Sounds simple, right? Not exactly. The USGA handicap system is extremely sophisticated and complex. If you’ve ever wondered what it all means – well, I can’t tell you what all of it means, but let’s cover some of the basics and get your understanding of handicaps up to scratch (sorry for the handicap pun).

Before we get into it, I want to mention that golf handicaps are serious business. The USGA handicap manual is the final word on the subject, and it should be consulted for the latest official rules and regulations. Click here to access it online.

Handicap Index

Let’s start with the most basic concept: the Handicap Index. According to the USGA:

A “Handicap Index” is the USGA’s service mark used to indicate a measurement of a player’s potential ability on a course of standard playing difficulty. It is expressed as a number taken to one decimal place (e.g., 10.4) and is used for conversion to a Course Handicap.

This is where it all begins. This is the number that the Golf Handicap and Information Network^® (GHIN^®) system spits out every two weeks after you’ve entered at least five scores. Once you have a handicap index, then you’re portable. You can go to any other course that has been rated and compete against another player with a handicap index.

To do that, you need to convert your Handicap Index into a Course Handicap. Each course is different, so there are a couple of pieces of information that go into the computation: The USGA Course Rating and the Slope Rating

USGA Course Rating

The USGA Course Rating is defined as:

A “USGA Course Rating” is the USGA’s mark that indicates the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for a scratch golfer under normal course and weather conditions. It is expressed as strokes taken to one decimal place, and is based on yardage and other obstacles to the extent that they affect the scoring ability of a scratch golfer.

What that means is that the USGA has come and evaluated a particular course to gauge the difficulty. Aside from yardage and obstacles, things like effective length are calculated. For instance, the prevailing wind or relative quickness of the fairways is considered.

It’s quite a comprehensive analysis of a course.

Less well known than the USGA Course Rating is the Bogey Rating. It’s like the Course Rating, but instead gauges the relative difficulty of a course for a bogey golfer instead of a scratch player.

Slope Rating

The other piece of required course-specific information is the Slope Rating. The Slope Rating is defined as:

A “Slope Rating” is the USGA’s mark that indicates the measurement of the relative difficulty of a course for players who are not scratch golfers compared to the USGA Course Rating (e.g., compared to the difficulty of a course for scratch golfers). A Slope Rating is computed from the difference between the Bogey Rating and the USGA Course Rating. The lowest Slope Rating is 55 and the highest is 155. A golf course of standard playing difficulty has a Slope Rating of 113.

For men, the Slope Rating is computed using the following formula: 5.381 x (Bogey Rating – USGA Course Rating). For women, the formula is: 4.24 x (Bogey Rating – USGA Course Rating).

Wow! That’s a lot of work to get a handicap!

The good news is, you don’t have to do any heavy math. The Course Rating and Slope Rating are done for you ahead of time. Your handicap index is calculated through a very complex formula. Now, you just need to turn that into strokes given or gotten.

Some courses have handicap charts where you just look up the Course Handicap in a big table. The other alternative is to compute it by hand.

To do that, you simply multiply your Handicap Index by the Slope Rating and divide by 113, then round to the nearest whole number. Let’s say your Handicap Index is 10.2 and your home course has a Slope Rating of 121, as mine does. That results in a Course Handicap of 11 strokes. That means you’d get 11 strokes when competing against a scratch player.

Applying The Course Handicap

Now, all that remains is to apply your handicap to your score. If you get 11 strokes, as in the example above, then you’d get one stroke back on each of the 11 most difficult holes. If you look at your scorecard, there’s a handicap listed for each hole (one for the men and one for the ladies). These are used to order the holes by relative difficulty. On each of the holes numbered 1 through 11, you’d adjust your gross score by subtracting a stroke.

That’s it! Welcome to the level playing field.

Equitable Stroke Control

Equitable Stroke Control is a mechanism that keeps handicaps from making huge swings as a result of blow-up holes. Handicaps are supposed to be representative of potential playing ability. Even a scratch player can have a bad hole now and again with a really high score. Without some protection in place, handicaps would fluctuate too drastically.

ESC is a cap placed on how large a score you can count for handicap purposes for an individual hole. For a scratch player, no score of higher than double bogey can be counted. For instance, say that a scratch player scores a 10 on a par-four hole during a round. For handicap purposes, the score would be adjusted before entering it into the handicap system. The score for the hole would be a 6, dropping 4 strokes from the final score.

