Peter Finch: Understanding Impact Basics

If you wish to change or improve your technique, you must first grasp the impact basics that generate golf's various ball flights. Peter Finch explains...

UNDERSTANDING IMPACT BASICS

If you wish to change or improve your technique, you must first grasp exactly what factors generate the various ball flights you see.

Swing path and target line The club laid down here indicates my target line, with my body aiming parallel to that. Ball flight depends on what your swing path does in relation to that target line and what the clubface does in relation to swing path.

Assuming that your swing path isn’t exaggerated one way or the other, to achieve a straightish shot, your clubface must be neither too open nor closed at impact.

Watch all 7 videos in Peter's 'Keys to Consistency' series...

• Golf's set-up essentials
• How impact varies from club to club
• A new way to pitch
• A bullet-proof chipping action
• Fringe putting drill
• Pressure putting practice

Draws and fades If you’re looking to draw the ball into the target, your path will need to move from in to out in relation to the target line, while your clubface will need to be closed to that path, yet still open to your target line.

For a fade, your path must move across your target line to the left, with the clubface remaining open to that path yet still closed to the target line.

The clubface must remain open to the target line when trying to hit a draw - if it’s closed to the target line you’ll hit a hook; similarly, if your club is open to the target line when trying to hit a fade, you’ll end up with the dreaded slice.

Because you're always standing to the side of your target line, your club can only be moving straight to target at one point – the low point. That’s why it’s so hard to hit golf’s perfectly straight shot!