Every so often, I get searches here whose purpose is very clearly to understand some of the basic terms of golf. Golf has its own vocabulary and the meanings of of the words aren’t always clear.

It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just cosmetic knowledge. But if a teacher or instructional book says that some swing flaw will produce a shot that is fat, thin, chili-dipped, skulled, or some other variation, it’s impossible for players to evaluate their results if they don’t even know what those things mean.

I want to do a few posts that cover all these basic terms to help beginners sort these words out. The intent today is to cover all the terms that describe ball flight path. Later, I’ll follow up with the anatomy of a golf club, terms that describe mis-hits, the vocabulary of the course, and any other editions that come to mind. When we’re done, I hope to have a mini glossary for people to refer to at their leisure.

If you have any terms that you’d like explained, drop them in the comments or shoot me an e-mail.

Understanding Ball Flights

When we talk about golf ball flights, I’m going to assume that “high” and “low” are self-explanatory. What beginners really want to understand are the words that describe how golf balls curve.

Take a look at the following diagram (left handers, just mentally flip it over and it’s the same for you):

You’ve probably seen similar diagrams before, but I felt like doing my own, so there.

Anyway, that diagram sums up all the possible ways that a golf shot can curve in a left/right sense. Keep in mind that these lines are relative to where the body is aimed, not necessarily where the target is. For the purposes of this, we’ll assume the body is aimed at the target.

There are only nine possibilities:

1. Pull hook - the ball starts left of the target and curves even further left.
2. Pull - starts left and keeps going straight left.
3. Pull slice - starts left of the target and moves back to the right.
4. Hook - the ball starts at the target and then curves left.
5. Straight - the ball goes dead straight. Angels sing and pigs begin to fly.
6. Slice - the ball starts at the target then moves to the right. This is the most common ball flight among high handicappers.
7. Push hook - the ball starts right of the target and then curves back toward the left.
8. Push - the ball starts right of the target and keeps going that way.
9. Push slice - the ball starts right and curves even further right.

What about “draw” and “fade”? Well, I’m glad you asked.

I left them off the diagram for simplicity, but they’re probably the most important ball flight paths aside from “straight”. I left them off though, because in reality they’re no different than a hook or slice, where a draw is similar to a hook and a fade is similar to a slice.

The major difference is that draws and fades are controlled and curve much less (sometimes only a couple of yards either way). They’re normally either a product of a person’s natural ball flight tendency or are intentional to suit the needs of a particular shot. The other flight paths are generally unintentional, except in certain circumstances where a more extreme shot curvature is needed.

That covers the basics of understanding the vocabulary of ball flight. What you probably really want to know, though, is what causes these various flights and how to fix them. Unfortunately, the causes and cures are too numerous to name here.

I’ve covered some of them previously in posts (especially curing a slice), so try out the search feature in the side bar to find more information. If you need more information and I haven’t covered what you’re looking for, then shoot me an e-mail.

Stay tuned next week when I’ll pick up again with terms that describe the anatomy of a golf club.

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