NOTE: This article is updated annually after the conclusion of each PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour and World Long Driver Championship season once all the data becomes available.
When it comes to hitting the ball farther, a lot of golfers realize that technique is important. In recent years, the larger golfing public is also beginning to recognize the importance of getting custom fit for their driver in order to maximize driving distance and their overall average golf swing speed.
However, there’s another way to get more distance that most people, even tour players, don’t even know about (and how easy it is to do) or realize is possible… swing speed training. Now, I’ll talk about swing speed training and how you can increase your swing speed later on down the page, but to start, let’s simply get started discussing swing speed in general.
First of all, how important is your average golf swing speed?
It’s very important.
Simply put, the more swing speed you have, the farther you’ll hit the ball.
Take a look at this 2017 chart of the average swing speeds for various categories of golfers.
As I’m sure you can imagine, the World Championship Record for club head speed of 157 mph by Mitch Grassing in 2017 would hit the ball much farther than if he had the swing speeds of the PGA TOUR or LPGA TOUR players, who in turn would hit the ball much farther than amateurs with their given swing speeds.
Here’s a little more detail to illustrate the correlation between driving distance and swing speed.
But guess what?
Not only does more swing speed help you hit the ball farther, research shows there is a direct correlation between your driving distance (and club head speed) and handicap (and thus scoring).
You can see this in 2017-2019 Arccos data published by MyGolfSpy in 2020 that shows the difference in driving distance by handicap group.
Average Driving Distance By Handicap
Handicap |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-5 | 244 | 245 | 243 |
| 6-10 | 231 | 232 | 230 |
| 11-15 | 221 | 220 | 219 |
| 16-20 | 210 | 210 | 209 |
| 21-25 | 201 | 202 | 201 |
Trackman® research also shows that there is a direct correlation between your club head speed and your handicap (and thus scoring).
So, basically, although swing technique, ball striking, and equipment fitting are all important to distance and scoring…simply put, if you want to be a longer or better player or both, you must also have more swing speed.
Let’s drill down and take a look at some other club head speed numbers.
How Fast Is An Amateur’s Average Golf Swing Speed?
Regarding male amateurs, since 2005, the United States Golf Association (USGA) reports that the average handicap has been between 14 and 15. Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN) shows similar numbers of 15.3 handicap in 2003 and 14.3 handicap in 2012.
For these average male golfers, Trackman® statistics report the average club head speed at this 14-15-handicap level is about 93.4 mph…yielding an average total distance of 214 yards per drive. That makes the average male amateur driving efficiency to be 2.29 yards per mph of club head speed.
We estimate the average amateur women run in the region of 78 mph and 167-yard drives. Some women we’ve seen are in the mid to high 40s.
How Fast Is A Tour Player’s Average Golf Swing Speed?
Since 2007, the PGA TOUR has been tracking golf swing speeds of all of its players, also using Trackman®.
Year |
Average Swing Speed |
Average Driving Distance |
Driving Distance Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 112.37 | 288.6 | 2.57 |
| 2008 | 112.33 | 287.3 | 2.56 |
| 2009 | 111.69 | 287.9 | 2.58 |
| 2010 | 112.63 | 287.3 | 2.55 |
| 2011 | 112.83 | 290.9 | 2.58 |
| 2012 | 113.02 | 289.1 | 2.56 |
| 2013 | 113.15 | 287.2 | 2.54 |
| 2014 | 113.02 | 288.8 | 2.56 |
| 2015 | 113.25 | 289.7 | 2.56 |
| 2016 | 112.88 | 290.0 | 2.57 |
| 2017 | 113.85 | 292.5 | 2.57 |
| 2018 | 113.74 | 296.1 | 2.60 |
| 2019 | 114.17 | 293.9 | 2.57 |
| 2020 | 114.01 | 296.4 | 2.60 |
| 2021 | 114.42 | 296.2 | 2.59 |
| 2022 | 114.60 | 299.8 | 2.62 |
As you can see at the end of the 2021-2022 PGA TOUR season, the tour average runs about 114.60 mph and they hit about 299.8 yards/drive, which means their driving efficiency is about 2.62 yards/drive. This is much better than the average 14-15 –handicap golfer who comes in at 2.29 yards/drive. If you think about it, this makes sense because professionals hit the ball more consistently around the sweet spot.
