Check Your Loft, Lie and Bounce Angle

Mark Oswald
General Manager
The Highlands at Dove Mountain in Marana, AZ.
Marana, AZ
oswaldpga@gmail.com

More Information

Start off the New Year with checking your loft, lie and bounce angle on your irons and wedges. Have you had your clubs adjusted to the correct lie angle of your swing? If you have and it has been a year or more you might want to check the lie angle again to make sure they are still at the correct setting.

If your golf club is too upright you will ground the inside or heel of the club into the ground which will close the clubface at impact. This will result in the ball drawing or hooking depending how much your lie angle is off.

If your club is too flat you will ground the toe of the club at impact, which will open the clubface. This open clubface will result in a fade or slice depending on how open the clubface is at impact due to the incorrect lie angle.

It is very important to have the correct lie angle determined by your local PGA Professional. This is a very simple and quick process. You will hit balls off a lie board or firm surface using impact tape on the bottom of your club to mark the clubs impact with the ground. The ideal position would be mark the tape in the center of the clubface.

Determine the center of your mark on the impact tape, every _” the center of the mark is towards the heel represents one degree of lie angle adjustment required for the centered impact. If you are marking the impact tape towards the heel you will need to flatten the club angle. If the center of the impact mark is towards the toe of the club you will need to have the club bent more upright.

Lie angle has a huge impact on determining if the clubface will remain square at contact with the ball. If the clubface is opening or closing at impact due to the incorrect lie angle of the club you will be compensating in your golf swing for this incorrect lie angle.

When checking the impact position with your wedges you will also confirm the bounce angle. If you are marking the back edge of the tape, this is showing that you are scooping the shot; the leading edge of the wedge is coming up as you make impact with the ground and could mean you have too much bounce on the club. The correct marking should be towards the leading edge of the wedge, which shows the clubface is still descending into the shot at impact and not reflecting off the ground at impact.

One last check is the loft. You want to make sure your clubs are set to the manufacturer’s specifications for loft. Loft can also change over time with use and impact on the hard desert ground.

Even new clubs need to be checked to assure the loft, lie and bounce angles are set to your requirements. Get your clubs checked today and make 2012 your best golf season yet.

For more information, contact Mark at moswald@orovalleycountryclub.com.