The goal of this study was to show how inconsistent distances can actually be when practicing on the Driving Range.
One of the reasons for this is the large discrepancies between different types of Driving Range balls and how they react when hit from various surfaces.
Seeing as not all Golfers have the luxury of practicing off grass tees all year round, many of us are forced to practice off mats. (There are also BIG differences between Driving Range mats but that would be too much information for this study)
Practicing in these conditions often results in different Carry Distances, where you can hear the Golfers say „boy, am I hitting it short today“ or „man, I am killing it on the Range today“. These two scenarios are not entirely dependant on the golfer´s daily form – but this could happen on any day on any Driving Range in the world.
Another variable, besides the hitting surface, is the quality of the practice balls (see pictures). Some facilities are able to buy new Range balls regularly, whereas other facilities are forced to keep the old, battered balls due to financial reasons.
You might even find a facility where the quality of the Range balls are mixed (like at our facility). Not many Golfers could imagine there being any differences between new and old balls or even whether it matters if the practice balls are wet or dry.
Process
All shots that where hit (15 shots in each test) in my study were recorded with a TMe3 and Normalized to a Premium ball, in order to create a comparable scenario. When the normalising function is not switched on, the ball is set on Hard, which is the equivalent of the standard Driving Range ball.
I am aware of the fact that the Normalise mode would alter the data to a certain extent but I wanted it to be as comparable as possible (especially because it was a cold, cloudy day when I did my testing), relying on the other variables to produce different data.
Unfortunately I did not have a robot to do my test, so my largest variable would be the human element. Because of this I selected a player with a low handicap (-2) because his club data would have a high consistency.
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I specifically chose wet & old balls, VS dry & new balls in order to exaggerate my point.
The main variables that I focused on were the following:
- Shots with wet & old balls from grass
- Shots with wet & old balls from the mat
- Shots with new & dry balls from the grass
- Shots with new & dry balls from the mat
On all of the wet shots I wet the balls and the clubface deliberately with some water from a bottle, without drying the clubface in between shots.
Before every dry shot I made sure that the ball and the clubface was dry and clean by using a clean towel.
The grass that was played off was dry in order not to tamper with the result of my study.
The most astounding result was the variation in spin rates
a) Between new & dry balls and old & wet balls
b) And between those 2 types of balls hit from different surfaces
The old & wet balls could be seen as a simulation of the „Flyer“-shot, that many of us know and dread. Most people do not have a clue how this shot actually occurs.
Let me explain what happens on a Flyer:
Usually you hit a Flyer out of a damp or wet, semi-rough lie.
The wet grass gets caught between the club face and the ball at impact, causing less friction i.e. less spin.
Imagine you are hitting a 9iron (with a loft of 42°), and due to the reduced friction between the ball and the club face at impact your shot produces a much lower Spin Rate, then you will have a shot with high Launch Angle and a low Spin Rate which will most definitely fly past your desired target.
The modern selling slogan for most golf club manufacturers´ new drivers is: „High launch, low spin“.
This effect is desirable for maximizing distance with your driver, but not very helpful when approaching a green and expecting the ball to stop quickly.
So do not be fooled by one-off freaky distances with your irons on wet days, assuming that you „got hold of that one“, because these shots are accidental and not your standard distance.
Results
| Avg. Club Speed | Avg. Spin Rate | Avg. Carry Distance | |
| New & dry balls hit from grass | 92,5mph | 4482rpm | 163,6m |
| New & dry balls hit from the mat | 88,3mph | 6281rpm | 145,9m |
| Old & wet balls hit from grass | 91mph | 2878rpm | 152m |
| Old & wet balls hit from the mat | 87mph | 1592rpm | 157,1m |
To be honest, I was expecting all the shots played from the mats to have a lower Spin Rate due to less friction. The super low Spin Rate with the shots hit with the old & wet balls from the mat were the biggest surprise to me.
The only explanation I have for that result is the higher Club Speed and/or that some shots hit from the grass surface produced a higher Spin Rate due to a contact point somewhere low on the face bringing the Gear Effect into play.
What else was very interesting was the increase in Club Speed when the player was playing from the grass hitting surface and the steeper Angle of Attack when he played from the mat.
I have no explanation for the change of this data other than that the data is always going to be player dependent and down to individual swing characteristics and preferences in hitting surfaces.
Conclusion
The next time you are on the Driving Range warming up for a tournament round or just practicing: forget about the distances and just check the direction in which your shots are going. This will give you peace at mind and could quite possibly help you lower your scores on the course.
Hi James,
What club was being hit? I notice big differences like you did too. I have tested all sorts of balls on my Trackman. It didnt surprise me at all that the new dry balls on the mat had more spinrate as there is no grass,etc between ball and face normally the causes of less friction so always more friction from a hard tight mat. I always spin my shots the most off a really hard tight mowed fairway. A mat is similiar to this and because of the harder surface the ball will be hit lower in the face causing vertical gear effect to increase spin too and reduce it when hit from grass.
Hi David,
thank you for your comment.
The player used a Bridgestone J15DPF 7-iron.
As I stated in my study, the player is close to being scratch golfer in order to make the data more reliable. I agree to your thoughts on the vertical gear effect. This effect is, in my opinion, a very underrated factor in golf despite the major effect is has on the golf ball.
Well , you most certainly recorded a variation of spin and distance. A dramatic increase in speed with new and dry balls from a mat .
I would agree that attention to direction and contact are the more important results to observe while on the practice area.
I will often have 8 balls , that are in better than average condition for use with my driver . When possible tee up from turf conditions . Choose 2 targets , alternating the look , as you may experience when reaching the next tee box.
I would like your opinion as to what is the least helpful results , that are encounted for continued practice from a mat .No doubt, that practice from a turf area provides the true varied conditions encountered while on course. So my question is, what in general is least helpful . I would like to have a well researched answer to my students questions. Thanking you in advance for your research and professional advice Charles
Dear Charles,
thank you for your comment.
My research shows, that the least helpful scenario is a used, wet ball from the mat.
These conditions produce a range of shots which are anything but reliable due to the lack of friction. A lot of Driving Ranges wash the balls when dispensing them into your basket.
In theory a nice gesture but practically not helping you on the practice tee.
Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me via email: info@jamestaylor-golf.de
Good Afternoon James,
Thank you for your response to my questions. I look forward to your continued succes in presenting continued research , questions .
Charles
James,
Great study. Always appreciate his talking the time to do new case studies. Question: Do you recall in your Trackman education that flyer lies were described as low launching/high spinning shots and that the reason they never hold greens was because of the shallow land angle? I ask because I am wondering if you have done testing and got a different result. In your article you are saying the opposite.
Thank you
Dear Michael,
thank you for your comment.
I agree with what you are saying. In my study I also looked at the launch angles of the shots and found that they were very close to normal, i.e. not launching lower. Further research I did also showed that “Flyers” tend to spin much lower, resulting in less holding on the greens.
TrackMan has obviously done a ton of research and collected millions of shots on this topic, and has more fundamental data than I do.
James,
I was wondering what the premium ball distances, spin, and speeds were for the club used in this study. I am curious because of what might be expected, in terms of degradation, between the course and the range so that if I am using a trackman or other device I might know what the variance would be from range to course.
Thanks,
Joe
I didn’t see your comment at the end, concerning trajectory versus distance. But still curious as to what you might have gleaned.
Couldn’t agree more. I hit balls at a range with “limited flight” Srixon balls. Distances are so so variable. My concern is what is the direction and did I compress it. After that, I’m not interested.