How Important is Swing Speed?

hammer1 Many players feel that maxing out swing speed will lead to longer drive and iron shots. The problem with this thought is that solid contact is compromised. When you hit a nail with a hammer the idea is to hit it the least amount of times to drive the nail in. Golf is much the same. The harder you try to hit the golf ball or nail the lower the chances are that you will make solid contact. Hit the nail on the head or the ball on the center of the club face. When we do this we up the smash factor. Smash factor is the efficiency of center contact. The higher the smash factor the more energy is transferred into the nail or ball. That ups the ball speed. Ball speed is king when it comes to distance. Club head speed means a lot but ball speed is king. Below is a video from Trackman showing just that and why ball speed and solid contact means more than pure speed.