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Not So Fast! The Swing Speed Study
Everyone wants to hit the golf ball farther, and add swing speed. A lot of it has to due with what we see on TV in the professional game. There is no question that at the pro level golf has evolved to a power game, and it all started with Tiger Woods rising to the top.
The name of the game is to hit it as far as possible off the tee, keep it in play, and be proficient enough with your wedge and putter to convert birdies.
The stats back it up too. Mark Broadie’s revolutionary strokes gained analysis, and his book Every Shot Counts clearly shows distance can be king. Golfers can separate themselves more from each other in their ability to score lower by hitting the ball farther.
I’ve written about this before, and I don’t deny these findings. I just believe the takeaway for everyday golfers can become a little murky. I’ve seen plenty of players excel at this game without tremendous distance. That being said, I’m not against any golfer trying to figure out ways to hit the ball farther.
If you want to hit the ball farther I think you have a few options:
- Increase your swing speed (most people advocate this method)
- Hit the ball closer to the sweet spot (I like this one personally)
- Make sure you are playing with the correct equipment (also believe in this)
I believe number 2 and number 3 are reasonable ways to add distance to anyone’s game, and I’ve written articles about that before. However, in my opinion adding speed to your swing is not the slam-dunk that most people think. I don’t think it’s completely necessary either.
What is Reasonable?
Tour pros swing speed with their drivers anywhere from 110-125mph. These are the speeds required to launch the ball 300 yards and farther. Any time they can add a few miles per hour to their swing, it could mean the difference of making cuts and cashing bigger paychecks.
Their livelihoods are literally at stake.
This website is intended for everyday golfers, and my goal is to help filter out all of the noise out there and get you thinking realistically about your game.
You are not playing golf to cash a paycheck. Hopefully you are playing first and foremost to have fun and enjoy yourself, and have a secondary desire to lower your handicap over time.
In order to add speed to your swing and hit the ball much farther, you will likely need to start some kind of serious fitness regimen, and put in a lot more practice. I’m certainly not against you doing that, but it will just require more of your time.
As recreational golfers that have jobs and other obligations in our lives, that time is usually not there for us.
But what if I told you that you don’t necessarily need to increase your swing speed to lower your scores?
A Little bit of Swing Speed Data for You
I was interested to find out the relative swing speeds of golfers based on their handicap level, so I had my friends over at Swingbyte run an analysis. Their popular swing analyzer is used by thousands of golfers when they practice, and it’s an interesting way to see what is going on in various golfers’ games when you take a top-level view.
We took driver and 7-iron swing speeds (around 800k shots total) and separated them by handicap level. As you can see there is a very clear correlation between playing ability and swing speed. As handicap goes down, swing speed goes up.
This is not a complete surprise at all.
What is interesting is just how fast the lower handicaps are performing relative to the players in the 20-35 region. They’re not all that different. For example, a golfer in the 30 handicap region had a swing speed of 88 mph versus 95 mph when you get to single digits.
With players in the 0-5 handicap range, drivers are topping out at about 95 mph and 7 irons are about 75 mph. Depending on how efficient their swings are, this could represent upwards of 250 yards with the driver and about 140 yards with the 7-iron.
Wait a second, that’s not that far?
Distance is Nice, but…
Again, I will never dispute that hitting the ball farther can help you lower your scores. What I can dispute is that you don’t need tremendous distance in order to reach your golfing goals.
I have seen plenty of players who can’t hit their drives more than 230 yards shoot in the 70s without breaking a sweat. What you see on TV is just not realistic, and you should stop using that as even a remote benchmark for your game.
I hope seeing the data from Swingbyte will help you realize that some of the best amateur golfers are not swinging as fast as you think they are. If you want to set a goal for yourself to add 3-5 mph to your swing I think that is extremely reasonable, and can be within your reach. However, going from 90mph with your driver to 110mph is probably not going to happen unless you are willing to go to some extremes.
Most golf courses are going to be in the 5800 – 6500 yard range, which does not require 275+ drives, or 170 yard 7-irons to score well. If you were playing on a 7300-yard professional setup, then yes I would tell you to start thinking about working on swinging the club much harder.
There are other parts of the game you can focus your time on rather than just trying to play the distance game (ahem, your short game). Pounding a golf ball incredibly far is just not in the cards for most golfers, and that’s OK. You can still score extremely well without doing it.
