The First Tee with Ryan

I want to preface this post with one thing: Although I think having extremely fast ball speed can be beneficial, it can also hurt you just as much. Sure, I might be a little biased as I am definitely no long hitter compared to other college players, but the statistics speak for themselves.

I once read an article from Golf Digest talking about ball speed relative to strokes gained. Their findings essentially said that having faster ball speed will benefit you, up until about 185 miles per hour. There are many factors that having higher ball speed can negatively impact your game.

The first thing worth mentioning is that your misses become significantly worse. A slight tweak of the club face, and the ball goes much further offline than it would if you had around 175 miles per hour ball speed. Another factor is that as you surpass 185 mph, your wedge game will start to fail. You no longer have the finesse that you use to have when you would swing the club slower.

Although these factors can make you worse, if your ball speed is well below the 185 threshold, you should definitely be working to get faster. Being at 185 can make long holes not so long, and can get you on to par 5s in two shots more often. Not only that, but you will be hitting less clubs into most greens, especially par 3s. Overall, as you approach 185 miles per hour, you should start to become more cautious with gaining speed.

Thank you for reading! Be sure to check out my other posts.