Angle of Attack!

When I ask children I teach at Whittlebury Park and at local schools what they think Angle of Attack means, they come out with some classics. ‘How to attack your opponent’ was one response. ‘Is it something to do with fishing’ was another.

I don’t expect kids new to the game to understand what angle of attack is but I believe it’s very important that experienced golfers wanting to improve understand the concept and importance of this. Get it right and it will help you strike the ball as well as you can and as efficiently as you can. Get it wrong and you could be hitting your driver the same distance as your 6 iron.

But what does it mean?

The angle of attack (or angle of approach it has been known as) is the vertical angle of the clubhead compared to the ground. Get the angle of attack wrong and you could be hitting fat or thin irons, with the driver you could be topping or ‘skying’ (popping up) the driver. All destructive shots and all very common mistakes in amateur golfers, sometimes occurring in professionals, albeit very rarely.

But what is the correct angle of attack and how do I achieve it?

This depends on what club you’re hitting. For an iron, the club needs to hit downwards to ‘pinch and collect’ the ball from the surface (only slightly………3 degrees down being a good number) with the driver ideally requiring an upward angle of attack due to the fact it is sitting up on a tee and has the 2nd lowest loft of any club in the bag (behind the putter). An upward angle of attack with a driver will help you launch the ball higher and lower the spin rate, leading to longer drives. For example, a player who swings the driver at 75 mph and hits down by 5 degrees can achieve a driver potential distance of 178 yards. A player who swings the driver at the same speed but hits UP by 5 degrees can achieve a potential distance of 199 yards due to higher launch and less spin being imparted on the golf ball.

I see too many higher handicappers hit down with the driver, usually resulting in the 3 wood or even some irons going further than the driver and questioning the need to use a driver.

The most effective way of hitting up on the driver and hitting down on a driver lies in the set up. For the driver, to hit more up on the ball, tilting the spine AWAY from the target (giving the impression and feel the right shoulder is lower than the left for a right-handed golfer). This will help the club move in more of an upward direction, enabling the low point of the golf club to be slightly before striking the golf ball, then the club has no choice to move upwards.

For the iron, to be able to hit downwards, is the opposite. The trick is to lean SLIGHTLY (I emphasise the word ‘slightly’) towards the target, with the handle of the golf club ahead of the ball at impact.

Play to your strengths!

Put your hands in the air............ If you slice the ball???

Put your hands in the air........ If you fade the ball???? 

I can imagine those of you reading this now are getting funny looks from whoever is around you now wondering what on earth you are doing. 

The fact is the majority of golfers out there curve the ball to the right  (for a right handed golfer..... apologies if anyone thinks I'm being 'leftist') 

As mentioned in a previous post, type in 'cure my slice' into YouTube and over 3 million items appear, all telling a slightly different story on how to cure what is to a golfer one of the wonders of this great game, the elusive curve to the right that seems at times it has a mind of its own, not dissimilar to a shopping trolley that somehow cannot go in a straight line. 

The days, months, years even of a golfer trying to turn this slice into a draw has often bewildered a lot of players to pure frustration, leaving them baffled if they are capable of seeing at least one of their shots fly to the left of target whilst starting it's flight right, the true definition of a draw.

However, and my point in this blog post...... don't give up if you have a slice. 

In fact, I'm telling you to use it to your advantage! 

Before you start clicking on another page and telling me I'm crazy, hear me out. 

In his superb work, Dr Dave Alred, ex England Rugby kicking coach to Jonny Wilkinson and elite performance coach to many top Rugby players and golfers, Dave talks a lot about the difference between the practice area/driving range and the course.

The environment, the pressure, the way the ball sits, the hazards...... there are a plethora of variations out on the golf course compared to the serenity of the driving range. Plenty of golf balls, a big wide open space and zero hazards.

Now, my question to you is this? 

Why are we fixing a slice on the golf course when, because of the difference in environment, it is nearly impossible to make a swing change on the course? 

Too many golfers expect to change their swing and ball flight on the course. It makes sense in some ways...... weekend golfers who don't get to practice much during the week, there's no other time to tune the swing so it's on the course or not at all.

Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is flawed. Because of the constraints of the golf course environment, our body and club will simply revert back to what we know..... our old slice swing. We see hazards so our brain and body want to feel comfortable, thus remaining with our default slice action!

The chances of changing a slice that's been with you for years and years and turning it into a draw one day on the golf course is about as remote as winning the lottery 3 times in a row! 

So what can we do to improve? 

We can play to our strengths. A slice, for some of you, may not appear to be a strength. But I am telling you, in a lot of circumstances, it can well be. 

Think about it like this. I hear a lot of players say they want consistency. I usually translate this word into something else relative to golf...... and that's Predictability! 

Having a predictable ball flight is one of the holy grails of the game. The chance to know and predict pretty much what that ball will do when it leaves the clubface.

The great Seve Ballesteros couldn't do it. Known as 'the car park' champion, keeping the ball in play and low level of predictable ball flight was always one of his flaws. 

If you are absolutely sure of that ball flying from left to right (again, sorry leftie golfers), play for it on the golf course. DO NOT CORRECT ON THE GOLF COURSE! 

I REPEAT..... DO NOT CORRECT ON THE GOLF COURSE! 

In trying to correct, you run the risk of an extremely unpredictable ball flight on the course.

Don't get me wrong. Try and correct it on the driving range or practice are by all means. A place of serenity and where it doesn't matter where the ball goes. As Dave Alred said in his seminal book 'The Pressure Principle', 'Repair the technique on the driving range, play to your strengths out on the course' 

'The Flight of the ball tells it all'

Ok, so some of you golf geeks out there will have heard this quote before from the legend that is Mr John Jacobs. A true legend of the game who played to a high standard, coached to a (very) high standard, a founder of the European Tour and was captain of the European Ryder Cup teams in 1979 and 1981. Many a coach hangs by his every word, and rightfully so.

