Women's Golf by the Numbers: Five Findings That Cost You Distance
LPGA players hit up on the driver. Most amateurs hit down. That single difference, and four others, is where the distance is going.
Trackman publishes average launch monitor data for female amateurs by handicap, and comparing it against LPGA Tour averages shows exactly where distance is being lost. The headline finding is that LPGA players strike up on the driver while amateurs at every handicap strike down. None of these are faults unique to women golfers, but they cost more at moderate club speed, because there is less speed spare to absorb them.
AI-generated summary
What the numbers actually show
Trackman publishes average launch monitor data for female amateurs by handicap, alongside LPGA Tour averages. Put the two side by side and the picture is clearer than most golf advice manages.
The headline finding: LPGA Tour players strike up on the driver. Female amateurs, at every handicap level in the data, strike down on it. That one difference costs more distance than anything else on this list, and it is the cheapest to fix.
Key takeaways
- LPGA driver attack angle averages +2.8 degrees. Amateur averages run from −0.9 to −2.3
- Amateur driver spin runs several hundred rpm above tour level
- The gap from scratch to 15 handicap is 11 mph of club speed but 20 mph of ball speed
- None of this is unique to women's golf. Male amateurs show the same pattern
- It costs more at moderate speed, because there is less speed spare
One thing worth saying up front. These are not faults that women golfers make and men do not. The male amateur data shows exactly the same shape. What makes them matter more here is arithmetic: when you are swinging at 83 mph rather than 110, you cannot afford to leave anything on the table.
The benchmarks
All figures are Trackman Combine averages for female amateurs with a driver, with LPGA Tour averages for reference.
Club speed
- Scratch or better: 90 mph
- 5 handicap: 87 mph
- 10 handicap: 83 mph
- 15 handicap: 79 mph
- LPGA Tour: 96 mph
Ball speed
- Scratch or better: 131 mph
- 5 handicap: 125 mph
- 10 handicap: 119 mph
- 15 handicap: 111 mph
- LPGA Tour: 143 mph
Smash factor
- Scratch or better: 1.46
- 5 handicap: 1.45
- 10 handicap: 1.44
- 15 handicap: 1.41
- LPGA Tour: 1.49
Worth knowing: the LPGA average driver carry is 223 yards.
Finding 1: you are hitting down when you should be hitting up
The single largest and most fixable difference in the whole data set.
LPGA Tour average driver attack angle: +2.8 degrees. The club is moving upwards when it meets the ball.
Female amateur averages: scratch −0.9, 5 handicap −1.8, 10 handicap −1.7, 15 handicap −2.3. Every one of them is moving downwards.
Why it matters so much at moderate speed: hitting up launches the ball higher with less spin, which is the combination that produces carry. It is one of the only ways to gain distance without gaining a single mile per hour of club speed. The LPGA number is not an accident. It is what players do when they need every yard their speed can produce.
The fix is a set-up change, not a swing change. Tee the ball higher, so roughly half of it sits above the crown. Play it further forward, around your lead heel. Tilt your spine slightly away from the target so your trail shoulder sits lower and your head is behind the ball. Our guide to attack angle covers it in full.
Finding 2: your driver is spinning too much
Spin is what makes a ball climb. Too much and it balloons, peaks early and drops out of the sky with no run.
LPGA Tour average driver spin: 2,506 rpm.
Female amateur averages: scratch 2,831, 5 handicap 3,027, 10 handicap 3,207, 15 handicap 3,287.
A 15 handicapper is spinning the driver roughly 780 rpm more than an LPGA player while swinging 17 mph slower. That is the wrong way round, and it is expensive in exactly the place you can least afford it.
It is also the same problem as finding 1 wearing a different hat. A downward attack angle adds spin, so fixing the first one improves the second automatically. Our spin rate guide covers the other causes, including strike height on the face.
Finding 3: there is ball speed you already have and are not collecting
Look again at the gap between a scratch golfer and a 15 handicapper.
Club speed gap: 11 mph. Ball speed gap: 20 mph.
If strike quality were identical, those two numbers would be proportional. They are not, which means roughly half the distance gap across the amateur range is coming from how well the ball is being struck rather than how fast the club is moving.
The smash factor figures show it directly. 1.46 at scratch against 1.41 at a 15 handicap. That looks like a rounding error and it is not. At 79 mph of club speed, 0.05 of smash factor is around four miles an hour of ball speed, which is roughly eight yards on every tee shot.
What this means practically. If you are chasing distance, check your smash factor before you start speed training. Speed is slow to build and risky to chase. Strike quality is available now, costs nothing, and often improves when you swing slightly easier.
