Weather Forecast: Open Face With A Slight Chance Of Draw Spin

Doppler radar is now used extensively to track the golf swing and the flight of the ball. The ability to see impact in great detail is moving golf instruction and its students forward at a pace never seen before. It has been in use for several years. It is only recently that those studying and translating the data and helping to refine the technology are ready to share the information. Its use is beginning to hit the general public. While recent articles subtly suggest that the information is so revolutionary that students of the game may have been misinformed in the past, I do not believe that to be true. However, the data is refined to the nearest 10th degree in some cases, just a little better than my eyes can see at 110 mph with or without video. Below are a few factual points that I pulled from recent seminars.

O N E

Where the club face is aiming at impact has a 75 - 85% affect on the ball flight direction. For example, when a solid struck ball starts left and slices to the right, the club face is aiming left at impact. The left to right curve on the ball means that the path was even further left of the intended target. Understanding the relationship between face angle and path is not new. What seems to be alarming many students of the game is the fact that in the scenario above the club face is absolutely aiming left at impact.

Image Credit

T W O

In order for a right handed golfer to hit a nice little draw with a six iron, the swing path must be 4 degrees to the right of the target, while the face angle is 2 degrees right of the target. The face of the club needs to be open to the target (aiming right) at impact in order to hit a right to left curve at the target. And the swing path must be aiming further right. This 2:1 ratio seems to be consistent for the mid irons regardless of who is hitting the shot. The ratio becomes slightly more extreme for a driver. About 3:1.

T H R E E

Gear effect has a greater impact on the curvature of the flight than originally thought. Gear effect is the phenomena that occurs when a shot is mishit. If impacted on the toe of the club the ball flight DRAWS back. If hit off the heel, the ball flight typically FADES back toward the intended target. In many ways mishit shots tend to trump good swing path or good face angle. Which also means that mishits can correct or confuse bad swing path and bad club face angle, launching the ball toward the target even when the shot felt bad and clunky.

F O U R

The effective loft at impact has the greatest amount of influence on the trajectory of the ball flight. That might seem pretty obvious. Hitting the ball low has always been the core of my personal golf swing philosophy. I used to think that the idea of a punch shot or low trajectory ball flight was rooted in learning to play golf in the high winds of Wyoming. Years later I now understand that a sound impact position is simply a moment in time where the dynamics of the swing is reducing the loft of the club face. It is not really the effect of trying to hit it low. In fact, the downward angle at impact spins the ball creating lift and the proper trajectory. When teaching the proper impact position, the masses are mostly on the other end of the spectrum. They flip the club through impact adding loft which is the opposite of hitting down on the ball. This flipping motion usually results in short weak shots. So in essence, I spend a lot of time teaching people to hit it low. Or at least lower than they usually hit the ball. What is now understood better about the trajectory is that the angle of attack leading into impact has very little to do with the trajectory of the ball flight. Playing the ball further back in the stance may have the affect of reducing loft, but the steepness of the swing does not play much of a factor.

Our understanding of the golf swing is improving faster than ever through the use of swing and ball flight tracking devices. Over the last year I have had the opportunity to sit with many leading instructors. All of which are using some sort of today's Doppler radar technology. Their understanding and translation of the data is key to the fast paced learning curve of the game of golf. It almost seems a bit ironic to suggest that golf's learning process would be fast. But examples are showing more and more that students of the game are starting to understand and own their golf swings and game improvement is faster.

SCHEDULE YOUR GOLF SWING ANALYSIS NOW AND LET'S MAKE A FAST PACED PLAN TO IMPROVE