For me, his most famous quote is the one in the headline though. It is quite possibly the most important phrase in golfing folklore. It is the difference between scratch golfers and tour players. It's the difference between high handicaps and low handicaps..... it Is that vital! For you to reach your potential, you HAVE to know how your ball flight is created. It's that simple. You CANNOT reach your potential by simply trying to contort your body into the various positions you think it has to be. You cannot reach your potential by simply adhering to every piece of advice your playing partners tell you to improve your swing. They might indeed help you swing it more like Ernie Els, but will it improve YOUR BALL FLIGHT.

This is what this game is all about. It is not a game of who swings the club the sexiest (although can be admired in many a golfing circle), it is not a game of who can keep their head down the longest (we will come to this in a minute), and its not a game of who can hit the ball the furthest (although, again, admired by many a player).

It is all about what your ball does. The ball has no clue whether you're 10 years old or 90 years old. It doesn't know what your handicap is or whether you're a beginner or not. Your game is wholly influenced by where your golf ball travels.

Now, lets come onto the famous phrase I mentioned earlier that a lot swear by to aid their golfing improvement and send them into elite stardom on the golf course...... keep your head down (or another version is keep your eye on the ball)! It is quite possibly the WORST phrase ever to be used and has hindered far more golfers than it has helped (cue the gasps from readers who have given this advice out to all and sundry to help them play better). I taught nearly 2000 lessons last year, all golfers of various abilities, ages, physical abilities who came to me with a range of issues such as  topping the ball, shanking, fatting, thinning and more. As you can see, many differing array of shots here. And can you guess how many of these bad shots were caused by their head lifting up or taking their eyes off the ball? NONE! None at all. Zero. Not one bad shot was caused by taking their eye off the ball. They were all caused by various other issues, commonly the club being out of position at impact but not due to their original theory of their head potentially looking away from the ball.

For some reason it seems that this phrase has grown like a fungus. Everyone has got hold of it and taken it for gospel as though it is the most important aspect to better golf. It couldn't be further from the truth. In my opinion, this phrase originated and taken very much out of context when a lot of golf instruction books from decades ago encouraged you to keep your head still. As still as can be! This, again, has been proven to be a (slight) falsification as there has to be a little movement of the head during the swing. Not many people have the ability to rotate their body and keep their head in the same place. Still, this is very different from attempting to keep your eye on the ball. Even in other sports you hear it. Footballs a classic. 'He hit it in row z because he didn't keep his eye on the ball'. Nonsense......... he's hit it into row z because his centre of gravity was way behind the ball, striking the ball on the upswing, increasing launch angle and therefore height on the ball.

Please do not tell anyone you are trying to improve (especially beginners) to keep their head down or eye on the ball. It is extremely destructive and will lead to more bad things than good.

Anyway, back to the original post and it's importance.

Whenever I ask a golfer how they are doing and how they feel their golf is going to try and get some feedback into their thoughts and processes they go through, the large majority I would say talk about their golf as to what they are doing in their swing. 'I'm not keeping left arm straight' or 'I'm not turning enough' are very common responses. But the fact is, how do we KNOW we aren't doing these things we think we are meant to be doing? We can't see ourselves swing and maybe get the odd piece of feedback from playing partners to back up our theories. But feel and real are two very different things and therefore it is extremely difficult (but not impossible) to feel exactly what is hindering our best golf in our swings.

So how on earth are we meant to know how to correct our bad shots when we are out on the course if we aren't entirely sure what is happening in our golf swing? 'THE FLIGHT OF THE BALL TELLS IT ALL'. The flight of the ball will tell us exactly what the CLUB is doing. Please note I did say what the 'club' is doing and not the swing. Golfers tend to bypass what the club does and delve straight into the swing. Let me ask you this..................... how do you change a lightbulb? Do you think about simply screwing the bulb in place or do you think about your wrist/forearm rotation and pressure you're holding the bulb with to get it in? If your answer is the latter one, please reassess how you change a lightbulb!

My point to this article................... To improve your golf you need to learn and understand what your bad shot ball flight is, whether it starts right of target and curves further right, starts at the target and curves left, starts left and curves to the right of target and so on, because these can give you the feedback you need to discover what's happening.

My dad always told me when I first started to play the game that 'the ball doesn't lie'. When you were 7 years old you didn't always believe what your dad told you so at the time I was a non-believer in that phrase. How wrong was I!

The club has the biggest influence as stated at the beginning of this article. No two ways about it. But I can hear what you're shouting at your phone or laptop reading this now........ 'the club is influenced by the swing and what YOU tell the club to do'!

And yes, you would be absolutely right. But let me ask you this........... how many things can go wrong in the swing when a bad shot occurs? A LOT! How many things can go wrong with the club when a bad shot occurs? 4.......... clubface open, clubface closed, path of club is out to in too much, path of club is in to out too much. How much easier is it to diagnose a club flaw as opposed to a biomechanical/technical swing flaw? Answer..... A LOT EASIER!

I will leave you with this diagram below. It is a diagram of what the club is doing to influence what the ball does. This should be the holy grail and told to every golfer on the planet because golf is a heck of a lot easier when you are thinking more about what the golf club is doing as opposed to what the body is doing.

View fullsize

Please promise me one thing when you next go to the range or go for a round on course....... when you hit a poor shot (which is inevitable in this game), think about what your golf club did to influence the ball flight and not what your body did to influence it. You will be a lot less frustrated.... trust me!