Possible to have ball speed slower than club head?

[arwin]

I was practicing with my wedge yesterday and I noticed that some of my shots had a lower ball speed than my club head speed.
For example, some shots showed a ball speed of 89 MPH and the clubhead speed was 92.

Seemed a little weird to me that the ball speed could be slower than the clubhead speed

[keithpbz]

Yes that's normal. I think most clubs around 54* and higher will have smash factor around 1.0 or lower. But a 92 mph club head speed with a wedge is very fast. I think 92 is about the average club head speed of a 6 iron on the page tour.

[arwin]

I'll have to check the actual numbers again, but I distinctly remember a slower ball speed than the club head.

[keithpbz]

slower ball speed than club head speed with higher lofted wedges is normal. But a 92 mph swing speed with a wedge is not normal.

[spider]

I had that issue a few times with a 54 wedge.

[Bubba22]

Yes it's possible with a lofty wedge.

[voodoo_ca]

Can you compare that to something like a flop shot?
Think about how hard you can swing at the ball and it just pops up in the air with very little speed.
Now slowly decrease the angle of that club - more and more energy is transferred into sending the shot outwards instead of upwards.

The one part about it that seems strange is that Skytrak (from what I have read) only calculates the clubhead speed - So it cant be much more than a formula.

[Wyzyguy]

For shots under 50 yards I have been working to have the ball speed and the swing speed as close as possible. As mentioned above.. Which would be a SF of 1.0 give or take.

[Wyzyguy]

Can you compare that to something like a flop shot?
Think about how hard you can swing at the ball and it just pops up in the air with very little speed.
Now slowly decrease the angle of that club - more and more energy is transferred into sending the shot outwards instead of upwards.

The one part about it that seems strange is that Skytrak (from what I have read) only calculates the clubhead speed - So it cant be much more than a formula.

It is not a fixed ratio from what I have witnessed. If fluctuates in relation to quality of strike.
I am sure there is some formula.. but it is not:

Ball Speed= 150 MPH ----> 150/1.5SF = SS = 100

[keithpbz]

The club head speed is probably based off ball speed and launch angle. The higher the launch angle the lower the smash factor would be because not all the energy into the ball is propelling it forward, it is going up more with higher loft.

[SkyTrak_Seth]

Yep, totally possible. However, not sure if you are on iOS or PC, but in v2.1 along with the driver distance improvement, you'll also noticed an improvement with club head speeds with higher lofted clubs. It'll bring those higher numbers down, but it's still entirely possible to do what you asked.