Bridgestone Ball Fitting Numbers ???

[jallen100]

I did a Bridgestone ball fitting the other night and the guy was in a hurry and I was the next to last person in line so I did not get a good description of my numbers. What are all these numbers and what do they mean? And how will each affect my shots?

H/S ?
B/V ?
L/A ?
B/S I know this is Backspin
S/S I know this is side spin
DIST -I know this is Distance

[Shindig]

I did a Bridgestone ball fitting the other night and the guy was in a hurry and I was the next to last person in line so I did not get a good description of my numbers. What are all these numbers and what do they mean? And how will each affect my shots?

Head speed, ball velocity, launch angle are your missing ones, I believe.

Head speed is how fast the clubhead is moving when you get to the ball. If your optimal distance is far from your achieved distance, it means you're contacting the ball poorly or have a mis-fit driver (because you're losing distance from off-center hits, or from bad launch angle, etc). Ball velocity is how fast the ball is moving when you hit it. Launch angle is the angle of takeoff.

[jallen100]

How do I determine what my numbers should be?

[Shindig]

How do I determine what my numbers should be?

That's a good question. My times with the Bridgestone Challenge, they've given me numbers as output based on my speed. Your readout doesn't have anything beyond the ball you played?

[zeg]

The form they gave me had three lines. First was with the ball I used before their advice. The second was labeled "Ideal" and the third was with the ball they suggested. The middle line is the optimal one for your clubhead speed. It assumes, I believe, a 1.48 smash factor to find the ball launch velocity and then determines the optimal launch angle and spin rate.

[jallen100]

Here is what they gave me.

[zeg]

It's the center row that's your target. It has the same head speed (84.7 mph) as your first, but has optimal contact, launch angle and spin. So with perfect contact, you should have a faster ball speed (125.3), higher launch angle (14.6 degrees), and less backspin (2664 rpm) and no sidespin. If you can do that, you'll hit the ball 217 yards instead of 159 yards (under whatever conditions their model assumes, probably no wind and flat fairway).

[jallen100]

It's the center row that's your target. It has the same head speed (84.7 mph) as your first, but has optimal contact, launch angle and spin. So with perfect contact, you should have a faster ball speed (125.3), higher launch angle (14.6 degrees), and less backspin (2664 rpm) and no sidespin. If you can do that, you'll hit the ball 217 yards instead of 159 yards (under whatever conditions their model assumes, probably no wind and flat fairway).

I got that part. I guess my swing speed is a major part of the problem as well as my sidespin. Since the ball fitting I have been working on letting my wrists hinge more and freeing them up so I can generate more club head speed.

[Tugglife2]

Here is what they gave me.

Just curious, how did the testing work? Did you hit a series of drives and then they averaged it out to the top numbers?

[golfro]

usually they have you hit anywhere from 3-8 times your ball of choice.

then they calculate optimal from your swing speed.

then you hit 3-8 times the ball they recommend.

[zeg]

I got that part. I guess my swing speed is a major part of the problem as well as my sidespin. Since the ball fitting I have been working on letting my wrists hinge more and freeing them up so I can generate more club head speed.

Sorry, didn't get you at first.

It looks to me like you have plenty of room to improve your driving without worrying about club head speed. That sidespin is probably enough to "fade" your tee shot all the way across the fairway (i.e., you aim toward the left edge and it winds up in the right rough). If I were you, I'd be trying to fix what's probably an over the top swing because that should get you to a more reliable tee shot that will be a bit longer than what you've got now but a lot straighter. Odds are that when you fix that, you'll also pick up some clubhead speed simply by gaining efficiency. You're also hitting a slightly low, spinny shot, which I'd guess launches out and then flares and drops with relatively little roll. That'd be another piece that you can probably fix by working on ball position or angle of attack, but I'm not really qualified to give you advice on that front... I recently had this fitting done and, while my clubhead speed is a bit faster, I had a similar smash factor (ratio of ball to club speed) to yours and a similar difference between ideal and actual driving distance (mine was 241 vs 213). My plan is to work on the aspects that are not club head speed because I think that's a faster way to improve than trying to muscle it harder with my swing flaws. In my case, my average shot was a nice fade---about 300 rpm of fade spin---but that was the average of 3 slight pull-draws and 2 fade/slices with about 1800 rpm of fade spin like yours. The average for me was a big misrepresentation of my actual performance, and I've got to get it to be more consistent. Anyway, that's my plan....