How Fast Should You Swing? | GOLF SCIENCE
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How Fast Should You Swing? | GOLF SCIENCE

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How Fast Should You Swing? | GOLF SCIENCE

This may just be one of the most impactful tests in golf to date: How fast should you swing your driver?

We bet you’ve had an instructor or someone you’re playing with tell you, “Just swing at 80 percent. Nice and easy. Don’t try to kill it.”

Today, we’ll be revealing how fast you actually should be swinging and how much yardage you’re losing if you’re not. Based on our findings, it may be as much as 50 yards!

Results are broken down by swinging at 80%, 100%, and 120% percent of your normal swing speed.

How Fast Should You Swing

Check out the video below to see the full results!

Want to see more speed test data? Click here.

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      Sage A.

      7 months ago

      The problem with this is. In order to swing as hard as you can, you have to go through 5 driver fittings. Finding the right shaft weight, then head weight, then different shaft bend profiles to match your release pattern, then optimal spin rate, then testing it on the course.

      Most people don’t have the time or patience to go through all of these fittings.

      So, people default to these weird unquantifiable comments like “swing 80%”.

      My unsolicited advice… Don’t follow advice about swing dynamics from an era before launch monitors and AI systems. Treat it like looking for a heart surgeon…

      Otherwise you can’t take advantage of modern knowledge of the game.

      Reply

      Jacky Jr

      1 year ago

      Tiger told us to swing as hard as you can….as long as you keep the club head square

      Reply

      Andy

      11 months ago

      Earl told Tiger you can swing as fast as you want as long as you can do two things. 1. Maintain balance throughout the swing. 2. Hit the club in the center of the face. If you can’t do both of those, you can’t swing that hard.

      Reply

      Dave

      1 year ago

      Alright, I’ll throw my meaningless opinion in, too.
      All of this percentage talk is purely subjective. It’s a self assessed and metaphorical description of what one “FEELS” like they are doing effort wise. There’s not a pro in the world who actually swings at 80% of their 100% measured effort and not one who would play decently if they did. After all, in literal terms that would mean a player who normally swings a driver 115 MPH at their self assessed 80% speed/effort, would have to to ramp it up to to 144 MPH to have 115 MPH be their actual 80% effort. That’s not happening. Those of us who have played for a long time and been through the metaphors and the poor illustrations of technique know this but new players have hard time understanding that 80% really means your normal, comfortable and repeatable swing. And 100% actually means your maxed out effort that may reap benefit for an amateur 50% of the time. For me my so called 80% swing actually measures 96 MPH with a driver and 83 MPH with a 5 iron. My so called 100% swing actually measures 102 MPH with the driver and 87 MPH with the 5 iron. That’s roughly a 6.5% gain with the driver and a little less than 6.5 percent with the 5 iron. A comfortable bump but no where near 20%. And I’ve watched a lot of tournaments with shot tracker showing and can’t remember a pro ever bumping their speed up more than maybe 10%.

      Reply

      joey5Picks

      1 year ago

      So it ended up really being 96%, 100% and 104% swing speeds.

      Reply

      CrashTestDummy

      1 year ago

      Obviously, if you swing harder that you get more distance, but of course the accuracy can be a major factor and is totally dependent on the player. I think 15 testers is very small sample size and really not enough to determine that strokes gained was 1.5 strokes.

      Countless top PGA pros say they swing around 80%. as their cruising speed because they get the best combination of accuracy and distance. I’d go as far as to say, all of the PGA pros’ cruising speed is much less than 100% and they have more in the tank. Also, there is no such thing as 120%. Lol. It would be more like 60%, 80%, 100%. Interesting test, but think it is more along the lines of bro science than golf science. ;)

      Personally, I’m going to listen to the PGA pros on the subject because they are the best players in the world.

