Bridges

New member
Joined
Jun 11, 2010
Messages
9,171
Reaction score
47
Location
Roanoke, Tx
Handicap
11
This is question/swing tip.

Talking about irons And wedges.

When a lie is adjusted 2* flat it helps the player hit less off the heel. But would this cause more of a fade/slice?

I have been hitting on the heel part of both iron and wedges and I can't seem to stop. I even back away from the ball some and still hit the inside part. I'm just afraid if they were to be adjusted to flat then It would cause more or a big fade and slice. I tend to add my baseball swing into my swing every now and then causing a fade which doesn't help. Do I have that right, or have the wrong idea about bending flat causing a fade?

Also how could I fix this without having them bent, any drills?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I strongly urge you to check out the THP Radio show on fitting. They discuss all of this to a T and its really helpful.
 
This is question/swing tip.

Talking about irons And wedges.

When a lie is adjusted 2* flat it helps the player hit less off the heel. But would this cause more of a fade/slice?

I have been hitting on the heel part of both iron and wedges and I can't seem to stop. I even back away from the ball some and still hit the inside part. I'm just afraid if I have they were to be adjusted to flat then It would cause more or a big fade and slice. I tend to add my baseball swing into my swing every now and then causing a fade and I'm just afraid if it they were bent to flat it would just cause me to fade the ball allthe time. Do I have that right, or have the wrong idea about bending flat causing a fade?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What kind of ball flight are you getting with your club grounding toward the heel?
 
Flat would more than likely cause a fade, you are right
 
I strongly urge you to check out the THP Radio show on fitting. They discuss all of this to a T and its really helpful.

I tried to the other day but it wouldn't load for me for some reason, and they usually always load. Probably just my Internet though. I will try again tonight.



JRmaz- I don't ground my club with ball on the heel, you mean when I hit the ball with the heel?

I still get a fairly high ball distance loss is noticeable but it's almost border line hosel sometimes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
This is question/swing tip.

Talking about irons And wedges.

When a lie is adjusted 2* flat it helps the player hit less off the heel. But would this cause more of a fade/slice?

I have been hitting on the heel part of both iron and wedges and I can't seem to stop. I even back away from the ball some and still hit the inside part. I'm just afraid if they were to be adjusted to flat then It would cause more or a big fade and slice. I tend to add my baseball swing into my swing every now and then causing a fade which doesn't help. Do I have that right, or have the wrong idea about bending flat causing a fade?

Also how could I fix this without having them bent, any drills?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You're right that too flat will cause you to fade and too upright to hook. But, I'm not sure about the part I bolded. Bending a club flat doesn't (to my knowledge) change where on the face the ball impacts, it changes whether the club is level, tow up or toe down when it impacts. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're asking, but lie angle isn't going to fix hitting the ball too far inside (which I do all the time too by the way and it drives me frickin' crazy!).
 
You're right that too flat will cause you to fade and too upright to hook. But, I'm not sure about the part I bolded. Bending a club flat doesn't (to my knowledge) change where on the face the ball impacts, it changes whether the club is level, tow up or toe down when it impacts. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're asking, but lie angle isn't going to fix hitting the ball too far inside (which I do all the time too by the way and it drives me frickin' crazy!).

I'm almost positive the point of adjusting lie angles is for you to hit more towards the center of the club.
If you hit on the toe you want a upright, on the heel, flat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm almost positive the point of adjusting lie angles is for you to hit more towards the center of the club.
If you hit on the toe you want a upright, on the heel, flat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow, that would be news to me. Can anyone clarify for us? Cause one of us is way off. Hope it's you, Bridges :devil:
 
It's my understanding that if you want to change where you hit the ball on the face you adjust the length of the club. That's how we fit people at work anyway.
 
I think there may be some confusion here. Bridges when you say you are hitting off the heel are you referring to the ball off the face or where the sole of the club is grounding? If you are hitting the ball off the heel then you likely need to a shorter club to bring the ball back to the middle of the face. If you are grounding the club toward the heel on the sole then you would want to flatten your lie angle.
 
correct me if I'm wrong here, but I bought my S58's at 2* flat... that means more of the heel side is on the ground at address rather than the toe, wouldn't that cause you to hit more off the heel? Yes it does cause a fade and I had some trouble making contact when my irons weren't fitted for me bridges.

