Last week, we did the math for a tour player. We tried to relate that to an average player – specifically how hard a player swings when they play golf or go to a club fitting. We said maybe it’s our job to help coax them into a more controlled swing by what data, how much data, and the timing of the data that we give the player. This week, let’s chat about normal players, not Xander.

I’ll start by saying I had a player come to me at a fitting event and say “I’ll buy a driver if you can get me 10 more MPH of ball speed.” I laughed and thought “challenge accepted”, but said nothing. I knew this guy was gonna be playing home run ball during this fitting. What to do?

I asked him about his current driver. I asked him if he’d been fit for it (he bought it off the used rack at a sporting goods store), why he wanted to replace it (“it’s time”), and what he was experiencing with it. This answer surprised me. He said I play golf in a simulator with a buddy of mine and he get’s 140 mph ball speed all the time. I rarely get it to 130mph.”

So, it must be the driver that doesn’t give 140mph ball speed, not the guy swinging it. Got it. It was interesting that he knew enough to ask about ball speed, but didn’t have a clue about anything else. Let’s hit some shots.

I had him hit five shots with his current driver. We chatted while he hit. I watched him, not the data on the launch monitor. After the five shots, I went to take a look at the data. His average clubhead speed was 91.7 MPH, and his average ball speed was 127.7 MPH. This is what I said to him “Did you ever hear of the term “Smash Factor or Efficiency”?” He said he did, but didn’t know what they meant. I explained how Efficiency was a ratio of club head speed to ball speed – basically, it’s a mathematical number that tells us if a shot is struck solidly or not. I explained to him that the maximum smash factor is 1.5 for a driver. At 91.4 and 127.7, he was hovering at 1.4. I told him that a 91 MPH club head speed at 1.5 smash would produce a ball speed of around 137 MPH. That was his ceiling. His buddy gets 140 MPH ball speed because he swings it faster and possible better. Him getting to 140 was a mathematical impossibility UNLESS he swings it faster. He understood. He understood what HIS ceiling was. He was no longer chasing 140 – he was chasing 137.

Rewind to last week. Do we want to swing it faster or better? I say better first. Once they are all better, then, we can go to faster.

We made better and better swings. More solid contact and better results with seemingly less effort. He was surprised that his ball speed was going UP, despite his club head speed going down or not changing. The face was more square, so the spin was not only lower, it was more consistent. Dispersion? It was 1/3 of what it was when we started. I compared the data for him. First, I told him that with his new swing, the average club head speed was now 90 MPH, and that would produce a top end ball speed of 135 MPH (based on a smash of 1.5). He looked disappointed. Then I showed him that his ball speed jumped to 133.7 (from 127.7 – he didn’t get his 10 MPH). Other stats also improved, and his carry distance improved by 20+ yards, and the total was almost 25 yards further – despite swinging it SLOWER.

Did we make a swing change? Technically, I guess we did because he didn’t leave swinging it the same way he did when he got there, but he was just not trying to swing as fast – otherwise, it was the same golf swing. Not only was he not swinging it as fast and hitting it further, but his average distance to the target line went from +/- 27 yards (with his own club) to +/- 7 yards with the new one. Longer AND straighter. Perhaps better than his 10 MPH ball speed gain. True to his word, he bought the new driver.

The moral of the story? Third, Know your equipment (that you are fitting a player to). Inside and out. Know what the stuff can and can’t do. Second, Know your data. Inside and out. Know what things mean, and how to explain them. First, know the golf swing. Inside and out. Know what you can do to make a player hit a better quality shot. I do these in reverse because we think of it in the order I presented them, rather than the correct order. We think because we are working with new equipment that that is the most important part. Fancy new launch monitor? It’s got to be important. Truth is – both are, but not as important as the guy swinging the club.

“It’s the Archer, not the arrow”, right? Yes, but you can help create a super-charged Archer, give him a state of the art bow, and that new arrow will fly straight and true.

Until next time, challenge yourself to get better. When you get better, people play better. You can make a difference for them.

Jim Yeager, PGA