Tom Stickney has done some impact testing for GolfWRX. Here’s what a tour player’s striking pattern looked like after about 10 shots.
Compare that to the impact dispersion after only 5 shots from the 15-handicap golfer he tested.
As you can see, striking the ball consistently solid will help get you more distance out of your club head speed and improve your driving efficiency. If the average amateur had the same 2.62 yards/mph driving efficiency as the average PGA TOUR player, he would average 245 yards/drive instead of only 214 yards/drive.
That means the average amateur could pick up over 30 yards simply from more consistent strikes.
QUICK TIP: If you want to a relatively inexpensive and pretty easy way to work on your contact, practice on the driving range with a little foot powder spray. It wipes off easily with a towel and you can see where the ball struck the club face.
If you’ve got some money to spare, it’s also worth it to go through a custom club fitting with a club fitter who is brand agnostic and has a lot of inventory to use for testing (for example, Club Champion Golf). The right combo of components (grip, shaft, head) can make a surprisingly big difference in your ball striking consistency.
If you do end up going to a Club Champion, mention you were referred by Jaacob Bowden to get 10% off. Note that I do NOT get a financial commission from this. It’s just perk to give from me to you as a thanks for reading this article!
2021-2022 PGA TOUR Player Swing Speed Chart – The Slowest Swingers
Anyway, here is a selection of the swing speeds for the 2021-2022 season for some of the slowest PGA TOUR Players. These guys are definitely at a disadvantage on tour speed-wise.
If only they knew it didn’t have to be that way!
Swing Speed Rank & Name |
Average Swing Speed |
|---|---|
| #167 Brandt Snedeker | 110.79 mph |
| #171 Ian Poulter | 110.53 mph |
| #185 Matt Kuchar | 108.38 mph |
| #187 Zach Johnson | 107.70 mph |
| #193 Brian Stuard (slowest) | 104.80 mph |
2021-2022 PGA TOUR Player Swing Speed Chart – The Average Swingers
Next are the guys who are considered to be in the middle of the pack as far as swing speed goes on the PGA TOUR. These guys aren’t hurting for speed, but they could definitely use more.
Swing Speed Rank & Name |
Average Swing Speed |
|---|---|
| #57 Sahith Theegala | 116.89 mph |
| #58 Rickie Fowler | 116.87 mph |
| #59 Jason Day | 116.86 mph |
| #63 Justin Thomas | 116.62 mph |
| #69 Patrick Cantlay | 116.34 mph |
| #76 Pat Perez | 115.94 mph |
| #77 Jordan Spieth | 115.91 mph |
| #T78 Ryan Palmer | 115.83 mph |
| #T83 Stewart Cink | 115.59 mph |
| #87 Charley Hoffman | 115.33 mph |
| #88 Wesley Bryan | 115.25 mph |
| #91 Harold Varner III | 115.11 mph |
| #92 Patrick Reed | 115.05 mph |
| #T98 Billy Horschel | 114.68 mph |
| #T100 Justin Rose | 114.66 mph |
| #104 Keegan Bradley | 114.55 mph |
| #111 Bill Haas | 114.10 mph |
| #T116 Collin Morikawa | 113.92 mph |
| #137 Webb Simpson | 112.74 mph |
| #144 Luke Donald | 112.20 mph |
| #146 Camilo Villegas | 112.13 mph |
| #147 Lucas Glover | 112.11 mph |
| #149 Jason Dufner | 112.08 mph |
2021-2022 PGA TOUR Player Swing Speed Chart – The Fast Swingers
Lastly are the guys with the fastest speeds. These guys definitely swing fast by PGA TOUR standards. But as we’ll see in a moment, they are actually still quite slow relative to the competitors in the World Long Drive Championships.
