Swing speed vs ball speed vs carry

[Tincup_19]

I’m not a technical golfer by any means. I’m getting fit for new irons for the first time in my life this weekend and to prepare I decided to use my local simulator today to familiarize myself with hitting inside. 
 

Anyways at the end I decide to hit some drivers to see what my distances were because I’ve never really known for sure.  After switching from my standard 10 finger grip to interlocking (which is a whole different matter) my club head speed was hovering right around 113 mph but the ball speed was right around 152-153 and the ball was carrying about 265-270. So my question is does that ball speed seem low and should the ball be carrying further? If so, what culprits are most likely the cause of my loss of distance? 

[cnosil]

5 minutes ago, Tincup_19 said:

Anyways at the end I decide to hit some drivers to see what my distances were because I’ve never really known for sure.  After switching from my standard 10 finger grip to interlocking (which is a whole different matter) my club head speed was hovering right around 113 mph but the ball speed was right around 152-153 and the ball was carrying about 265-270. So my question is does that ball speed seem low and should the ball be carrying further? If so, what culprits are most likely the cause of my loss of distance? 

Basic info:   Obviously club speed is how fast the head is moving at impact.  An ideal ball speed would be 1.5 time times the club head speed.  You will see this called smash factor. So for a 113 mph club head speed you would ideally be near 170.   Ball speed is impacted by where you hit the ball on the face; misshits result in lower ball speed.   Ball speed and things like launch angle and spin influence how far the ball carries.  Launch angle and spin can be influenced by your angle of attack into the ball and where on the face you hit the ball.  

[Hoyoymac]

Yes.  The ball speed seems low for your club head speed.

As mentioned by the previous poster, the efficiency in turning club head speed into ball speed is affected by how you deliver the club head to the ball and the resulting launch conditions.  Using range balls can also affect the numbers. Even among premium golf balls there are some that are lower spinning and others that spin much more which also have an impact on distance.

Maybe while you are having your iron fitting you could also swing your driver a few times to get some guidance from the fitter on what is going on.

[tony@CIC]

Foot spray or impact tape will show where you're hitting the ball. I assume this is an indoor sim? I just saw an article about Titleist's new ball for indoor sim's - because (supposedly) indoor sim's don't capture spin accurately . 

[Golfspy_CG2]

5 hours ago, tony@CIC said:

Foot spray or impact tape will show where you're hitting the ball. I assume this is an indoor sim? I just saw an article about Titleist's new ball for indoor sim's - because (supposedly) indoor sim's don't capture spin accurately . 

Just for clarification, it's radar based units such as Trackman that have some issues inside.  The camera based such as Foresight usually don't have as much of an issue.  

[Golfspy_CG2]

18 hours ago, Tincup_19 said:

I’m not a technical golfer by any means. I’m getting fit for new irons for the first time in my life this weekend and to prepare I decided to use my local simulator today to familiarize myself with hitting inside. 
 

Anyways at the end I decide to hit some drivers to see what my distances were because I’ve never really known for sure.  After switching from my standard 10 finger grip to interlocking (which is a whole different matter) my club head speed was hovering right around 113 mph but the ball speed was right around 152-153 and the ball was carrying about 265-270. So my question is does that ball speed seem low and should the ball be carrying further? If so, what culprits are most likely the cause of my loss of distance? 

Cnosil as usual covered most of the important aspects and explained it very well.  One other thing to consider is make sure you take your current driver to get a baseline during the fitting.  That way any variable in the LM and reality will be equalized by seeing the results on your driver as well.   And also another little talked about fact is that swing speed and smash factor shouldn't be  the gospel during a fitting, ball speed is.  As launch monitors can and often do measure swing speed differently from different models of clubs.  Such as it may pick up a TSi2 at a different point in the swing than a SIM2 Max and show a different speed. 

But ball speed compared between the two should be considered more so than club speed and thus smash factor. 

[cnosil]

10 minutes ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

Just for clarification, it's radar based units such as Trackman that have some issues inside.  The camera based such as Foresight usually don't have as much of an issue.  

I’d say different “issues”. Camera based LM have flight limitations as their algorithms calculate based on a few feet of information and don’t consider the balls aerodynamic properties.  Radar units look at flight but as you mentioned struggle to capture things like spin.   Was an interesting answer during the last MGS ball test when they explained why they were using both a GC Quad and a Trackman.  Independently they are both good but  In tandem they provide a more complete picture.  

[Golfspy_CG2]

4 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I’d say different “issues”. Camera based LM have flight limitations as their algorithms calculate based on a few feet of information and don’t consider the balls aerodynamic properties.  Radar units look at flight but as you mentioned struggle to capture things like spin.   Was an interesting answer during the last MGS ball test when they explained why they were using both a GC Quad and a Trackman.  Independently they are both good but  In tandem they provide a more complete picture.  

Good reason to buy both

 

[NM01]

17 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I’d say different “issues”. Camera based LM have flight limitations as their algorithms calculate based on a few feet of information and don’t consider the balls aerodynamic properties.  Radar units look at flight but as you mentioned struggle to capture things like spin.   Was an interesting answer during the last MGS ball test when they explained why they were using both a GC Quad and a Trackman.  Independently they are both good but  In tandem they provide a more complete picture.  

Ian at TXG talked about how different club heads register different swing speeds on the monitors and it’s why he doesn’t look at swing speed but ball speed.

[GolfSpy_APH]

4 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Ian at TXG talked about how different club heads register different swing speeds on the monitors and it’s why he doesn’t look at swing speed but ball speed.

Funny I worked with someone who put too much footspray on the face of a club once and completely whiffed on the ball on their first swing, but because it was covered and white it still read as a shot... Not a good one, but showed that color and some other factors can be read by the launch monitor in certain conditions. 
Same goes for the Speed Radar that Superspeed used, for driver (not sticks) it was recommended to put it at a slight angle as it would read the far part of the toe of the club if dead straight and that could be slightly faster then the middle if I remember correctly. Or it would read it as slightly faster.