Pros' Driver AOA Trends: Trackman Tour Stats

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Trackman just release their updated tour stats. Everyone is talking about the fact that pros still hitting down with the driver. This 🧵thread🧵 discusses 👇👇👇

First up - pros are hitting LESS down than they were previously. Only by a little bit, but they are certainly not trending to "more downward AOA". But averages are just that - averages. you'll have some guys hitting up, and some hitting down. Doesn't mean ALL are hitting down

Male pros also have a lot of club speed - they can still hit down and pipe it out there 300+ When you look at the female pros, who have less club speed, they hit more up on it becuase they NEED that distance more

You don't HAVE TO hit up on it to play good golf. But you do if you want to maximize carry distance for your club speed. this is of a lesser concern for tour pros. But look at the ladies and/or the long drive champs - they hit more up on it because distance is more important

Does hitting up make you less accurate? All else being equal - yes. Because the ball will tend to travel farther, and players are likely to use less spin-loft (if optimized) But not as much as you'd think, and the added distance will often offset accuracy losses

The lady pros are testament to this - they hit up more and are pretty darn accurate. Not to mention, many people learn to hit more up and become MORE accurate.

It would be more beneficial to ask "If I hit more up, will I have more potenital to hit it longer?" The answer to that is YES. You can then decide if you want to go that route or not. There may be trade-off's, but it might be worth it.

Oh, and if you want to learn HOW to hit more up on it, The Strike Plan shows you. Learn more here - adamyounggolf.com/the-strike-plan/

In many years of teaching players to hit more up (within reason), we almost always see strokes gained. I certainly saw this in my own game.

Also, think of things in terms of yards per mph of club speed. At sea level, maxing out efficiency = around 2.6 yards of carry per mph club speed (some caveats).

And we can see, from this Ping golf chart, that distance gets maximized the higher the launch and lower the spin (bell curve). The only way to achieve max values is to hit more up.

Again, if you want to learn to hit more up on the ball, or strike the ball better, check out THE STRIKE PLAN. Or if accuracy is more your concern, check out THE ACCURACY PLAN You can see those plans here - adamyounggolf.com/products/