Players with higher handicaps are allowed to post scores composed of hole scores higher than double bogey. Refer to the handicap manual for a table of ESC limits.

Criticism

The USGA has put a lot of effort into developing a robust handicap system. The question you might have: is it fair?

One of the criticisms I’ve heard is that low-handicappers are at a disadvantage when playing against high-handicappers. The reasoning behind that is that for a scratch player, scores don’t vary much. On the other hand, high-handicappers are much more likely to have wide swings in scores. It might be a 95 one day and 80 the next. In competition, a high handicapper is more likely to have a “round of a lifetime” and end up with something crazy like a net 60 score. A scratch amateur is less likely to do that.

That’s part of the reason that competitions use flights, so that there are several levels of players. That ensures that there isn’t too large a gap in skill levels.

Another issue that crops up is sand bagging, where players enter purposely inflated scores in hopes of getting a higher handicap and thus undeserved strokes. This isn’t really a weakness in the handicap system, though. Like golf itself, the integrity of handicaps relies on the integrity of the players. Cheating is cheating, and sand bagging is cheating.

There’s another class of pseudo-sandbaggers: players that keep honest scores, but who don’t really try as hard, and don’t score as well, during rounds that don’t count. These players may not intend to cheat the system, but the end result is the same: an inflated handicap.

In spite of the criticisms, my personal feeling is that the handicap system does a fairly good job of leveling the playing field for players of differing ability. It’s certainly better than negotiating strokes on the first tee, or not at all.

There’s So Much More

Believe it or not, this post barely scratches the surface of the handicap system. It really is that complex and extensive. There are caveats for tournament scores versus practice scores, nine-hole scores, unacceptable scores, and so much else.

The good news is, players only really need to know a few of the concepts, and I pretty much covered those above. Play honest rounds (by the rules), keep and accurate score, enter it with ESC applied and you’re doing your part. Your Handicap Index will be as valid as it can be.

As I said at the top, refer to the USGA website for all the details about the handicap system. If you’re interested in learning more, the online reference has more information than you probably want to know. Enjoy, and remember – keep accurate scores and post them all, or else I’m not giving you any strokes (I’ll take strokes, though).

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Further Reading:

USGA Handicap Information

Golf Handicap and Information Network^® and GHIN^® are registered trademarks of the United States Golf Association.

© 2007-2010 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

All About Handicaps

The swing itself is a fairly simple action with a LOT of complexity in the actual movements. Sometimes beginners don’t even understand what it means to stay on plane. For this installment, we’re going to take a look at the idea of swing plane and some of the concepts surrounding it.

Swing Plane

Once you understand what it is, it seems so simple. But, visualizing it is tough.

If you remember the word plane from your geometry class in school, you’ll recall that it’s simply a flat surface, like a pane of glass. In golf, we refer to plane as the flat “surface” (at address) starting from the ball and moving up through the hands and behind the player.

Here’s a photo I doctored up to show it:

The white line represents the imaginary pane of glass we’re talking about. It extends back toward the camera and forward toward the target, with the golfer standing in a hole in the center.

When we talk about an on-plane swing (or one-plane swing), we’re talking about the club, hands, and shoulders staying on or parallel to that plane throughout the swing.

Keep in mind that when the player reaches the top of the back swing (in an on-plane swing), his hands, club, shoulders, and club won’t be touching that imaginary line I drew. They will be above it, but will still all be parallel to it. This is because his arms are connected to his shoulders and the plane passes through his waist and lower back at address. What is important is the relation of hand, left arm, club, and shoulder planes to each other at that point of the swing.

(Update: when I initially wrote the paragraph above, I hadn’t read Jim Hardy’s books on the subject.  What I learned is that, in fact, the club, left arm, and shoulders will be on the same plane.  What I didn’t understand is that in the one-plane swing, the player is more bent over at address.  Therefore, the plane of the shoulders is less “flat”.)

The angle of the plane itself depends on several factors, but height and body type are two big ones. The angle of the plane with relation to the ground can vary widely between individuals and the angle captured in the image above is the plane for that specific individual. It can be a flat plane that is more close to horizontal, or it can be an upright plane that is more close to vertical.

There are a few ways to describe when the swing leaves the original plane. Above the plane simply means that the hands and club get over top of it, following a different, more upright plane, and below the plane means they got below it and follow a flatter plane that is closer to horizontal.

