What Makes The Golf Ball Swing?
Is Golf Hard?
Surprisingly, golf requires a lot more movement control and precision than you’d imagine, making it a hard sport to start with. You have to use a long club to strike a small ball on the ground and make it land at least a 150+ yards away at a particular spot. You have to account for things like an uneven ground, ball spin, wind. And then there are so many clubs to pick from and so many types of shots you could play – long game, short game, putting, etc. We think of golf as just a hard racket swing kind of sport. Well, swinging hard without aim is easy. Striking a small target (ball) is hard. But striking such that all the joints and muscles are in perfect harmony for a hit a very specific way (to make the ball go where you want it to go) — very tough! And this is just one type of a shot.
I’m no master of any sport, but I know how to play a wide variety of them decently. I’d rank golf fairly high in terms of technique requirements. As a beginner, you need to practice for months before you can even be allowed to visit the course (kinda sad)!
What and Why Am I Sharing?
I got introduced to golf last year — thanks to my dear friend Tarush. The sheer enjoyment of playing in all weathers, alone or with friends, eating and driving while practicing at the range — really got me excited about the game in general. But what got me obsessed about it is the sheer physics and kinetics behind hitting balls. It all seemed so technical with so many parameters — I just had to understand it.
Thats when I decided to commit to learning basics. It’s been about 6 months and I can play a course without embarrassing my self. Though, there is one twist — I’ve never taken a coaching class in golf! I’ve basically self taught my self the sport so far.
I’ve basically worked my way through feedback loops (lots of video recordings) to understand what is not going well and use youtube (shoutout to Danny, Shawn, Rick) as my coach.
I have enjoyed this self-learning process and learnt quite a lot about golf. An engineer at heart, i’ve taken a lot of time to understand why things happen the way they do. I can spot my own errors in technique, know the possible reasons of it happening and know how to correct most times.
This blog is partly to document my own learnings and excitement, and partly to bring the science behind golf to beginners. I feel we often ignore the science as beginners and are pushed to rote-learn. I find it easier to understand how-things-work and then reverse engineer what I need to do to fix my errors.
Step 1 – Get The Basic Swing Right!
The first step in golf is to get the basic swing right.
That all the literature is basically trying to do is to have a body posture and swing movement such that it maximises the club velocity, while keeping accuracy of the strike high.
The pivot point of your golf swing is important. The pivot point is in the middle of your two shoulders (around where your Sternum is). So to get the above, the following two need to happen:
– The faster you rotate / longer the radius – the more the strike speed.
– The more stable that pivot point – the more the precision of the hit.
Thats why your leading arm (left arm) is kept straight through back swing and down swing (to maximise club swing speed). That’s why you don’t sway or move your spine – you try to rotate around that pivot point.
💡 The best advice I read on golf swing is that – once you are setup well – the golf swing should feel like you cutting grass from the bottom lip of your club. A neutral swing would have you swing both ways comfortably and cut the grass as the same spot.
Go through some reading and videos. Do a few drills. The golf swing has a few components to it — Starting Position (address), Back Swing, Down Swing, Impact Position, Follow Through. Read about dos / dont’s.
Step 2 – Understand The Feedback Loops!
Once you have a basic golf swing working for you and a decent posture, how do you improve from there?
There is a bunch of things that golfers do to tweak their game. It ultimately effects 4 things: the swing arc, the point at which the club strikes the ball in the arc, the club face direction at the strike point, and where on the face did the ball come in contact.
However, the above can’t be seen unless you make use of expensive monitoring tools or someone tells you.
There are two things that you can see and notice – the flight path of the ball & where you hit the ground in relation to the ball. To improve your game, you can work backwards from these two feedback loops — it’s all you’d need.
Feedback Loop #1 – The Flight Path
As a beginner, the toughest thing to pickup is the basic swing for a Iron to hit mid-long distance. Ill focus on that. Ill focus on the “why” behind what we see (example: ball flying a certain way).
( while im focusing on an Iron hit, the basic physics still holds true for other kinds of clubs and shots (drivers, putters, chip shots, etc). however, what we desire with each of those is slightly different and hence the technique and examples change on the same principles )
The ball flight path is basically the initial launch direction of the ball and the swing it experiences. (and speed as well, which I will ignore. fairly intuitive.)
What dictates the initial launch direction of the ball?
The initial launch direction of the ball is mostly dictated by the direction the club face is pointing to. This means that even if your club is moving in a different direction, your ball will track the club face’s direction. It’s a mis-conception that the club path direction dictates the launch angle.
