I had an interesting thought this week. I was fitting a young man who was absolutely killing it with the driver. 120 MPH swing speed, touching 180 MPH ball Speed. Carry was 300+, decent spin, attack angle was in the +1 to + 2 range. Face and path were both pretty consistent – Face to path was generally in the +/- 2 degree range. Herein was the challenge. He had a lot of curve to some shots. For example… 120 Club, 176 Ball, 1900 spin, 304 carry, 332 total. Face to path was -.9*. Launch 12.2*, Height 108 feet. Looks about perfect, right? Curve was 73 feet . It was pulled and finished 122 Feet left of target. I thought to myself – it looks perfect on here, but he can’t play golf with that shot. He had another that was a “Fade”. 119/ 174, 2900, 291 –> 307. 14.6 launch, 143 feet high. Face to path was 1.5* open. Curved 184 feet. That’s 60 yards!! I thought to myself, if this poor guy tried to play golf where I play, he might shoot 200 (more on that below). So, the purpose of this week’s episode is two fold. How drastic of a change is there with the same face to path with slow, moderate and fast club head speeds, and.. a surprise discussion to get you thinking at the end.

To get thinking on this, I dug through some players who I’ve fit in the past. I tried to use good ball strikers, so the face and path were both +/- 2* or less, and the total Face to Path was in the 1-1.5* range.

Here are a couple of examples:

Player 1 is a PGA Professional – very good player. I picked 2 shots.

105/156. 2100 spin. 261 –> 290. 84 feet high, 12.4* launch. path 2.2*, Face 1.7* open.  Face to path -.5*closed.  Curve was 63 feet. Ball started right and ended up 39 feet left of target.

105/153. 2155 spin. 250 –> 281. 74 feet high, 11.2* launch. Path 0*, Face .5* open.  Face to Path was .5* open.  Curve was 15 feet. ended up 20 feet right of target.

I had to add this one in. Player 2 is a former Tour Player.

106/ 155. 3000 spin. 253 –> 275. 85 feet high, 10* launch. Path -.4*, Face .5* open.  Face to Path was .9*.  24 feet of curve. Started right and ended up 19 feet left of target.

For reference, this player had a shot of -5.6* face to path that curved 91 feet. It started right of target and finished 84 feet left.

Player 3 is a Female PGA player. Solid Ball striker.

82/120. 2470 spin. 193 –> 215. 79 feet high, 18* launch. Path -1.6*, Face -.3*.  Face to Path 1.3* open. Curve was 9 feet and finished 5 feet right of her target. 

Player 4 is a low single digit older male player.

93/ 139. 2550 spin. 225 –> 250. 80 feet high, 13.6* launch. path -.2*, face 2.9* open.  Face to path 3.1*open.  Curve was 42 feet, but it started right and ended up 18 feet left of target. 

I think we all knew this, but it’s cool to see some actual data. The faster the ball speed, the more it will curve with the same face to path results. Here’s a summary:

120 club/ 176 ball. -.9* Face to Path. Curved 73 feet.

119 club/ 174 ball. +1.5* Face to path. Curved 184 feet.

105 club/ 156 ball. -.5* Face to path. Curve was 63 feet. 

105 club/ 153 ball. +.5* Face to Path. Curve was 15 feet. 

106 club/ 155 ball. +.9* Face to Path. Curve was 24 feet.

93 club/ 139 ball. +3.1* Face to path. Curve was 42 feet.

82 club/ 120 ball. +1.3* Face to Path. Curve was 9 feet.

Amazing that an 82 MPH swing with a +1.3* face to path produces a shot that is as straight as you can point, while a 119 MPH swing with a +1.5* face to path landed in another zip code – over 60 yards off line. Hey, it was 115 yards farther. Haha…

Here’s the moral to this part of the story:

If you have a high swing speed player who wants to hit it further, keep in mind that your margin for error is very small. The faster he swings it, the bigger the misses – even a good, solid face to path of 1.5* can produce some big curving shots. Trying to chase distance at fast swing speeds have a steep accuracy penalty. BUT, a slower swing speed player can make bigger mistakes and still have acceptable results. You can go longer or softer to get some nice gains as long as the face and path stay pretty square. In BOTH cases, proper golf ball selection is a critical part of this fitting!!

