Length and Lie With the exception of putters, longer clubs require smaller, flatter lie angles than shorter clubs. The longest club, the driver, has a standard lie angle of 56 degrees. An angle of less then 56 degrees, therefore, has a flatter lie angle, while an angle of more than 56 degrees is classified as a more upright club.
Full Answer
What is a flat lie angle on a golf club?
And there are three terms used in fitting golfers for lie angle: Standard lie angle: What off-the-shelf golf clubs are designed with. Flat lie angle: A lie angle that is lower than the standard lie angle (a 62-degree lie angle on a 9-iron is flatter than the standard 9-iron lie angle of around 64 degrees);
How much does the lie angle affect your golf swing?
The answer could be a significant amount depending on how far out of line your clubs are with your swing. First, we need to make sure we have a good understanding of what lie angle is. The lie angle is the angle between the sole of the club and shaft. If the toe is down at impact, the lie angle would be considered flat.
What happens if lie angle is too high on a club?
If the lie angle is too far upright the club’s heel hits the ground first and the player will tend to pull the ball to the left. With a correctly-fit club, the middle of the club head’s sole will strike the ground first, giving the player a better chance to hit the ball squarely, and straight.
How can I tell if my clubs are flat or upright?
Tape on the bottom of the club, hitting off a lie board is a foolproof way to let you know if you're to flat or too upright. If you're missing right,your clubs are too flat.
Does lengthening a club affect lie angle?
The lie angle will automatically change if clubs are lengthened. Only slightly but it will change. There is no such thing as standard lie as all the manufacturers generally are different. The lie angle that is correct for you can only be tested dynamically - i.e. via a pro or fitter on a lie board hitting golf balls.
Does a longer shaft increase lie angle?
As length is increased, so is the weight. Increasing the length also changes shaft flex. For every 1" added, the shaft becomes one flex softer; likewise, a shorter shaft plays stiffer. Shaft length also affects lie angle.
What happens when you lengthen golf clubs?
Lengthening the shaft increases the swing weight, which makes the club head feel heavier. It may even make the club too heavy for you, which will slow down your swing speed and actually reduce your distance.
How does iron length affect lie?
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How does shortening a golf club affect lie angle?
If you are shortening irons, every 1 inch you shorten the club will make the iron effectively play 2 degrees flatter. You may need to have the lie angles readjusted after shortening them.
Does upright lie promote a draw?
The upright lie also promotes a left tilting spin axis, which leads to what's generally described as draw spin. An upright lie angle basically gives you a head start, but depending on the severity of the slice conditions the golfer generates, it certainly won't guarantee a draw.
How tall should my golf clubs be extended?
Your Height The most basic reason that you would need longer golf clubs is that you are taller than standard height. If you are taller than about 6'0”, you will likely need clubs that are a bit longer than normal.
Should tall golfers use longer clubs?
Because golf is a game of repetition and your swing should not vary in most circumstances, your stance will be the same. It doesn't matter how tall you are if you have a deeper crouch in your swing because your wrists will then be closer to the ground, which means you need slightly shorter clubs.
How long should your golf clubs be for your height?
Using the ratio of every 6" of height there should be a 1" change in length then there should be a 1 ½" difference between their 5-irons. For example, recommend 36.5" for the lady and 38" for the man (or 36.75" / 38.25").
Do taller golfers need different lie angles?
Tall players will benefit from a more upright lie angle. If your club is too flat, the ball will pull to the left (known as a hook). So you'll want to check that the angle between the shaft and the ground is larger than it should be, making the club shaft more upright compared to the ground.
Does 1 degree upright make a difference?
Yes it will make a difference, I play 2 degree upright and +1/2. If your hitting the ball left all the while (I am guessing your right handed) won't be to do with having the lye angle to flat.
What happens if your irons are too long?
What Happens When Golf Clubs Are Too Long? For most golfers, having clubs that are too long will result in the most inconsistent shots. Clubs that are too long will make you stand too upright, which can cause both heel and toe shots as well as a tendency to pull the ball.
What happens if the lie angle of your golf clubs is ill-suited to you?
When the lie angle of your clubs is wrong for your swing or body type, you can put a great swing on the ball and still have problems with accuracy. Poorly fitting lie angles create pushes and pulls and other mishits.
What is the lie angle of a golf club?
The "lie angle" of any golf club is the angle formed between the center of the shaft and the sole, or ground line, of the club when the club is soled in its proper ...
What does it mean when your divots are deeper on the toe side than the heel side?
If your divots are deeper on the toe side than the heel side (toe down, heel up at impact) or deeper on the heel side than the toe side (toe up, heel down at impact), that's a sign your lie angles might be too flat or too upright.
What is the lie angle on a 9 iron?
Upright lie angle: A lie angle that is higher than the standard lie angle (a 66-degree lie angle on a 9-iron is more upright than the standard 9-iron lie angle of around 64 degrees). You might hear a golfer (or clubfitter) saying things such as, "You need flatter lie angles on your irons," or "I had my irons bent 1-degree upright.".
