Poulter Trackman numbers

[Trap Junior]

He posted up something on twitter recently of him hitting a 6 iron off grass in Saudi. 

He has a smash of 1.49 with 6 iron.  Is that possible given the loft of 30 degrees???

 

clubhead speed 92.2mph

ball speed 137mph

spin  5599

attack -5.6

height 99ft

Smash 1.49

carry 203.6yds

[MattC555]

Probably the clubhead speed reading is off/low.  The rest checks out.  I have these 6 iron numbers from one of my recent sessions:

 

Clubhead 97mph

Ballspeed 131mph

Back Spin 5882rpm

Vertical Launch 13.9°

Apex 92ft

Carry 199.7

Smash 1.35

 

Much higher clubhead but lower ballspeed = worse smash, and I definitely hit it on the screws.  I find clubhead speed fairly irrelevant.  Ballspeed is king.   

 

[vandyfan]

I find this relevant as I use smash factor as one of the primary determinants as to whether I "flushed" an iron on launch monitor. I find that my smash ticks up slightly as the irons get longer and the best smash I have ever been able to record with a 6 iron is approximately 1.39. Not that I would ever confuse myself with a tour level player. 

[Celeras]

Trackman measures club speed at the point of maximum compression, as opposed to the point of touch (which Foresight and others use). Their club speed will always read low. I've been set up on both frequently and the difference will often show 5+ MPH variance. Using OPs example that would drop the smash to 1.41. It is significant.

[Trap Junior]

I'm just trying to figure out how he is getting a significant amount more distance than me with same clubhead speed.  On Trackman with 6 iron the max distance I got with 92mph was 132 ball speed and 193 carry 30 loft. 

 

 

I didn't think anything close to smash 1.5 was possible with an iron because of the loft.  I thought you would need a driver loft of 8-10 degrees to get that sort of smash.  How can he get it with 30 loft?

 

I've hit 1.41 or 1.42 with 6 iron myself but still wouldn't be getting 200+ carry with a similar speed as Poulter.

Edited March 2, 2024 by Trap Junior

[mgoblue83]

On 3/2/2024 at 7:17 AM, Trap Junior said:

I'm just trying to figure out how he is getting a significant amount more distance than me with same clubhead speed.  On Trackman with 6 iron the max distance I got with 92mph was 132 ball speed and 193 carry 30 loft. 

 

 

I didn't think anything close to smash 1.5 was possible with an iron because of the loft.  I thought you would need a driver loft of 8-10 degrees to get that sort of smash.  How can he get it with 30 loft?

 

I've hit 1.41 or 1.42 with 6 iron myself but still wouldn't be getting 200+ carry with a similar speed as Poulter.

 

If you read above the point people are trying to make is that the club head speed reading is most likely too low by 6-7 mph. Ball speed doesn't lie.

[Jamesheeney]

I think we are missing a few things:

 

First, if he is hitting outdoors, trackman is actually tracking the ball vs. foresight which is picture of the ball as it leaves the club - if its windy, different air pressure etc, that will change the distance with the same swing speed.

 

Second, just because his club says 6 iron doesnt mean it hasnt been adjusted to properly gap his clubs. They all adjust their lofts.

 

Third, he has an incredible AoA which is doing to deloft the club and put more distance. While I can swing 92.2 mph, I definately do not get to -5.

 

Finally, on the swing speed, I agree - there is a material difference between a GC and TM on swing speed given where they take the information - but I find both produce about the same numbers on ball speed, distance etc.

 

I do love seeing all these details about the pros swing.

[Binson]

Stronger Dynamic Loft would be one way to increase ball speed given the same clubhead speed. I don't see that number included but is an important point of reference.

[downbylaw11]

i dont think its possible to acheive perfect smash factor with irons, or even really anywhere close. not sure of the science but i i usually only see high 130s  maybe low 140s.

 

like many have posted, since ball speed is typically accurate, and smash is just ball speed/club speed, the club speed is reading is inaccurate 

[iacas]

14 hours ago, downbylaw11 said:

i dont think its possible to acheive perfect smash factor with irons

 

There is no such thing as "perfect" smash factor for irons, especially if you mean 1.5. You don't want your ball speed to be 50% higher than your clubhead speed with a 7I. You want it to be… 38% higher give or take.

[Haber]

Pretty sure Trackman can give funky numbers indoors for club speed. I was fit for irons indoors last year and was getting 1.44-1.45 consistently with a 7 iron. We tried multiple clubs and they all produced the same result. 120-123 BS with low to mid 80’s CHS registering.

[Drrussell]

There's no doubt that his club speed number is off. Smash factor is just ball speed/club speed. It's a ratio. That's it.

 

His carry distance is just a function of optimizing ball flight: ball speed, launch angle, spin rate. Ultimately, he has better impact dynamics and it's not just hitting down 5 degrees, but the angle of attack combined with the loft presented at impact combined with having a ball that matches up to those numbers to generate the right launch and spin rate. He may be delofting his iron by 10 degrees at impact or his clubs may be lofted differently. You will see pros that have stronger lofts or weaker lofts and those club configurations are really just to match up to their impact dynamics.

 

I went through a really valuable experience hitting balls with a buddy who used to play in the mini-tours. My club speed was the same or faster than his, but he was hitting his irons much further. In my testing, I realized that I could get a crazy strong grip which would deloft the club and could get the same numbers he was getting. I could also keep my grip and just bow the heck out of my lead wrist and my numbers looked the same. However, when I tried taking this to the course, I ended up with some wicked snap hooks. 🙂

 

That's when I decided that I am a pretty consistent golfer. I hit the ball pretty well. However, I went through and adjusted lofts through the set so that for each club, I was getting the optimal ball speed, launch angle and spin rate. Just like that my distances were right on par with the pgat numbers. You could certainly modify your impact conditions manually by working on your swing and impact dynamics. Or you can just adjust clubs to match up to your impact dynamics to optimize ball flight for your swing.