One of the finest things the lovely folks over at Augusta National did for us this year was the all-inclusive launch data for every shot hit on the driving range, Monday through Sunday. For a gear head, it’s a brilliant way to get a glimpse into how a player is feeling, if they are striking it well and any bits of adrenaline that may be present.
Earlier this afternoon, Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau were in prep for the final round of the Masters, so let’s take a look at the numbers.
Keep in mind the numbers club to club are a bit skewed with Bryson’s lofts per club being a bit stronger than Rory’s. For example, PW for Rory is 46 and 40 for Bryson. In this case, you can’t judge club to club as the set makeup is completely different.
(Best of numbers)
PW: 118 MPH ball speed, 157 yds carry
8-iron: 134 MPH, 162 yds
6-iron: 147 MPH, 209 yds
4-iron: 161 MPH, 227 yds
3-wood: 181 MPH, 279 yds
Driver: 192 MPH, 327 yds
(Best of numbers)
PW: 137 MPH ball speed, 153 yds carry
8-iron: 148 MPH, 192 yds
6-iron: 155 MPH, 228 yds
Driver: 190 MPH, 310 yds
Yes, both are fast, but if you look at the driver numbers, and I’m assuming they both hit drivers in their sessions, Bryson seemed to just cruise along at 185-190 MPH with no real energy expended on anything hard. Rory did tune it up a few times, as you see with his numbers.
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Is Rory faster? If you look at the week-long range numbers, you could say that. On the range all week, Rory was quicker by 2-3 MPH with the driver, but as we know, with Bryson, on the course is a different story.
When the pressure tunes up, he gets faster and faster.
What does any of this tell us?
For one, they are both LONG, and they are both hitting it really well.
The one thing I always check is ball speed consistency from club to club; that’s the first sign of a player consistently hitting the middle of the face. If you see a player with a 7-iron go from 133 to 128 to 135 to 124, he’s all over the face. What we like is 133, 132, 134, 135, 132. Make sense?
We could go club to club to verify this but since it’s a warm up and not a 100+ shot practice session, we have can surmise that they are both striking it well.
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