This is related to Conservation of Momentum in physics. The ball is getting struck at an angle and hence will travel mostly in that direction. (youtube this if interested)
Bonus: Drivers have a slightly curved club face, hence the launch angle can change based on not just the overall club face but where in the face did you strike the ball. Thats one of the reasons why hitting with a driver is a lot harder for a beginner.
Bonus: The launch direction is partly shaped by the club path as well, but thats only 10–20% contribution. That’s because of various other things at play like friction, grip, etc.
What makes the ball swing?
Swing is a function of the ball spin. Spin is introduced when the club path and club face direction are different.
It’s to do with the Magnus Effect, which is further explained by Bernoulli’s Principle. It’s the same principles behind a baseball swing, a table tennis spin, a cricket swing and a football banana kick!
Bonus: Ever wondered why the golf ball has dimples? It adds more turbulence behind the ball hence reducing the drag — making it go further. It also adds to the Magnus effect and makes the ball swing more. It’s one of the big reasons why modern day golf balls go higher (back spin adds more lift) and further.
Now that we understand the basic physics behind a golf’s flight path, we could probably derive all the possible ways a ball could fly — fairly straightforward!
- Club face mostly dictates the initial launch angle (left, straight, right)
- Club path (relative to the club face direction) dictates the spin which dictates the swing (left, straight, right)
This gives us 3 x 3 = 9 possibilities ;)
Bonus: So far, we have mostly looked at the horizontal axis — left and right. You could use the same principles for the vertical axis — up and down. For example, adding more back spin adds more lift to the ball. Reducing back spin adds more distance. So experienced golfers will try and reduce the back spin to hit long irons and drivers further (i.e. de-lofting). The opposite is done if you want to hit the ball higher or make it not-roll once it lands on the green (back spin will make it more sticky once it lands).
How to fix my (undesired) slice? 💡
A common struggle for beginners is that you intent to hit straight but the ball slices (for some, it might hook). Now you know why that’s happening. In case of a slice, its because your club path is going right-to-left, or outside-in. There are various ways to fix it – bring the ball back, try a shallower swing, etc. It’s best to read up / youtube videos on this — different drills / logic appeal to different people.
Though the simplest thing is– knowing why it is happening, and then making a few attempts to solving that! Swing your club, see how it is going outside-in and tweak your swing to incorporate it. Sometimes natural instincts is all that you require to correct yourself.
How to draw?
Easy! You want your ball to launch a bit towards right, and have the swing bring it back left to the target line. So you want a slightly open face at impact, but an even more open / inside-out club path!
I’d recommend reading up / you-tubing the different ways to achieving that. Yes – there are multiple ways to achieve the desired club path and face angles – so explore and see what works best for you.
Feedback Loop #2 –The Divot
A divot can also tell a lot about your golf swing. In fact, it often helps in understanding more basic errors like swing, body movement, weight shift, etc.
The ability to form a divot (strike the ground) consistently is very important as a beginner. It’s perhaps the first thing to master — even before the flight path correction. The divot reveals which part of the club face did the ball strike. It also reveals if the club was going down or going up when it hit the ball.
Before you strike the ball, a few practice swings and seeing where the divot is will help you re-orient and adjust your address position and swing movement for the better.
( you’ll have to probably go practice on real grass for divots. )
There is no divot? (very common for beginners)
#1 Swing path is too high: 🛑
This leads to the bottom of the club striking the ball, resulting in a low ground shot.
My divot starts before the ball? (very common for beginners)
#2 Swing path is too early: 🛑
This takes the speed away from the club, reducing distance significantly. This could also lead to the bottom of the club striking the ball, resulting in a low ground shot.
#3 Swing path is too low: 🛑
This takes the speed away from the club, reducing distance significantly This could also lead to the top of the club striking the ball, resulting in a lob shot (usually towards left due to the club shape).
My divot starts much after the ball?
#4 Swing path is too late: 🛑
This leads to the bottom of the club striking the ball, resulting in a low ground shot.
My divot starts right where the ball was?
#5 Swing path is perfect! ✅
How to correct my divot position?
To correct the above, there are a few common mistakes shown below in the image (expand it). A lot more detail could be found online — if you know your issue — search specifically for that.
An easy fix is to simply try and fix it – natural instinct once you know what you want fixed. For example, when you are hitting an iron, and you want the divot to be formed after the ball — visualise that club path, feel the sensation of hitting down on the ball. Take a few practice swings and get the sensation of that swing.
Step 3 — Change Things Around!
