Trackman Fever, Trackman Fever, It's Driving Me Crazy...

A poster over at Brian Manzella's forum (www.brianmanzella.com) posted up some of his results on Trackman. So I wanted to post them up here so we can see what the results on Trackman look like and then my interpretation on them. Now, I'm still a bit of a novice on Trackman, so my interpretation may be a little off. Here goes.

1. Clubhead speed = 87.3
2. Ball speed = 127.1
3. Attack angle = -3.4
4. Club Path = 5.7
5. Vert swing plane = 63.1
6. Horiz swing plane = 3.9
7. Dyn Loft = 11.3
8. Face angle = -3.6
9. Smash factor = 1.46
10. Vert. angle = 7.2
11. Horiz angle = -0.9
12. Spin rate = 6194
13. Spin axis = -17.9
14. Max Height = 15.5
15. Carry = 165.4

While I have talked about how much a golfer needs to 'swing left' with the AoA being negative, that's provide the golfer's face angle is square to the target at impact. That's not the case here as the golfers face angle is -3.6* (closed) at impact.

With the face angle closed like this, it's very difficult to not draw the ball to some degree because this effectively makes any club path more inside-to-out.

The 2 factors to look for as far as path goes are horizontal plane and club path. I've been told that club path in Trackman data is basically the combination of the horizontal swing plane and the AoA, although I'm not quite sure how it's figured. Here it says the horizontal swing plane is +3.9, which means the clubhead is going 3.9* to the right (which imparts hook spin). This should result in a shot that starts left and hooks left. Many golfers w/o Trackman would probably misinterpret this as an 'over the top move', but in reality there's a problem with the clubface as the path is actually in-to-out quite bit.

16. Side = 29.3L
17. Length = 178.5
18. Side yards = 34.1 L

These shots are all with a 6-iron and the golfer here hit this 6-iron 178.5 yards which is nice. Ever kill an iron, but it pulls and then hooks even more and you wish that you could hit it like this all of the time, but just manage to start this straight at the target instead of pulling it? That's exactly what this shot was.

1. Clubhead speed = 86.5
2. Ball speed = 116.1
3. Attack angle = -0.8
4. Club Path = 3.3
5. Vert swing plane = 62.7
6. Horiz swing plane = 2.9
7. Dyn Loft = 18.3
8. Face angle = 2.0
9. Smash factor = 1.34
10. Vert. angle = 12.7
11. Horiz angle = 2.4
12. Spin rate = 6475
13. Spin axis = -3.4
14. Max Height = 23.0
15. Carry = 156.9

Face angle here is 2.0* (open). The AoA (angle of attack) is only -0.8 and the clubhead speed and smash factor are a bit low here. I would say that there was probably a lot of 'throwaway'/flipping going on here or a very extreme circular delivery path and full sweep release, ala Tom Watson...but I'm guessing it's more of the former than the latter.

The horizontal swing plane is 2.9*meaning that the clubhead is going less than 1* to the right of the face angle. I would say a slight push with a tiny draw.

16. Side = 0.4R
17. Length = 164.6
18. Side yards = 0.1 R

This says a slight push that practically went straight. I'm guessing that the wind may have straightened this out and the golfer may have missed the sweetspot slightly to cause the ball to not draw.

1. Clubhead speed = 91.8
2. Ball speed = 124.9
3. Attack angle = -4.7
4. Club Path = 5.4
5. Vert swing plane = 54.2
6. Horiz swing plane = 2.0
7. Dyn Loft = 18.3
8. Face angle = 2.4
9. Smash factor = 1.36
10. Vert. angle = 12.7
11. Horiz angle = 3.1
12. Spin rate = 6943
13. Spin axis = -2.0
14. Max Height = 28.4
15. Carry = 166.9

A nice angle of attack here, although probably a tad too much. IF the face angle was square here at impact, the golfer would need to 'swing left' by 2.35 degrees in order to hit a straight shot. Instead, the face angle is +2.4*, so it is open to the target at impact. The horizontal swing plane is 2.0* so the clubhead is going slightly left of the face angle. This should impart a slight push that goes fairly straight or with a slight fade.

16. Side = 2.7R
17. Length = 172.3
18. Side yards = 2.5 R

Yes, a slight push here with a slight fade on it.

1. Clubhead speed = 87.1
2. Ball speed = 114.0
3. Attack angle = -1.1
4. Club Path = 3.9
5. Vert swing plane = 57.6
6. Horiz swing plane = 3.2
7. Dyn Loft = 19.8
8. Face angle = 6.5
9. Smash factor = 1.31
10. Vert. angle = 13.6
11. Horiz angle = 5.7
12. Spin rate = 7088
13. Spin axis = 0.1
14. Max Height = 23.4
15. Carry = 153.1

AoA is minimal here, only -1.1* with a 6-iron. With a 6-iron, the AoA should be around -3.5*. I remember hitting a 6-iron on Trackman before my swing improved and my AoA was -2.8* and I hit it ridiculously high back then. So -1.1* with any type of decent clubhead speed would cause some very high shots.

The face angle is WIDE open here at 6.5*. When the face gets wide open like this, it's almost impossible to not slice it. The past week I have struggled with my game and I finally felt like I got it straightened out a couple of days ago, but I began to hit a push with a big fade, despite feeling like I was taking a pretty good motion thru the ball. Understanding the 'new ball flight laws' and D-Plane, I deducted that my path was pretty good, but my clubface was wide open, causing a pretty good path to now effectively be more out-to-in which causes the big fade. I finally realized that my face was open at address, causing it to be open at impact.

Here, the horizontal swing plane is +3.2*, which is quite a bit out to the right. However, with the face angle being so open at impact, the golfer should hit a pretty big block fade here.

16. Side = 16.2R
17. Length = 159.9
18. Side yards = 17.0 R

Yep, dead to the right.

However, like the first result, most golfers would probably think they are coming over the top of the ball and that is causing the slice. Instead, the problem is the face angle was so far wide open that any golfer could not help but slice the ball with that type of face angle at impact.




3JACK