Give me your longest driver…
I get tons of emails every day asking for recommendations on clubs from the Japanese market. As I mentioned in previous posts, one of the questions I frequently get is, “What’s the longest driver you guys have?” And as I have always answered, there is no such thing as the longest club but rather the best club matching each individual’s skill level and swing type. Finding the right club with the right specs is a difficult task but for a mid to higher handicapper, hitting the sweet spot consistently can be even more difficult.
Let’s face it, it doesn’t matter how great a driver is if you can’t catch the ball on the sweet spot of the club. If matched with the right club head design and loft as well as the right shaft, hitting the sweet spot consistently on your driver with a good inside to out swing path will produce all the distance you need with nice straight drives. One great example that mid handicappers and average golfers like myself can look up to is the players on the Japanese ladies tour. Lets face it, modest golfers like myself will never hit the 110mph + that most pro men players are capable of so we can find very good comparisons on the ladies tour where the average swing speed is 40m/s or 90mph.
Even Modest swing speed can equal long distance:
Here are a few JLPGA pros and their average driving distance:
Fukushima Ayako 275.9 yards
Yuko Mitsuka 272.6 yards
Tamie Durdin 267.5 yards
Sakura Yokomine 259.6 yards
Jeon Mi Jung 257.8 yards
Eun A Lim 257.4 yards
Shinobu Moromizato 254.4 yards
Chie Arimura 252.0 yards
Yukari Baba 248.3 yards
Miho Koga 245.0 yards
Erina Hara 242.0 yards
Maiko Wakabayashi 242.0 yards
Rui Kitada 239.5 yards
Amateur Man vs Pro Lady…
PRGR’s Science Fit center took a closer look at these numbers by pitting a mid handicapper average male golfer with a 90mph swing against a Erina Hara a PRGR pro on the lady’s tour. And these are what the numbers showed:
| Head Speed | Back Spin | Launch Angle | Total Distance | |
| Amateur | 91.02mph | 4109 | 17.8* | 205.3y |
| Erina Hara PRGR | 90.35mph | 1964 | 15.4* | 234.5y |
According to the Science Eye analysis, the amateur being tested showed the typical weaknesses of an amateur with an outside to in swing path and a steep angle of attack causing high back spin and high launch with a down blow on the ball. Meanwhile Erina’s inside to out path and catching the ball on the upswing in the center of the club created optimal launch and backspin.
Exceptional performance…
On the ladies tour there are really two exceptional anomalies when it comes to driving the ball, Rui Kitada, Srixon Pro and Chie Arimura, Tourstage Pro. These two ultra smooth swinging girls have very technically sound swings and perfect gear to match. Their ability to hit the sweet spot dead on is superb and result in some of the best distance per club head speed ratios on the tour. Rui barely averages 82mph but her driving average on tour is 239.5 yards!! Chie swings right around 90mph and averages 252.0 yards!
Take a look here at Rui’s swing. Rui is small and by no means bulky or stocky. Just sound mechanics.
Take a look at Chie’s swing. As you can see has a great low center of gravity and serious muscles in her lower body. She doesn’t even take her back swing to parallel but is able to generate lots of speed through the impact zone as she hits the fade on this dogleg right.
So buying what you may think is the longest driver on the market is only part of the equation to longer drives. Choosing the right driver and shaft specs and being able to hitthe driver properly and consistently as well will affect the end result even more. We at TSG are always glad to help you with your driver and shaft choices if you let us know more about your swing and game but its up to you get out there and practice driving that ball straight!
This makes me want to slow down my swing and work on technique for a while. I always felt I could not get the distance that other guys can with the same exact swing speed as me.
Fukushima Ayako 275.9 yards is insane!
That’s exactly what I did this year… I focused on relaxation and no more than 80% power when swinging. I tried very hard to emulate Ai Miyazato’s swing with a slow take back and staying as smooth as I could and it straightened out my drives tremendously.
see a teaching pro…. several times… problem solved. i’ve had like 10 lessons and my distances and consistency have increased dramatically. I.e, my driving distance went from 210 to 260 yards. i haven’t even practiced as much as i have in the past and just knowing the proper fundamentals and technique is a big difference. my goal this year is to get to 290 yards off the tee and the rest will trickle down from there. it’s doable cause i’ll have more time. almost all the pros have instructors and us weekenders have too much pride to get one. there’s a reason why we suck for so long. …. pride haha