Why did the ball go that way?

Playing in a charity tournament recently I was reminded how often players hit a shot offline and have no idea why it went “that way.”  I hear my weight was back, didn’t finish, chicken wing along with many other reasons for a misdirected shot.  Swing errors do cause the ball to fly offline but most players could use a better process of understanding why the ball went the direction it traveled before going through a list of swing mechanics.

When hitting bad shots you may want to first understand what caused the ball to go a certain direction.   There is a thing call D plane that explains how the ball travels.  The old PGA description was the ball started on the path of the club and curved to the face.  We have since learned this is not correct.  Trackman and swing catalyst helped bring the analytics up to date.  The short, abbreviated description of why the ball goes where it goes.

Direction

1.  About 80% of the reason the ball starts online is due to where the clubface is pointing at impact.
2. The curve of the ball is mostly controlled by the path of the club at impact
3. The angle of attack also controls the starting point of the ball, the steeper the more to the right and vice versa.

Distance

1. Club head speed
2. Center of hit
3. Club square

These are abbreviated answers but will help just about all golfer to understand.  If you want a more precise explanation  take a look at the video below or purchase Golf for the other 80% on Amazon

10 minute video on D-pane explaining why the ball goes where it goes.

https://mytrackman.com/university/learning-tools/understanding-the-d—plane

https://www.amazon.com/Golf-other-80-answers-improve-ebook/dp/B06Y5KMT9W/ref=pd_zg_rss_nr_b_16381_7