So here’s the surprise part two. I thought as I fit the player in the first example that if he tried to play where I play, he might shoot 200. My home course has no two holes running parallel, with stakes on both sides on 17 of 18 holes. Water on 14 of 18 holes. and… it’s tight. I started thinking about the new handicapping system and how we fit. In the old days, we’d ask a player his handicap, and he’d give us a number. You had a pretty good idea of how he could play. Today, you don’t really. Here’s why:

I’ll use myself at my home course. My index is 2.9. Essentially, your Index is based on a Course Rating of par (par 71, rating of 72.7 in this case) and a slope of 113, which is considered average around the world (slope is 131 in this case). For reference, my home club is 6600 yards long. So, at my home course, from the tees I typically play, I’m a 5. Same course as a 9, he’s a 12. A 15 is a 19. A 25 is a 31. 

My handicap at my home course is 5 from the Championship tees, 3 from the Blue Tees, and 2 from the white tees. Our 25 handicapper who is a 31 from the Champ tees is a 24 from the whites. 7 shots different for him. A rounding error for me. BIG difference. 

What if we play Oak Hill from the Championship tees (roughly 7400, 77.2, 151, Par 70)? I’d play as an 11, and our 9 handicapper would play as a 19. Let’s say we move up a handful of tee boxes (LOL) and play the Blue tees at Oak Hill (6640, 71.6, 138, 71). I’d play that as a 4 – actually lower than my home course, While our 9, 15 and 25 would still be the same as they are at my home course. 

Let’s go the other way… I looked at an easier golf course that I recently played to see how that would translate. Par 72, 6485 yards, 70.3, 116. 1 stroke higher par than my home course, similar length, but it was pretty open. I play as a 1 there. Our 9 plays as an 8, 15 as a 14, 25 as a 14. 

The moral of the story? KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. WHERE he plays and WHAT TEES he plays from both make a big difference in how it translates to his ability. If you ask someone what their handicap is, most of the time they will give you their index. Most of the time, this will be LOWER than their course handicap. Most of the time you will need to find a shorter golf course with a Course rating under the par for that course with a slope rating that is edging closer to 120 or below for their index to = their course handicap. The higher the starting index value, the greater the difference between a higher and lower index player on a longer, more challenging golf course. If we go back to Oak Hill with our 25 handicapper, he’s a 41 from the Championship tees and a 31 from the whites – probably still too much golf course for him – even though it’s 1200 yards shorter. Even the Gold Tees there (at 5600 yards ,1700 yards shorter) plays 2 shots over his index. The point is, Just because a player says he plays a certain golf course, It’s not enough to accurately gauge his ability. For a lower single digit player who plays a challenging golf course every day, he might be better than his index shows, while a higher handicapper who plays muni’s might not be quite as good as his index by a significant amount. 

In your pre- fit interview, don’t just ask “what’s your handicap?” and write 8 on the sheet when he says that. The correct answer to that question (from him) is: “At what golf course? I’m a 2.9 index and a 5 at my home course”. Or “I’m a 25 index and play to a 31 on my home course”. The correct question is: ‘What is your Index and your course Handicap?” Objectively, your pre-fit interview would be different for a 25 vs a 31. The question’s you would ask if you knew he was playing a golf course that was 6 shots harder than his index…

Back to our 120 MPH ball speed player from above. I asked him what his handicap was. He said 3. I wrote 3 on the fitting sheet. In retrospect, I should have called him out on it a little bit once I watched him hit a few shots. I should have asked him what he does when he plays a tight golf course. Asked him to tell me about his home course. What are his good scores and bad scores? I’m thinking he plays a shorter, more wide open golf course where he can get away with some big misses, and doesn’t need to hit driver very often. Knowing that, however, would have helped me fit him into a driver. Ultimately, we ended up with a heavy X Flex Shaft that was an inch short, but with a heavier swing weight. Asking better questions would have gotten us to the finish line sooner. Do your due diligence up front to save time and effort in the end. 

Hope this helps. Until next time – happy fitting!!