We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Ideal launch results - 6 iron

Nippon Shafts
Perkins Rooster

Perkins Rooster

Active member
Joined
Jul 11, 2011
Messages
2,592
Reaction score
6
Location
Manitoba
Handicap
10.1 RCGA
The LM at my Golf Town doesn't give head speed - incredible but true. However, my ball speed was about 95mph with a 6 iron (about 135-140 yards carry). Does anyone know what head speed that would equate to?

Backspin - What numbers am I trying to achieve with a 6 iron here? With the DG S300 I was getting backspin of about 4000 and sidespin generally less than 800. With the Dynalite XP I was getting backspin of about 7-8000 and sidespin between 1000 and 2000. I was getting similar numbers with the Dynalite SL. The guy offered to let me try the JPX 800 Pro I was hitting with a KBS but I was getting worn down so I declined. But now I'm wishing I swung a few with it for comparision.

Vertical launch - What should I look for here?

Thanks and sorry for my technical ignorance! :)
 
i don't know what that would work out to be. but unfortunately golf town has taken over Canada. if you can find a club fitter i find they have more time for you rather than stick you in the simulator and really find what is going to help you get what you want out of your game. maybe its different in Manitoba but the golf town's in Calgary are horrible.

GO JETS!!!
 
It's really hard to find a fitter here in November. There are 2 GT's here and one is better than the other. Not ideal though...
 
My 6 iron numbers last time on the monitor were:

Carry: 155
Club Speed: 81
Ball Speed: 108
Vert Launch: 15.4°
Backspin: 4709
Sidespin: 69L

These are probably not ideal (tough to say) and are an average. My launch was normally a bit higher, but a few thins brought it down.
 
Thanks Hawk, at least that gives me some idea. Wow you had essentially no side spin at all, that's fantastic. When I had 500-800 side spin the ball was still only 5 yards offline. You must be deadly accurate.
 
Here are my numbers from a recent GolfTec fitting using a 6 iron:

Overall Performance ...................MP 53 ..............Burner 2.0............... FG Tour V2............... Anser
Clustering Diameter ....................13.9 Yards .......47.7 Yards ...............43.2 Yards ...............54.1 Yards
Total Distance .............................166 Yards ........175 Yards ................169 Yards ................169 Yards
Carry Distance .............................160 Yards ........169 Yards ................164 Yards ................169 Yards
Backspin (Optimal 5942 RPM) ....5498 RPM ........5942 RPM ...............6226 RPM ................5007 RPM
Mean Ball Speed .........................113.3 MPH .......110.0 MPH ..............117.8 MPH ..............112.3 MPH
Mean Clubhead Speed ................84.7 MPH .........84 MPH ...................90 MPH ....................83 MPH

Not sure if this helps you or not?
 
Im kinda confused here Howzat, how is the FG Tour V2 swing speed and ball speed much higher yet your distance is 6 yards shorter than the burner 2.0? Doesnt make sense to me.

edit: is there that much of a difference in loft between those 2 irons?
 
I think the issue was the spin. My spin #'s with the 2.0's was almost perfect. The system GoftTec uses factors in the loft issue.
 
Howzat said:
Here are my numbers from a recent GolfTec fitting using a 6 iron:

Overall Performance ...................MP 53 ..............Burner 2.0............... FG Tour V2............... Anser
Clustering Diameter ....................13.9 Yards .......47.7 Yards ...............43.2 Yards ...............54.1 Yards
Total Distance .............................166 Yards ........175 Yards ................169 Yards ................169 Yards
Carry Distance .............................160 Yards ........169 Yards ................164 Yards ................169 Yards
Backspin (Optimal 5942 RPM) ....5498 RPM ........5942 RPM ...............6226 RPM ................5007 RPM
Mean Ball Speed .........................113.3 MPH .......110.0 MPH ..............117.8 MPH ..............112.3 MPH
Mean Clubhead Speed ................84.7 MPH .........84 MPH ...................90 MPH ....................83 MPH

Not sure if this helps you or not?
Click to expand...

Very helpful, thanks! So according to that about 6000 rpm is optimal for a 6 iron? Where did that number come from, Golftec?

Looks like the MP53's were very accurate for you.
 
Perkins Rooster said:
Very helpful, thanks! So according to that about 6000 rpm is optimal for a 6 iron? Where did that number come from, Golftec?

Looks like the MP53's were very accurate for you.
Click to expand...

Yes the "optimal backspin number" of 5942 RPM came from GolfTec. I am not sure if that number is specific to my swing or what they think is the optimal amount for everyone. I am assuming it it the optimal number for everyone.

The MP 53's did win the day but the FG Tour V2's came in a close second. There is a bit more detailed write up about these results in the FG Tour V2 thread.
 
bumping an old thread because quite honestly, I am always curious about this. We talk about ideal launch conditions for a driver until we're blue in the face, and we also end up hearing things like 'chasing numbers' and 'most don't realize they aren't hitting it that high' etc etc. -- But I feel like the conversation often ends up stopping there..

So I ask you guys: What's your optimal 6 iron launch characteristics? I recently got on a sim and saw (albeit questionable quality) 19* of launch with a six iron. Comparing that to the typical google image results for "PGA comparables" shows references to flights as low as 14* on average.

If people are getting on a launch monitor with a six iron, what should they be looking for as "optimal" at 80-85-90-95mph swing speed?
 
This is a great bump for me sir. I dont have any information to provide bit look foward to reading some answers.

I took my layoff it seems right about the time that L.M really took off. When people decided to go through fittings in search of ball flight and number.