Finding 4: launch and spin are mismatched
These two numbers only mean something together.
LPGA: 12.6 degrees of launch with 2,506 rpm of spin.
15 handicap amateur: 13.6 degrees of launch with 3,287 rpm.
The amateur is launching it higher and spinning it more. That combination produces a flight that climbs steeply, peaks early and falls almost vertically, which looks impressive and carries nothing.
The useful insight is that higher launch is not the problem. High launch with low spin is what you want. It is the spin that is making the flight wrong, and the spin is coming from the attack angle in finding 1.
Our launch angle guide explains the pairing, and it is the number worth reading alongside spin rather than on its own.
Finding 5: how you deliver loft is widening everything
The number behind the other four is spin loft, which is the gap between the loft you present at impact and your attack angle. It has the biggest single influence on how much the ball spins.
LPGA Tour average: 15.0 degrees.
Female amateur averages: scratch 17.1, 5 handicap 18.4, 10 handicap 18.6, 15 handicap 20.1.
A five degree gap at the 15 handicap level. That single number explains the higher spin and the lower smash factor at the same time, because wide spin loft means more of the impact goes into spinning the ball and less into sending it forwards.
Part of that is delivery, which attack angle fixes. Part of it is equipment, because loft, shaft and length all change how the club arrives, and a driver that does not suit your speed will widen spin loft before you have swung at all. That is a custom fitting conversation and it is worth having at moderate club speeds, where the margins are tighter.
Our guide to spin loft covers the mechanism.
What to actually do about it
In order, because they build on each other.
- Change your driver set-up. Tee higher, ball forward, spine tilted slightly away. This moves attack angle, which moves spin, which moves your flight. One change, three improvements.
- Check your strike location. Face tape or a launch monitor. Most golfers are not hitting where they think, and with a driver, slightly high on the face is the place to be.
- Measure before you train for speed. If your smash factor is below about 1.43, you have unconverted ball speed sitting in your current swing.
- Get the driver checked. At 80 to 90 mph, loft and shaft choices matter more than they do at 110.
- Re-measure. Every one of these is verifiable in fifteen minutes, which means you never have to wonder whether it worked.
Measuring it properly at Grip
Every bay at both our London studios runs Trackman 4, the same launch monitor that produced the figures above, so you can benchmark yourself against them directly rather than against a feeling.
The session worth running is simple. Ten drivers as you normally hit them, noting attack angle, spin and smash factor. Then raise the tee, move the ball forward, and hit ten more. Most golfers see attack angle and spin move on the spot, and seeing it move is what makes the change stick.
Tower Bridge is open 24/7 to members on a personal door code, which makes short sessions realistic around the rest of life. Deptford Park is our coaching home in SE8, where one of our professional coaches can tell you whether your numbers point at delivery or equipment. Both studios are all-weather and all-abilities, and free club hire comes with every lesson.
If you are earlier in your golfing journey, our guides to women's golf in London and the beginner pathway are the better starting points.
Book a session
The data does not say women golfers are doing something wrong that men are not. It says there is a specific, measurable gap between how the best players deliver a driver and how most amateurs do, and that the gap costs more when you have less speed to spare.
The largest piece of it is a tee peg and a ball position.
Book a free trial at Tower Bridge or Deptford Park and see your own numbers against the benchmarks above. Thirty minutes will tell you which of the five is costing you most.
All benchmark figures are Trackman's published LPGA Tour averages and Combine averages for female amateurs.
Questions, answered
What is the average swing speed for a female golfer?
Trackman Combine data puts female amateurs at around 90 mph with a driver at scratch, 83 mph at a 10 handicap and 79 mph at a 15 handicap. The LPGA Tour average is 96 mph.
How far should a woman hit a driver?
It depends far more on ball speed than on swing speed. Trackman put the LPGA Tour average driver carry at 223 yards, with female amateur ball speeds running from around 131 mph at scratch down to 111 mph at a 15 handicap.
Do LPGA players really hit up on the driver?
Yes. Trackman put the LPGA Tour average driver attack angle at plus 2.8 degrees, while female amateurs at every handicap level average a negative number. It is the clearest single difference in the data.
Are these faults specific to women golfers?
No. Male amateurs show the same pattern of hitting down on the driver and spinning it too much. The difference is that these faults cost proportionally more at moderate club speed, because there is less speed to absorb them.
Is swing speed the main reason for the distance gap?
Only partly. Between a scratch and a 15-handicap female amateur there is 11 mph of club speed but 20 mph of ball speed, which means strike quality accounts for a large share of the difference.