If the average amateur had the same 2.59 yards/mph driving efficiency as the average PGA TOUR player, he would average 242 yards/drive instead of only 214 yards/drive. Here’s what a tour player’s striking pattern looked like after about 10 shots.Ĭompare that to the impact dispersion after only 5 shots from the 15-handicap golfer he tested.Īs you can see, striking the ball consistently solid will help get you more distance out of your club head speed and improve your driving efficiency. Tom Stickney has done some impact testing for GolfWRX. If you think about it, this makes sense because professionals hit the ball more consistently around the sweet spot. This is much better than the average 14-15 –handicap golfer who comes in at 2.29 yards/drive. YearĪs you can see at the end of the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR season, the tour average runs about 114.42 mph and they hit about 296.2 yards/drive, which means their driving efficiency is about 2.59 yards/drive.
Since 2007, the PGA TOUR has been tracking golf swing speeds of all of its players, also using Trackman®.
How Fast Is A Tour Player’s Average Golf Swing Speed? Some women we’ve seen are in the mid to high 40s. We estimate the average amateur women run in the region of 78 mph and 167-yard drives. That makes the average male amateur driving efficiency to be 2.29 yards per mph of club head speed. Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN) shows similar numbers of 15.3 handicap in 2003 and 14.3 handicap in 2012.įor these average male golfers, Trackman® statistics report the average club head speed at this 14-15-handicap level is about 93.4 mph…yielding an average total distance of 214 yards per drive. Regarding male amateurs, since 2005, the United States Golf Association (USGA) reports that the average handicap has been between 14 and 15. How Fast Is An Amateur’s Average Golf Swing Speed? Let’s drill down and take a look at some other club head speed numbers. So, basically, although swing technique, ball striking, and equipment fitting are all important to distance and scoring…simply put, if you want to be a longer or better player or both, you must also have more swing speed. Trackman® research also shows that there is a direct correlation between your club head speed and your handicap (and thus scoring). You can see this in 2017-2019 Arccos data published by MyGolfSpy in 2020 that shows the difference in driving distance by handicap group.
Not only does more swing speed help you hit the ball farther, research shows there is a direct correlation between your driving distance (and club head speed) and handicap (and thus scoring). Here’s a little more detail to illustrate the correlation between driving distance and swing speed. Take a look at this 2017 chart of the average swing speeds for various categories of golfers.Īs I’m sure you can imagine, the World Championship Record for club head speed of 157 mph by Mitch Grassing in 2017 would hit the ball much farther than if he had the swing speeds of the PGA TOUR or LPGA TOUR players, who in turn would hit the ball much farther than amateurs with their given swing speeds. Simply put, the more swing speed you have, the farther you’ll hit the ball. Now, I’ll talk about swing speed training and how you can increase your swing speed later on down the page, but to start, let’s simply gets started discussing swing speed in general.įirst of all, how important is your average golf swing speed? However, there’s another way to get more distance that most people, even tour players, don’t even know about (and how easy it is to do) or realize is possible… swing speed training.
In recent years, the larger golfing public is also beginning to recognize the importance of getting custom fit for their driver in order to maximize driving distance and their overall average golf swing speed. When it comes to hitting the ball farther, a lot of golfers realize that technique is important. NOTE: This article is updated annually after the conclusion of each PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour and World Long Driver Championship season.