Taught Wrong for 40 Years: Ball Flight Laws Fall
For decades, teaching held that path determines start direction and face determines curve. Measurement overturned that in the late 2000s.
All posts about Ball flight & faults
28 posts
Thirty Pieces on the Miss: What Kept Repeating
Closing out thirty pieces on the physics of the miss — the patterns that recurred across the branches, and the claims that did not survive checking.
Face Sends It, Path Curves It: Ball Flight Guide
A practical guide to reading what happened at impact from ball flight alone, using the corrected face-path relationship — no launch monitor required.
Gear Effect: Where Ball-Flight Laws Break Down
The corrected ball-flight laws assume center contact. Off-center hits add gear-effect spin the laws don't cover — far bigger with a driver than an iron.
Hogan Hated the Hook: A 1955 Line That Holds
Ben Hogan compared the hook to a rattlesnake in your pocket. Unlike other golf legends we checked, this one has a dated, verifiable source.
Hook vs. Draw: Same Direction, Different Boxes
A draw and a hook both curve right to left, but the boundary between them isn't how much the ball curves — it's whether the face is under control.
Is a Shank Contagious? Belief Real, Unconfirmed
Golfers avoid the word because they believe it spreads. That belief is real and documented. Whether it actually spreads is a separate, unconfirmed claim.
1994: A Physicist Solved Ball Flight First
The D-Plane model behind modern launch monitors wasn't built by TrackMan. A physicist described it in 1994, twelve years before radar could confirm it.
Low Point: Fat and Thin Are a Height Problem
A fat shot and a topped shot look opposite but sit on one axis — where the low point falls relative to the ball. How to check it, and why a mat hides it.
The Nine-Window Ball Flight Chart, Redrawn
The classic nine-shot ball flight chart still holds, but the old explanation of what causes each box is wrong. Here it is redrawn around face and path.
Not Just Standing Close: Branches Behind a Shank
Standing close is only one of three ways the hands end up outside address position at impact — weight drift and lunging produce the same result.
On-Course First Aid: What Actually Works
First aid and a real fix are different things. What narrows a bad outcome mid-round, separated from what only feels better while the miss stays.
Price of a Strong Grip: Slice Fixes Overshoot
Slice fixes push face and path the same direction, and it's common to overshoot into a hook. Here are the three overshoot routes, and how to spot them.
One Swing Error, Different Faces by Club
One swing fault shows up as a direction miss with a driver and a distance miss with an iron. Three earlier threads pulled together by club, not miss type.
Shank Checklist: Five-Step Order, What It Proved
A five-step sequence for isolating a shank's cause, with a twist on 'cheapest first': the highest-stakes step comes last, on purpose.
Slice Cause Four: Early Extension
Early extension, the most common fault in amateurs, doesn't break the face or path directly — it removes the space the arms need.
Slice Cause Two: What 'Square Face' Really Means
'Square the face' usually means square to the target — but the curve is set by square to the path. That distinction changes diagnosis and the fix.
Slice Cause One: Grip, and Counting Knuckles
A weak grip forces the forearms to rotate more than downswing time allows, so the face often arrives open. Here's how to check it in under a minute.
Slice Cause Three: Why Over the Top Starts High
An out-to-in path isn't a slice by itself, and this branch shows the opposite starting direction from the first two. Here's how to tell, and the fix.
Slice Is Not One Thing: 4 Causes, One Myth
A slice always shares the same definition, but not the same cause. Four distinct faults produce it, and the '90% of golfers slice' claim doesn't hold up.
Self-Diagnosis Order for a Slice
A five-step order for sorting a slice into one of four branches, plus why aiming left to survive a round quietly makes the underlying problem worse.
The Snap Hook: Body Stops, Hands Take Over
A snap hook looks different from a regular hook: sudden, low, short. The common mechanism is a rotation that stalls, forcing the hands to catch up fast.
Two Opposite Swing Paths, One Shank
An over-the-top move and an extreme in-to-out path both produce the same shank, so standard advice can make one group of golfers worse.
What Is a Shank? The Ball That Hits the Hosel
A shank isn't a curving miss like a slice or hook — it's a ball that never contacts the face. Why it flies low and right, and why usual diagnosis fails.
Why the Hook Is Scarier: Low Launch, Long Run
A closed face reduces dynamic loft, which lowers launch and spin. That makes a hook's stopping point far less predictable than a slice's.
Why Long Irons Are Hard: A Narrow Margin
Four factors stack in the same direction to make long irons difficult. Hybrids ease it, but the miss does not disappear — it changes shape.
Why Wedges and Short Irons Shank Most Often
A shank clusters around wedges and short irons because four factors align. Some club designs push back, but the effect stays small.
Why a Wedge Curves Less Than a Driver
A wedge going straight is no proof of a good swing. Higher loft raises backspin, shrinking how much a tilted spin axis shows as curve — physics, not skill.