Swing Speed Rank & Name |
Average Swing Speed |
|---|---|
| #1 Cameron Champ | 124.89 mph |
| #3 Matthew Wolff | 123.98 mph |
| #9 Gary Woodland | 122.13 mph |
| #13 Rory McIlroy | 121.53 mph |
| #16 Jon Rahm | 120.71 mph |
| #17 Brooks Koepka | 120.61 mph |
| #20 Adam Scott | 120.43 mph |
| #23 Will Zalatoris | 119.80 mph |
| #24 Xander Schauffele | 119.78 mph |
| #26 Max Homa | 119.67 mph |
| #28 Joaquin Niemann | 119.38 mph |
| #29 Scottie Scheffler | 119.24 mph |
| #34 Tony Finau | 118.93 mph |
| #41 Tommy Fleetwood | 118.14 mph |
| #48 Charles Howell III | 117.80 mph |
| #52 Viktor Hovland | 117.27 mph |
Interestingly, the 2020-2021 season was the first time on the PGA TOUR that a player averaged over 130 mph.
Bryson DeChambeau made a lot of news during COVID-19 by putting on an estimated 40 pounds of fat and muscle weight to gain that swing speed. It worked, but as I wrote about over at GOLFWRX, you don’t need to put on that much weight to gain that much speed. In fact, you can put on more speed in less time without putting on anywhere near that kind of weight.
That’s part of what we do here at Swing Man Golf with what’s available in All-Access.
2008 European Tour Player Swing Speed Chart
At the moment, the European Tour (now the DP World Tour) doesn’t post average club head speeds for the tour. However, we did come across a document from a single event in 2008 containing the swing speed of each player in the field. We’re not sure which hole or event these were measured with using Flightscope, but the numbers were interesting.
Here are several notable players.
The event average was 111 mph, which is more or less what we saw on the PGA TOUR in the same year.
Name |
Club Head Speed |
|---|---|
| Álvaro Quiros | 125 mph |
| Rory McIlroy | 118 mph |
| Martin Kaymer | 116 mph |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 116 mph |
| Lee Westwood | 115 mph |
| Darren Clarke | 111 mph |
| Rafael Jacquelin | 108 mph |
| Colin Montgomerie | 107 mph |
| Thongchai Jaidee | 105 mph |
In 2022, the median player on the DP World Tour averaged 298.98 off the tee. If we assume that they have the same efficiency of PGA TOUR players at 2.62 yards/drive, that would put their 2022 average swing speed at 114.1. That increase from 111 to 114 correlates similarly to the increase that the PGA TOUR made over the same time period since 2008.
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How fast are LPGA Tour players?
Trackman® also reports LPGA TOUR players average around 94 mph, which according to the LPGA yields about 248 yards/drive. That’s 2.64 yards/mph of swing speed.
When Annika Sorenstam was invited to play in the PGA TOUR’s Bank of America Colonial tournament, she averaged almost 270 yards/drive that year…which would put her at about 102 mph. She nearly made the cut and even beat some of the men in the field. It would have been interesting to know how well she would have done had she been even just a few mph faster…which is certainly doable.
Anne Van Dam is as fast as some male professional golfers. However, her 2022 scoring average of 72.67 from the much shorter tees of the LPGA would not be good enough to match the 71.211 scoring average of the 125th ranked player (the highest ranked player to still retain full playing privileges) on the PGA TOUR, who also play from farther distances. She has the distance…she just has other gaps in her game.
Maria Fassi also falls under the same category of being fast enough but not good enough all around.
It’s possible Lexi Thompson’s 106 mph could hold her own on the PGA TOUR. Her 2022 LPGA scoring average is 69.70. That might be low enough to still make up for the distance gap from LPGA to PGA TOUR courses.
There are quite a few other LPGA player who quite possible have the overall game scoring-wise, but they would simply just need more club head speed to handle the PGA TOUR’s longer courses.
2022 LPGA Swing Speed Chart
We don’t have any specific numbers for the ladies but based on their driving distances and the 2.64-yards/mph average driving efficiency numbers from Trackman®, here are some estimated swing speed numbers for a few LPGA Tour players.
