3Academy · Ball flight
Golf ball flight laws: why the ball curves
Two numbers at impact decide the shape of every shot: where the face points, and the direction the club is travelling. Move them and watch.
The short version
The face mostly decides where the ball starts. The difference between the face and the path decides how much it curves. These are called the ball flight laws, and the version used on launch monitors is simple enough to hold in your head.
Two terms matter:
- Face angle is where the clubface points at impact, relative to the target line.
- Club path is the direction the clubhead is travelling at impact, relative to the same line.
TrackMan, the launch-monitor maker, describes face angle as the most important number for starting direction: with a centred strike the ball leaves very close to the direction the face is pointing. TrackMan gives no percentage, so neither do we: the face mostly decides the start line.
Face to path
Face-to-path is the face angle minus the club path. TrackMan measures it this way. If the face points left of the path, the number is negative and the ball curves left. If the face points right of the path, it is positive and the ball curves right. The ball curves towards where the face points, relative to the path, and away from the path.
The size of the gap sets the size of the curve. TrackMan's example is a driver swing by a professional tour player with a face-to-path of minus two degrees, which produced about 19 yards of curve to the left on a 275-yard carry. Your numbers will differ with your club, speed and strike. Treat the example as a scale, not a forecast.
The lab uses a simple model of these relationships, at roughly 7 to 8 yards of curve per degree for a 230-yard carry. It is a teaching tool, not a measurement of any real shot, and the curve sizes it draws are illustrative.
Interactive
The ball flight lab.
Move the face-angle control and the swing-path control. The ball's route is drawn from behind the golfer; switch to the top view to see it from above. The label names the shot, and the face-to-path number beside it is the face angle minus the path.
Both controls start at zero, which is a straight shot. Change one at a time first, then both.
- Start
- 0.0deg
- Curve
- 0yd
- Finish
- 0yd
- Face to path
- 0.0°
Where the face points at impact, against the target line.
The direction the club travels through impact.
A teaching model for a right-handed golfer with centred contact, not a launch monitor. Start direction is modelled as mostly the face; curve follows face-to-path (face angle minus club path), at roughly 7 to 8 yards of curve per degree for a 230-yard carry. Left-handed golfers mirror every direction.
The nine shapes
Combine a start line (left, straight or right of target) with a curve (left, none or right) and you get nine shapes. The names below are common usage rather than an official list, so a coach or a friend may use them slightly differently.
| Starts left | Starts straight | Starts right |
|---|---|---|
| Pull-hook: starts left, curves left | Hook: starts straight, curves left | Push-hook: starts right, curves left |
| Pull: starts left, stays straight | Straight: starts and finishes on line | Push: starts right, stays straight |
| Pull-slice: starts left, curves right | Slice: starts straight, curves right | Push-slice: starts right, curves right |
Strictly, "starts" means relative to the target line. Many players call the shot by where it finishes, so the same ball may get a different name.
Draw and fade
A draw starts right of the target for a right-handed golfer and curves gently back towards it. A fade starts left and curves gently right. Both are small, controlled curves. Many players use one as a stock shot because it is repeatable, and they aim so that the curve brings the ball back to the target. Left-handed golfers mirror every direction here.
Slice and hook
A slice curves right for a right-hander, and a hook curves left. Both are curves the player did not intend, and both are large. The cause is the same in kind as for a draw or fade, only bigger: the face and the path are pointing a long way apart.
Slice versus hook is about direction and cause, not about quality. Neither is a better miss, and both cost distance and accuracy.
Why most beginners slice
It is common teaching convention that most beginners slice. The usual explanation is a clubface that is open to the swing path at impact, often with a path that cuts across the ball from outside to inside. By the laws above, an open face relative to the path gives a curve to the right. We have no measured figure for how many players slice, so we say only "most", as coaches do.
What to practise
Practise one change at a time, and watch the ball rather than the feeling.
- Check the grip first. A grip that holds the face open or closed is one of the first things a coach looks at. See how to hold a golf club.
- Check alignment. Set clubs on the ground, one along your feet and one along the target line. Misaligned feet change the apparent path.
- Read the start line before the curve. If the ball starts well but bends away, work on the face relative to the path. If it starts off line, work on where the face points.
- Keep a record. Note ten shots per session: where each started and where it finished. A pattern is more useful than a single miss.
A qualified coach with a launch monitor can measure your face and path directly. That is worth more than any article, this one included.
In the plan
The 28-day practice plan asks for notes, and ball flight gives you something to note. For your Game Plan, your usual curve decides where you aim. The bag lesson shows how loft changes the height of the ball, which is a separate matter from the curve.
This is general information, not coaching, and it promises no result.
What this lesson is not
- General information written to common teaching convention, not a lesson from a coach. A qualified coach who can see your swing outranks anything here.
- Interactive numbers are teaching models, labelled as such: not measurements, and not targets.
- Lessons are free and never decide election. The published rule on the plan page does, and only that rule.
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