Lie Angle

[drewyallop]

Brain said elsewhere that the D Plane laws required that you have your lie angle exactly right. I have two questions:

1. Why?

2. How do you determine if your lie angle is wrong?

I am assuming that answering number 2 does not involve the lie board and tape test since it is fallible and often does not give the right indication. So what other symptoms of a bad lie angle are there? Some suggestions : left or right ball flight, excessive inside or outside takeaway, too high or too low hand position at set up, too steep or flat angle of attack. I suspect that a Trackman session may be the best solution but for those of us that do not have access to the machine what other clues can help us?

Best,

Drew Yallop

 

[softconsult]

Here is Brian's highly technical response to this subject during my lesson.

Something like, "Look at these divots. See how they are consistently lower on the toe side. You need to go more upright than the 2 degrees you say you know have." "How much more?", says I. "2 degrees, maybe even more. Whatever it takes to get the divots level." "What about wedges being set flatter than rest of set?", said I. "Why would you do that?" said he.

So maybe the dirt is the answer.

 

[Kevin Shields]

Brain said elsewhere that the D Plane laws required that you have your lie angle exactly right. I have two questions:

1. Why?

2. How do you determine if your lie angle is wrong?

I am assuming that answering number 2 does not involve the lie board and tape test since it is fallible and often does not give the right indication. So what other symptoms of a bad lie angle are there? Some suggestions : left or right ball flight, excessive inside or outside takeaway, too high or too low hand position at set up, too steep or flat angle of attack. I suspect that a Trackman session may be the best solution but for those of us that do not have access to the machine what other clues can help us?

Best,

Drew Yallop

A bad lie angle screws with the top vector of the DPlane (face).

Draw a vertical line on the back of a ball with a sharpie and if the mark on the face isnt vertical, assuming no severe swing issues, your lie angle is bad.

 

[niblick1]

A bad lie angle screws with the top vector of the DPlane (face).

Draw a vertical line on the back of a ball with a sharpie and if the mark on the face isnt vertical, assuming no severe swing issues, your lie angle is bad.

Looks like I am going to have to wait until I am the only one on the range to do this test....

 

[Richie3Jack]

I really believe somebody could write a golf instruction book on divots and at the very least come up with a pretty informative book.

I'm going to try the vertical line on the ball experiment.




3JACK

 

[mjstrong]

I really believe somebody could write a golf instruction book on divots and at the very least come up with a pretty informative book.

I'm going to try the vertical line on the ball experiment.

3JACK

The vertical line method is a more accurate form of lie angle checking than by using a lie board and impact tape. It's a little more obvious when you consider the potential difference in club position from when it contacts (separates) the ball, and when it contacts the ground.

 

[westy]

If your line looks like 11 Oclock the lie is too upright,
If it looks like 1 Oclock its too flat.

 

[drewyallop]

Many thanks to you all. I will try the line-on-ball method one late afternoon on the course.

Best,

Drew Yallop

 

[cmartingolf]

Draw a vertical line on the back of a ball with a sharpie and if the mark on the face isnt vertical, assuming no severe swing issues, your lie angle is bad.

That's a good one! Never thought of that or had someone tell me.

Funny thing; I hit all teed shots with the stripe vertical and back. I'll start to pay more attention to the transfer I like leaving the good ones on the clubs for future shots.

 

[Steve Khatib]

A bad lie angle screws with the top vector of the DPlane (face).

Draw a vertical line on the back of a ball with a sharpie and if the mark on the face isnt vertical, assuming no severe swing issues, your lie angle is bad.

A lot better than using a lie board.

For starters a lie board is hard to read due to downward VSP and clubface.

Most fitters can even read a lie mark properly anyway, so this sharpie paint will tell you the seperation face contact conditions. A lie bord wont.

 

[drewyallop]

Thank you everyone.

Drew Yallop