Name |
Driving Distance |
Average Swing Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Anne Van Dam (fastest) | 279.90 | 106 mph |
| Maria Fassi (fastest) | 279.25 | 106 mph |
| Lexi Thompson | 272.82 | 103 mph |
| Jessica Korda | 271.83 | 103 mph |
| Minjee Lee | 267.72 | 101 mph |
| Brooke Henderson | 267.08 | 101 mph |
| Gaby Lopez | 264.42 | 100 mph |
| Lydia Ko | 255.34 | 97 mph |
| Paula Creamer | 252.68 | 96 mph |
| Muni He | 251.63 | 95 mph |
| Danielle Kang | 251.17 | 95 mph |
| In Gee Chun | 249.08 | 94 mph |
| Annika Sorenstam (slowest) | 231.50 | 88 mph |
It’s our belief that LPGA Tour players could actually be competitive on men’s professional tours provided they work on getting faster through a swing speed training like we have here at Swing Man Golf through All-Access.
The slowest player on the PGA TOUR each year is always close to 104-105 mph. Based on that, for any LPGA Tour player (for example, Michelle Wie) to be competitive in a male event, she would need more speed.
When Annika Sorenstam was invited to play in the PGA TOUR’s Bank of America Colonial tournament, she averaged almost 270 yards/drive that year…which would put her at about 102 mph. She nearly made the cut and even beat some of the men in the field. It would have been interesting to know how well she would have done had she been 10 mph faster…which is certainly doable.
How fast are the swing speeds at the World Long Drive Championships?
At the Professional Long Driver level, Trackman® data that I’ve previously found shows us the following average club head speed numbers for the entire field at the World Long Drive Championships is about 135 mph.
That means that a typical long driver is over 20 mph faster than the average PGA TOUR player…and over 10 mph faster than some of the PGA TOUR’s fastest swingers like Cameron Champ, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, etc.
Historically, no player on the PGA TOUR would stand a chance of winning (or even being competitive) at the World Long Drive Championships…not until 2021 when Bryson DeChambeau was invited to compete at the 2021 PLDA World Championships and finished in the Final 8.
The event was a limited field event due to COVID-19. However, Bryson’s fastest ball speed during competition that I recall seeing was 219 mph, which would put his club head speed on that swing at 146 mph.
In 2022, Bryson finished 2nd.
As we’ll see below, that’s fast enough to win the entire World Long Drive Championships.
He also added more fat and muscle weight and worked far harder than necessary to increase his swing speed. That’s a story I already wrote about for GolfWRX.com.
Let’s look at how fast a typical Final-8 long driver can historically swing.
Swing Speed Chart for the World Long Drive Championships – Final-8 Competitor
Year |
Average Swing Speed |
Peak Swing Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 141 mph | 150 mph |
| 2010 | 143 mph | 150 mph |
| 2012 | 141 mph | 149 mph |
| 2015 | 141 mph | 151 mph |
| 2016 | 139 mph | 149 mph |
| 2017 | 145 mph | 157 mph |
Swing Speed Chart for the Final-8 Competitors World Long Drive Championships
Here are some average speeds of a few individual Final-8 competitors.
Name |
Average Swing Speed |
Year |
|---|---|---|
| Jeremy Easterly | 133 mph | 2015 |
| Tom Peppard | 134 mph | 2012 |
| Mitch Dobbyn | 134 mph | 2016 |
| Jeff Crittenden | 136 mph | 2015 |
| Jeff Gavin | 136 mph | 2015 |
| Trent Scruggs | 136 mph | 2012 |
| Jeff Crittenden | 137 mph | 2016 |
| Justin Moose | 137 mph | 2016 |
| Justin Young | 138 mph | 2012 |
| Domenic Mazza | 139 mph | 2010 |
| Ryan Steenberg | 139 mph | 2016 |
| Ryan Cooper | 140 mph | 2012 |
| Jermie Montgomery | 140 mph | 2010 |
| Josh Crews | 140 mph | 2012 |
| Patrick Hopper | 140 mph | 2010 |
| Paul Howell | 140 mph | 2017 |
| Tim Burke (2013 & 2015 World Champion) | 141 mph | 2017 |
| Will Hogue | 143 mph | 2017 |
| Kevin Shook | 143 mph | 2010 |
| Jason Eslinger | 143 mph | 2015 |
| Justin James | 143 mph | 2016 |
| Landon Gentry | 144 mph | 2012 |
| Joe Miller (2010 & 2016 World Champion) | 145 mph | 2016 |
| Wes Patterson | 145 mph | 2017 |
| Kyle Berkshire (2019 World Champion) | 145 mph | 2017 |
| Joe Miller (2010 & 2016 World Champion) | 145 mph | 2016 |
| Bryson DeChambeau | 146 mph | 2021 |
| Jamie Sadlowski (2008-9 World Champion) | 146 mph | 2012 |
| Ryan Louw | 146 mph | 2010 |
| Tim Burke (2013 & 2015 World Champion) | 146 mph | 2015 |
| Nick Kiefer | 147 mph | 2017 |
| Ryan Winther (2012 World Champion) | 147 mph | 2012 |
| Mitch Grassing | 148 mph | 2017 |
| Jamie Sadlowski | 148 mph | 2015 |
| Justin James (2017 World Champion) | 150 mph | 2017 |
| Connor Powers | 153 mph | 2014 |
Realistically, to win the World Long Drive Championships, you need to be swinging in the mid-140s. The average champion is 146 mph based on 7 champions from 2009-2017.
