Facts about impact

New Ball Flight Laws

 This is probably one of the simplest articles I am going to write, but I believe one of the most important for golfers of all levels.  It also might be a little shocking, because in recent times the facts about impact that most coaches have been teaching over the last 20 years, and the general thinking from most golfers, has been proven to be wrong.   If I were to tell you that approximately 80% of players who slice the ball have a square clubface at impact, your first reaction is probably to think that’s impossible; the clubface must be open. Before you read the rest of the article, try and understand just how important this is.  Impact is the only thing that determines where the balls goes: the shape of the ball, the height of the shot, the distance; it is everything.  Impact is golf, and to develop your golf you MUST know how impact works – at least with the basic laws.  It would be like a race car designer making a new car but not really understanding the basic laws of what makes a car go fast, or how to be stable in a corner, or a weight loss trainer not understanding the basic laws of how the body loses or gains weight.  If you want to develop your golf, it is vital you know the impact laws.

The Old Law – Wrong

The old laws, which are incorrect, say that it is the path of the swing which determines the starting direction of the ball.  For example, if the path is Out – To – In (Left of the target line) the ball will start to the left side of the target, or if the path was In – To – Out (Right of the target line), the ball would start the right side, or lastly if the path was square to the target line, the ball will start on target.  It was then thought that the clubface position is what creates shape, and determines the finishing position of the shot.  To give you a couple of examples:

1)      If the swing path is 10 degrees left of the target, and the club face is square to target, the ball would start 10 degrees left and fade back to finish on the target.

2)      If the path is 8 degrees right of target, and the clubface is 4 degrees open, the ball would start 8 degrees to the right and draw back to finish 4 degrees right of target.

The New Laws – Right

Technology is now available that collects all sorts of swing data: path, clubface position, speed, ball spin, shape, centeredness of impact on face, etc., and this technology tells us the true impact laws with no guess work involved.  This technology has told us that the ball will not start in the direction of the path but actually approx. 70% towards the direction of the clubface.  In my opinion, so that the laws remain simple and understandable, you can think that the ball starts in the direction of the clubface.  Shockingly, this means that the new laws are the opposite of the old laws; the clubface determines the starting direction of the shot, and the path determines the spin and shape of the shot.  So if use the same two examples as the old laws, with the new laws you can see the problem this might have been causing players:

1)      If the swing path is 10 degrees left of the target, and the club face is square to target, the ball would start on target (in the direction of the clubface) and slice to finish to the right of target.  Perhaps now you can see why 80% of slicers have their clubface square at impact.

2)      If the path is 8 degrees right of target, and the clubface is 4 degrees open, the ball would start slight right of the target (around 4 degrees) and draw to finish around the target area.

An important point to note is that the difference between clubface and path will determine how much the ball will slice or hook.  In the first example, there is a 10 degrees difference between clubface and path, which will create a lot of slice, but in the second example there is only 4 degrees difference between clubface and path, meaning there will be only a small amount of hook, or draw.

So how does this help you?

If you understand these basic laws correctly, you can start to analyse your own shot and make improvements in your technique, but more importantly, you will not analyse your shot incorrectly, misunderstanding what is happening at impact, sending your development in the wrong direction.  Below are a few examples of common misunderstanding that I see daily.

1)      Slice – Let use the example above of a ball starting straight, and slicing to the right.  Nearly every time I see this on the range, the players will be trying to release their hands faster at impact, closing the clubface, because they think the clubface is open.  But we now know that with most players, the clubface is not the problem with this shot; it is the swing path.  This player needs to forget the clubface and learn to swing more to the right.  To do this, I have suggested 4 keys to helping you develop a path more to the right.

l  -  Align your body more to the right side; most slicers will aim too much to the left, not helping develop a path to the right.

l  -  Place your hands a little in front of the ball at address.

l  -  Learn to move your weight to your left foot in the downswing, and stay there at impact.

l  -  Feel the end of the club swinging to the right and up through impact.