Why is a proper lie angle important?
Proper Lie Angle Is More Important in Irons Than in Woods. Don't misunderstand: Lie angle is an important factor in all golf clubs, even the putter. But having improperly fit lie angles causes more problems in irons than in the woods.
What is lie angle?
Lie angle is a factor that affects the accuracy of golf shots. Golfers who use clubs whose lie angles don't fit their body types and/or golf swings are costing themselves strokes. Matching the lie angle of clubs to the specific golfer is one of the goals of a clubfitting session.
What does it mean when your toe is up at impact?
A toe-up position at impact indicates that your lie angle might be too upright; a toe-down position (meaning the club's heel is higher than the toe) at impact indicates that your lie angle might be too flat.
How does lengthening a shaft affect swing?
Timing and Feel. In many ways, the biggest effect of lengthening a club shaft is how it affects your ability to swing the club. The combined changes in length and swing weight make the club feel different. In turn, these changes will affect your timing and even your mechanics, perhaps without you even realizing it.
What does swing weight mean?
Swing Weight. Swing weight isn't an actual weight so much as a comparison of the difference in weight between the club head and the butt end of the shaft. It's expressed as a letter-number combination, such as C9 or D2. Lengthening the shaft increases the swing weight, which makes the club head feel heavier. It may even make the club too heavy ...
Can you add extenders to your golf shaft?
You may add extenders to your existing shafts or you may replace your existing shafts with longer ones. The effects can be very different. Tom Wishon has written extensively about the effects of changing shafts in "The Golfsmith Practical Clubfitting Program" guide.
Does lengthening the shaft make the club head heavier?
Lengthening the shaft increases the swing weight, which makes the club head feel heavier. It may even make the club too heavy for you, which will slow down your swing speed and actually reduce your distance.
Does lengthening a golf club shaft affect accuracy?
Accuracy. As a general rule, lengthening any club's shaft will reduce your accuracy with that club. The longer the club, the more difficult it becomes to hit the ball solidly. This is especially true when the ball is on the ground rather than on a tee, since hitting the ball fat is more likely.
Is shaft length a factor?
Shaft length is certainly a factor in how far you hit a given club. However, some clubs benefit more than others. Installing longer shafts in wedges and short irons will almost always result in more distance, as most players have little trouble swinging the shorter clubs.
Do golf clubs have longer shafts?
Effects of Lengthening a Golf Club Shaft. Tall players like Bubba Watson have to use longer shafts in all of their clubs. Most players consider using longer shafts in their clubs at some time or another, believing that longer shafts equal more distance, although that isn't necessarily true. There are two ways to lengthen your shafts.
What does it mean when your golf club is lying?
Well, you need to know how lie angle can affect ball flight. If your lie angle is too upright, typically meaning that it's closer to 90 degrees than 0 degrees, then that means you will typically hit the ground with your club with the heel side of the sole.
What is the lie angle of a golf club?
It's always an acute angle, less than 90 degrees. The lie angle dictates, in part, where your hands will be positioned on the golf club, relative to the ground, at address.
What does it mean when your golf club is on the toe side of the sole?
If your lie angle is too flat, typically meaning it' s closer to 0 degrees than 90 degrees, then that means you will typically hit the ground with your club with the toe side of the sole. Hitting the ground with the toe of the sole means you're hitting with an open face, leading to a fade or a slice, meaning the ball will sail well right ...
What does it mean when you hit the ground with the heel of your sole?
Hitting the ground with the heel of the sole means you're hitting with a closed face, leading to a pull or a hook, meaning the ball will sail well left of the intended target. From a visual standpoint, the toe of the golf club will be too much in the air at impact.
How to know if you stand at address?
It's also important to know how you stand at address (more upright or flat), your height (taller players tend to stand more upright, but not universally) and the distance from your hands at address to the ground with your clubs.
What happens if the golf club is too flat?
If a club’s lie angle is too flat for an individual player’s swing, the club’s toe will strike the ground first, resulting in shots pushed to the right. If the lie angle is too far upright the club’s heel hits the ground first and the player will tend to pull the ball to the left.
What is the difference between a flat and upright golf club?
A flat club’s lie angle is less than average, while an upright club has a higher than average lie angle.
What happens if your lie angle is correct?
If your lie angles are correct, the front edges of your divots will be uniform, their depths will be consistent and their shapes will point toward the target. If the divot edges closer to you (relative to your hitting position) are deeper, then the club’s heel is hitting the ground first and your lie angle is too far upright.
What is the lie angle of a golf club?
The "lie angle" of a golf club measures the relationship between the club’s shaft and the ground when the club is held with its sole level to the ground. There are three categories of lie angles: standard, flat and upright. A standard club has an average lie angle.
What is the largest lie angle?
Wedges and the 9-iron have the largest standard lie angle, at 64 degrees. Industry standard lie angles have increased from 1 to 3 degrees across the board since the 1950s, possibly as a means to help limit the most common golfing error, the slice.
