NWJocko
Tour Winner
Clubface square to swing path hit out of centre of Clubface = straight
Clubface square to swing path hit out of toe = draw/hook due to gear effect
That's how I understand it anyway......
Is the difference between a bad round and a great round mostly Gear Effect?
- Thread starter John_Findlay
- Start date
Clubface square to swing path hit out of centre of Clubface = straight
Clubface square to swing path hit out of toe = draw/hook due to gear effect
That's how I understand it anyway......
USER1999
Grand Slam Winner
If the club face was flat, on most shots you would see far worst results than the odd bad result due to gear effect. It makes a club more forgiving. If you're striking it so badly that gear effect is a hindrance, give the game up, and take up something easier, like knitting.
FairwayDodger
Money List Winner
Me too. Not wanting to misquote the pro from my lesson but, IIRC, he reckoned a toe strike could be equivalent to hitting with the club face up to 6 degrees closed.
JustOne
Ryder Cup Winner
^
^
^
This.
Balance is probably something you could work on, that in itself can help with your consistency of strike. it's unlikely that you have as much as a 2cm variance in your impact very often (playing off 6) as that's quite a lot, if you do then it's just a bad day
John_Findlay
Tour Winner
Wow. That's some difference. Interesting.
Yip. Good point. Balance is so often forgotten.
John_Findlay
Tour Winner
Yip. And that's how I understood it, too...... until this week, when I watched this video about hitting your irons.
http://youtu.be/uelExstv-no
It's correct if you hit the ball at the very bottom of your swing arc but basically, this and a related video say that if you hit your irons correctly, i.e. with a downward strike, before the clubhead reaches the bottom of the swing arc, then you're going to send the ball straight... but right of your aim path (with a neutral/perfect swing path). How much depends on the angle of the downward strike. Clever people have calculated that the amount you will hit it right is half of that angle.
So if you have a downward strike angle of 6 degrees (reasonable for a wedge) then you'll hit the ball 3 degrees right. Doesn't sound much but simple geometry shows a miss to the right of over 5 yards. Take that out to 150 yards and it's up to 8 yards.
The frustrating thing is that this is all new to me after 35 years of playing the game. But it's all been shown to be correct by TrackMan technology. So if I have a perfect swing path and I'm hitting 6 degrees down on the ball I should be aiming 5 yards left of the pin from 100 yards and 8 yards left at 150 yards.
I know this is all theoretical for us amateur golfers but I do like to at least understand the physics of the situation.
I'll get my coat.
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Imurg
The Grinder Of Pars (Semi Crocked)
This is exactly the kind of thing I don't want to be thinking about.
Although its interesting it doesn't seem to relate to me on the course
IF I hit down 6° with a wedge then I need to aim 5 yards left - but that relies on a perfect swing.
Mine, like most of ours, isn't in the same Galaxy as the Pros who would benefit from this information. If my life depended on it I would need plenty of tries to make that swing.
Some like to know the minute details of angles,arcs and planes - dont let me stop your fun. But I couldnt, mentally, cope with all that on the course. It's too easy to think about too much as it is.
Although its interesting it doesn't seem to relate to me on the course
IF I hit down 6° with a wedge then I need to aim 5 yards left - but that relies on a perfect swing.
Mine, like most of ours, isn't in the same Galaxy as the Pros who would benefit from this information. If my life depended on it I would need plenty of tries to make that swing.
Some like to know the minute details of angles,arcs and planes - dont let me stop your fun. But I couldnt, mentally, cope with all that on the course. It's too easy to think about too much as it is.
I'm in the hit it, find it, hit it again. About 16yrs ago I started a series of lessons from a then recently retired European Tour player. My head got so filled with complex swing thoughts my game disintegrated. Its a simple game, with little need to make it complex.
However, whilst gear effect might improve a bad shot or turn an iffy shot into an horrendous one, you are forgetting that a bad shot can be negated by a good recovery. Short game is the key to this fine game. As my long game diminishes with age, it is the short game that keeps the score decent.
However, whilst gear effect might improve a bad shot or turn an iffy shot into an horrendous one, you are forgetting that a bad shot can be negated by a good recovery. Short game is the key to this fine game. As my long game diminishes with age, it is the short game that keeps the score decent.
MadAdey
Money List Winner
What the hell is this all about? If I hit a bad shot I don't think about it, I just move on and hit the next shot perfectly.
Best lesson I ever got was in the art of "even the best golfers hit bad shots" by a +4 handicapper at Spalding. Had a knock one Sunday afternoon with him and he hit just as many bad shots as me, difference was he didn't care or get hung up on why. He just moved on to the next shot and got himself out the crap he was in. Walked off the course and he was 7 shots better than me, even though it appeared that we hit as many fairways and greens as each other.
Best lesson I ever got was in the art of "even the best golfers hit bad shots" by a +4 handicapper at Spalding. Had a knock one Sunday afternoon with him and he hit just as many bad shots as me, difference was he didn't care or get hung up on why. He just moved on to the next shot and got himself out the crap he was in. Walked off the course and he was 7 shots better than me, even though it appeared that we hit as many fairways and greens as each other.
Ethan
Money List Winner
Some of my best rounds have been days when I wasn't hitting the ball off the tee very well, but good enough, and scraping the ball up on the green somewhere, so nothing great but nothing terrible either. Maybe the first few holes kicked off a conservative strategy of fairways and greens and no going for par 5s in 2.
I suspect the head (between the ears) is a greater contributor to the difference than the head at the end of the shaft.
I suspect the head (between the ears) is a greater contributor to the difference than the head at the end of the shaft.
garyinderry
Ryder Cup Winner
Toe strikes do not cause the ball to duck hook on their own. They cause some hook movement but the shot is saved by the bulge and roll built into the driver face.
It starts the ball out to the right to allow for it to curve back with the hook shape.
Face strike , coupled with how much you mess up face and path will determine how back that hook will be.
It starts the ball out to the right to allow for it to curve back with the hook shape.
Face strike , coupled with how much you mess up face and path will determine how back that hook will be.
John_Findlay
Tour Winner
Agreed. But I'm certainly prone to them when I'm playing for a hard draw (a hook) and I hit the ball off the toe.
There's a long par 4 dogleg left I play where a hard draw around the corner means the difference between a 3 iron in to the hole and a gap wedge. Cleverly there's OOB on the left. Guess where I often end up?
At least with this knowledge I can think about hitting the ball between centre and heel if I'm trying to avoid the OOB.
