My partner, Johnny Wunder, recently joined Jake Knapp at Scottsdale National to hit every bell on the PXG lineup, and they came up with some really cool findings about ball speed. This is a great metric for every golfer to look at when choosing new irons, and I want to talk about how to use ball speed when choosing which irons you want to put in your bag.
What is the “target” speed of the ball?
The average PGA Tour 7-iron is good for about 123 mph of ball speed. An “average” golf swing is closer to 115 mph with a swing between 75-80 mph. Tour players, like Knapp, obviously swing faster but are also helped by one-piece irons, while many beginners use irons that offer more help.
The truth is, there really isn't a “standard” speed that fitters try to achieve for every golfer. Instead, we try to match the speed, height, altitude and rotation to drive the player. Remember, though, speed creates rotation and length. Regardless of the loft, this is where many golfers stumble, having something with a low CG that produces a high ball speed will spin the ball through more contact and launch the ball higher.
An important metric to think about here is the smash factor or effectiveness. You generally want your instruments to live in the 1.35 area. Even up to 1.40 is completely usable. Many golfers may think that trying to get a set of irons closer to the legal limit of 1.51 would be more beneficial, but you will start to run into playability problems.
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PXG 0311T GEN8 Custom Irons
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What we want to try is to find a set of instruments that still have a usable level of control built into them. This is where having a “baseline” speed to target in the right place can help.
The best example I can give is a good bowler who drops off speed. I know plenty of older golfers who still hit the ball mid-range, but their 7-iron has lost 15 to 20 yards over the years, and they want to get their “old distances” back. This is where the difference between the PXG CB and PXG Gen8 T can be useful – but going for something like the P or XP might be too much.
The best strikers still want to control their teams. They want to be able to make pictures, change windows and to hear as a gunsmith. The faster ball speed we produce, with less spin and more height, more control is lost. So for a player who can still hit the ball off center but may be on the low end of swing speed, something like the T can be the perfect compromise. Even a combo set of CB down and T up can make these players feel very comfortable.
Jake Knapp hits a shot during the 2025 Cognizant Classic.
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Speed throughout the set
When we talk about combo sets, with PXG's Gen8 lineup being very combo set-friendly, we need to discuss the concept of a ball speed gap in a set of irons, and why a combo set might be necessary.
Usually we want about 5 mph of ball speed between the irons. If you notice in the video with Johnny and Knapp, he hit each 7 iron at a speed of about 5 mph, while hitting the ball high with each progressive model which is very forgiving. He started out at about 135 mph on his ST irons, as a high speed player, and reached 154+ on the XP irons of a better player towards the end.
This speaks to the loft and CG packages, but it's also a great way to look at your entire set. If you find a 7-iron that is really comfortable at 115 mph ball speed for example, you would want your 5 iron to live around 125 mph. If you're going to hit the same iron model on a 5 iron and find yourself a few miles per hour short, that's when it makes sense to move up to the next model.
PXG 0311P GEN8 Custom Irons
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My favorite combo sets are actually high handicap players with low speed. Something like the Gen8 P and Gen8 XP would be a good option for players who still can't hit the ball well, and who don't want to jump to hybrids or fairway woods any time soon.
By playing a P set less than a set and maybe switching to XP on the 6- or 5-iron would be a good way to ensure consistent speed gaps through the set. This will often result in carrying about 10-12-yard gaps between irons, but the beauty of focusing on speed is that speed does not change with loft. So if you need to bend the irons 1º weaker or stronger due to length and bearing, you will still get everything in those irons that you want.
If you want to fit a new set of PXG irons and see what ball speed you're comfortable with, head over to our friends at True Spec or find a PXG fitness center near you.
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