André Rennes

1 Executive summary

2 Ball flight — range screen

Metric	André · Oct 28	#3 · Oct 14 (best)	#1 · Oct 6	LPGA Tour avg	PGA Tour avg
Ball speed	89.2 mph	107 mph	103 mph	109 mph	127 mph
Carry	113 yds	146 yds	140 yds	152 yds	183 yds
Flat carry	— (hidden by glare)	144 yds	—	—	—
Total	115 yds	150 yds	149 yds	—	—
Launch angle	28°	20°	23°	17.1°	14.1°
Apex	79 ft (26 yds)	81 ft (27 yds)	87 ft (29 yds)	25 yds	30 yds
Landing angle	47°	44°	46°	46°	50°
Curve	15 ft left	17 ft right	11 ft	—	—
Hang time	5.2 s	5.6 s	5.7 s	—	—
Proximity	79 ft	99 ft	53 ft	—	—

No ★ in this table: the personal bests (146 carry, 150 total, 107 mph) are from October 14. Club speed isn't on the screen: at a typical iron smash of ~1.38–1.40, 89.2 mph of ball speed means about 64–65 mph of club speed, against 78 mph for the LPGA average and ~76–78 mph on his earlier 6-iron swings. The ball could not be tracked in the video (filmed at 30 fps, the ball is gone between two frames), so there is no start direction. Slow motion (120 or 240 fps) fixes that.

What it means: Ball speed is 20 mph under the LPGA average and 18 mph under his best, so carry is 39 yards short of the LPGA average (152). The launch of 28° is his highest 6-iron launch (previous high 23°) and 11° above the LPGA average, yet the peak (~26 yds) is right at the LPGA 25. The ball went up fast and landed soft at 47°, so it rolled only ~2 yards. This mix of low speed and high launch can come from an off-center strike or an easier swing. Without spin or club speed on the screen, one swing can't separate the two.

3 Timing & tempo — measured from the video

30 frames per second, so each time is accurate to about ±0.03 s. The backswing starts at ~4.33 s (frame 100), the top is at 4.87 s (frame 116) and impact is at about 5.07 s (frame 122).

Tour figure: John Novosel, Tour Tempo. One frame either way moves the ratio between ~2.3:1 and ~3.2:1.

What it means: The ratio sits in the good band (2.5–3.5:1) and is the closest to 3:1 of any 6-iron report. The whole swing is quick (~0.73 s against ~1.07 s for the Tour model), and the downswing at 0.20 s is his fastest 6-iron downswing. The rhythm is not the problem, so the low ball speed points to strike quality rather than effort.

4 The reference frame — how this swing was measured

• Grid: each square is about 5 inches. It is scaled from the 4 × 4 ft hitting mat (13.65 px per inch). His height was not given, so treat distances as ±1 inch.
• Center lines and diagonals: a vertical line through the center of his stance (feet) and a horizontal line through the ball line. The corner-to-corner diagonals give a fixed perspective scaffold, and the center lines and diagonals meet at his belt buckle at address.
• Depth rays: the mat edges and the alignment stick, extended toward a vanishing point near the horizon. It is approximate, since it comes from one stick plus the converging mat edges. Movement along these rays is toward the target (into the picture), not sideways.
• Address references: the white line marks cap height (head height) and the waist line marks belt-buckle height. The dashed light-blue lines mark shoulder and knee height. The dashed red tush line is the back of the hips at address, so it shows early extension. The red trail is the head path and the yellow trail is the hands' path.
• Tracking: body points were tracked automatically on 225 frames and checked by eye at each key position. The camera stayed still: the background moved less than 1 px (median 0.4 px).
• Rotation and ball: shoulder and hip turn are visual estimates from the down-the-line frames (about ±10–15°). The X-factor at the top is shoulder turn minus hip turn. The ball could not be tracked at 30 fps, so ball speed comes only from the range screen.

5 Swing sequence

Nine key positions, filmed down-the-line from behind the hands, slightly right of the target line. The target is up-screen along the alignment stick.

Photos are numbered in the order they happen in the swing. The frames follow the standard swing positions.

6 Position-by-position biomechanics

Photo 1 — Address Good

• Athletic set-up: knees flexed, arms hanging, trunk tilted from the hips. The cross stick near the feet points at the ball; the angled stick right of the ball marks the target line.
• Cap line, belt-buckle height and the tush line are all set here. Every later number is measured against this frame.