 2)      Pull Hook – Often, I see players practicing and hitting what they think to be a pull hook because they see the ball starting left and hooking.  They think they must be swinging out–to–in, with a closed clubface.  In their practice, they start trying to swing more in–to-out, keeping the clubface open.  This is a mistake, and the cause is not understanding basic impact laws.  What is really happening in this shot is the swing path will be in–to–out, with the clubface square to the target or a little closed.  This results in the ball starting straight and then quickly hooking to the left, because the ball comes off the clubface very quickly.  By the time the player looks up and sees the ball, it is already left of the target, making them think it started to the left.  Maybe you can see now how important the basic impact laws are.  This player does not need to swing more in–to–out; in fact, this is making the problem worse.  This player needs to swing more to the left, keeping the clubface the same; the exact opposite of what he would have done.  Here are 4 keys points to get you swinging to the left.

l  -  Make sure you are not aligned to the right in address; a little left of target will help you.

l  -  Keep the ball to the left side in address.

l  -  In the downswing, turn your shoulders so they are a little open to the target at impact.

l  -  Feel the end of the club swinging left through impact, and after impact.

 Draw: Align your body more to the right side

Fade: Align more to the left of target

Draw: Position your hands a little in front of the ball

Fade: Ball position left side

Both: Move your weight to your left foot in the downswing and stay there through impact.

Draw: Feel the end of the club swinging
to the right and up through impact.

Fade: Feel the end of the club swinging left through impact and after.

Synchronise Arm & Body consistently to Boom those Drives

Boom your drives with the BOOMERANG!

The Boomerang is a perfect training aid to develop arm-body synchronization in your swing––the key to consistency. The unique feature of the Boomerang is that it is magnetized. On a full swing, when the Boomerang falls to the ground, simply place the head of your iron onto it and pull it up – simple and quick.

The Boomerang can be used on either arm depending on swing requirements. To ensure the backswing is compact with no lift of the arms (as in the A Swing), wedge the Boomerang right up into the armpit of the right arm. With half swings the Boomerang will remain under the arm; a full swing, it will fall out after contact with the ball is made. To encourage the left arm to stay connected to the chest on the backswing through impact, wedge the Boomerang up into the armpit of the left arm. On a full finish it will fall to the ground.

Links your arms and body together promoting better timing, accuracy, and distance.

Can be used under left or right arms. Easy to use and great for golfers of all ages and abilities.

Magnetized for easy retrieval.

https://youtu.be/4IWls-dnqEw

Improve pitching and chipping without technique (The 3 Rs)

Here are 3 strategy tips to save more shots around the green, now the time has come to go out and practise on fine tuning your short game. Be careful before investing time in improving your technique it is important to do the following first.


The first key is to understand the tactical and strategy side of the game first throughout your short game, as there is the chance to save many shots through this theme. Not knowing or understanding this will make the learning process in improving technique more difficult. Here I will show you 3 tactical and strategic tips that will dramatically improve your wedge game.

Read
Assess the situation
We often see players looking at the target after they have addressed the ball, which obviously makes sense. But this is one of the main problems why players make poor decisions around the green Compared with the photos shown here, from the ball to the flag is a difficult high pitch shot to produce. But when we assess the situation more clearly there is actually a lot of room to work with resulting into a simple pitch shot to play.

Rehearse
 Wedge strategy
The golden rule here is to land the ball as early as possible on the green. Due to having a target that is closer to you is easier to hit than a target further away.

Only golfers that have extremely good ball contact should allow the ball to fly further. Through the good ball contact the ball will spin and roll out less towards the flag.

When selecting the correct club it is important to assess break and roll direction to locate the exact landing zone.
Now to the hole you must mentally prepare on rehearsing and concentrate on the right ball flight and length which is advantageous to playing the correct shot.

React

The Lie of the Ball

Tour players use the 70% rule. This is where you should only attempt the shot to play when you’re sure you can reproduce the shot 7 times out of 10.

One important decision factor is the lie of the ball; here you can finally decide which shot is possible. Depending on how the ball lies you can attempt a lob/flop or pitch shot, or even by a bad lie be prepared to except the shot going beyond the flag.

There are 4 different lies that you many come across

- Bare lie, no lob possible try using a high lofted club with little bounce.

- Good lie, a lob and pitch shot is possible only when you reproduce it 7 times out of 10.

- Ball in deep grass, a lob shot is difficult to play, try using a lofted club with a higher bounce.

- Ball sitting up in rough, a lob shot is unwise in case of getting too much underneath it and dropping it short. Try using a wedge with a less lofted face.