The term laid off is often used to describe being below the plane, where the club gets on a much flatter plane.

There are a couple schools of thought about whether the swing should be carried out on a single plane where the arms, shoulders and club stay on one plane, or if there are, in fact, two planes, where the hands and shoulders swing on different planes at the top of the swing.

For more information about picking the right set of fundamentals for your own swing, Jim Hardy covered the subject in the September 2007 issue of Golf Digest in the Breaking 100/80/90 section.

Jim Hardy is pioneer in these concepts and believes that there are two distinct sets of fundamentals for each. He believes each player is either a one-plane swinger or a two-plane swinger (with the arms and club on a more upright plane and the shoulders on a flatter plane) and that both types have different fundamentals that shouldn’t be mixed.

This is something that you should work with your pro or coach to figure out. Hardy has a book on the subject (more than one, actually).

Hopefully that clears up the basic ideas behind swing plane. Click the glossary category for more information on terms used in golf.

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Further Reading:

Picking The Right Swing for You (GolfDigest.com)
Jim Hardy Golf (JimHardyGolf.com)

© 2007-2010 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Golf Glossary: Swing Plane Edition

This time, I’m going to cover the golf course. We’ll cover everything you’re likely to see out there. I think you’ll be surprised at the length of this list by the time we reach the end. Golf seems like a simple game and in basic principle it is, but the fact that courses span nearly 200 acres or more means that there can be a lot going on out there.

The Happy Path

• Teeing Ground – This is where it all begins. Also called the tee box or just the tee, it’s the start of every hole. Sometimes there are multiple tees on each hole. Typically, the grass on the tee box is fairly short.
• Fairway - After you tee off, the fairway is where you want to be. Sometimes referred to as the short grass. Fairways are always present on par fours and fives, but par threes may or may not have a fairway.
• Putting Green - The part of the course that contains the hole, your ultimate goal. Greens have the shortest grass on the course and are often rolled so the grass lays flat. This is where you finally get to putt. The hole contains a plastic liner, called a cup. The hole is also marked with a flag stick, also called a pin, that shows the location of the hole from a distance. The pin usually has a flag at the top, but sometimes there are other items like little wicker baskets or other decorative things.

The good news is, if you play a perfect round of golf, that’s all you need to know. There’s nothing else to worry about. The bad news is, a perfect round of golf is extremely rare. Let’s take a look at what’s waiting off the beaten path.

The Not So Happy Path

So you didn’t hit all perfect shots in your round? Then you probably encountered some or all of these things.

• Rough - The rough is a section of higher grass, covering the places off the happy path. Typically, it rings the fairways, greens, and tees. It can range from an inch or two up through almost a foot in height. Sometimes courses have several rough types. For instance, they might keep a strip of rough around the fairway, called the first cut of rough, at a lower height. Then, there may be a second cut of rough that’s much higher. At my home course, the first cut is a few inches in height, but the second cut really isn’t cut at all. It’s left to grow wild all year long and some of the grasses can reach above knee high.
• Bunkers – Most courses have hazards filled with sand in different spots throughout the holes. They’re also referred to as sand traps. Sometimes they’re found along (or in) fairways and are called fairway bunkers. They may be around greens, and called green side bunkers. A pot bunker is a kind of bunker that is usually somewhat small, but very deep.
• Waste Area – This is a sand or gravel filled area, similar to a bunker. The difference is, it is not considered to be a hazard. Therefore, you can ground your club in a waste area.
• Water Hazards – According to the rules, a water hazard is any sea, lake, pond, river, ditch, surface drainage ditch or other open water course (whether or not containing water) and anything of a similar nature on the course. Sometimes, when it’s not feasible to drop behind a water hazard in accordance with the rules, a water hazard is deemed to be a lateral water hazard.
• Casual Water – Water on a course that is not considered to be a hazard. For instance, standing water after rain. You are entitled to relief from casual water.
• Fringe - Also called the apron, the fringe is the narrow strip around the edge of the green, between the green and the rough. Typically, it is about one pace wide (or maybe slightly more) and is mowed to the same height as the fairway. In the past, I’ve also used the word collar interchangeably, but I’ve read that the collar can actually refer to a collar of rough around the fringe. The fringe is mowed to fairway height, but a collar may not be. The apron starts where the fairway narrows down and meets the green. I’ve also heard the term approach for those spots.
• Integral Part of the Course – These are features that are not natural, but that are treated as if they were. For instance, this might include a retaining wall in a bunker or in some other location. No relief is given for interference from these features.

