Understanding the Difference Between a Draw and Push or a Slice

Video about using Trackman data to understand the difference between a draw and push or a side in your golf swing.

Understanding Golf Shot Shape: Club Path and Face Angle

Overview

This material is a golf instruction segment by Craig at Private Fairway, focusing on how club path and face angle at impact determine the direction and shape of golf shots. The lesson uses Trackman data and visualizations to explain why certain shots curve left or right.

Main Topics

• Club Path and Face Angle: Definitions and impact on ball flight

• Using Technology (Trackman) for swing analysis

• Practical adjustments for desired shot shapes

Key Concepts

Club Path

• Definition: The direction the clubhead is moving (relative to the target line) at the moment of impact.

• Inside-to-Out Path: Club moves from inside the target line to outside during impact (e.g., 4.6° or 6° inside-to-out as shown in examples).

Face Angle

• Definition: The orientation of the clubface (open or closed) relative to the club path at impact.

• Open Face: Clubface points right of the path (for a right-handed golfer).

• Closed Face: Clubface points left of the path.

Face-to-Path Relationship

• Closed Face to Path: Clubface is less open than the path (or slightly closed), causing the ball to draw (curve left for right-handed golfers).

• Open Face to Path: Clubface is more open than the path, causing the ball to fade or push (curve or stay right).

Examples / Applications

• Draw Shot Example:

  • Club path: 4.6° inside-to-out

  • Face angle: slightly open, but closed relative to path

  • Result: Ball starts right, curves left (draw)

• Push/Fade Example:

  • Club path: 6° inside-to-out

  • Face angle: 8° open (even more open than path)

  • Result: Ball starts right, stays right (push/fade)

Using Trackman for Improvement

• Trackman provides visual feedback on club path and face angle.

• Allows golfers to see real-time data and make adjustments.

• Helps develop consistency in swing and shot shape.

Key Takeaways

• The combination of club path and face angle at impact determines shot direction and curve.

• To hit a draw:

  • Club path should be inside-to-out.

  • Face angle should be slightly closed to the path (but not necessarily closed to the target line).

• Feedback tools like Trackman are valuable for diagnosing and improving swing mechanics.

Full Video Transcript

Hey, it's Craig at Private Fairway. Do you know the difference between this shot and this shot? So what makes this shot happen is all about what's going on with your club path, the direction your club's moving at impact, and what the face is doing. Is the face of the club open or closed a little bit?

So let me show you here on the Trackman what's going on. So I have here a video. This is the video of this swing, and you can see this blue line here is my club path, and this red arrow is the face angle of the club at impact. All right? And if you want to look at it in terms of picture, I'll put up this picture here.

So what you'll see here is that at impact, my club is moving just a little bit inside and out 4. 6 degrees. My face angle is a tiny bit open, so my face of the path is closed. And that's what makes that ball come out and go out and around all the way.

And you'll see this orange line comes out and goes out and then turns to the left. That's what makes this shot happen. This shot here where we have it come out and fall down to the left. Now if you were to look at this other shot, this one that goes out, way out to the right.

So let's look at that same data and the same look. So here's that video, and here's this data. So my club path's inside and out again, now 6 degrees, but my face of my club is way open, 8 degrees open, which means that it's even more open than the direction my club is moving at impact.

This is measuring is what direction is that club moving when you hit the ball. So at impact, that club's moving on this blue line. If I push this video forward, you'll see that what's happening is it's moving just right on that blue line, just like that.

Club path inside to out, starting the ball out to the right, face angle open, keeping the ball out to the right.

So if you want to hit this nice little draw like this, you have to consistently have a club path that's inside to out, face angle that's just inside your club path so you have a slightly closed face to path, and that's what will give you a nice little draw.

It's hard to know that when you're just hitting balls on the range, but if you use a track man like the one we have at Private Fairway, that will help you understand what's going on with your golf swing.

And as you hit balls and you get this feedback, you're able to kind of make adjustments and develop some consistency in your facing.