The following facts were shared with us by Tom Wishon of Wishon Golf Technology one of the most respected individuals in the golf industry.  We are proud to carry his club heads in our shop.

Did You Know...

When launched from the face of the driver, the ball's velocity when it hits the ground is nowhere near what it was when the ball was hit. Typically for a 100mph swing speed (using an 11-degree lofted driver, a 200-gram head  weight, a 0.825 COR, and a perfect on-center hit), the ball velocity at impact will be approximately 148mph. But by the time the ball hits the ground, the ball’s speed has dramatically dropped to only 47.5mph! This is largely due to friction between the ball and the air while in flight, which is also compounded by the ball’s backspin causing even more friction. The result is that the speed decays while the ball is in the air. This also means if you are unfortunate enough to get in the way of the shot, it is far better that happens at the end of the ball’s flight rather than at the beginning!

The ball’s backspin is far less when the ball hits the ground than when it is launched off the face at impact. An average golfer hitting a sand wedge (56°) with a 70mph swing speed generates backspin at impact of about 10,200 rpm. By the time that ball hits the green, it is spinning at a rate of 9,000 rpm. For a less than full shot with the same sand wedge, as with a three-quarter length pitch shot that generates a 50mph swing speed, the ball takes off with a 7,300 rpm backspin, but lands with a little less of a drop in spin at 6800 rpm. This also happens because of the friction between the ball and the air — the faster the ball spins off the face at impact, the more friction is created and the more the spin decreases when the ball hits the green. However, the greater the swing speed, the more the actual spin will be when the ball lands.

Different golf balls can produce a measurable difference in back spin, but will NOT significantly affect distance with a driver. Different types of golf balls can measurably change the amount of backspin, but it does not alter it enough to gain or lose much distance when using a driver. For a golfer with an 80 mph swing speed (using an 11° driver head), a change in ball type can generate up to a 500 rpm increase in backspin which would result in ±3 yards of additional carry distance with a driver, while a 100mph golfer (using the same driver and generating an additional 500 rpm backspin), the distance increase would only be about one yard. In contrast, a golfer with 120mph swing speed (using the same driver) can change their ball type to REDUCE spin by 500rpm and that would cause an increase in distance of about two yards. But it is still true that most golfers with a swing speed of less than 105mph need more spin with the ball off the driver face, while most golfers with swing speeds of more than 105mph would be advised to be using lower spin balls, simply to cover all possible bases for maximizing every yard of potential distance.

When hit on-center at 100mph swing speed, the face of a well-engineered, 400cc beta titanium driver with a 53mm tall face deflects inward approximately 0.062 inch (about 1/16 inch). In comparison, a typical 200cc driver made from 17-4 stainless steel with a 42mm face height deflects inward approximately 0.027 inch, or less than 1/32 inch. This accounts for a COR difference of 0.830 with the larger beta titanium alloy driver to a 0.775 COR for the smaller 17-4 stainless steel driver.

When the golfer feels the ball make impact with the driver face, the ball has already been hit and is actually 14 inches away on its trip down the fairway. No matter how fast you may think the body’s neurons and brain can process information, the impact between the driver and the ball is much faster! What this means also is that if you have a golfer who likes to feel the ball on the face to ‘work the ball,’ that golfer better move quick!

The shaft never lags behind the hands at the moment of impact. Depending on the flex, golfer’s swing speed and time of wrist cock release, the shaft may be bowed forward more with some golfers than others, but it is never lagging behind the hands at impact. When the golfer releases the wrist cock in the downswing, the wrist cock release signifies the full transfer of energy from the golfer’s arms to the club. From that moment, the club instantly speeds up while the arms begin slowing down. Thus because the arms slow down, the energy in the club now exceeds that in the arms and acts to cause the shaft to bend forward.

When shaft flex is fit for a golfer, the shaft in the driver actually bends between four inches and six inches while the matching flex shaft in the 5-iron bends between one inch and two inches. This is because what the shaft industry considers to be ‘matched stiffness’ between a wood and iron shaft is actually an increase in stiffness in the irons, which comes from the iron shafts being shorter and larger in tip section diameter. This is also one of the main reasons that longer irons are more difficult to hit as high as a wood of the same loft angle.  Because the larger tip diameter and shorter length iron shaft cannot bend forward as much, it cannot contribute as much to the launch angle of the shot.

The driver swing speed of an average lady golfer is 62mph;  96mph for an average LPGA professional; 84mph for an average male golfer; 108mph for an average PGA Tour player;  130mph for Tiger Woods; 148-152mph for a national long drive champion. The next time you hear someone say professional golfers are not athletes, clue them in on this. 1 mph of swing speed increase = 1.5mph of ball velocity increase = 3 yards of carry distance increase.

Changing a driver’s face angle 1 degree changes shot direction by 5 yards. At a carry distance of 200 yards and all other swing factors being equal, changing a driver’s face angle by 1 degree results in a side-to-side change in shot direction of five yards. This is the main reason face angle is such a powerful fitting aid for accuracy improvement.

There is no such thing as over spin on a golf ball at the moment of impact. Even when using a putter, the ball leaves the clubface with some backspin. Only when the ball settles on the ground and begins rolling will the backspin reverse and turn into over spin.

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as sidespin on a shot flying through the air. In a strict sense, there is only backspin. The curving flight of a slice or hook is caused when the axis of rotation of the backspin tilts to the right or the left.  Therefore, the amount of slice or hook is determined by how much that axis of the backspin rotation of the ball tilts away from being perpendicular to the ground.

Balls travel significantly farther on hot days. The ball velocity, launch angle and backspin amount will NOT change as temperature increases or decreases, but a golfer with a 100mph swing speed will carry the driver eight yards longer for each increase in air temperature of 25°F.

Score lines do not create backspin. Friction between the surface of the clubface between the lines combined with the golf ball’s cover and swing speed is what actually determines the amount of spin for any shot. So, if the blast surface on the face of the wedges and irons is worn, by all means a re-sandblasting (carefully done) of the face will deliver an automatic increase in spin for any golfer.