Photo 2 — Takeaway Head sinks early

• One-piece start: hands, arms and club leave together, with the hands only ~2.4 in from their address spot.
• The head is already ~3.4 in lower than at address. Most of the dip happens in the first few inches of the swing. The hips stay quiet (−0.3 in, away from the ball).

Photo 3 — Lead arm parallel Head dip

• Hands ~13.8 in from the address spot as the arms swing up, with the shoulders turning well.
• The head is at its lowest of the backswing, ~4.3 in below address and ~1.6 in toward the ball. The hips stay put (−0.5 in).

Photo 4 — Top Full turn

• Shoulders turned about 85° and hips about 40°, so the X-factor is about 45°. The club points steeply up and the hands reach the top edge of the frame (top picked from hand tracking, the last frame before the hands reverse).
• Head ~3.6 in lower and ~2.1 in toward the ball. Hips ~0.5 in away from the ball: they turn, they don't slide in.

Photo 5 — Arm parallel (down) Good

• Only ~0.10 s after the top, the lower body leads and the hands drop back toward the address line (~12.8 in away).
• Head steady (~3.7 in down, ~2.0 in toward the ball) and hips on their line (−0.1 in).

Photo 6 — Delivery Solid

• Hands ~5.9 in from the address spot and closing fast, with the arms in front of the chest.
• The waist starts to rise, ~0.9 in. The head holds at ~3.8 in down.

Photo 7 — Impact Watch the head

• Hands return to their address spot within 0.5 in. Head is ~4.2 in lower (Fix band, over 4 in) but ~1.6 in toward the ball (Good).
• Hips hold their depth: −0.1 in toward the ball, and the rear of the hips sits exactly on the tush line (0.0 in). Hips are ~35° open, shoulders ~15° open.
• The waist has risen ~1.2 in (Watch).

Photo 8 — Release Good

• Arms extend away from the ball and the chest keeps turning. The head stays low and quiet (~4.7 in down, ~1.4 in toward the ball).
• The waist settles back to ~0.8 in above its address height.

Photo 9 — Finish Excellent

• Tall and balanced on the lead leg, trail foot up on its toe, club wrapped around the shoulders, and held.
• The rise (head ~3.5 in above address, hips ~2.8 in toward the ball line) happens after the ball is gone, so it is a normal finish, not early extension.

Overlay — head at address, top and impact

Depth note: the camera sits behind the hands, slightly right of the target line, so part of the head's ~2 in shift "toward the ball" lies along the depth rays. It is a mix of toward-the-ball and toward-the-target motion, and one camera can't split the two. The vertical drop is much less affected. A face-on clip of the next swing will settle it (see Limitations).

7 Where the 6-iron sits in the bag

Heads-up: this 6-iron carried 31 yards less than his best 7-iron (113 vs 144) and 33 less than his own best 6-iron (146). It should not be used for gapping. The working 6-iron number stays at ~146 carry. That best 6-iron carried only 2 yards more than the 7-iron, which is a separate gap to look at once the center-contact work is done.

8 Diagnosis

9 Next steps — keep it simple

10 Limitations & next capture

• One swing is a snapshot. The range screen was filmed at 17.0 s, about 12 s after impact (5.07 s), so it is assumed to belong to this swing. The unusual numbers are a reason to double-check that.
• Spin and club speed aren't on the screen, so club speed is estimated (smash ~1.38–1.40). Flat carry and some tile labels were hidden by glare.
• The ball could not be followed at 30 fps (it is gone between two frames), so there is no start direction or finish line.
• Distances come from a grid scaled to the 4 × 4 ft mat. His real height would make the scale more exact.
• From behind, depth (toward the target) mixes with sideways motion. That is exactly what the depth rays flag.

Next capture: Next capture, to sharpen the report: (1) the same down-the-line spot, with the clubhead sole shown to the camera and the club said out loud, (2) slow motion (120 or 240 fps) to track the ball's start direction, (3) a photo of the range screen right after each shot, (4) a face-on clip at chest height, square to the feet line, (5) 3–5 balls for an average, and (6) André's height, to lock the grid scale.