Ball Speed is the speed of the golf ball immediately after impact
Ball speed is created by club speed and impact.
Bad impact such as shots hit on the toe or heel will reduce the potential ball speed.
“Glancing blows” created by hooks, slices, and hitting too much down on the ball can also reduce the potential ball speed.
Although a golfer’s club speed is key to potential distance, the ball speed that is created at impact is the biggest factor in how far the ball actually carries.
Gaining 1 mph of ball speed can increase your driver distance by up to 2 yards.
The highest recorded ball speed is 226 mph by Connor Powers during the Quarterfinals of the 2014 World Long Drive Championship.
Technical Definition:
Ball Speed – The speed of the golf ball’s center of gravity immediately after separation from the club face
Tour Averages
PGA TOUR
- Driver – 168 mph
LPGA Tour
- Driver – 140 mph
For a full list of Tour averages, visit TrackMan PGA and LPGA Tour Averages
TrackMan Combine Averages
Male Amateur (Driver)
- Scratch of Better – 161 mph
- 5 HCP – 147 mph
- 10 HCP – 138 mph
- Average Golfer (14.5) – 133 mph
- Bogey Golfer – 131 mph
Female Amateur (Driver)
- Scratch or Better – 131 mph
- 5 HCP – 125 mph
- 10 HCP – 119 mph
- 15 HCP – 111 mph
Learn more about TrackMan Combine, visit TrackMan Combine Explained
The standard assumption for ball speed comes from the TrackMan Optimizer. For the driver, a club speed of 94 mph, attack angle of 0 degrees, and optimized carry results in a ball speed of 137 mph. For a 6-iron, a club speed of 80 mph and mid-trajectory results in a 110 mph. For a PW, a club speed of 72 mph and mid-trajectory results in a ball speed of 86 mph.
What our TrackMan Masters say about Ball Speed…
Chris Brook PGA International Golf Coach, UK
“One of my players periodically loses 18-20 yards of distance with his driver.
This occurs when his ball position moves too close towards center.
Some months earlier whilst we were working on developing an upward attack angle, we discovered that through moving his ball position in line with his left toe his ball speed dramatically increased from 152 mph to 166 mph.
Since then, whenever his ball speed reduces we always look at ball position first.”
Richard Woodhouse KDV Sports. Australia
“When addressing the collision sequence with the student, I will see an increased ball speed as a result of a more centered strike.
It is common to see a face to path separation and a decreased ball speed number.
As soon as we match face angle to club path we achieve more compression on the ball creating an increase in ball speed.”
Christoph Bausek Progressive Golf, Austria
“Ball Speed is one of the most important factors for distance.
If the correlation of club speed and ball speed do not match my expectations, then I will have a look at spin rate, spin axis, and other factors around impact.
Often off-center hits are involved, so I keep a close eye on where the contact is being made on the club face.”
I find that if I attempt to create faster movement in my arms and hands, I can achieve an increase in speed. I find that the most important factor is to feel the actual rotation in the forearm to lower the spin.
I’m using trackman only at the range and I heard, that range balls normally have lesser ball speed. Does this result in false trackman data?
The Data you see is the “real” data.
Meaning if you are using limited distance range balls, TrackMan will show the correct data based on that ball you are using.
Typical parameters to look after when it comes to a range ball would be distance, spin rate and smash factor.
You could try hit 3 range balls, and 3 “normal” balls to see the difference.
Note that we do have our normalization feature which can convert range ball data into “Premium” ball data.
Unfortunately I can’t hit my own balls there if I want to get them back ;-) But the people from the golf club say their range balls are 10% length reduce. So could I just add 10% to the ball speed trackman is measuring? (This trackman there doesn’t provide club head speed)
What TrackMan model are you using?
It should be able to show club speed.
You could just add 10% to the carry distance, but it won’t be very accurate.
I would recommend to use the normalization feature, you just need to figure out which range ball is the right type to convert from.
Or you might be able to find the right range ball in our list here.
If you are using the iOS version:
Go in to settings, Ball, select the right range ball (Note that you can swipe to see more balls).
Then hit a shot, and you should now be able to enable “Normalization”.
I was struggling big time with my distance. I always knew I’ve been a 110+ mph swinger but for some reason I was hitting the ball 240 yards with my driver with 70X shaft!!!! I’d never hit such low distances in my life. I thought I had gotten old even though I’m only 32
Then I analysed my swing. Damn, I was losing all the power through my left leg breaking down in the follow through. So I use the swing thought of the left hip rotating and not sliding as if it’s attached to the left elbow with a string and the hips actually pull the arms down. The slide and unstraightened left leg are fixed now and I’ve regained all my swing speed and have been driving greens on par 4’s between 310 and 350 yards. Hit one 10 yards short of a 374 yard hole here in Bangkok – AWESOME
I am 76 with a bad back. Swing speed with driver is about 86 mph. Handicap is 9. It was scratch through my 30’s and 40’s. What kind of optimal ball speed should I get with a proper shaft.