I suggest you go on a lie board with some tape to see where you are at. Ping is great for this with their colour codes.
 
I think there may be some confusion here. Bridges when you say you are hitting off the heel are you referring to the ball off the face or where the sole of the club is grounding? If you are hitting the ball off the heel then you likely need to a shorter club to bring the ball back to the middle of the face. If you are grounding the club toward the heel on the sole then you would want to flatten your lie angle.

Your confusing the crap out of me haha

I never said anything about grounding the club. When I'm at address I always put the ball dead
center of the clubface. I'm talking about when I make contact with the ball the ball mark and were I hit the ball at on the club face is on the heel part.


I know TC was fitted for irons, he was hitting on the toe every now and then so he had his bent 2* upright so he would start to hit the middle of the face.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Your confusing the crap out of me haha

I never said anything about grounding the club. When I'm at address I always put the ball dead
center of the clubface. I'm talking about when I make contact with the ball the ball mark and were I hit the ball at on the club face is on the heel part.


I know TC was fitted for irons, he was hitting on the toe every now and then so he had his bent 2* upright so he would start to hit the middle of the face.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's where I got confused because you referenced lie angle but hitting off the heel. Like I said when we are fitting some one and they are hitting off the ball off the heel portion of the face we have them try a shorter club.
 
correct me if I'm wrong here, but I bought my S58's at 2* flat... that means more of the heel side is on the ground at address rather than the toe, wouldn't that cause you to hit more off the heel? Yes it does cause a fade and I had some trouble making contact when my irons weren't fitted for me bridges.

I suggest you go on a lie board with some tape to see where you are at. Ping is great for this with their colour codes.


No, this is backwards. Flat means toe bent down.

Lie angle is about whether the club contacts the ground "flat" at impact which is what you want. You adjust it if it isn't. To my knowledge and based on everything I cna find, it has nothing to do with where on the face the ball impacts.

Here's a full description from http://www.leaderboard.com/GLOSSARY_LIEANGLE

LIE ANGLE

Refers to the angle that the club shaft makes with the ground at address.

Lie angles tend to vary very little. Short irons, such as the 9-iron and the wedges will be the most erect, at about 63-degrees. Longer irons (such as the 3) will have lie angles closer to 57-degrees.

When a club is fitted to you, one of the modifications may be to the lie angle. Taller players will want more erect clubs (larger lie angles). Shorter players will need shallower lie angles if they are to maintain shaft length.

When you go for a club fitting, one of the tests that will be performed will work as follows:

The fitter will take your 9-iron and will place masking tape along the bottom of the flange, from heel to toe. Then black magic marker is applied to the masking tape across the entire surface, evenly coating the bottom of the clubhead.




You are handed the club and are told to take a few swings on a practice mat. Use your regular swing - this is important.

Then the bottom of your club is examined to see where the ink was scraped off the masking tape.

If the ink was scraped off at the toe (as would happen in this illustration) then it means that the lie angle needs to be increased because you have a swing that is "too upright" for the club. Your fitter will bend the hosel in a special jig. If the ink was scraped off at the heel, then the lie angle needs to be reduced. If the ink was scraped off evenly, or equi-distant from the heel and the toe, then the lie angle is perfect for you just as it is.

The entire procedure is repeated for a long iron, such as the 6. Given just those two clubs, the pro can tune your complete set of irons to match your stance.

Do not confuse lie angle with loft angle.



edit: Here's a better link on this - http://www.touredge.com/services/lie.html
 
Last edited:
You can be hitting the ball in the center of the face but if the toe is predominantly down at impact you will see a ball flight that tends to fade. If irons are too flat for me I tend to hit the ball more out on the toe area. Having them bent upright helps me hit the ball in the center of the club face more often. It doesn't mean that I still don't fade the ball but it's less pronounced. I also think that getting fitted with the proper length iron is very important and a lot of times, when fit for proper length, a lie adjustment isn't near as severe.
 
