IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME

Cracking golf’s code is aided by radar technology

By T. J. Tomasi

The introduction of radar technology exploded the myth that you can simply watch a ball’s flight with the unaided eye to “crack the code” and determine what happened at impact. Pre-radar players such as Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead and Bobby Jones discovered the code on their own through experimentation. By his own admission, Ben Hogan took 10 years to “dig it out of the dirt.”

The code itself, however, remained elusive because even those who mastered it didn’t know what they had found. The good news is that today, cracking the code with technology is available to all.

Below is an outline of the code, which may seem complicated, but once understood, makes the game so much easier.

The DNA of ball flight is composed of: clubhead speed, the angle of attack, the path, the face and the contact point of information transfer ― all of which occur at impact.

When you hit a good shot, you have transferred the correct information from your mind to your body, through your club and into the ball ― nice shot. This information, in code form, appears on the screen of the radar tracking technology that is now being used by some teachers. It can be summarized as follows:

The speed code of the clubhead at impact is in miles per hour. The speed of an average PGA Tour player using a driver is 113 mph; an LPGA player averages 94 mph. With a 6-iron, men will average 92 mph, while women will be 78 mph.

The angle of attack code is reported in degrees. A negative number means the clubhead is traveling down at impact, a positive means up and a 0 means level.

This number reveals how much correction in swing direction you need to make given the desired ball flight.

For example, the average angle of attack for a PGA Tour 6-iron is -4 degrees; an LPGA driver is +3 (3 degrees on the upswing).

The path code is the direction the clubhead is moving (left, straight or right) relative to the target line, measured in degrees. A negative number means the clubhead is moving left of the target line, positive is right and 0 is straight (reverse for left-handers). The code to fade the ball with a 6-iron is -2 face, -4 path, which means the face is 2 degrees open to the path, but closed 2 degrees to the target line.

The face code describes the direction the center of the clubface is pointing at impact. Zero means it’s pointing at the target; a negative number indicates how many degrees left; a positive number means degrees right. A tour player hitting a draw with a 6-iron will be +2 face, +4 path.

The contact point code, called the smash factor, is the relationship between the speed of the club and the exit speed of the ball. Balls struck off-center have both unwanted spin and compromised energy transfer that cause off-target results. The code for a good center strike with a driver is 148-150.

After learning to use the code, there is one more step to becoming a player: converting the code into images.

You must master techniques that turn the numbers on the screen into mental representations that in turn cue up movement patterns. Thus, used correctly, radar technology is just another way to teach feel.

Takeaway: The actual relationships of the code are more complicated, but the outline above will give you the concept. Find yourself a teacher who uses radar and understands the coding system, then learn how to segue from the code to image-driven golf.