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OK, tell me if you have had this argument before. Saw a really donnybrook going on at another forum. OK, there are some misconceptions about trapping the ball between the club and the ground, or pinching the ball or compressing the ball with a shot off the ground. One side insisted the ball doesn't get compressed and doesn't get driven down into the ground before it is sent on it's way. The say the ball simply bounces off the club face into the air. I see it this way, especially on shots with the wedge and other high lofted clubs:
The club comes down in it's circular arc to the ball and if the swing is done correctly the clubface contacts the ball first on it's way down to making a divot just in front of the ball. There is friction between the surface of the clubface and the ball. For a fraction of a second the ball sticks to the clubface and is actually driven down before overcoming friction, travelling up the clubface where it caroms off the face at the angle determined by the loft of the club. As you go through the clubs from wedge to driver there is less of a downward component on the ball at impact and therefore this pinching is minimal to non-existant.
The club comes down in it's circular arc to the ball and if the swing is done correctly the clubface contacts the ball first on it's way down to making a divot just in front of the ball. There is friction between the surface of the clubface and the ball. For a fraction of a second the ball sticks to the clubface and is actually driven down before overcoming friction, travelling up the clubface where it caroms off the face at the angle determined by the loft of the club. As you go through the clubs from wedge to driver there is less of a downward component on the ball at impact and therefore this pinching is minimal to non-existant.
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