Drill library · Launch monitor
The Smash Ladder
Why this drill
Smash factor — ball speed divided by club speed — is the launch monitor's purest strike grade: swing effort cancels out and only contact quality remains. Chasing smash instead of distance turns a driver session into a center-face session, which is where distance actually lives.
Setup
Launch monitor showing smash factor (or ball and club speed to divide), driver, twenty balls. Note your stock number with five easy swings first.
The drill
The ladder: five drives at 80 percent effort, five at 90, five at full. Watch only smash factor — driver's ceiling sits around 1.50, and the revealing number is how much yours falls as effort rises. Holding your best smash at full speed is the whole game; most players discover their 90 percent swing out-totals their 100 because the strike collapsed faster than the speed grew. Finish with five drives at whatever effort produced your best number — that's your play speed, now proven instead of suspected.
One thought to take with you
Swing as fast as the middle of the face can travel — no faster.