Spine angle at address--lie of irons

[Broadus]

Please help me understand the angle of the spine at address and how that relates to the lie (if I'm using proper terminology) of the club, particularly with irons.

I've recently discovered that when I take my normal stance, the toe of my clubs is raised, and this appears to affect my ball striking with my irons. Taking a more erect stance, I eliminate the raised toe and have more consistent strikes. The more erect stance, though, seems to get my chest in the way of the swing, but it may be just uncomfortableness produced by unfamiliarity.

So . . . how does one determine what the angle should be? I know it is somewhat individualized, but is there a general way to decide? Obviously, it seems to me, one's stance will affect one's fit to one's clubs.

Bill

[a_hornsfan]

Re: Spine angle at address--lie of irons

It has to do with how high your hands are at impact. If you are more erect at impact, then your hands will be higher wich makes the club more upright.

If you feel more comfortable swing/feel it is more consistent when you are more bent over instead of standing to erect, then you could simply get your lies adjusted on your clubs. I would recommend having a pro glance at your setup and tell you which one (stance) would work better for you and go from there.

[msklar92]

Re: Spine angle at address--lie of irons

Lowpost, where are you there on this one?

[LowPost42]

Re: Spine angle at address--lie of irons

Please help me understand the angle of the spine at address and how that relates to the lie (if I'm using proper terminology) of the club, particularly with irons.

I've recently discovered that when I take my normal stance, the toe of my clubs is raised, and this appears to affect my ball striking with my irons. Taking a more erect stance, I eliminate the raised toe and have more consistent strikes. The more erect stance, though, seems to get my chest in the way of the swing, but it may be just uncomfortableness produced by unfamiliarity.

Funny - I went through the same thing. Too upright feeling had the club setup properly, but got my chest in the way. When I got into a good feeling setup, the toe was waaaaaaay up in the air.

So . . . how does one determine what the angle should be? I know it is somewhat individualized, but is there a general way to decide? Obviously, it seems to me, one's stance will affect one's fit to one's clubs.

Bill

And this is the interesting phenomena that's seen on fitting days. Different length clubs produce different shots. Different lie angles produce different accuracy results.

IMO every golfer has an ideal athletic posture that will enable them to swing the golf club with the most efficiency and the most effectiveness. This is based on watching demo days, and watching golfers swing different length clubs. It's also based on watching different golfers in my backyard, hitting balls off a lie board.

Some of my best ballstriking this year came from fitting clubs to where I felt the most comfortable and athletic.

Unfortunately, how it's determined is trial and error. Once you've found a length you like, then you bend the lies to dial in your accuracy.

[Broadus]

Re: Spine angle at address--lie of irons

I hit some balls today with my "new" more upright stance. At first, my chest was in the way. I discovered that if I stuck my behunkas out like you're supposed to, voila, my chest was no longer in the way. And I finally was making decent contact with my irons.

It seems to me that, especially with irons, you need to observe the lie of the iron as you take your stance. Either having the lie altered by a clubmaker or altering one's stance seems to be the solution.

Bill

[shootin4par]

Re: Spine angle at address--lie of irons

broadus,
I think there is somethign happening that you dont realize. When you are more upright the arms and club shaft are closer to a straight line, when you are more bent over the is more of an angle between the arms and club shaft. SInce the arms and club shaft will be close to a straight line at impact, the upright address is closer to an impact position then a bent over one address, therefore you are in a much better set up position in relation to arms/slub shaft. Go and read some of my post in greggs right hand drill for further explanation, and shoot me any questions you have.

p.s.
you cna have this closer to straight line set up while being bent over as well, it just means the arms may not hang straight down, but a little more out.

[Broadus]

Re: Spine angle at address--lie of irons

broadus,
I think there is somethign happening that you dont realize. When you are more upright the arms and club shaft are closer to a straight line, when you are more bent over the is more of an angle between the arms and club shaft. SInce the arms and club shaft will be close to a straight line at impact, the upright address is closer to an impact position then a bent over one address, therefore you are in a much better set up position in relation to arms/slub shaft. Go and read some of my post in greggs right hand drill for further explanation, and shoot me any questions you have.

p.s.
you cna have this closer to straight line set up while being bent over as well, it just means the arms may not hang straight down, but a little more out.

You are correct. I observed this today, that I could stand more erect or a little more bent over and have my arms farther from the body. I think it better to be more erect. It seems that being bent over more means a flatter swing, something I suspect isn't the best with irons, in particular.

Bill