Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Video Every Golfer Should Watch

Presented by our friends at The Golf Evolution



One of the questions I often hear is Jack Nicklaus describing how he hits a draw or a fade by either closing the clubface or opening the clubface at address and then making his normal swing.

Or you hear about the golfer who was taught that you aim the clubface where you want the ball to wind up and then aim your body to where you want the ball to start and why that works for them.

Regardless if those methods work for you, the FACT is that the initial direction will be pretty much where the clubface is pointing at impact/seperation. So with Nicklaus' technique, if it did indeed work for him (Jack didn't work the ball much) at impact his clubface wasn't closed for a hook that winds up at the target...it was OPEN.

If it works for you consistently, then I would keep doing what you are doing. But chances are it really doesn't work as consistently as you claim and understanding the ball flight laws will allow you to better work the ball (and actually understand all of your golf shots).







3JACK

5 comments:

houlie4 said...

ok... so i'm trying to get something clear in my head... I'm fighting a hook that either starts left and keeps hooking, or starts straight and hooks.

so that would mean my clubface is either ok to slightly closed and my path is... this is where i'm not sure. in to out a bit too much? i feel like i come over the top fairly often...

any guidance would be appreciated! thanks

Rich H. said...

It's probably a clubface problem and that your clubface gets too closed at impact. Even the shot that starts at the target and hooks left could be a case of incorrect aim at address or a slightly closed clubface with a path well out to the right.

My guess is your path is out to the right as well, but the face is your main issue. Get that more square or slightly open at impact and you'll hit a push draw to the target.

Erik J. Barzeski said...

Agreed with what Rich said. And Michael Breed would have given you the opposite answer...

Dave and I had fun hitting those shots. We were surprised nobody had filmed a similar video yet - it makes it awfully tough to argue that the path controls the face.

FWIW the balls were struck with nearly full swings. These weren't little chip shots (the divots should tell you as much).

houlie4 said...

thanks folks... can't wait to get back at it.

BerkeleyRican said...

i think people disbelieve the ball flight laws because they miss that while they may line up the clubface direction square to the target and adjust the clubface path to work the ball, they forget that the clubface may not be really square at all when the ball is actually hit. so if i want to hit a draw, i naturally swing inside out to work the ball, but unconsciously my brain tells my hands to leave the clubface direction a little open so that the ball starts right of the target and inside the clubface path to work the ball from right to left. same thing applys with a fade.

i think people find the ball flight laws confusing because they think that the clubhead path is the only contributing factor to working the ball.

but the truth is that you need two factors to move the ball, clubface direction and path. thanks for the vids on this.