anywhere from 112-121 with distances around 275-300. It is an older simulator but my iron distances match up with what I do on the course so I think it's legit? Full disclosure I have had horrible yips with my driver for the past 2 seasons I literally couldn't NOT top my driver combine that with the club head coming off my 6 iron and snapping my 7 iron shaft on a tree branch I played all last season and some of the season before with my longest club being an 8 iron (which I hit about 175) so I'm hoping that I'm actually a lower handicap now that I have a full bag of clubs to use. But yeah, high scorer with moderately high swing speed. 

[TRUCKER]

Now I know where these SS and driver distance numbers are coming from. There's a conversation going in the My Swing forum, and the OP is saying he will take his 10 best shots to determine his average. That's not your average, that's your 10 best shots. Another member quickly responded, and explained to be careful doing it that way.

[Buckeyebowman]

6 hours ago, TRUCKER said:

Now I know where these SS and driver distance numbers are coming from. There's a conversation going in the My Swing forum, and the OP is saying he will take his 10 best shots to determine his average. That's not your average, that's your 10 best shots. Another member quickly responded, and explained to be careful doing it that way.

Exactly! Take your 5 best and your 5 worst, and do the math from there. There's your average!

[billchao]

2 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Exactly! Take your 5 best and your 5 worst, and do the math from there. There's your average!

OT, but I find when most people describe a distance as their “average,” they really mean their typical distance with that club. It’s what they’re expecting to hit. Using their true average for shot selection might not be a good idea depending on how badly they miss because they would end up with the wrong club in their hands.

For example, if someone hits their 7i 150 yards eight out of ten times and tops it 50 yards the other two, their average is 130 yards. If they played their 7i at their average distance, they would never hit the target.

The idea is to remove the outliers - both good and bad - to determine how far they hit a club.

[Mr Puddle]

On 1/19/2020 at 4:28 PM, 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.

There was also someone on here the other day claiming his average drive was 550 yards. To be honest, if your young and fit it's not hard to swing a club over 100mph, but hitting the ball straight is another question 😁

On 1/19/2020 at 4:37 PM, jmanbooyaa said:

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

I once topped the ball so badly it didn't reach the screen. The monitor said I hit the ball 250 yards. Your right !