Go with the fade exclusively and work on your game....

The way i understand it from this thread ball flight works like this:

Ball start is determined solely by clubface angle.

The ball flight is determined by the relation between clubface and swing path.
If the angle between swing path and clubface is more than 90 degrees the ball will curve left to right and if it is less than 90 degrees it will curve right to left.

Correct?

yes.

Just want to point out that the initial direction is mostly determined by club face angle -- about 80-85%, club path is the other 15-20%. Also, curve of the ball can be affected by where it strikes on club face (heel shots tend to fade, toe shots tend to draw) because of the gear effect. The face of woods are bulged slightly to start the ball in the opposite direction and have the curve bring it back on target.

Yeah, I'll say. Thanks for posting this, found it really helpful my last couple of sessions/rounds. I'm just a beginner/hack but hitting a fade this way has actually reduced my fade and cut way back on the flares. Can even hit a draw now, which is a nice option to have.

Question I have is about back swing. Should it remain the same whether going for draw or fade (or, straight)? So far I've been changing it to make sure I'm getting the swing path I want to try, but is that something I need to eliminate moving forward?

I would love to play a fade exclusively but mine balloon into the wind. If someone's fade is too spinny, what variable should they adjust to get it to fly more like a power fade? It's almost like there's more than one kind of fade, a penetrating, drifting one and an upshooting weak piece of cheese- although they may curve the same amount.

your swing is probably a bit too steep. A steep swing(especially one traveling out to in) will generally produce a ton of back spin. Try to shallow it out a little bit, so your angle of attack into the ball isn't so high.

This. You are probably hitting a stabby cut shot. It is not the stabbing cut across the line you are looking for. You want a nice compressed divot with 6 iron through wedge but the divots should still be shallow dollar bill shaped divots, not this diamond shaped divots pointed way left of target.

I do too. Dagolfdoc and I are getting a TrackMan in the very near future and I am very much looking forward to playing around with it and looking at as much data as I can.

My instructor here in Dallas got one about 2 months ago. It has been so hot the thing keeps freezing so I haven't really got to play with it too much, but it is awesome. TM is building a MAT system at his club right now as well.

What can you do to work on this? I find that many of my divots are pointed left of the target and almost all of them are deeper towards the toe and shallower towards the heel. The shape is not a rectangle either, more like a trapezoid/triangle type shape. Btw I'm not a terrible player, prob around a 10-12 handicap.

Also, thanks for sharing this. I've always been under the impression that club path determines the takeoff direction. Interesting what you can learn when you take a more scientific approach to golf.

My irons are somehow much straighter ... how about on Driver/3 wood? Likely still too steep of a path?

kelbs and aces, applies to both of you.

Weight more left at impact. Especially lower body. That move shallows the club and gives you a chance to have your hands ahead at impact.

Cool thanks, I'll work on this next time I play. One thing I try to do is start the downswing from the top with my left hip, but maybe it will also be helpful to get some movement in the left knee? If I'm not mistaken, Hogan has a huge lateral shift to the left with the lower body in his swing.

Trackman is awesome. If you get a chance to hit on one with someone who knows how to interpret the numbers, do it.


Some interesting stuff I learned:

Hitting a draw is a distance killer. A slight pull-fade goes farther. A push/straight shot goes much farther.