Gaining Distance and Consistency

[Righty to Lefty]

Smash factor is a ratio of clubhead speed to ball speed.

You can swing 200 mph and have a huge smash factor but if you come over the top and don't have the proper launch conditions and angle of attack into the ball you still aren't gonna hit the ball very far. The speed the ball the ball leaves the clubface means jack if it is not launched properly and your angle of attack isn't correct because you'll just hit a 80 yard slice with a smash factor of 1.5 and what good is that.

[Surefire]

You can swing 200 mph and have a huge smash factor but if you come over the top and don't have the proper launch conditions and angle of attack into the ball you still aren't gonna hit the ball very far. The speed the ball the ball leaves the clubface means jack if it is not launched properly and your angle of attack isn't correct because you'll just hit a 80 yard slice with a smash factor of 1.5 and what good is that.

Make your mind up. In the previous post you said;

I've heard of smash factor but I'm guessing that measures the amount of force applied to the ball.

All I have done is explained smash factor, and said surely ball speed is more important than swingspeed. Now you are telling me swing speed is not important.

I never questioned launch angle, spin rate and angle of attack. All I asked, and am still asking is how can the speed the club travels at impact be better than the speed the ball travels at impact in calculating the distance travelled by the ball? However say you do have a 200mph swing with a smash factor of 1.5, the ball will go amazingly far. However this far may be in the wrong direction, or far up in the air depending on the other factors.

[Righty to Lefty]

Smash factor is a direct product of swingspeed so they are one in the same unless there is some special club out there that magically increases your ball speed with a lesser swingspeed. The ball can only travel off the face of the club in direct proportion to the speed in which it is swung so yes, in that regard swingspeed is more important than smash factor unless you are talking about balls which are not stuck on the sweetspot because then there is a loss of distance with a given swingspeed. I didn't say that swingspeed wasn't important at all because swingspeed is what creates smash factor and not vice versa.

[Surefire]

Smash factor is a direct product of swingspeed so they are one in the same unless there is some special club out there that magically increases your ball speed with a lesser swingspeed.

I think you are not fully understanding my statement, and so you have missed the point I am getting at.

Although the ball speed is related to the swingspeed, the ball speed is actually faster, due to the compression and expansion of the golf ball onto and off of the golf club. Take this example two golfers both swing at 100mph. One of them has a ball speed of 140mph, the other 150mph. As they have the same swingspeed will they both hit the ball the same distance?

[Lemay427]

I just had a launch monitor session and the results were that my swing speed was 107 mph on average and ball speed was 148. My factor is 1.38.

So is it the ball? The clubface? Mishit?

Well I ruled out mishit because I put impact tape on the face and hit 5 and they were mid to upper on clubface. Impact tape was not left on during the testing session on the launch monitor. I was satisfied.


So now I am wondering why I cannot get that extra juice of ball speed.

BTW, my average driver yardage is about 270-275 carry.

[M2R]

From the Titleist website News: Tradition and Technology, Myths About Golf Equipment And Performance.

5. Most of the PGA Tour professionals swing at 120 mph or more. False. The average swing speed on the PGA Tour is approximately 113 mph. There are some who swing at or higher than 120 mph, but they are clearly in the minority. ... 7. The average distance for 5-irons on Tour is more than 200 yards. False. The PGA Tour Shotlink system, which records virtually all shots throughout the season, shows that the average 5-iron shot from fairway to green is approximately 185 yards. From the tee on par threes, the average 5-iron distance is about 197 yards

Personally I would start with these numbers as a reference, with leaves me ~10 mph and 10-15 yards short respectively.