Knowing How To Read The Clues Of Your Golf Ball Flight (Video) - by Pete Styles
Knowing How To Read The Clues Of Your Golf Ball Flight (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you now understand the terminology of swing path, it’s quite important we can understand now how to read the clues of the ball flight to help us understand what our current swing path looks like. Now when you are actually standing and swinging and hitting the ball, it’s probably travelling too fast through here, you won’t be able to see how the swing path is. You could video it; you could stand at the back and put it on video. But again that swing path is only in a 2D version, and we actually know that swing path is a 3D element. So, if you were to use a flight scope or a Trackman or something like that, that probably gives you the most accurate data in terms of swing path. But actually, the golf ball gives us some pretty accurate data, the golf ball can be our biggest diagnostic tool in terms of how our swing path was working, in relation to the club face. But we need to understand how the club face and the swing path work in unison together. So when we hit this golf ball, and the ball sets out, about 85% of the initial start direction from that golf ball comes from the angle of the club face, where the club face was positioned.

Only 15% of its original start direction is caused by swing path. But then as you watch the ball in flight, you’ll see the ball, it will either go dead straight, it will curve one way, or it will curve another way. Now that curvature in flight, that’s caused by the swing path, and its relationship to the face angle, unless you’ve had a poor strike. So if the strike is nicely in the center, the curvature in flight is going to be caused by the swing path direction in relation to the face angle. So let’s take a slice for example, a ball that sets off down the left side and finishes to the right side. If the ball sets off down the left side, chances are the club face was aiming down the left side. Club face was actually closed to target, but then the ball curved to the right. Now the ball will curve away from the swing path direction, so if the ball is curving right, the swing path must have been left, and it must have been more left that the face angle. So the face angle, let’s say for example, would be three degrees left, the swing path direction will be ten degrees left, the ball would set off a bit down the left side three, four degrees, something of that nature. But then it will curve out to the right and the ball would slice. And a lot of golfers would suggest that either they swing to the right or their clubface was pointing right. But in that scenario, both face and path were left. Club face was three degrees left; path was ten degrees left, ball finishing on the right hand side of the fairway. And for a lot of golfers, that can be quite difficult to understand, how did the ball finish right when no element of my swing was to the right? My face was left, my path was left. But because the path was more left than the face angle, the ball generates an awful lot of spin, going from left to right. And because the ball is in the air a long time, particularly with the driver, the ball will curve beyond its target line and down that right hand side of the fairway. So if you have a good understanding and you can read the clues of swing path, and club face relationship, and ball flight diagnostics, then you’re on a good way to help improving your own game. 2015-10-08

If you now understand the terminology of swing path, it’s quite important we can understand now how to read the clues of the ball flight to help us understand what our current swing path looks like. Now when you are actually standing and swinging and hitting the ball, it’s probably travelling too fast through here, you won’t be able to see how the swing path is. You could video it; you could stand at the back and put it on video. But again that swing path is only in a 2D version, and we actually know that swing path is a 3D element. So, if you were to use a flight scope or a Trackman or something like that, that probably gives you the most accurate data in terms of swing path. But actually, the golf ball gives us some pretty accurate data, the golf ball can be our biggest diagnostic tool in terms of how our swing path was working, in relation to the club face. But we need to understand how the club face and the swing path work in unison together. So when we hit this golf ball, and the ball sets out, about 85% of the initial start direction from that golf ball comes from the angle of the club face, where the club face was positioned.

Only 15% of its original start direction is caused by swing path. But then as you watch the ball in flight, you’ll see the ball, it will either go dead straight, it will curve one way, or it will curve another way. Now that curvature in flight, that’s caused by the swing path, and its relationship to the face angle, unless you’ve had a poor strike. So if the strike is nicely in the center, the curvature in flight is going to be caused by the swing path direction in relation to the face angle. So let’s take a slice for example, a ball that sets off down the left side and finishes to the right side. If the ball sets off down the left side, chances are the club face was aiming down the left side. Club face was actually closed to target, but then the ball curved to the right. Now the ball will curve away from the swing path direction, so if the ball is curving right, the swing path must have been left, and it must have been more left that the face angle. So the face angle, let’s say for example, would be three degrees left, the swing path direction will be ten degrees left, the ball would set off a bit down the left side three, four degrees, something of that nature. But then it will curve out to the right and the ball would slice.

And a lot of golfers would suggest that either they swing to the right or their clubface was pointing right. But in that scenario, both face and path were left. Club face was three degrees left; path was ten degrees left, ball finishing on the right hand side of the fairway. And for a lot of golfers, that can be quite difficult to understand, how did the ball finish right when no element of my swing was to the right? My face was left, my path was left. But because the path was more left than the face angle, the ball generates an awful lot of spin, going from left to right. And because the ball is in the air a long time, particularly with the driver, the ball will curve beyond its target line and down that right hand side of the fairway. So if you have a good understanding and you can read the clues of swing path, and club face relationship, and ball flight diagnostics, then you’re on a good way to help improving your own game.