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How Fast Do Tour Players Swing?

December 14th, 2007 · 6 Comments

It’s no wonder that tour players hit the ball further than weekend warriors… they swing the bloody club faster.

Here’s some driver swing speed stats for you:

  • Long Drivers – 135–150mph (I had it up to 165+mph, but altered it on Kenny’s advice… the higher number has a bigger “WOW” factor, so if you’ve got any evidence to support it, let me know)
  • 120-130mph (depending on what mood he’s in)
  • Average Tour Player 113 mph (it’s only an average, some are lower, some are higher)
  • The Average Golfer – 75-95mph

I won’t even bring up the dismal swing speeds of the geriatrics and old battle axe’s who drag their sorry asses around the course and hold up everyone behind them in the process (if you have to wear incontinence pants, can’t remember your own name and need a walking frame, it’s time to take up Lawn Bowls).

The stats vary a little from source to source, however, I’ve read 113 mph (with a driver) is the average swing speed (aka club head speed) for tour players, with the range between 110 to the high 120’s – give or take a little.

The Long Drive Pro’s possess even greater swing speeds – 135mph to 165mph+. 

If you’ve never seen one of these monsters hit a golf ball, you’re really missing out on something special.  It’s awesome to watch them drive a good length par 4, to leave themselves 3 putts for par.

Swing speeds for the average golfer are a little sad…  it’s no wonder the average golfer struggles to hit it long and shoot low scores.

The greater your swing speed the shorter the course plays.

One of my all time favourite golfers is Corey Pavin.  He’s a golfers golfer.  He thinks his way brilliantly around a course and is a skillfull shot maker. 

I was really pleased to see him win on the last year… but with him not getting any younger and the love affair with long courses on tour, I’m afraid his lack of swing speed puts him at a disadvantage.

There is a very strong relationship between swing speed and distance.  A graph on the Swing Speed Radar website, shows the relationship between driver speed and ball distance. 

If you’re some how thinking that it’s only the equipment pros use that help them hit it so far… you’re WRONG!

Sure may have their equipment finely tuned to fit them best… but without red hot swing speeds they would not be hitting those 300 yard drives.

Anyways, here’s the good news… whatever your current swing speed is, you can quickly increase it.

For every 1mph increase in , you gain roughly 2.5 yards in distance:

5mph increase = 12.5 yards extra distance
10mph increase = 25 yards extra distance
15mph increase = 37.5 yards extra distance
20mph increase = 50 yards extra distance

Increases of 5 to 10 mph are like low hanging fruit… they’re easy to get.  And because they’re easy to get, I don’t see why you shouldn’t arm yourself with more speed.

Like anything in life, if you want the maximum results you’ve got to devote a significant amount of time and effort.

unless you’re one of the Long Drive Pro’s (or wanting to become one), then I think you’ll get more improvements in your overall golf game, if you invest just a little of your time to increase your Swing Speed by 5 to 15mph, and spend the rest of your time on playing golf and working on the key areas of your game.

If you’ve got any more swing speed stats or swing speed information on tour players or long drive plays, please share them with me.

Sean Cassidy - ”Real Men Swing Fast”

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Tags: Tour Player Swing Speeds

6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 kenny // Jan 10, 2008 at 8:42 am

    longdrive pros do not swing at speeds even close to 165mph - it is only once in a blue moon that a longdrive competitor will swing at more than 150mph on the grid.

    tiger woods average swing when going flat out on a par 5 at the open 2007 was 124mph

    2 of the last 3 world champs have been won with swings in the low 140s mph

  • 2 Sean Cassidy // Jan 10, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    Hi Kenny and thanks for your comments, good to hear from you.

    Unless he’s a liar… Sean “The Beast” Fister has been tested swinging a club at 171.2 mph-Clubhead Speed (Dunlop Player Test Facility)… Kenny’s since enlightened me a little on this “testing” result, see his comment below. And since he’s been the world long drive champion no less than 3 times, I’d have to say that longdrive pros can swing up around the 165mph mark. (I think I’ll look to tee up and interview with “The Beast” himself, no doubt he’d have plenty of interesting stuff and tips to share).

    Now, this doesn’t mean that they swing that fast in competition… even for these golfing machines, they’ve still got to control their ball flight and land the ball in the grid.

    Same goes for Tiger Woods, I think those stats you mentioned were using the Trackman (awesome system) at last years Open. I definitely won’t argue with you there.

    Again, I’m pretty sure he’s capable of swinging a little faster… probably not the swing he’d use in most competitions, but out on the range for a little fun, I think he’s got the swing speed reserves to go a tad quicker.

    I think it highlights the benefits of having these extreme swing speeds… they can back it right off for greater control when they need it.

    http://www.longdriving.com

    Cheers

    Sean

  • 3 kenny // Jan 11, 2008 at 7:54 am

    i am not going to turn this into an arguement - but i know for a fact that sean fister laughs at the 171.2mph speed - the machine read it so it stands

    ballspeed is a much better indication in anycase

    his ball speed is 218mph if he could hit the ball properly at 171mph his ball speed would be 253mph - smash of 1.48

    he won the remax world ld 2 years back with a swing speed of 142mph a ball speed of 205mph at 378 yards ish if i recall i know the swing and ball speeds to be accurate.

    if he applied the same strike to a swing of 171mph he would have hit 455yards and one the title by 80 yards

    longdrive pros DO NOT swing at 165mph that is just plain wrong -

    at the remax world ld last year tyler kellit hit 218mph on the launch monitor - jason zuback only managed 209mph! even with a smash of around 1.45 (which is actually pretty good) he was only swinging at 150mph and he achieved the fastest ball speed by some distance

    i should stop typing - you have my email!

  • 4 Sean@SwingSpeedGolf // Jan 11, 2008 at 9:15 pm

    Thanks heaps Kenny for sharing this extra info and your insider knowledge, much appreciated by me and no doubt by any golfers who come by in the future.

    Sean Cassidy “Real Men Swing Fast”

    ps - with swing speeds like those, you’d have to say they’re 100% REAL MEN!!! It’s awesome stuff.

    Hearing those types of numbers gets me more excited than a 16 year old with his first Playboy Magazine (got to love Heff’s contribution to the world :) )

  • 5 Joe // Feb 24, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    Sean,

    In several posts you mention it’s really easy to gain 10 mph. Could you tell us how?

  • 6 Sean @ SwingSpeedGolf // Feb 25, 2008 at 12:15 am

    Hey Joe, good question to ask and because you did, I’ll get working on a specific program to help SwingSpeedGolf.com readers add an extra 10mph to their swing speeds.

    Keep an eye out over the next week and I’ll make it available here as a free download.

    If you’ve got any specific questions, let me know.

    Cheers

    Sean Cassidy “Real Men Swing Fast”

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