How Long Do You Have to Influence Your Ball Flight?

Many of my clients are aware the average golf swing lasts about 1.27 seconds. From the time the club starts to move away from the ball, until the time you are in your finished position, 1.27 seconds is not a lot of time. How long do you have to influence your ball flight? Let’s exam this length of time and learn more interesting numbers you can extract from the amount of time it takes to swing a golf club:

• Total Time You Swing the Club – If you are the average amateur male golfer, scoring 98 each round (average according to USGA numbers), the actual time you spend swinging a golf club during the course of an 18-hole round of golf is 124.46 seconds or 2 minutes, 4 seconds;
• Reaction Time – the time it takes you recognize you need to do something different in your swing, mid swing
  • To actually start any correction is .76 seconds from the moment you recognize the need to make a mid-swing change
  • This is the exact same amount of time needed to react to a deer crossing in front of your car 500 feet ahead of you as you travel 45 mph

How Long do You Have to Influence Your Ball Flight?  Really?

The numbers above pale in comparison to the actual amount of time a golf ball remains on the face of the golf club.

To explain put into perspective the actual amount of time you have to influence your ball flight, and your ability to “react and correct” your swing in mid-swing, take a look at FlightScope’s video and see if you think you still have time to change your swing, in mid-swing.