Re: Swing Measurements - What do they mean?

Qassim,

I'm by no means an expert on club dynamics, but I'll try my best.

Launch angle is as it says on the tin. Ideally you want your launch angle to be slightly lower than the loft the club suggests. It would mean you have your hands slightly infront of the ball at impact. The higher lofted drivers are allegedly for those who struggle with keeping the big one straight as backspin counter-acts side spin.

Launch angle is influenced by which path the club is coming in at (in to out/out to in - the horizontal bit) as well as the angle of attack (the vertical bit i.e. hitting down on the ball or sweeping up through it).

Launch angle and spin rate are related because both stem from the combination of vertical and horizontal direction of attack to the ball. Hit down on it and your adding spin to the loft of the club. Sweep it and the spin is merely applied by the loft and nothing more. That's why you hear commentators talking of high launch/low spin drives. Spin rate is usually in 1000's of RPM's. I think from memory mine was around 2500 - 3000 with the driver. That was 3 years ago though.

I say high launch cautiously. Quite often the drive of a professional will start out at around 8 degrees up from the ground with, for example, a 9.5 degree driver. However it will go high, because it continually climbs at this rate throughout the vast proportion of it's flight. It is both high and long, but started low. It's just happens so quickly it's difficult to pick up.

Hope this helps a bit and I'm sure other will add to it or correct me if I've mis-informed you.

Nice result on the scoring. Usually the camera's and lasers on this sort of machine will calculate how much energy is being transferred to the ball with your swing, effectively working out its' efficiency. Big hitters will actually score above 100 (sometimes above 110) because they end up transferring more energy into the ball than the computer thinks the average swing speed will apply to it. Now that's an efficient swing!

Re: Swing Measurements - What do they mean?

These computerised systems are fun and catch our interest but I doubt if they are a serious way of determining the best clubhead and shaft for you. I think there is nothing like real ball flight to see the effects of differing configurations.

I think Neil has given a fair overview of the points you raised. I would only add that the science of ball flight and ballistics is fairly involved but generally for a handicap player you will get the best results from your driver by making square contact on the sweetspot with a level or slight upwards blow, creating a launch angle around 15 to 20 degrees with a ball spin of around 40 revs per second.

There are some well qualified people that help on this site that will be able to give you some great advise on club fitting.

Re: Swing Measurements - What do they mean?

I'm not an expert either, but I have a few good teachers.

Actually, at 100 mph I've got an A flex shaft you can use, I've also got an R flex that'll be really stiff feeling, and an X flex that will feel like a wet noodle (the shafts are the nRAGE, the Evolution, and the YS6, for those interested).

Somewhere on this board I've got a picture of a taylormade MAS shaft, S flex, that on the deflection board shows weaker than L flex. But I digress...

That's a decent launch angle - I gun for about 14° with most clients. The compounding factor is spin - high launch/high spin makes for balloony shots. The 'ideal' launch parameters are high launch low spin - this is why LD guys can use such low lofted drivers: 1) they have the SS to put more spin on the ball and 2) they're Angle of Attack (AoA) is pretty high.

So, what influences launch angle? AoA and clubface loft. But it's not simple math - (in other words you don't simply add AoA and loft to determine your launch). The reason as I undertstand it is similar to the whole 'initial ball flight thing' - While face angle is greater than path, path still plays a part. So, while loft is greater than AoA, AoA plays a part. And there's some friction coefficient and energy transfer to boot. In other words, a 9° driver with a 0 AoA does not produce a 9° LA, but rather 8.x. Strange, I know. But true!

The fastest way to manipulate LA is through loft. Need more launch? Use more loft. Need less? Use less. Most golfers, though, need more launch. Be aware though, that generally speaking for every degree in loft you move, you also move 500 rpm. In other words, more loft=more spin. This is why it's very tricky to truly 'optimize' and get every last drop out of your driver - because for most ideal launch scenarios, you have to have an AoA of +7 or so...

Ideal spin is totally dependent on LA. The higher the LA, the less spin you want. The lower the LA the more spin you need. Of course, you can go to extremes. Somwhere between 2200 and 2700 is very good, generally speaking. You can even stretch it out to 3000 for slower swingers. But like you indicate, ball choice also drastically effects spin. I've got a client that has to hit fades at the range, because for his draw swing with range balls, they fall out of the air (not enough spin). Granted, we calibrated his driver on a LM using his balls. It's important to hit your own balls on the LM if you can.

It sounds like some sort of power transfer ratio (PTR), or perhaps is some sort of 'overall score' based on the numbers you have, looking at a hardcoded 'ideal launch'.

For a 100 MPH SS, a 250 yd carry is doing very well.

Re: Swing Measurements - What do they mean?

Guys,

Thanks for all the info - really useful and very interesting.

All very complicated stuff and not something that the average player should worry about too much (I think this is basically what Brian was saying).

I'll stick to trying to improve the swing and simply hitting more fairways and not worry too much about the science.

Re: Swing Measurements - What do they mean?

with my superquad i was measured at 102mph SS and it showed my carry to be 240/250 yds
in reality its more like 220/230 but they are all in the short stuff
ive had a driver built from ones lying about its got a ys6 shaft with a SMT babylon 11deg head now i reckon that will get me 250 yds carry but i might be in the rough every now and then

Re: Swing Measurements - What do they mean?

I forgot to mention that the shaft is completely and totally effected by the transition of the golfer - something a LM will never figure out.

With two guys that both swing 100 MPH, the guy who 'really gets going' from the top needs a much stiffer shaft, while the guy who's really smooth doesn't need the extra stiffness. Sometimes it's the difference in torque, other times it's the difference in flex (where the first guy plays the X and the second plays the S in the same shaft).