How the Tour Pros shape the ball?

How the Tour Pros shape the ball?
During the Masters in April the tour pros will need to shape the ball to score well around Augusta. So instead of altering their swing mechanics for the tournament to shape the ball in one direction or the other, many tour pros will find it easier and more reliable to change their setup.

Here's how it’s done.
To draw the ball (with a right-to-left shape for the right-handed golfers), they will position the ball a little further back than normal in their stance, the ball will need to be positioned about centre of your stance with an iron and just forward of that for the woods. Then adjust your body alignment line so it's pointing slightly right of the target by dropping your back foot behind the position of your front foot, as I've demonstrated.





This closed body alignment promotes you to swing to the right of the target line through the hitting area, and the central ball position keeps the clubface pointing slightly right of the target at impact. So the ball can then start right and draw back because the face isn't pointing as far to the right as the swing path.


 Doing the opposite changes will allow you to hit a fade. So by positioning the ball further forward in your stance than normal and setting your body alignment left of the target. This alignment will help produce an out-to-in swing path, with the ball position forward this will help in getting the club face pointing left of the target at impact. As long as the club face isn't pointing as far to the left as the swing path, the ball will then start left and fade right towards the target.

How your Lag works during your downswing

The Way you ease up during the Downswing

Easing up on the downswing is important when it comes to speeding up the clubhead toward impact. We call the indicator for revealing how you ease up on the power "natural uncock."

More detail...

From the latest findings in sports science(*), we have learned through the modeling of golf swings as pendular movement that the energy of the arms can be more effectively delivered to the club using the natural acceleration of the club itself. In these models, the natural acceleration of the club is utilized by power in the arms being relaxed during the downswing, causing the club head to accelerate.

Natural uncock shows to what extent the speed of one's arms is releasing power, from its maximum to the time of impact.

The reading will be 0% if no power is released, and when power is released, it will rise in keeping with the extent to which it is. If the reading is below 30%, please give thought to how you use power up to the point of impact and look for a timing that will hasten the head speed. Incidentally, in our data, the average of natural uncock for male pros and female pros are about 40% and about 20%, respectively.

(*) This comment is based on three-dimensional duplex pendulum model.  

How to Lower your Score

Short Game 

Compared to the full swing there has been little written about the short game and also many golfers avoid working on this area of there game. A putt is probably looked at as the simplest shot form played in golf, but the most important shot form when lowering your score. Not every golfer has the talent or the physical capability to make repeatable putt stroke like a tour professional. As every golfer has the possibility to improve there short game and through this save a hand full of shots.

1. Putting
Green Reading
The most commonly talked about thing when reading greens is that its just down to experience and time to learn to judge the breaks and slopes on the greens. This is not entirely true there is a method and a easier way to read a putts. So here are our two wonderful tips

Find the Zero Break Line.



















As seen here in the we are looking for the zero break line, this is the line that has no break also its the only line on a slope that you can putt straight upwards or downwards. The line stretches out across the hole about one meter radius from the hole, this line will help identify the position where the ball will begin to roll. Generally by every pin position on a green you can find the fall line, as the Greenkeeper should find a area on the green that has a slight consistent planer break (a flat surface that maybe on a angle) one meter radius of the hole. When you think of hole 1 at your home club there you will most probably find usually 3 to 5 allocated pin position areas on every green dependent on the size of the green. So when you have found the fall line the following points are highlighted:


























-You will know in which direction the ball will break.
-You will find out where the easiest putt to play is (under the hole up hill)

Every top tour pro and there caddies will receive from the tournament officials a green plan card that competitors can note down where the Zero break lines are around all likely pin positions on all greens. As this information can become useful when playing into greens as the pros can position the ball in the best possible position around the hole. So you yourself can make a note of the pin positions and zero break lines in you course plan book!!

The spider effect

From the "spider effect" that maybe seen above. All putts on the one side of the circle break from left to right and on the other side of the hole putts naturally break from right to left. through this knowledge a clear decision can be made whether the putt is to break one way or another when a difficult putt lies near to the fall line. So by knowing how the putt falls and breaks in the last meter will give you a better understanding in how the ball enters the hole. By putting this method into practice this will fore sure help reduce putts and improve your score.