      Reply

      W

      1 year ago

      Shut up, pretender, you have no idea what you’re talking about FFS
      That 80% IS the 100%, for ball placement and accuracy to get it in play. THAT is the secret. So that 120% is the 100% when they need to move it. And quit comparing yourself to the Tour pros FFS. You have no idea what it’s like to be under that sort of pressure every week, to have to even put that 80% swing on it

      Reply

      CrashTestDummy

      1 year ago

      Wow, so emotionally triggered online rage. Lol.. I never once compared myself to pros. All I stated was the facts of how the pros play the game. They all say their cruising speed is around 80% during regular tournament play and have some left in the tank if need be. Do you work for MyGolfSpy. ;) Lol.

      CrashTestDummy

      1 year ago

      Here is Tiger Woods instructing to swing at 80%. Not quite the 30 handicap uncle or someone who has no idea how to swing 80% under pressure every week. ;) Lol.

      https://www.golfdigest.com/story/tigertips_gd0807

      Pedy34

      1 year ago

      Wow. You were comin in HOT on that reply. Why the vitriol? What gives?

      Please give us a sense of what it IS like for the pros to be under that pressure every week to have to swing at that 80% AKA 100%. Are there particular breathing exercises you do on the tee box? Or just a lot of huffing and puffing ?

      Mike

      1 year ago

      Take a chill pill, bro. This is a forum where everybody especially their opinion.

      And remind me again how you can physically do something.@ 120% effort. Next time you’re in a bar, ask the bartender for to fill up your beer mug “120%”. Let me know how that goes!

      Andy P

      1 year ago

      Wow

      William Dutton

      1 year ago

      W, your comment is disappointing, I think you should apologise

      Corey

      1 year ago

      Ah online pedantism… duh 120% of potential swing effort isn’t possible. When you talk about 100% swing it means swinging as hard as you can within your normal swing positions. 120% means you’re going above that where you sacrifice form for speed.

      Reply

      J Thorpe

      1 year ago

      Nice video. Not much meat on the bone except swing harder.
      I have had a launch monitor, given to me by my wide, for 3-4 years now. That allowed me to set a base line of how fast is “normal”. From there, I found this website ” https://www.tutelman.com/golf/clubs/Mike1.php#ballspeed” which outlined some of what was discussed. Except a minor, a major factor in ball speed is “smash factor”, which is how effective contact is. By being more effective, my average ball speed increased by 15%, which increased distance without initally be faster. with the hands/swing. My baseline swing speed increased from 87 to 103 mph as I practiced and became more confident in my effectiveness with the strike. I watch Clay Ballard on UTube to improve effectiveness. In addition, I decided to change shaft flex “downward” to leverage practive improvement, for minimum investment in shaft and grip.. That change provides endurance for this 70 year body to play 18 holes with my group of friendly mates. We live in Texas and play year round and love every moment and do not miss snow/ice. Golf is recreation at my level and not a life style.

      Reply

      Tim Hinueber

      1 year ago

      Sorry you married a WIDE…..ha ha. Not sure the wifey would appreciate you referring to her that way!

      Reply

      Jeff

      1 year ago

      This is simple high school physics at play here. OF COURSE the ball will go farther if you hit it with the club going faster. Simple law of momentum conservation. In short, In a collision, the momentum change of object 1 (the club) is equal to and opposite of the momentum change of object 2 (the ball). That is, the momentum lost by object 1 is equal to the momentum gained by object 2.

      Reply

      Christopher

      1 year ago

      If the strike is the same, then, yes, the ball will travel further generally speaking. But with golf we have strike, spin, launch angle, path et cetera. The key is to know how fast to go before it adversely affects dispersion and if a wider dispersion will hurt on the current hole or course.

      Also I don’t think the average amateur has a lot more speed in the tank with the driver, they’re pretty close to maxing out. They’d need speed training to move 10% quicker.

      When better players say they swing at 75% it’s more of a feeling in most cases, they’re not knocking off 25% of their gaming speed. If their gaming speed is 120mph they drop down a few miles per hour, not 20 or 30.

      Reply

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    We Tried It
    Apr 18, 2024
    We Tried It: Penfold Sunday Stand Bag
    News
    Apr 18, 2024
    Amazon Finds: The Callaway Swing Easy
    Best Drivers for Low Swing Speeds Best Drivers for Low Swing Speeds
    Drivers
    Apr 17, 2024
    Best Drivers For Low Swing Speed Golfers
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