This is the first article in a series on how to trouble shoot your golf swing using the flight of the ball. This way the ball becomes your teacher, first on the practice tee, and then on the golf course where you can fix your swing while you're playing. Note: that to trouble shoot effectively you must first make sure your aim and alignment are correct. In addition what follows assumes that your contact is in the middle of the clubface.
The Ball Flight Laws
It has been said that the "ball only knows impact" meaning that its flight characteristics are produced by five physical parameters of your golf shot: the path of the clubhead; the angle of approach the clubhead takes to the ball; the velocity of the clubhead; where on the clubface the collision takes place; and where your clubface is looking at impact.
The Straight Push
The first shot I'll describe is the straight push, the shot that goes to the right [straight left for left-handers]. When the ball is pushed off line with no curve to the ball, the implication is that the path of your club is moving in-to-out in relation to the target line and the clubface is square to the path. Now there are several reasons why a ball is pushed but I will deal with one of the most common to demonstrate how to trouble shoot the problem.
When your hips rotate too early during the downswing, your right elbow doesn’t have the time to get in front of your right hip and therefore your club is prevented from getting into the correct downswing slot. You’ve got a path problem that pushes the ball off line because your hips turn early making your hands and the clubface late for impact.
The adjustment is to turn your hips later which will delay impact giving your clubhead the time it needs to get out from behind you and onto the target line. The best way to do this is to make a setup change by increasing the flare in both feet. The more flare the more hip turn and more hip turn effectively" slows your hips " because they have to travel farther.
Takeaway: The block is fixed by the flair