If you are interested in finding out some ways you can add distance without increasing your swing speed check these articles out:
How to hit Your Driver 20 Yards Farther (Seriously)
How to Hit It Farther, for Real
If you really want to increase your swing speed then check out my review of SuperSpeed Golf. This is a great system that actually works if you put the work in.
“What you see on TV is just not realistic, and you should stop using that as even a remote benchmark for your game”
I could fill this form with “+1’s”, but it wouldn’t be enough. It’s the same kind of analogy I try to make at GLG. I just don’t get how some people I’ve ran into over the years don’t even try to play backyard football like Cam Newton or Calvin Johnson, but go to the course thinking they can snap their fingers and become Rory McIlroy or Dustin Johnson.
There’s a reason why it’s called “recreational” golf- it’s for fun!
Thanks Justin. It’s funny how golf is the only sport where we do that to ourselves. Nobody would go into a pickup basketball game expecting to dunk like Lebron, or drain a bunch of threes like Steph!
This is a very good article and certainly speaks to what is realistic for amateur golfers. I consistently hear golfers in their 50s and 60s (I am 57) say they “carry it” 250 or more… Even some of the slower swingers thing they are out there better than 200 yards.
Last year, I took a golfing buddy of mine to a golf shop which had a golf simulator which measured swing speed and carry distance. He was stunning and simply did not believe his swing speed with the driver was less than 80 mph and that his carry distance was 160s into low 170s… I call it “The reality Chamber”…
There is a strong relationship between swing speed, GIR, and other variables with our score and handicaps. There´s no doubt about this.
For sure you will find exceptions of someone that has such good short game or putting that finds the way to pull out great scores without speed or GIRs, but this is what it is, an exception.
I think that its easier to take the path were you don´t need to be an exception to do what you are trying to accomplish.
I´am 43 years old and I started playing golf two and a half years ago. I just play on saturdays, no training, and take around 15 classes with a pro per year. Normal weight and body structure, nothing special. My driver swing speed is 99mph on Tackman.
I think everyone can do this. Don´t throw the towel. Keep trying!
Good golf for everyone!
A +2 handicap with a swing speed of 100 mph who is a great all around player would gain 40+ yards on a pga tour course and with enough skill could compete the only catch is his skill would have to be so extreme that he probably couldn’t compete. Pga tour courses are set up for max distance so a 240 yard carry often means 285 yard drives. This is why you get guys like Zach Johnson swinging at 107 attaining some 325 yard drives with 50+ yards roll. His overall skill outweighs the fact that he usually only hits 285ish on most holes. Consistent straight distance will make any average golfer around a 5 handicap without much skill as his eagles and easy birdies will negate his terrible holes. Tremendous long drive distance usually makes a golfer a +3 automatically with wedges into par 5’s eagles are the norm and driving par 4’s are also the norm! These guys shoot 75 sometimes and 62 quite often on some courses because the overpower it to it’s knees. It used to be 275 was a good drive now pga tour players hit their 5 wood that far and 330 yards is kinda the standard given the roll helps their still attaining 122 mph driver speed. 10 years from know 350 will be the norm and probably max out there because anything farther than that and you can’t play golf consistently. You will see young players who are more 5-11 175 pounds to 6-4 220 all of them will be pro athlete caliber and gone will be the days of club pro type golfers. In fact it won’t be that abnormal to see mlb type players as your standard pros super strong flexible and just great athletes overall. Good college players will look like minor league basketball players,or college football players compared to nfl pros there is just a huge gap there linemen are 275 pounds and fast where college players are just 220 big but not quite cut out to be pros. I have no doubt the pga tour set up will follow a 535 par 4 standard and 700 yard par 5 norm.
I would like to add in relation to this article that yes playing from the correct tees any golfer that hits it over 200 yards can actually attain a + handicap. Short courses with 325 yards par 4 means driver 215 and wedge make some birdies save some pars and you shoot 3 under all day. I advocate playing from the correct tees to make golf challenging and fun I mean why not and why make yourself hit hybrids into greens? My previous statement holds true I believe and it will be very common to see pga tour guys hit an average drive of 350 and some holes 415 yards. The tour commissioner will probably have a short par 4 as 425 yards and an average of 520. The average par 5 will be in the 625 ball park all the way to 800 to make it a 3 shot hole. Mark my words the future will be 360 drivers with 325 yard 3 woods this would leave them a gap wedge into that 3 shot 800 yarder. If the tour hates this direction as do I in a way then we need to go back to Balata type balls that spin more and 275 cc steel woods with a steel shaft requirement with 45 inches as the max to negate power which isn’t a terrible idea. In the old days a power hitter had only a marginal advantage on par 5’s if he happened to catch one good because persimmon woods played very much like any 275 cc steel head driver and made it an even playing field for a guy who hit is 45 to 50 yards less it was actually true golf. I believe baseball would be a great analogy for this because you see mlb players attain the highest skill as pitchers and hitters whereas the minors are full of dead read power hitters and straight throwing 101 mph pitchers that would go knowhere in the mlb. This would be very boring for the viewer and terrible for ratings seeing guys hit it 260 again and bubba watson hitting his booming 300 yard drives,but it might be the best direction for the game overall.
