Plane and Path 2 (Shot Shaping)

I spoke about swing plane and path in "Plane and Path" 1 and how we should consider them in our golf swing.

As explained the plane is an inclined surface running up our club shaft, I would like to expand this a little and consider what happens if the plane and path are not pointing to the target.

Consider the image of a weight swinging in a circle on a piece of string held between your thumb and forefinger to illustrate the swing plane. If your hand was on a 45 degree angle in front of you and not tilted left or right, the weight would make a circular arc around your hand causing the weight to swing down the target line. If the weight was allowed to swing freely, it would be swinging on a perfect plane around your hand.



To imagine the different planes, consider initially the weight swinging on the string down the line (hand not tilted). If you tilted your hand to the left, the weight would swing out to the left, if you tilted your hand to the right, the weight would swing out to the right. So, there are the three different planes you can have: Swinging straight down the target line, swinging down to the left (out to in), swinging out to the right (in to out).

If we swing our club on these planes and the clubface is kept square to plane at impact, the first would send the ball straight, the second would send the ball straight out to the left (Pull) the third plane would send the ball straight out right (Push). So, to generate a straight, pulled or pushed shot we direct our swingplane in the appropriate direction.

Bending the ball:

Now what would happen if the clubface was not square to the swingpath at impact? The face could be open (Pointing right) or closed (Pointing left) It could be open or closed on any of the three swingpaths we discussed above.

If the face is open then it will impart clockwise spin to the ball, this will have the effect of bending the ball to the right. Likewise a closed face will create counterclockwise spin and bend the ball left. The more open or closed the greater the bending effect.




See the diagram below and consider the 9 different ball flights, you will be able to extrapolate from the shot shapes whether the path was down the line (Straight), Out to in or in(left) or, in to out (right). If you add the effect of the clubface being square, open or closed you will see how each of the nine are generated and consider how you may be able to create them yourself as needed.






The skill to be able to shape a shot at will or understand what is happening if your ball flight is not how you want it is very important as your game progresses. I hope this thread will help some in their comprehension of ball flight and how it can be used to your advantage.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

hi Brian
first i would like to say great post.
second i would like to add that there is another way to draw and fade the ball but instead of the face being open or closed through impact, you can hit a draw and fade with a square face but with a swing that comes from the inside
to out as in a draw but the club face square to target and form outside to in with and club face square and this can give you a fade.
i know with my swing my club face is square to my target but my swing path is not on line and that gives me my adjustable fade.
i know when i use to draw the ball my alinement's was closed and my clubhead square and that gave me my draw. but i don't roll my wrists. so dont have the open to square to closed swing path through impact a lot of golfers use.
cheers
bill

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That's right Bill.

I have been writing a few articles that I thought may help beginners to understand some of the basics of the swing path. I have tried to keep it to the fundamentals.

However, if you align closed and point the clubface at the target you are in effect swinging in to out and closing the face. If you align open and point the clubface at target you are swinging out to in and opening the clubface. The ball does not understand how we stand or what we do with the clubface, it only knows how the club strikes it and reacts in the way physics demand.

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

________________________________
Funny o'l game!

Very clearly put Bri. Nice one.

The ball is the best teacher.