Trackman and Clubhead Speed Question

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Richie3Jack

Richie3Jack

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Wondering if this has ever happened to those Trackman owners and users.

I was on Trackman last Saturday. I take my normal driver swing and it is registering 108 mph. I then move the ball position up by about 1 inch and the swing speed consistently registers at 110. On average, probably 2 mph.

I can understand if the ball speed increased by moving the ball position up because it becomes a bit easier to shallow out the AoA or get an upward AoA, which can increase the smash factor. But, I've never heard about the clubhead speed increasing. Kinda curious as to the theories as to why.

And I tried this out on probably a dozen different shots and it consistently increased the speed by about 2 mph.





3JACK
 
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noobie

New
Assuming that Trackman is measuring the speed correctly, I think this is expected because the clubhead speed is not constant throughout the downswing onto impact. Found an old model that Mandarin worked on which may be illustrative: release_1.html

In the second example (Figure 2C), the angular velocity of a club definitely has a spike late in the golf swing. Teeing the ball forward may be allowing you to get to that spike.
 
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Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
Pure guess here but isn't the speed of the club different when measured at heel versus toe of the club based on the closing rate? So if the ball is further up trackman may just be picking up the speed closer to the toe? Again pure guess.
 
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dannyc

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Jim Kobylinski said:
Pure guess here but isn't the speed of the club different when measured at heel versus toe of the club based on the closing rate? So if the ball is further up trackman may just be picking up the speed closer to the toe? Again pure guess.
Click to expand...

based more on impact location - center hit shots will register speed of cog, toe hits measure speed of toe, etc. so yes, toe does move faster, but richie would have known it was a toe hit.
 
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noobie

New
Does anyone know how Trackman determines clubhead speed? For example, does it measure speed at impact or just spits out the high speed of the clubhead at any point along the downswing?
 
Richie3Jack

Richie3Jack

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I tend to agree with noobie. Mainly because the first few drives I hit really well. The attack angle was steep (which I knew coming in) of -4* or so. So one of the things I worked on was moving the ball up in my stance and went from 108 mph to 110. In fact, I think I didn't hit the first couple of shots with the ball up in my stance all that well compared to the 'old' ball position. But, the club speed increased. And I wasn't swinging any harder

I just had no idea and noobie's thoughts make the most sense to me. Although, it is good to know the information of SS and hitting off the toe vs. hitting it on the sweetspot.







3JACK
 
mgranato

mgranato

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My guess would be your club was still accelerating into impact. So if the ball is moved a littler further up, you were able to reach a touch higher speed before the collision deceleration. I wonder if you moved the ball back behind your normal position you might see the opposite effect.
 
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noobie

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My other thought was along the lines of Jim's idea except that the speed on the center of the clubface should also increase due to club closure. I remember reading awhile back (cannot recall where I read it) that rotation of the left forearm (i.e., closing the clubface) near impact can lead to a small increase (~2-3 mph) in clubhead speed.
 
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Billy McKinney

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I can't recite the source but apparently the fastest point of the swing is about a foot before impact and NOT farther forward as we like to feel or believe.
 
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footwedge

New member
Where is impact, what if your Moe N. and the ball with the driver is way up past your front foot is that post impact compared to someone who plays it 2 in. inside of their lead foot? How is the fastest point of the clubhead determined in relation to a different ball position for different clubs and people's preference, what factor/s determines "your" fastest clubhead speed?
 
mgranato

mgranato

New
Impact is where the collision occurs. Club head speed takes a nose dive from the collision. So the fastest the CH travels is before impact. Where that "fastest speed" specifically occurs probably varies from player to player, just guessing. I'm not sure why it can't be accelerating into impact, but that's why I'm here - to learn.:)
 
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footwedge

New member
mgranato said:
Impact is where the collision occurs. Club head speed takes a nose dive from the collision. So the fastest the CH travels is before impact. Where that "fastest speed" specifically occurs probably varies from player to player, just guessing. I'm not sure why it can't be accelerating into impact, but that's why I'm here - to learn.:)
Click to expand...


So would that account for Richies gain in clubhead speed by moving the impact point more forward and also prove your point of accelerating into impact?
 
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Paris

New
Some very good ideas here, i just wanted to throw this one out as well. Its very possible that you were just getting warmed up. Did you alternate and see a difference in the numbers? I had a guy come by the shop selling Athletic mouthguards this year and doing applied kinesiology tests, after measuring the players turn in degrees they would do it again with the mouthguard in,people were shocked that they would get 20* more rotation when they put the mouthguard in. But you always stretch further the second time when doing these tests because the muscles are stretched from the first test, its the same sham they use to sell you the magnetic bracelets, search applied kinesiology on youtube and you will see what im talking about. My suggestion would be to do it in reverse order next time and see if its real.
 
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