cypressperch
Well-Known Member
In the latest GOLF DIGEST, Shawn Foley talks of new knowledge about what makes a ball curve left to right. He begins by saying that clubface angle at impact determines initial ball flight direction, not clubhead path. Everything he is saying is totally different from what all other folks have said about how to draw a ball that we have been reading since forever. Then he floors me by saying that instead of the clubface being closed at impact, it has to be open!
This is getting to me because I am thinking, "For about fifty-six years if I have wanted to hook a ball around a tree, I have always aimed to the right of the tree, closed the clubface to where it is aimed at the landing area or target on the other side of the tree, and then made my swing." I do this because that was what I was taught. Closing the face means that at impact, the toe of the club gets to the ball before the heel, and this puts counter clock-wise spin (right-handed golfer) on the ball. The clubhead path will be to the right of the tree, the spin catches on and you get curvature around the tree, and past the tree. So Foley is sort of irritating me a bit.
But then Foley says that having the clubface open so many degrees gets the ball going right, and that you need to have the clubface a few degrees less open! Now wait just a minute, Shawn. You have now closed the clubface in relation to the clubhead path. You are not making any startling revelation at all.
The clubface being open is open in relation to the target line, but that is not the clubhead path.
There is no doubt that Shawn Foley is about as knowledgeable about golf as anyone, but I honestly believe he has blown it on this great new discovery just made possible by new technology. Actually, I saw this same idea presented as a great new discovery in a golf magazine in an article by some young gun that called scratch golfers "sticks." I did not believe it then, and even with the Shawn Foley saying it, I still do not buy it. I doubt if John Jacobs would buy it either. Or Hogan, or Nelson, or Snead, or anyone who can bend a ball around an obstacle. Also, if the clubface has to be open at impact, why does a draw biased driver have a CLOSED CLUBFACE, and believe me, that closed face produces draw spin. Cypress Perch
This is getting to me because I am thinking, "For about fifty-six years if I have wanted to hook a ball around a tree, I have always aimed to the right of the tree, closed the clubface to where it is aimed at the landing area or target on the other side of the tree, and then made my swing." I do this because that was what I was taught. Closing the face means that at impact, the toe of the club gets to the ball before the heel, and this puts counter clock-wise spin (right-handed golfer) on the ball. The clubhead path will be to the right of the tree, the spin catches on and you get curvature around the tree, and past the tree. So Foley is sort of irritating me a bit.
But then Foley says that having the clubface open so many degrees gets the ball going right, and that you need to have the clubface a few degrees less open! Now wait just a minute, Shawn. You have now closed the clubface in relation to the clubhead path. You are not making any startling revelation at all.
The clubface being open is open in relation to the target line, but that is not the clubhead path.
There is no doubt that Shawn Foley is about as knowledgeable about golf as anyone, but I honestly believe he has blown it on this great new discovery just made possible by new technology. Actually, I saw this same idea presented as a great new discovery in a golf magazine in an article by some young gun that called scratch golfers "sticks." I did not believe it then, and even with the Shawn Foley saying it, I still do not buy it. I doubt if John Jacobs would buy it either. Or Hogan, or Nelson, or Snead, or anyone who can bend a ball around an obstacle. Also, if the clubface has to be open at impact, why does a draw biased driver have a CLOSED CLUBFACE, and believe me, that closed face produces draw spin. Cypress Perch