Im truly a nebie when it comes to the mass amount of information that is gathered these days and what is considered "optimal".
 
Honestly I never look at launch angle for my irons. I focus on the carry distance, spin and maximum height (and club head speed to some extent). I was practicing at GolfTEC yesterday with only my 7-iron, averaged over some 50 swings: 172yds carry, 6800rpms, 36yds peak height with a 90mph SS.

I think the Tour average launch angle for a 6-iron is 14°.
 
I had a recent club fitting at GolfTec and on my printout of the results it optimized my launch numbers for my 6 iron with my 95 SS. LA: 19.3°, backspin: 5852 RPM, descent angle: 50°. It was explained to me that these were the optimal conditions for my SS with my six iron. After testing 3 different clubs and testing different shafts to optimize the numbers I found the Taylormade TP MC with a Royal Precision Project X 6.0 gave me the closest numbers to optimal. I was able to increase my 6 iron carry from 184 to 195 while tightening dispersion to 12 yards.
 
Bump...

My current 6 iron set up numbers on the monitor were...
Hogan Apex 99 Blade / Rifle FCM 6.5..


Carry: 175.35
Club Speed: 81
Ball Speed: 118.3
Carry: 175.35
Launch Angle: 16.3°
Peak height 30.25
Azimuth 3.6
Backspin: 4685
Sidespin: -1154L (my draw) 3/6 good shots all were withing 1 yard, same draw, height etc
offline: -15
Decent : 44

Perhaps I'll bump up loft a tad to increase decent angle...with a draw

Chime in on your 6i numbers
 
Last edited:
Here's my 6 iron data from set gapping earlier this year. Sorry it doesn't have CHS in the data.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Perkins Rooster said:
The LM at my Golf Town doesn't give head speed - incredible but true. However, my ball speed was about 95mph with a 6 iron (about 135-140 yards carry). Does anyone know what head speed that would equate to?
Click to expand...
Tough to say, that depends on the smash factor (i.e. how close to the center of the club face you hit).

On the GC2 at my local GolfTEC, I see similar numbers to yours, and with a fixed smash factor of 1.35 it calculates a clubhead speed of 70-75mph.
 
Dave Alvarado said:
Tough to say, that depends on the smash factor (i.e. how close to the center of the club face you hit).

On the GC2 at my local GolfTEC, I see similar numbers to yours, and with a fixed smash factor of 1.35 it calculates a clubhead speed of 70-75mph.
Click to expand...
I need to look it up. But I don't believe a 6i can have as high a smash factor as a wood because of the dynamic loft.
 
blugold said:
I need to look it up. But I don't believe a 6i can have as high a smash factor as a wood because of the dynamic loft.
Click to expand...
PGA Tour average smash factor with a 6 iron, according to the chart I saw by Trackman, is 1.38. Fwiw.
 
blugold said:
I need to look it up. But I don't believe a 6i can have as high a smash factor as a wood because of the dynamic loft.
Click to expand...
I'm sure you're right about that, but your smash factor will vary depending on where on the club face you hit the ball. Think about it this way--a pured shot that feels like it leaps off the face is probably close to that 1.38 mark. But if you hit way out on the toe, some of that impact energy goes into twisting the club in your hands instead of being transferred to the ball. So it'll be lower--potentially a lot lower.

One trick I didn't realize about camera launch monitors, or at least the GC2, is you can have a fixed smash factor. I don't know if it has to be that way if you aren't using the HMT option, or if the ones at my local Golfsmith and GolfTEC are just set that way. But it's definitely a thing, and it skews your club head speed results since that value is calculated, not measured if you're not using HMT.
 
Dave Alvarado said:
I'm sure you're right about that, but your smash factor will vary depending on where on the club face you hit the ball. Think about it this way--a pured shot that feels like it leaps off the face is probably close to that 1.38 mark. But if you hit way out on the toe, some of that impact energy goes into twisting the club in your hands instead of being transferred to the ball. So it'll be lower--potentially a lot lower.

One trick I didn't realize about camera launch monitors, or at least the GC2, is you can have a fixed smash factor. I don't know if it has to be that way if you aren't using the HMT option, or if the ones at my local Golfsmith and GolfTEC are just set that way. But it's definitely a thing, and it skews your club head speed results since that value is calculated, not measured if you're not using HMT.
Click to expand...

I understand smash factor. Also realize, that a club's COR will affect it's maximum smash factor.

If you turn the Foresight GC2 into a sinulator, the machine uses a preset smash factor to calculate the clubhead speed. The GC2 only reads the ball. The HMT uses a very high speed camera to pickup the movement of reflective dots placed on the club head. My instructor has a GC2 with HMT and it's awesome. I don't think it's better than Flightscope. But it's awesome nonetheless.
 
To me its about holdings greens, landing with a few hops and tiny roll with a 6i. I have mainly done this with my eye on the course, take notes then bend the irons a degree here there.
Slightly weaker lofts are easier to hit, fly higher and stop better with blades, long as your not too short or getting blown around by wind with too much hang time
 
Keep posting your ideal spin, launch, peak height, decent numbers. Do you know the actual loft? Please state the iron head as some are low CG

Start taking visual notes on 6i flights, trajectory, Yds, and how it lands...eg drop in stop or rolls out

Perhaps go to clubfitter / golfsmith and have loft adjusted
 
Here are PGA and LPGA stats to give you an ideal range for spin and examples for club head speeds off different ball speeds:

pgatourstats.png


lpgatourstats.png
 
Apparently, my instructor said this was a really good 6i swing. I believe him. It helps the ego.

e338068dfc20374a85c7842928efbd68.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top