Stakes and Markers

There are a bunch of possible stakes and markers on a course that carry different meanings. Let’s take a look at those.

• On the tees, you’ll find the tee markers. These tell you where you can hit from. You can hit anywhere between them and up to two club lengths behind. Tee markers can range from anything including signs, rocks, pieces of wood, or other more decorative things.
• Water hazards are lined with yellow stakes.
• Lateral hazards are lined with red stakes.
• Yardage Markers – Many courses have yardages printed on sprinkler heads, but also have stakes or markers that show yardages. There may be small stakes or embedded markers in the middle of the fairway, or there may be stakes on either side. Usually, the yardage is denoted by color. I’m not sure this is universal, but at courses I’ve played around here, red stakes denote 100 yards, white stakes are 150 yards, blue stakes are 200 yards, and yellow stakes are 250 yards.
• White Stakes or Fences – When not indicating yardage, white stakes determine out of bounds lines. Many times, courses declare adjacent properties to be out of bounds, to keep players from playing on other people’s property. However, courses may choose to define locations out of bounds internal to the course. They might do this to keep players from playing through another hole that gives an easier angle to their own green (I’ve seen this happen). Sometimes though, there seems to be no reason for it, and I’m not a big fan of those times.
• Directional Flags – Some courses use directional flags to indicate that the hole changes direction, to help players when playing blind shots. They can be similar to flags on greens, but are usually different colors. I don’t seem to see these as much anymore. I think because they can be confusing and players may play to them thinking that’s where the hole is.
• Red Stakes with Green Tops – These denote environmentally sensitive lateral hazards. You usually have the option of playing from a hazard, but in these cases, you must take mandatory relief and not enter the area. Sensitive areas may also be outlined by green stakes, and are usually clearly marked by signs.
• Blue stakes – I’ve read that these may be used to outline ground under repair, but I’ve always seen ropes or even signs used in those spots. White lines also outline these areas.
• Drop Area – Sometimes a course or a tournament committee wishes to specify a drop area for balls hit into a hazard. These areas are often denoted by a white line. Many times there will be a sign as well.

Common Obstructions

Courses have some unnatural features that are considered obstructions and entitle you to relief. These include:

• Signs - For instance, tee signs or cart traffic signs.
• Ropes - Mostly used to guide cart traffic.
• Fences that are NOT used to define out of bounds margins.
• Artificially Surfaced Roads and Paths – Typically cart paths and parking lots. Artificially surfaced can mean asphalt, concrete, gravel, wood chips, or anything that has been applied to the path.

Some Other Features

• Collection Areas – These are mostly found near greens. They’re low lying locations where water is meant to drain as it flows away from the green. There might be a drainage grate at the bottom where the water is collected.
• Irrigation Heads, Control Boxes, and Pumps – These are what keep the course green. The sprinklers are usually flush to the ground when they’re not applying water. The control boxes and pumps are usually in out of the way places. These items are played as obstructions.
• Mounds - Areas of raised ground, usually created and not natural. Many times, greens are raised above the natural contour of the land, and may be encircled with mounds covered with rough. Sometimes there may be mounds along fairways that sometimes are meant to add to the challenge and sometimes are meant to provide a barrier between holes.

See? I told you the list would be long. That covers just about everything you’ll encounter on the course.

If I forgot anything, let me know!

© 2007-2010 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Golf Terms – Course Edition

Luckily for beginners, it’s all very straightforward and intuitive. Of course, that’s not true at all. Sorry for the sarcasm.

As we all know, the terminology of golf can be difficult to pick up for new players. This is the newest installment in a series of golf vocabulary posts to help players (mainly beginners) understand the words used in the game.

Previously, I did editions covering words that are used to describe ball flights and the anatomy of a golf club. Today, I’m going to tread on territory that no golfer likes to face: bad shots. We’re not talking slices and hooks here. We’re talking about really bad shots.

Maybe it’s because bad shots are so painful, but that’s where some of golf’s most colorful vocabulary comes into play. At least colorful in non R-rated sense. Here are some of the terms used to describe shots where it all went wrong.

