A test fixture for identifying the sweet spot of a bat suspends the bat in a vertical orientation via a fixed pivot point and limits rotational movement of the bat to a single plane. A pendulum with an impact mass is caused to contact the bat at various locations along the barrel of the bat at a fixed velocity. Rotational movement of the impact mass is limited to the single plane. Peak acceleration is measured proximate to the handle of the bat. The sweet spot is identified based on measured minimum peak acceleration. For example, if there is a single measured minimum peak acceleration then the corresponding contact location at the barrel is the sweet spot. If there are multiple measured minimum peak acceleration instances then a center or average contact location of those instances in identified as the sweet spot.