People have the wrong perspective on what the swing looks like when hitting a straight shot, fade, or a draw. I have explained what the path and club face should be doing to hit either of the shots, but today, I want to show you the visual of how it all works.
I am using my world renowned Trackman program to show you how you can improve your shot shaping along with adding distance to your game.
Below is Allan Haughie hitting a straight shot. The Red Line is where the face is pointing at impact. The blue line indicates the path of the swing, and the pink line is tracking the ball flight.
When looking at his details of what happened during the shot, you will notice that his path is “in to out” 2.7 to the right. His face angle is open 0.7 of a degree. As you can see, the shot is fairly straight, which changes the thoughts of people who feel that the club face must be absolutely square.
When hitting any shot, here are a few points to remember, the angle of attack, which is the angle the club approaches the ball, should be between a -2 degree angle and a +2 angle. Anywhere in that bracket is acceptable. Allan is at a – 0.8 degree angle, which means he slightly hits down on the ball. Ideally, we would like to see a positive angle into the ball.
When creating the ideal trajectory, the ball should be launched between 10 degrees and 12 degrees. Allan is launching it at 10.1 degrees.
A critical aspect of getting distance is having the correct ball spin. When the ball gets hit, the ball spins backwards! People feel they are putting top spin on the ball, but in actual fact, when a ball comes out stronger, it means the spin rate is less. Ideally, you want to spin the ball 3000 revolutions per minute or less, depending of your ball speed. Allan is spinning the ball at 2596rpm’s, which is great.
This shot indicates how a fade is played.
As you can see, Allan’s attack angle is a little steep at -7 degrees. Hitting down when wanting to hit a fade is more common than hitting on a rising angle. Again, I would like to see his attack angle at a brack of -2 to +2.
Allan’s launch angle is still great at 10.3 degrees. The spin rate on the shot is 2652rpm’s, whicn is under the 3000rpm bracket.
The interesting factor that you will note is that the face angle is pointing to the left and so is the path. The face angle is pointing to the left by -3 degrees. Allan’s path is to the left by -5.1 degrees. The path is further left than the face angle which creates the movement of the ball to shape left to right.
When hitting a fade, you will normally calculate that you will not hit the ball as fas as normal.
You will note that Allan carried the ball 261.2m and the ball finished rolling at 283.6m. Pretty impressive for a fade!
Another point that you can look at, is that how Allan has rotated his body. The is critical! If Allan did not rotate his hips, the ball would start straight or to the right and go further right. The club golfer really needs to work on their hip rotation to help the accuracy and distance of the shot.
The last shot that I want to show you is the draw! This shot is sort after by many golfers and with many golfers, rarely achieved.
When looking at my attack angle, you will note that it is on a positive angle of 0.7. This is important when wanting to hit a correct draw!
The interesting point that you will note is that my path is to the right by 6.0 degrees and my face angle is to the right 4.6 degrees. This will help start the ball to the right. People feel that the club face should be rolled over by the hands to create a draw. As we can see here, that is not the case.
I will make a quick point, which can be confusing, so please read carefully.
My path is to the right 6.0 degrees, and my face angle is to the right 4.6 degrees, but in actual fact, my club face is CLOSED 1.4 degrees in relation to the path, which helps me create a slight draw.
If you are a little confused about this point, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will help you get a clear understanding on what I mean.
In regards to my launch angle, I am launching the ball at 10.8 degrees, which is good, but my spin rate is a little high at 3084rpm’s, which is causing me to lose distance on this shot. If my spin rate was around 2500rpms, I would add 10m or more to my shot.
A little note to remember,
- The club face generally starts the ball on the line you want to hit the ball.
- It is easier to hit a draw with a smooth swing
- Spin rate is an important indicator to how much distance you can gain or lose
- A negative attack angle will more commonly help create a controlled fade
- A positive attack angle will help create a draw and distance to your game
