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Article 1 - February 2007
Understanding Your Ball Flight
Although grip, stance, posture etc. are all very important, your golf ball only knows what your clubface tells it to do. The best place to start when trying to improve your golf shots is to understand what’s happening at impact.
We hope the following article will help you to understand what is happening at your impact to cause your most common ball flights, other ball flights, and the ball flight you dream of.
To keep the complex subject of ball flight as simple as possible, we will focus on the two main factors that affect where your ball goes - Swingpath and Clubface alignment at impact.
Swingpath relative to ball-to-target line (Ball-to-Target line shown by the clubs on the ground, the target is the white dot)
   Out to In In to Out In to In
Clubface Alignment relative to swingpath Important! - In to In swingpath used for illustration only, clubface angles can be square, open or closed relative to any of the swingpaths above.
   Square to swingpath Open to swingpath Closed to swingpath
Use the combinations below to help you evaluate your most common ball flight(s). The easiest way to do this will be to find your ball flight in the photos on the righthand side and then find out what is causing it.
Be careful! - be honest with yourself when identifying your ball flight. For example many people believe that they Slice the ball when in fact they Push Slice the ball.
The Out to In Swingpath Family
The Pull
   Out to In Swingpath + Clubface Square to Swingpath = Pull
The Slice
   Out to In Swingpath + Clubface Open to Swingpath = Slice
The Pull Hook
   Out to In Swingpath + Clubface Closed to Swingpath = Pull Hook
The In to Out Swingpath Family
The Push
   In to Out Swingpath + Clubface Square to Swingpath = Push
The Push Slice
   In to out Swingpath + Clubface Open to Swingpath = Push Slice
The Hook
   In to Out Swingpath + Clubface Closed to Swingpath = Hook
The In to In Swingpath Family
The Straight Shot
   In to In Swingpath + Clubface Square to Swingpath = Straight
The Push Slice (again!)
   In to In Swingpath + Clubface Open to Swingpath = Push Slice
The Pull Hook (again!)
   In to In Swingpath + Clubface Closed to Swingpath = Pull Hook
As you can see from all the swingpath and clubface alignment combinations shown above the only combination that results in the ball finishing on target is the Straight Shot, (this combination is also the hardest to achieve!). The combinations above also show there is, unfortunately, more than one way to hit the same errant shot!
However, it is possible to to hit golf shots that curve in the air and finish on target, these are the Fade and Draw shot that require more specific swingpath and clubface alignment conditions at impact.
The Fade Shot
   Out to In Swingpath + Clubface Open to Swingpath, = Fade but Closed to ball-to-target line
The Draw Shot
   In to Out Swingpath + Clubface Closed to Swingpath, = Draw but Open to ball-to-target line
In reality, for a good player in particular, the Fade and Draw shots are easier to hit with more regularity than a straight shot. From playing and watching golf yourself you will already be aware that you rarely ever see a perfectly straight shot.
As coaches, when teaching a student and gaining information about their swing from their ball flight we also have to consider the other factors that affect the ball. These are the angle of attack, clubhead speed, quality of strike and the club being used. As stated at the top of the article we have tried to keep this explanation of ball flight as simple as possible by focusing on only the two most important factors that affect ball flight - every shot you hit (even putts) is affected by all of the factors.
We hope you have found this article helpful. If you have any questions or for further information please email us, we are more than happy to help.
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