How to tell if your golf club is too flat?
You may also notice that the heel of your golf club will never touch the ground if the lie angle is too flat .
Why is it important to have clubs with the right lie angle?
However, if your equipment is always working against you, you will constantly be fighting your golf swing on the course. This is no fun and leads to lots of frustration during your rounds.
What happens if the ink is angled toward the heel of the clubface?
If the ink is angled toward the toe of your clubface, the club you are using has too much of an upright lie angle. Conversely, if the ink points toward the heel of the clubface, the lie angle is too flat for your swing.
What is an upright lie angle?
An upright lie angle is when the toe of the club is up off the ground. Though it depends more on the golfer’s individual swing, their overall height plays a role. As a general rule of thumb, taller golfers usually need a tad bit more of an upright lie in their irons.
Why does my club toe not touch the ground?
On the other hand, if you are playing with golf clubs with too much of an upright lie angle , the toe of your club will not even touch the ground at impact. The club toe will often be pointed slightly up at impact, and the heel may hit off the ground. This will lead to lots of mishits like hooks and pulls (and lots of time looking for your ball in the woods) because the clubface becomes too shut at impact.
How to tell what angle you need for a golf ball?
Another decent way to tell what type of lie angle you need is simply using a magic marker. Take the marker and draw a straight line on the back of the golf ball. Make sure that line faces the center of your club and hits the ball. Look down at your clubface and study where the ink is on it.
What happens if you have a wrong lie angle?
If you have the wrong lie angle on your golf clubs, you will struggle with making solid, consistent contact. In fact, an improper lie angle can force you into making negative compensations in your swing to make solid contact. This will eventually turn into bad habits. Golf is hard enough as it is, so you don’t want your equipment working ...
What is the lie angle of a golf club?
The lie angle is the angle between the center of the shaft and the sole. To put it into simpler terms, the lie angle is the angle between the center of your club and the line of the ground.
What is the difference between a flat lie angle and an upright lie angle?
A flat lie angle (for a right-handed golfer) will result in angled shots and tailspin to the right of the course. Whereas, upright lie angles will send the balls spinning out to the left.
What happens if the lie angle is wrong?
If the lie angle is wrong, it doesn’t matter how squarely you strike the ball, you will still see an angled shot (when the trajectory of the ball is too far left, or too far right from the beginning) and tailspin (the trajectory of the shot begins incorrectly, and becomes more off-target the further it travels).
Why do you adjust your lie angle?
On average your shots will also be slower and less powerful. Finally, adjusting your lie angle can help set right other areas of imbalance in your game. Nearly all professional players have the lie angles on their clubs adjusted to suit their personal play style, and it could benefit you too.
When to get flat lie angle?
It is possible to get a flat lie angle when both teeing off, or when striking the ball straight from the turf. NOTE: Here is where you will notice dents and chips in your clubs most, although striking the grass before making contact with the ball can also affect the lie angle at this stage.
What is the lie angle of a 9 iron?
Each club comes with a natural lie angle, for example, a standard 9 iron roughly has a lie angle of 64 degrees, so once you understand what the best angle for you is you can have your clubs adjusted. There are two main ways to measure your lie angle. One of them you can even do from the comfort of your own home course.
What is the lie angle of a golf club?
The lie angle is the angle between the sole of the club and shaft. If the toe is down at impact, the lie angle would be considered flat. A toe up condition would be considered upright. An ideal lie angle would have the sole of the club parallel with the ground at impact. Now that we understand what the lie angle is, ...
What is the lie angle of a soft forged golf club?
Keep in mind that every manufacturer has their own standard lie angle. The standard lie angle between manufacturers could be up to 2.5 degrees different.
What to do if you don't have time to perfect your golf swing?
However, if you don’t have the time to perfect your golf swing. You might try adjusting your lie angle to help cover your swing faults.
How far off the pin should you hit the golf ball?
When you consider that you almost never execute a perfect swing, 1 degree off could easily cause you to be in the bunker instead of on the green. If you hit the ball 10 feet left of the pin, your lie angle would cause you to be an extra 6.5 feet left. There are many bunkers that are less then 16.5 feet from the pin.
How far would a shot pulled 10 feet left end up?
With a lie angle 1 degree flatter than it should be, a shot pulled 10 feet left would end up 3.5 feet from the hole for a tap in. When you take this into consideration, it really depends on your swing faults as to how much an incorrect lie angle would help or hurt.
Is a lie angle incorrect?
The first thing to know is that lie angle being incorrect is the most important on clubs with more loft. The more loft a club has, the more magnified an incorrect lie angle will be when it comes to the direction of your golf ball. A 3 iron will be much less offline than a PW with the same lie angle. Let’s take a real world example based on an ...
Does lie angle affect direction?
Yes, Lie Angle Affects Direction. Everything about the golf swing eventually comes down to one question. Did my golf ball go where I wanted it to? Let’s talk about how much affect lie angle has on the direction of your golf ball.