At club level you may not be able to feel the difference as the standard of the bowling, the quality of the balls used, wicket and the outfield are generally not very good. All these affect the speed with which the ball comes on to the bat and goes off the bat.
The faster it comes the faster it goes.
My opinion is that a pro will time the ball better than us even with a Players bat than most of us can with a SPS or even better due to the above mentioned factors.