In our test, more than a third of the golfers had a launch angle below 11 degrees. Launch angle is measured from the loft of the club and the attack angle into the ball. A 41 degree launch, as shown, provides a carry of about 179 yards, just less than the 19 degree launch. For the driver, a club speed of 94 mph, attack angle of 0 degrees, and. To hit a straight shot, the face angle should be zero. However, this is usually the launch angle of a pitching wedge, which certainly doesnt carry the ball as far as a driver. The ideal launch angle for you is going to depend on a number of variables. In golf, the launch angle is the initial trajectory of the ball relative to the ground, according to pga pro mark blakemore. Average launch angle ala is calculated by dividing the sum of all launch angles. This causes the ball to float in the air and land with minimal roll. How to lower the launch angle of my drive golfweek. Other than club head speed which is a consequence of your swing, the distance you hit a driver depends on. Players make three significant errors in swinging the golf club when it comes to hitting the golf ball long. While a launch angle of zero is essentially a line drive at the pitchers knees, a negative figure is a grounder and 90 degrees is a popup straight above home plate.
When it comes to the science of longer drives, few things have as dramatic an impact on overall distance as launch angle. They use a driver which has insufficient loft for their club head speed. To maximize how far his tee shots fly, he needs to send the ball high into the air. Ideal spin rates and launch angles for driver sign in to follow this. In this segment, we are going to talk about the optimum launch angle for.
If golf were a simple game, we would be able to provide you with the ideal launch angle for your driver and you could head off to the range to. If you swing over the top with an outside in path, it. Many golfers lose distance with their driver because they hit the ball with too high a launch angle. The optimal face angle depends on the type of shot the golfer wants play. Everyone in freshman physics learns that the optimal launch angle. Launch angle is a term probably most closely associated by most golfers with drivers. This is how far pga and lpga tour players hit it with. That, in turn, means greater distance on ones drives. If you play to a 4 hc, you probably hit it fairly consistently on the club face at least within a 14 inch area.
Kos upward angle of attack is typical of the lpga tour. Launch angle deg carry yards club speed mph 75 80 85 90 95 166 178 187 176 187 197 199 211 223 215 228 239 243 244 256 total yards driver fitting chart. Macdonald and hanzely7 used the bearman and harvey coef. Other launch characteristics include the balls initial velocity on impact and the amount of backspin it possesses. Ball speed mph attack angle deg dynamic loft deg spin rate rpm launch angle deg carry yards club speed mph.
Whereas at a head speed of 120 mph ball speed is approximately 177 mph a launch angle of 12 degrees and 2,200 would be ideal for maximum distance. While accurate angle of attack can only be measured with a high end launch monitor such as trackman, it can be estimated from an observation of driver shot trajectory well enough to allow the chart data to be helpful. It has a significant impact on it, but its not the only defining factor in how you will launch the ball. So lets make up some numbers, lets say 140mph, 14 launch angle, 3000rpm is optimal. Because of their higher ball speed, pga tour players average launch angle is just over 11 degrees. Launch angle can be considered one of the critical components of your golf shots. They use a driver which is too long for them to consistently make contact with the. Optimize driver loft for more distance true fit clubs. A combination of 90mph swing speed and a 1214 launch angle will present you with a spin rate range of 27003000rpm. The advent of oversized, gameimprovement drivers in the late 1990s, and then the greater availability to the average golfer of clubfitting tools such as launch monitors, have increased the focus on launch angle. Dustin johnson maximizes distance by launching the ball high, but with a. The spin rate for this shot is a touch high, but i would attribute that to a shaft that is softer than what the golfer should be using.
Dynamic loft, angle of attack and your launch angle golfwrx. Below you can see how the optimal launch angle, spin rate and landing. Does this mean hitting down is better because the best players in the world are slightly negative. Understanding your launch angle basics for longer drives. And the distance here is still too low, only 336 feet 112 yards. Whats important is your combination of launch angle, backspin and ball. Similar to loft, shaft flex plays a significant factor on creating the ideal upward angle at which the ball leaves the clubface on impact launch angle. From a physics perspective, any players ideal driver spin rate is determined largely by launch angle and clubhead speed. Launch angle is determined by the clubs loft angle and the angle of attack at impact. The average lpga tour player, whos clubhead speed 94 mph is much more in line with the recreational golfers, has an average vertical launch angle of 14 degrees and a spin rate of 2,628 rpm. The keys to maximizing driver distance are high launch and low spin, and now you have a more indepth picture of how this is achieved.
Finding the optimal trajectory for your driver one of the more discussed topics involving clubfitting is about what launch angle is best for any given golfer. Optimal driver numbers on trackman andrew rice golf. Maximizing driver distance using a trackman or flightscope. Understanding your launch angle basics for longer drives golficity. If your driver head is traveling on a downward trajectory as it approaches the ball, you will launch the ball lower which will rob you of distance. A driver will provide the maximum springlike effect but otherwise it doesnt matter what club you are using. But what if you could increase your driving distance with 30 yds off the tee without. Best driver for 90 mph swing speed in 2020 golf sidekick. The angle in which the ball comes off the club face is called the launch angle. That means that even though driver loft has gone up about. Club speed ball speed launch angle carry yds total yds. According to trackman, the average pga tour player has a vertical launch angle of 11. Golf writer steve newell quantifies the launch angle as the balls trajectory over its first 20 yards. You will be able to achieve a spin rate of 3000rpm with an 80mph swing speed and a launch angle between and 14.