I dont believe a club fitter will adjust lie angle just based on where your striking the ball on the face. From my understanding they use lie angle changes for instance if your divot indicates that the heel of the club is impacting first and causing the toe to turn over or the toe is impacting first and cause the club to open but I dont think it is used purely in refference to where your striking the ball in relation to the center of the clubface.
 
I dont believe a club fitter will adjust lie angle just based on where your striking the ball on the face. From my understanding they use lie angle changes for instance if your divot indicates that the heel of the club is impacting first and causing the toe to turn over or the toe is impacting first and cause the club to open but I dont think it is used purely in refference to where your striking the ball in relation to the center of the clubface.

Right. It's a lie angle/length thing that they'll look at for sure. That being said, if irons are too flat for me, I will hit more balls out on the toe.
 
I guess my swing is like yours. I too have a lot of contact towards the heel of the club.
Based on what I was told during my swing analysis/lesson the other week, choking down on the club will flatten the lie somewhat.

The instructor used a lie board and impact tape to show me.
Along with trying to get my swing more on plane and the use of his clubs which were 2* flat, the impact moved more towards the center of the club face.
So, for the time being I'm gripping 1-1/2 to 2" down on my 09 Burner irons and found a reason to look for some new irons.

My instructor and I could be wrong, but it seems to be "working". . .
 
The point of a proper lie angle is for the entire clubface to feel the same resistance from the turf interaction. If your divots are heel deep, your clubs are too upright, and the toe will keel over(causing the face to close rapidly) and the ball will have a tendency to go left. If the divots are toe deep, it means the clubs are too flat, and the the heel will throw over causing the face to open and go right.


Heres what I can gather from your information.

[video=youtube;jbS_ai-D3N4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbS_ai-D3N4[/video]
 
Last edited:
I was hitting the ball off the toe and I thought it was my swing. It was driving me nuts. I went to see my pro and he said, "No, nothing wrong with your swing, the lie angle is off on your clubs." He bent all my clubs on the Mitchell and voila! problem fixed.

It's not necessarily always a lie angle issue, for example, a golfer could be leaning a bit toward the ball and on the downswing standing up a bit straighter, this could cause a toe hit. Also, the clubs could be an incorrect length as well. The only way to really tell is to see a professional club fitter.
 
Ok, thanks for the info everyone. I appreciate it!!

Best thing you could do buddy is get yourself somewhere and hit off a lie board. I know there's not much close to you but it's worth knowing exactly what needs to be done.
 
Simple plexiglass or even plywood and masking tape will do buddy. Just take some pictures(after 3 or 4 swings-then new tape) and post them in this thread, the results will be obvious, but if you need any help interpreting them Im sure we can all help.
 
Best thing you could do buddy is get yourself somewhere and hit off a lie board. I know there's not much close to you but it's worth knowing exactly what needs to be done.

Simple plexiglass or even plywood and masking tape will do buddy. Just take some pictures(after 3 or 4 swings-then new tape) and post them in this thread, the results will be obvious, but if you need any help interpreting them Im sure we can all help.

Whats weird is I just started doing it about a week ago. I never used to hit on the heel, even when I first got the 2.0's I didnt hit on the heel. I dont think the length of the club is the issue(but then again it could be) since im 6 foot and that seems about standard length most of the time. I honestly have no idea why im now hitting on the heel, it causes for some very nasty shots that go to the right.


I will try the ply board or plexi-glass thing.
 
Lie angle doesnt tell you where you hit the ball on the face, it tells you which part of the sole is hitting the ground first and harder.


But hitting it on the heel would explain the extra length in the shafts. Because the club is longer, it now means youre too close to the ball. So back off a bit

Whats weird is I just started doing it about a week ago. I never used to hit on the heel, even when I first got the 2.0's I didnt hit on the heel. I dont think the length of the club is the issue(but then again it could be) since im 6 foot and that seems about standard length most of the time. I honestly have no idea why im now hitting on the heel, it causes for some very nasty shots that go to the right.

I have masking tape, but im not sure what that would prove since I can see on the clubface after I swing were the ball hit.

You could be so close, that youre hoselling it.
 
Back
Top