• Shank - Probably the most dreaded is the shank. The shank is a shot that is struck on the hosel and travels low and right (for a right hander). I covered the shanks in a detailed post a while back, including the basic cause.
• Thin - When a ball is truck very low on the club face, below the sweet spot, that’s referred to as thin. Normally, a thinly struck iron shot results in a very small or no divot. The shot will usually fly on a lower trajectory and land shorter than normal with little spin. With a driver, if your tee is completely undisturbed after the shot, you probably struck the ball thinly.
• Fat - A fat shot is one where the club strikes the ground before striking the ball. Many times, a fat shot will result in a bigger divot than normal, that starts behind the ball. The shot flies much shorter than normal. Synonyms for fat include heavy, chunky and laid the sod over.
• Top - When a ball is topped, the leading edge of the club face (the bottom edge of the face), strikes the ball above its equator (on its top half). A topped shot will usually fly up and then right back down several yards ahead because of the top spin put on the ball.
• Skull - A skulled shot is sort of half way between a thin shot and a top. A skulled shot is one where the leading edge of the club face strikes the ball right near the equator. The ball will have little or no spin and normally flies straight and low, perhaps only a few feet off the ground.
• Smother - Often a smothered shot is mistaken for a topped shot, because the ball can hop up and then right back down to the turf. The difference is that when a ball is smothered, the club approaches from a very steep angle and makes contact above the equator, but with a downward blow. A topped shot is struck above the equator with a level or ascending blow. One way to tell the difference on a tee box is by looking several inches in front of where the ball was teed. If there is a ball crater in the turf, then the ball was smothered and driven right into the ground. After it bounces, it can look much like a topped shot, but the cause is very different.
• Chili Dip – Often used to describe a poor wedge shot, where the club approaches the ball on too steep an angle and the club head is stuffed into the turf and stays there. It’s like a wedge-specific fat smother with little or no follow through.
• Duff - This may vary slightly from place to place, but I typically use duff to generically describe a bad shot. I might say I duffed a particular shot that I hit fat, skulled, smothered, or chili dipped.
• Pop-Up – A pop up, also called a sky ball usually happens on the tee, when your driver makes contact very, very high on the club face, with the head nearly sliding under the teed up ball. The ball will fly extremely high and short and leave a nice scar on the top of your driver in a spot that was never meant to contact a ball.
• Worm Burner – These shots never get far off the ground, sometimes rolling a good distance. They’re very similar to topped shots but don’t have enough top spin to bloop up and down. However, they’re not quite like skulled shots, in that they have enough top spin to get on the ground quickly and roll a decent distance.

I think between these terms and the ball flight terms that I covered previously, you can pretty much describe anything you can do with a golf ball. You can throw in some four-letter words for emphasis, but a shank is still just a shank.

Stay tuned next time for a look at the words that describe the features of a golf course.

© 2007-2010 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Golf Terms – Bad Shots Edition

Sometimes when I describe something relating to a club, I get questions about the terms that are typically used. After a while, all the words seem simple to understand, but really, how is a new player supposed to have any idea what a “hosel” is?

Again, this glossary is mostly for newer players to help with an understanding of the basics of the golf club. Seasoned veterans will probably know most of this.

Let’s jump right in and talk about the various parts of the golf club and go over definitions that describe it all.

Here’s a look at an iron:

That image shows the basic parts of a golf club. In this case, an iron. It consists of:

• Shaft – Long tubular piece of steel or graphite the connects the grip and the club head.
• Club head – The part of the club that is used to strike the ball.
• Grip – Not visible in the photo, but it lives at the far end of the shaft and is where you put your hands.

Here is a closer look at the club head:

Let’s discuss the various parts of the club head.

• The club face is the part of the club that strikes the golf ball.
• In the center of the club face (approximately), you’ll find the sweet spot. This is the area where you will get the most accuracy and distance when striking the ball because that’s where the center of gravity is. Hitting the ball elsewhere on the face causes the club head to try and turn, causing a loss of distance and change in direction.
• The toe is the end of the club, out away from the shaft.
• The heel of the club is the side of the face closest to the shaft, where it meets the hosel.
• The hosel is the part of the club head where the shaft is affixed. This is where the shanks originate. In the diagram, it goes all the way from the heel up to the ferrule (the little black ring at the top of the hosel). Ferrules are normally cosmetic, but can also work to preserve club integrity.
• The top edge is pretty straight forward. It’s the edge you see at address at the top of the club face when you look down at the club.
• The leading edge is the edge where the face meets the sole (refer to the first diagram for the sole). When you make a swing, the leading edge is what makes first contact with the turf.
• Conversely, the trailing edge (not called out in the diagram) is the opposite edge of the sole, where it meets the back side of the club.
• The horizontal lines across the face are known as the grooves. The grooves grab the ball and impart spin upon it when it is struck with an iron. Grooves on drivers are normally cosmetic.

