Path & Face

Last week we talked about the king of consistency…Strike! This week we are going to keep it simple and just give you some understanding of what is Path and Face.  This is terminology you will come across regularly on You Tube or in coaching sessions, but there is still much confusion over what exactly they mean.

The path is referring to the swing path of the club and describes the direction the club is moving through impact relative to the target. “In to out” will be moving the centre of the club away from the golfer during impact and “Out to In” will be moving it closer (see diagram). When using launch monitors a number with a + or R next to it will be swinging to the right at impact and vice versa. This is usually measured in degrees.  So “In to Out”, “from the inside” “To the right” or a “positive” path or all referring to exactly the same thing!! Sounds confusing but it really isn’t….

The face alignment is how the front edge of the club is positioned at impact relative to the target. For a right hander a closed clubface will be pointing left of target and open pointing to the right.

An understanding of your swing path and where your clubface is pointing at impact will help understand why/how your ball curves as it does in flight as the two interact together.  Good players usually have good control of the clubface and an awareness of where and how it’s delivered at impact.  Keep developing these skills and reach out to me if you would like some more info.

Thanks for reading, next week we are going to look at short game decisions and how it can really improve your game.