Trackman Figures from Some Tour Players

[JoeB34]

It is a known that about 1/3 of the Tour players play a draw, 1/3 play a pretty straight shot, and 1/3 play a fade.

With that being said the range I've seen for club path (with driver) is is from -4 (fade) to +6 (draw).

I actually have found Trackman #'s on thesandtrap.com - Trackman Figures from Some Tour Pros

Hope this helps!

[mvmac]

Grant Waite

[billchao]

Grant Waite

Wow. I'm amazed at what good technique can produce. His swing speed isn't that much faster than mine, but I can't even come close to 170mph ball speed, not even on my best hits.

Thanks for sharing, Mike.

[Golfingdad]

Grant Waite

Wow. I'm amazed at what good technique can produce. His swing speed isn't that much faster than mine, but I can't even come close to 170mph ball speed, not even on my best hits.

Thanks for sharing, Mike.

I wonder if he was experimenting with setup or something here ... because the variation in his attack angle numbers is nearly 7 full degrees.

But, it would definitely be nice to average 1.493 smash factor

[colin007]

Jeezis...1.515 smash??? That's insane. I'm lucky if I get 1.43...

[Crim]

It's interesting to me how much the angle of attack varies? Is attack angle really that big of a deal? Everywhere I see wants you to have a positive angle of attack, yet pros average a negative angle...

[Lihu]

It's interesting to me how much the angle of attack varies? Is attack angle really that big of a deal? Everywhere I see wants you to have a positive angle of attack, yet pros average a negative angle...

The chart indicates that Grant hits up 1.3 degrees.

[mvmac]

I wonder if he was experimenting with setup or something here ... because the variation in his attack angle numbers is nearly 7 full degrees.

For the most of them he's hitting up 1-2 degrees. With #16 he was trying to hit up the most and still draw it, that's why the swing direction was 9.7 right. Yes he likes to experiment.

It's interesting to me how much the angle of attack varies? Is attack angle really that big of a deal? Everywhere I see wants you to have a positive angle of attack, yet pros average a negative angle...

When you swing as fast as they do, you can "get away" with hitting down a little. Rory and Bubba hit up.

[colin007]

I like how his worst smash factor was still 1.465....

[Golfingdad]

I like how his worst smash factor was still 1.465....

Whereas mine is probably less than one.

[Crim]

For the most of them he's hitting up 1-2 degrees. With #16 he was trying to hit up the most and still draw it, that's why the swing direction was 9.7 right. Yes he likes to experiment.

When you swing as fast as they do, you can "get away" with hitting down a little. Rory and Bubba hit up.

Interesting, I feel like it's easier to hit up on a driver rather than down, and if two of the biggest hitters are hitting up, why would you ever hit down?

The chart indicates that Grant hits up 1.3 degrees.

I was referring more towards this.
http://thesandtrap.com/t/32498/trackman-data-pga-tour-vs-lpga

[Golfingdad]

Interesting, I feel like it's easier to hit up on a driver rather than down, and if two of the biggest hitters are hitting up, why would you ever hit down?

I'm going to guess it's probably a control thing.  They feel like the handful of yards they are losing are made up for by the fact that they keep it in play more often?

[Crim]

I'm going to guess it's probably a control thing.  They feel like the handful of yards they are losing are made up for by the fact that they keep it in play more often?

Gotcha, I didn't realize hitting slightly down gave more control. Hitting up on driver just seems more comfortable to me.

[Golfingdad]

Gotcha, I didn't realize hitting slightly down gave more control. Hitting up on driver just seems more comfortable to me.

Don't take my word for it though.  Note the "guess" in the first sentence and the question mark to end the second. ;)

@mvmac , can you help?

[billchao]

Whereas mine is probably less than one.

LOL. OT, but I was at a golf store the other day and I hit on their launch monitor. I was consistently 1.45 SF across the board

Gotcha, I didn't realize hitting slightly down gave more control. Hitting up on driver just seems more comfortable to me.

Unless I misunderstand the science of it, hitting down causes more backspin which gives you more control. Tour players swing the club so fast that they can play with less than optimal Trackman numbers.

[mvmac]

Interesting, I feel like it's easier to hit up on a driver rather than down, and if two of the biggest hitters are hitting up, why would you ever hit down?

I feel it's a combination of things:

- Their swings. Some tour pros are "handle draggers", so their AoA will tend to be down. Advice to feel like you "cover it" is more popular than sliding your hips and raising the handle.

- They don't know any different. They didn't grow up being taught to hit up, they don't play the ball far enough forward, they don't even know what their AoA is, they swing at 120 mph.

This is starting to change, I would say the average is closer to level than it was a couple years ago, lot more AoA "education".

Gotcha, I didn't realize hitting slightly down gave more control.

For the most part it doesn't. Players that don't know how to hit up can get into a bad habit of tilting back in order to do it, that can cause control issues.

@iacas has pointed out that you can deform the golf ball more by hitting up.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/44307/hitting-up-or-down-with-the-driver-in-an-inline-pattern/54#post_816701

http://thesandtrap.com/t/44307/hitting-up-or-down-with-the-driver-in-an-inline-pattern/54#post_816750

[RFKFREAK]

Jeezis...1.515 smash??? That's insane. I'm lucky if I get 1.43...

And where exactly did you find this out?

[tmac20]

What is the significance of the smash factor?