You know, I got pretty hung up on golf ball speed for a while. Just kept seeing those crazy numbers the pros hit, and it made me wonder about my own shots. Like, am I even close? Probably not, but a guy can dream, right?
So, I started looking into it. First thing I found out was about these fancy machines, launch monitors, they call ’em. Stick one of those behind you and it tells you all sorts of stuff, speed included. But man, the good ones cost a fortune. Not something I was gonna just buy on a whim, that’s for sure.
I even tried some dumb stuff at first. Thought I could maybe, just maybe, figure it out with my phone. Took some slow-motion videos, tried to count frames from impact to the ball hitting the net. Yeah, that was a total waste of time. Blurry videos, impossible to get anything accurate. Just ended up frustrated, if I’m honest.
Then, the driving range I go to sometimes, they installed a couple of those bay systems. You know, the ones with a screen that shows your shot trace and all the numbers. Not the super high-end pro stuff, but it gave ball speed. So, I thought, “Alright, let’s give this a shot.” Booked an hour.
My First Real Look at the Numbers
So, I get in there, and my first instinct was just to swing out of my shoes. Really try to crush it. The numbers popped up. And let me tell you, it was a bit of a reality check. Not quite the rocket speeds I was imagining in my head. A little humbling, to be honest.
I spent that hour just hitting balls. Here’s some of what I jotted down in my head, and later on a piece of paper:
- Swinging harder didn’t always mean faster. If I mis-hit it, which happened a lot when I was trying to go full beast mode, the speed just died.
- When I focused on a smoother swing, trying to hit the sweet spot, the ball speed was often better, or at least more consistent. And the ball actually went straighter, imagine that!
- My speeds were all over the place. One swing felt great, decent speed. Next one, trying to repeat it, total dud. Consistency was a real challenge.
It made me realize something important. For an average golfer like me, just chasing that max speed number isn’t the whole game. Not even close. That feeling of a pure strike, hitting it right in the middle of the clubface? That’s probably worth way more than an extra 2 or 3 mph on a mishit.
Don’t get me wrong, knowing your ball speed is pretty useful. It helps you get an idea of how far you could hit each club if you catch it right. It gives you a baseline. But it’s just one piece of a big puzzle. There’s also launch angle, spin, direction… a whole lot of other stuff that actually matters more for scoring.
So now, when I’m practicing, I’m not so obsessed with trying to top my personal best ball speed every single swing. I try to focus on making good contact. If the speed is there, great. If not, well, as long as it’s a good strike, I’m happier. It’s still fun to check the numbers when I get a chance on one of those machines, though. Can’t deny that little thrill. But it’s not the be-all and end-all it used to be in my head. Took me a bit of flailing around to figure that out.