Lie and Loft

Lie angle and loft angle are two important club characteristics. The following image shows lie angle:

Lie angle simply refers to the angle of the shaft in relation to the sole of the club head. You’ll usually find that the lie angle of longer clubs is a little more (or, “flatter”) than that of shorter clubs like wedges that are more “upright”. Many times, this can be adjusted for players to give them maximum fit in their clubs. A taller player might prefer a more upright lie and shorter players might prefer a flatter lie. This is something a club fitter can help you decide.

Loft, on the other hand, describes the angle of the club face with respect to vertical (at address, with the sole flat on the ground). For instance, a wedge that has 54 degrees of loft means that the face is tilted 54 degrees back from vertical. A driver has very little loft, usually ranging from 8 to 11 degrees.

Cavity Back Versus Muscleback/Blade

Irons have historically come in two types: cavity back and muscleback (or “blade”, if you prefer). The difference is simple: in blades, the back of the club head is mostly solid, meaning the mass is evenly distributed. In a cavity back, the back of the iron isn’t solid. The top photo above shows that to a degree, however, I’m not sure it would be completely classified as a cavity back either.

The purpose of the cavity is to get more of the mass around the edges of the club (called “perimeter weighting”), which increases the moment of inertia. That means that if you hit the ball off center (on the heel or toe), the club head is less likely to twist, so the ball will go a little further than if it were poorly struck with a muscleback iron.

The advantage of blade irons is the higher degree of control they give the player. There is less tolerance for error, but for a player that desires more control, they’re the obvious choice, assuming the player can strike the ball well enough to overcome the worse result from off-center hits.

In the last several years, the lines between cavity back and muscleback irons has blurred somewhat. It’s not so clear anymore. Designers are going more for specific playing characteristics and sometimes a little of both designs gives the desired result. For instance, the iron above doesn’t have a completely solid back, but certainly has less of a cavity than some other models.

Forged Versus Cast

The photos above show Callaway X-20 Forged irons. When referring to forged versus cast, we’re talking about the manufacturing process used to make the club head. When irons are cast, the steel is melted and poured into a mold. Forged irons are normally constructed by pounding or pressing the steel into shape.

It used to be that cavity back irons were typically cast and muscleback irons were more likely to be forged, but this isn’t really the rule anymore. Club makers are knocking down all the barriers between the various fundamentals in club design and combining technologies like never before to make clubs that are longer, straighter, more forgiving, and have better feel.

Woods and Hybrids

Woods and hybrids usually share the same anatomy as irons with the exception of the materials and construction of the club heads. Woods (or “metals”, really), are usually hollow and can be made of steel, titanium, or other alloys. Hybrids are exactly that: part metal wood, part iron and combine the characteristics of each.

Since their basic design is very similar to that of an iron, I won’t go into more detail here.

Bounce

I discussed bounce in great detail previously. Briefly, bounce is the characteristic of the sole where, when the club is grounded at address, it refers to the amount that the leading edge of the club is off the ground, compared with the trailing edge. It is expressed in degrees. A club with 14 degrees of bounce, such as a sand wedge, will have its leading edge sitting higher than a club with less bounce.

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That covers the basics of Golf Club Anatomy 101. The basic terminology isn’t difficult to pick up. There’s definitely room for an advanced course, though. While we talked about the basic parts and features, there’s a whole other level of club design.

Things like shaft flex, kick point, center of gravity, shaft matching and more all lie beneath the surface. Most players don’t need to be concerned with that level of detail. That stuff is more important for club fitters and tour pros, whose concern is getting the maximum out of equipment. If you like to tinker with clubs, though, it’s worth understanding all the physics behind club design.

© 2007-2010 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Golf Terms – Club Anatomy Edition

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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Golf Terms – Ball Flight Edition