However, this seems to be trending upwards. Unfortunately, full data from 2018-2021 isn’t available, but from 2018-2021, the 3 winners of those years (Justin James, Maurice Allen, and Kyle Berkshire) have all achieved speeds over 150 mph at the World Championships.
A champion long driver would easily drive it 50 yards past a guy like Bubba Watson. In fact, this actually happened in Hawaii a few years ago ahead of the PGA TOUR event when Jamie Sadlowski hit drives at Kapalua in Maui against Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, and Robert Garrigus.
Occasionally, you’ll see guys get in to the Final-8 at the World Championships that average in the 130s. Typically when that happens, they are better fit for their equipment, they are more mentally strong, they take better advantage of wind conditions, and things like that. As you can see, it’s very difficult to win swinging in the 130s, though.
If memory serves, Carl Wolter won the 2011 World Championships in the high 130s. That year there were very strong tail winds and Carl presumably hit a better wind ball (usually higher and with more spin) than two other champions he beat head-to-head, Jamie Sadlowski and Joe Miller…both of whom have swung 150 mph in competition.
At the Senior (Over 45 years old) level, in 2012 a Senior division Final-8 competitor averaged 131 mph with a peak of 137 mph. Even the “old” guys can bomb it past any PGA TOUR player.
So, as you can see, the more swing speed you have, in general the farther you will drive the ball…and as I’ve shown, more distance also makes it easier to shoot lower scores.
Can you Increase Your Average Golf Swing Speed?
Aside from improving your technique and getting fit for your equipment, despite what many golfers (even pros like Tiger) believe, yes, you can actually train to increase your swing speed…at any age!
Just consider a long drive guy like Bobby Wilson. At the age of 53, he could swing over 12 mph faster than the PGA TOUR’s “long hitting” Bubba Watson.
Also note that just because you are fit does not mean you are fast. Camilo Villegas is arguably more “fit” than John Daly, but John can swing faster.Granted, some of this is due to John’s technique, equipment, etc…but the point is that although fitness certainly has its place in golf and life, for distance and application towards becoming a better player…it’s more about being fast than fit.
Swing Man Golf Helps You Increase Your Average Golf Swing Speed!
Rapidly and drastically unleash your power and play consistently with a steady and reliable game with Swing Man Golfs All-Access…featuring effective and easy-to-understand world class golf instruction paired with our expertise in long drive and our pioneering golf fitness swing speed training programs for amateurs and pros alike.
Certification is also available for motivated PGA pros and fitness trainers.
We’ve got junior golfers from 12 years old to men on up in to their 80s with handicaps ranging from pro to 30+ who add an average of 12-16 mph (30-40 yards) of driver swing speed in their first month of basic training. Believe it or not, we’ve even had several golfers who were willing to do the work that gained over 30 and 40 mph (that’s not a typo) over the course of a few months.
One of these golfers was 58 years old!
Get a taste of what’s available in All-Access with this video about a week-long swing speed training workout you can do at home!