I can definitely agree that someone that rarely plays golf or practices needs to lower expectations and get real. And that 300 yard drive you hit in Denver downhill and downwind doesnt mean all of a sudden you’re DJ. At the same time practicing and putting in the work doesn’t garauntee better scores. At all. Which makes this game so elusive at times and more frustrating when you’re striping everything at the range. I don’t really agree with above comments. Definitely a trend in longer courses but some of the best holes in golf are the drivable risk/reward par 4s and postage stamp 3s. They’ll never go backwards with technology to shorten the game. I’m sure the players from Hickory era said the same about balata etc. Tom Wishon says golf club technology has been maxed out for a while now. Marketing and aesthetics is mostly what’s being sold. I would think ball technology is almost at its peak as well. So with the greatest equipment advancements behind us and water conservation on the rise, courses are likely near max yardage as well. Golf isn’t a sport. It’s a GAME that more and more freak elite athletes have chosen to play over traditional sports.
will there be any talk ever of all the pros using the same ball?? or the money is just too much>?
While swing speed is certainly important in relation to distance, better struck shots and rhythm seem to be the biggest points that fall by the wayside. You can create your own gale force wind by swinging so fast, but if you can’t consistently strike the ball in the sweet spot, you are going to be all over the place (not to mention you will be hitting shorter). Sometimes a shorter back swing can help with consistency, accuracy, and distance. Many pro golfers actually have shorter back swings, but are hitting the ball just as far, if not farther than a lot of these highly athletic golfers that depend solely on their physical fitness.
Another point to make is that in order to crush the ball accurately at Professional Speeds, your whole body has to be able to keep up with it. The faster you swing, the more your body has to work to accomplish this (the more that can go wrong). This also places a tremendous amount of wear on the human body. Tiger Woods, along with many other pro golfers are prime examples. Where is Tiger? How many back surgeries has he had?
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I don’t know ANY 0-5 handicappers that hit their 7-irons 140 yds. Most definitely that 95 mph for the driver is the low end for 0-5 handicappers. I’m in that group. My PW carries beyond 140, and I don’t see that as fantastic. Were you studying 70 year old 0-5 handicappers?? I’m 52 and by no means a big swinger. These are my REAL #’s (carry)
Driver = 275—3 wood = 235—4 Hybrid = 215—5 Hybrid = 205—6 iron = 180—7 iron = 170
8 iron = 160—9 iron = 150—PW = 140—GW = 125—SW = 110—LW = 90—64˚ = 70
These #’s are similar to those of the guys I recreate with as well as the tourneys I play.
I say again, “A 0-5 handicapper hitting a 7-iron 140 yds???” WAY out of the ordinary.
truth
@B Says- While I agree that it is not true that 0-5 hdcp have an average swing of 95mph. That is for sure the low range. Most swing in the 100-105 range. However, your claim to carry a PW 140 and see it as average is just as ludicrous. For the last 5 years of swingman data which includes every shot hit on the PGA tour, the tour average PW travelled 124 yards.
With the exception of the driver and 3 wood my iron yardages are like his. I do not swing in the 90’s
the best i can do is 80’s. My swing speed radar has me hitting 60 mph. I would love to hit it longer but my max is 240 and my average is around 200.
I do not know B personally, but I play a lot of golf and my handicap is between 0 and 5, and my 7 iron carry is 148. But the numbers he says he carries a golf ball is very hard to believe. 275 carry Driver and 140 carry PW?? Also he says that’s not that fantastic! So at 52 he’s hits it with the average PGA tour Pro and that’s not fantastic to him?? Again I do not him but the law of averages says he’s BSing us, than again he could be playing on the Moon :+)
based on my experience playing with low handicap golfers (tournament players), B’s numbers are about right