Golf Ball Speed And How It Effects You

Everyone wants to hit the golf ball farther. Golfers are buying new clubs time and time again to get this coveted prize. The truth is that only increasing your golf ball speed off of the driver will equate into more distance. Period.

With this being said, advances in science has given the manufactures, golf swing instructors as well as the top fitness instructors more factual information than ever before about what really happens in a golf swing.

Top golf instructors understand the relationship between distance and golf ball speed and are turning to launch monitors and other types of golf ball tracking technology. Golf launch monitors can be simple and affordable to very complex and cost thousands of dollars.

In addition, to learning about your golf ball speed, depending on the launch monitor the club fitter is using they can also learn information about the spin rate of the golf ball, launch angle and carry distance. Believe it or not, Doppler radar is used in some of the least expensive units to track the flight of the golf ball.

Golf ball speed is determined by a simple equation. The easy equation is that your golf ball speed is equal to one and a half times your club head speed. For example if you have a golf swing speed of 100mph then your golf ball speed will be 150mph. Another example would be the television announcers over the weekend said the PGA Tour average club head speed is 112 mph. This equates to 168mph golf ball speed.

As we all know the wind can play a role in how far or how short your golf ball will travel. Your distance is also dictated by other facets of the weather and more specifically the temperature.

Picture the first example. A sunny day in July and you are on the golf course enjoying the nice warm 95 degree day. You pull up to your ball which is 150 yards to the flag and you automatically pull a seven iron. You pure it (Of Course!) and the ball flies over the green.

In the second example, you again have 150 yards to the hole but now it is late fall and 45 degrees. You pull out your seven iron again and hit another good shot. This time the ball ends up on the front of the green or just short of it. What is going on have you lost distance?

The good news it is not just you. For every 25 degree drop in temperature the ball will fly approximately eight yards shorter than before. If you do the math in the examples above, it all starts to become clearer.

With all of the new technology available to the golf world, it has never been a more interesting time to try to improve and learn about your game. A great way to do that is through a golf club fitting with a launch monitor. Since the technology is becoming more affordable, many players are purchasing a personal launch monitor to help themselves with improving their very own game. You can too!