Trajectory optimizer launch monitor, golf ball tracking. When a ball is hit with a negative angle of ascent red arrow and has a loft at impact green, the ball will launch around 70% between the two. As a basic rule, all golfers should get properly fitted for their driver, and a launch monitor is the only way to do this correctly. It is not simply the loft angle stamped on the bottom of your clubface. Of course a driver fitted for you can help with impact. The low loft of a golf driver is very surprising from the perspective of physics. The problem with this assumption is that it is excluding club head speed from the conversation. With the increased awareness in golf periodicals and television coverage, plus the recent advent and access to affordable, portable launch monitors, launch angle is getting much. Based on scientific algorithms, flightscopes trajectory optimizer will help you find your optimal ball flight trajectory to add distance to your golf shots. It can be observed that the drivers swing speed is inversely proportional to the launch angle and spin rate. I think everybody thinks that there is one optimal launch and one optimal spin rate, said nick sherburne, club champions cofounder and master fitter. The vertical up and down angle the club is moving on during impact. Ideal spin rates and launch angles for driver golf talk. Lower than 45, but still nowhere near the angle of a driver.
For every velocity there is a optimum launch angle and spin rate. The ideal place to contact the ball is on the upper half of the face, in the. Desired launch angle, spin rates change based on driver speed. If you launch lower than the 14 then the back spin rate needs to. The same could happen if your launch angle was too high.
I have conducted somewhere around 12,000 golf ball fittings, and less than 1% of players launched the ball a. This can make a 10 degree driver launch lower than 7 degrees not optimal. By lowering your launch angle, you can actually increase the carry distance of your driver. David toms was the most efficient driver on the pgatour in 2012 and at 100 mph he would have averaged 278.
Whether you are having trouble getting the ball in the air or you are ballooning it, a driver shaft change can almost assuredly help remedy the issue. Driver spin and launch angle see how the driver launch angle and spin rates can change dramatically depending on where you strike the ball on the club face. But there is a way to get closer to that 17 degree mark and it doesnt involve using a 25 degree driver which would. Drivers made for pros are finely tuned to produce the ideal launch angle and spin rate based on how fast that particular player swings. Dustin johnsons driver is a reminder that optimal launch. Everyone in freshman physics learns that the optimal launch angle for a projectile the angle that makes a ball.
Compared to his peers, zach johnson does not swing his driver exceptionally fast. By learning how to hit up on the ball, or have a positive angle of attack, you will be. Increased launch angle also means youll get more carry on your drives for more distance. The pga tour average attack angle with a driver is 1. It doesnt matter, necessarily, what the loft on your driver is. The chart ranges from swing speeds of 65 mph to 105 mph and assumes no wind, flat terrain, normal ground conditions, sea level and premium type golf balls.
The loft of a club or a driver can range anywhere between 7 degrees to 20 degrees. For example, the average player on the pga tour launches the ball at a little more than 10 degrees with the driver. A golfer may want to hit a 5 yard fade, straight shot, or 10 yard draw. Youll get different spin rates depending upon where your angle of attack and loft meets the ball in addition to where you hit the ball on the club face. Poor setup and swinging down on the ball can cause golfers to hit drives with a high launch angle. Why mlb hitters are suddenly obsessed with launch angles. Go ahead, admire the distance that dustin johnson, justin thomas and bubba watson generate, knowing that the drivers they are using probably would not work nearly as well for you. This means, higher the swing speed, lower the launch angle and spin rate. First off, there is a bit of science behind the ideal drive. In the example above, the 15 yard distance gain came by improving the attack angle, but that could also be accomplished by increasing the loft of the club from, say 9. If you can keep the spin below 2000 the launch angle hardly matters until you go extremely high or low.
So does that mean that you should be shooting for something in the 10degree range. The additional loft makes the club much more forgiving and far more accurate. Along with ball speed, launch angle is a primary component to. Optimalflight recognizes that there exists a unique landing angle profile for a given ball speed, launch angle, wind, and altitude. I look for draws to launch to the right of the target positive and the launch angle to be somewhere between 10 and 16 degrees depending on the players club speed. The ball will launch very closely to the direction the club face face angle is pointed at impact. Launch angle combines with spin rate to give us our overall carry distance. Launch angle represents the vertical angle at which the ball leaves a players bat after being struck. The best angle to launch a golf ball here is 35 degrees. The optimal landing angle range for a long drive professional 190210 mph ball speed will be uniquely different for a 150 mph ball speed golfer. This middle range is ideal for golf players with a good swing speed that ranges between 90 mph to 115 mph. Keep in mind that the above numbers are achievable, but only in a best shot type scenario. Youll also notice that the average pga tour player hits down on their driver attack angle 1.