Ball Flight Laws

[Shonn Arndt]

Has the recommended ball flight laws been validated?

The currently Tathata taught method is club face at target, body aligned to direction of ball and swing down the body line. Flight scope and Trackman both state “new” ball flight laws where the ball starts in the direction of the face which should be ~50% between the club path and target line.

[Tathata Staff]

Shonn,

Great question. Although these new laws are sounds and what physics tell us, we still find it helpful for students to produce their desired ball flight and curve setting up the way we prescribe. To get the ball to move from right to left for a right-handed player, the club face must be slightly closed to the inside-out path that the club is traveling. When students start aiming the club face on the desired start line and swing even further right of that, we have seen this can lead to very errant shots with the club face not being closed enough to the path and the ball going straight right.

It does help to note that these are the same principles Jack Nicklaus used to curve the ball far before Trackman. With our alignments, the ball may not start quite as far right as desired but can help ensure the ball does curve back left to the target. The resulting shot is more of a slight pull-draw (from their starting line) rather than a push draw off of their starting line and back across it to the target. Feel free though in your own practice to play around with this and find what alignments works best and are most reliable for you.

Thank you.