Trying to cover the ball

[RickPinewild]

Can anyone explain what this means. I was talking to a very good player who hits it long and high. I was telling him about my observations at a recent pro tournament when I noticed that everyone was aiming their feet and shoulders well left, but hitting the ball at the target. He explained that most good players will set up left and try to cover the ball. I assume that he meant actually trying to turn the club-face down over the ball.

 

[cayrbee]

cover

I too would like this explained,as well as told how to do it.

 

[Lindsey Newman]

Can anyone explain what this means. I was talking to a very good player who hits it long and high. I was telling him about my observations at a recent pro tournament when I noticed that everyone was aiming their feet and shoulders well left, but hitting the ball at the target. He explained that most good players will set up left and try to cover the ball. I assume that he meant actually trying to turn the club-face down over the ball.

When I hear the term "cover" I think of swinging left through impact of a right handed golfer. I have been hearing that terms since the mid 90's and I always invision a high right side and not much tilt. Basically NHA.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Under-Covering....

Covering the ball, in the vernacular that I am familiar with, means a higher, "on top of it" right shoulder through impact.

In our research, this works very well with flatter eventual sweetspot/CoG/GoI paths.

So, an example of a golfer who would aim left and cover it would be Ben Hogan.

 

[Matt 4-L]

Covering the ball, in the vernacular that I am familiar with, means a higher, "on top of it" right shoulder through impact.

In our research, this works very well with flatter eventual sweetspot/CoG/GoI paths.

So, an example of a golfer who would aim left and cover it would be Ben Hogan.

Do you really think hogan had a high right shoulder at impact?

 

[Todd Dugan]

Higher....not high. Less spine axis tilt, inhibiting an overly rightward Impact Plane. The reason many pros aim well left is that their Impact Plane is well rightward of their Toe Line. "Covering" is an effort to bring the Impact Plane Line closer to parallel to the Toe Line. It's the #1 swing subject that Tour pros are talking about and working on right now.

 

[rprevost]

D-Plane

Higher....not high. Less spine axis tilt, inhibiting an overly rightward Impact Plane. The reason many pros aim well left is that their Impact Plane is well rightward of their Toe Line. "Covering" is an effort to bring the Impact Plane Line closer to parallel to the Toe Line. It's the #1 swing subject that Tour pros are talking about and working on right now.

Can you explain this in D-Plane terms? Is Impact Plane the same thing as Resultant Path? I also would have thought of "covering the ball" as a kind of NHA approach.

 

[Matt 4-L]

Higher....not high. Less spine axis tilt, inhibiting an overly rightward Impact Plane. The reason many pros aim well left is that their Impact Plane is well rightward of their Toe Line. "Covering" is an effort to bring the Impact Plane Line closer to parallel to the Toe Line. It's the #1 swing subject that Tour pros are talking about and working on right now.

Thanks Todd...I have watched a ton of Hogan swings and it is the one swing I just love and I watch frame by frame swings and I have never thought Hogan had a high right shoulder at impact. I would actually classify his shoulder as being on-plane, if I had the choice of under-plane, on-plane, over-plane. I agree covering the ball is the buzz word you here lots of pros saying they are working on and I would say that is because the touring pro has more of a tendency to get under-plane.

I think probably the misunderstanding is in vague terms and what high to one person is on plane to the next.

 

[ScottRob]

Depending on the angle of the footage Hogan at times appears to come right over the top of it! Who swung it more left of the target line than Hogan? I had the idea that tumble and covering the ball may be the same thing? The club head has to get on the other side of your hands. Up the wall, down the wall, left of the wall.

 

[Matt 4-L]

Depending on the angle of the footage Hogan at times appears to come right over the top of it! Who swung it more left of the target line than Hogan? I had the idea that tumble and covering the ball may be the same thing? The club head has to get on the other side of your hands. Up the wall, down the wall, left of the wall.

Over the top? Wow, I have never seen it, I would post up some pics of swings I have at impact but I don't know how, I would love to see some swings where it looks like Hogan is coming over the top. I agree he swung left but we know he aligned himself up progressively that way the shorter the clubs. He had a fairly flat shoulder turn going back but he increased the steepness of his shoulders on the downswing. I went back thru some vids and it looks like his shoulders at impact are in the neighborhood of 45° at impact to the naked eye. Obvisouly you are going to need some axis tilt to start with to get your shoulders into that position when it turns to side bend.

I have always thought of covering the ball more with the short irons and more to flight the ball. Which puts your body more over the ball and to do that you would have to have less axis tilt/side bend which in turns is going to make your shoulders a bit flatter.

 

[ekennedy]

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k6QdDLX1KiE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's a guy that covered it as good as any.

 

[Todd Dugan]

Can you explain this in D-Plane terms? Is Impact Plane the same thing as Resultant Path? I also would have thought of "covering the ball" as a kind of NHA approach.

The Impact Plane Line is only the "true" path if the Attack Angle is 0*, at Low Point. The direction that the sweetspot is moving during impact is one of the two vectors which form the D Plane. Yes, "covering" is an anti-hook move.

 

[DCgolf]

First guy I remember popularizing the terminology was Leadbetter back in the Price Faldo days. Stand the shaft up going back, drop it way down and "cover it". Seems like all the low hands guys have to cover it to keep from dropping under.

 

[eoscar]

I saw Jerry Kelly mentioned trying to "cover the ball" in golf digest this month.

 

[savydan]

The Impact Plane Line is only the "true" path if the Attack Angle is 0*, at Low Point. The direction that the sweetspot is moving during impact is one of the two vectors which form the D Plane. Yes, "covering" is an anti-hook move.

Did you make up the term Impact Plane or are other "groups" using it?

I am trying to figure out why someone wants to invent substitute terms from the Trackman ones.

 

[rprevost]

I use the NHA pattern. What is described as "covering the ball" seems to me to be what I am trying to do with lift, carry, drop, and rotate so that the resultant path will be on the target line, or close to it. I find it interesting that the pros would be trying this. It suggests to me that they have discovered the true ball flight laws, maybe, without understanding the D-Plane. I would be curious if pros have given up on hitting the inside aft quadrant of the ball. Would that be true for players with upright backswings and those with flat backswings?

 

[Todd Dugan]

Did you make up the term Impact Plane or are other "groups" using it?

I am trying to figure out why someone wants to invent substitute terms from the Trackman ones.

"Impact Plane" is a term that I have started to use. It refers to the actual plane on which the sweetspot moves through the Impact Zone. TrackMan only has terms for either the horizontal or vertical angles of that plane.

 

[Kevin Shields]

I saw Jerry Kelly mentioned trying to "cover the ball" in golf digest this month.

He has the highest right shoulder this side of Rory Mclroy

 

[mjstrong]

Did you make up the term Impact Plane or are other "groups" using it?

I am trying to figure out why someone wants to invent substitute terms from the Trackman ones.

I think I might have (first?) suggested the term "impact plane." The reason I'd like to substitute if for trackman's "Swing Plane" (HSP or VSP) is that Trackman is not really measuring the plane of the swing, but rather the movement of the clubhead at the very bottom of the swing through impact. Swing Plane, in today's vernacular, refers to so many different interpretations that a more clear term seemed prudent...

 

[savydan]

How do you express the Impact Plane's measurement?

As in, "Ben, I measured your Impact Plane, and it's (fill in the blank)."