Pete Finch – PGA Teaching Pro
The reason that understanding swing path is important is how it interacts with club face. The fact is you can have an absolutely wonderful swing path but if your club face is out of line with that path, you're going to hit some truly terrible shots. Remember, club face determines where the ball will start and where it will finish. Path determines the curvature which is put upon that golf ball.
For example, if I am swinging with my path very much out-to-in, so I'm swinging from outside the target line to inside the target line. If my club face is pointing left of my path, then I'm going to be hitting a duck hook. So the ball is going to be starting even further left in my path and it's going to be curving off to the left even more. If, however, I use exactly that same path but my club face is open to path and yet still slightly close to target line, that's going to produce a nice fade. So from exactly the same swing path with a different club face angle, you can produce two completely contrasting shots, one of which is going to put you in a great amount of trouble. One of which could find a fairway or a green. So if you're swinging from out-to-in in this direction, to try and get that ball to target, you need a club face which is open to the path and yet still slightly close to target line. If you're swinging from the opposite direction, so very much from in-to-out over the target line, you need to make sure that that club face is close to your path and yet still remains open to your target. That's because of the curvature that the path and the club face is going to impart upon the ball. If you are swinging nice and straight with the path traveling straight into the back of the ball and then quite straight down the target line through impact, if your club face is slightly close, it's going to curve left – if it's slightly open, it's going to curve off to the right-hand side. It is pretty much as simple as that. Working on it or fixing it may not be quite as simple but if you understand those fundamentals, then you're going to have a very good starting point on which to then build the rest of your swing. 2016-10-05The reason that understanding swing path is important is how it interacts with club face. The fact is you can have an absolutely wonderful swing path but if your club face is out of line with that path, you're going to hit some truly terrible shots. Remember, club face determines where the ball will start and where it will finish. Path determines the curvature which is put upon that golf ball.
For example, if I am swinging with my path very much out-to-in, so I'm swinging from outside the target line to inside the target line. If my club face is pointing left of my path, then I'm going to be hitting a duck hook. So the ball is going to be starting even further left in my path and it's going to be curving off to the left even more. If, however, I use exactly that same path but my club face is open to path and yet still slightly close to target line, that's going to produce a nice fade.
So from exactly the same swing path with a different club face angle, you can produce two completely contrasting shots, one of which is going to put you in a great amount of trouble. One of which could find a fairway or a green. So if you're swinging from out-to-in in this direction, to try and get that ball to target, you need a club face which is open to the path and yet still slightly close to target line. If you're swinging from the opposite direction, so very much from in-to-out over the target line, you need to make sure that that club face is close to your path and yet still remains open to your target. That's because of the curvature that the path and the club face is going to impart upon the ball.
If you are swinging nice and straight with the path traveling straight into the back of the ball and then quite straight down the target line through impact, if your club face is slightly close, it's going to curve left – if it's slightly open, it's going to curve off to the right-hand side. It is pretty much as simple as that. Working on it or fixing it may not be quite as simple but if you understand those fundamentals, then you're going to have a very good starting point on which to then build the rest of your swing.