Now that you understand the feedback loops well, it’s time to change things. You could do a lot of things to improve and tweak your playing style. However, end of the day, how that ball flies is all that matters. So for each of the changes below, see what you can infer about how it will change the launch direction, spin, and divot formation. Each of the change will make certain things more or less likely. So have fun thinking through some of them! :)
[Bonus] Feedback Loop #3 — The Self-Recorded Videos
There is a ton of literature on how to do a good golf swing. It is divided into steps — Address Position, Backswing Movement, Downswing Movement, Impact Position, Followthrough Movement. Best to google this.
Record yourself on video. Compare to the swing-path videos/images online. Thats the fastest way to know where you are going wrong. Works better than someone else telling you.
As an absolute beginner, the aim is to get some comfort and consistency in striking the ball the same way. Use only one iron, say 7-Iron. Try getting nice hits that push the ball high up and about 75+ yards. Don’t worry about the swinging just yet as long as it goes somewhat straight and up and launch.
Some of the common issues here will also be addressed when I talk about the ball-vs-divot. Thats another feedback loop to see where your swing might be going wrong.
Beyond The Iron Golf Swing – What Else Matters?
Too many. I won’t talk about those here, but just mentioning the few things I realised are fairly important – as FYI.
- Putting: This is a very different skillset. In a golf course, You will spend at-least 30% of your shots putting. So take this seriously. This requires very high control, very high precision. And if hitting the ball straight wasn’t enough, the slope of the green will influence your chances of a hole significantly!
- Drivers, Hitting Up, Tees and Ball Position: The mechanics and technique of a driver is a lot similar to an Iron. However, drivers are a bit different. First, they are longer shafts, so its a bit harder to exercise consistency as a beginner. Secondly, drivers have a curved club face. This means that hitting at the centre of the face becomes a lot more important else you introduce extra variables. Thirdly, you want to hit the ball up. Unlike irons where the bottom of the swing path is after the strike, its the opposite here. This is because you want there to be little back spin so that the ball goes further. Hence you want the club face and club path to be very similar. Hence to make the ball fly vertically up, you have to allow your swing path to hit upwards. Thats why you use a tee so you can hit upwards. Thats also why you position the ball ahead of your shoulder / tilt your spine backwards so your swing path can catch it on upswing.
- Pitch, Chip, Lob, Flop: We learnt a lot about horizontal swings. But you can also alter the vertical path — add more back spin, high steeper, etc. Best to read up on these once. They come with their own prescribed changes in stance and swing style. But it connects with the same mechanics of the basic swing.
- Youtube Videos: If you have good feedback on your own golf play, youtube will be your best friend. There is so much content out there, so many trainers and golfers, so many ways to explain whats happening and how to correct it. Enjoy the learning process. It’s a part of playing the sport itself.
- Golf Course vs Driving Range: Golf Course is very different from a driving range experience. The ground is not like the artifitial turf — you have bunkers (sand), tall grass, wet grass, etc. You have slopes which can effect your strike position. And you have presssure — people playing with you and waiting behind you. Go to the golf course — dont wait forever. Other golfers are usually very nice and encouraging towards beginners. Go out there and make some friends!
- Number of Golf Clubs: So much talk surrounds the golf set. Truth be told, you tend to only use 4–6 clubs 95% of the time — Driver, Long Iron (5-Iron or Hybrid), 7 Iron, Pitching Wedge, Sand / Lob Wedge, Putter. Frankly I don’t like using a lot of clubs — I try and stick to ones I’m familiar with. You could easily get rid of every alternate club. Infact, you could play a PAR game easily with just a 5-Iron / 3-Hybrid, 7-Iron, Pitcher & Putter. The quality of the club or the number of clubs have very limited role. The extra power you put has very limited role. Its 90% about consistency and the physics behind your ball strike (technique).
In summary, I hope you enjoyed reading and learning about golf.
In the least, I hope you got interested in golf. It is not an easy sport. It won’t make you sweat as much as football, but it requires a lot more strategy, technique and consistency than a lot of other sports. It’s also the only outdoor sport that will last your old days 😄.
My favourite hour every alternate day use to be 8–9pm on weekdays, where Id go to the driving range, put on some music, setup my camera and hit a 100–150 balls. Id spend hours analysing and YouTubing stuff to help me. That was a very introspective process, make me work on my self, and was a good way to unwind the work day with some alone me-time!
If you are a beginner to this sport, then I hope the science behind the ball flight path helps you the most. I hope you can self-derive what is happening when you see the ball fly, and figure what you might be doing wrong.
Thats all on this for now. Have fun, be curious!
