Reading A Divot
As you learn to read the objective feedback, we don't want to neglect the information that a divot can provide. The divot can show you the baseline path of the swing plane (horizontal swing plane) and it can show you if you are steep. However, it won't always show you if you are steep. For instance, if you don't take a divot, you could still have a steep angle of attack. But if you do take a divot and it's deep, then you very likely have a steep angle of attack.
Remember, the two components to creating ball flight are "club path" and "club face". The divot can give information for looking at "club path", BUT, just because you see a divot that is slightly left, that doesn't mean that the "path" of the club is left. If you are hitting down enough, the true path of the club will be slightly to the right.
As you learn to read the objective feedback, we don't want to neglect the information that a divot can provide. The divot can show you the baseline path of the swing plane (horizontal swing plane) and it can show you if you are steep. However, it won't always show you if you are steep. For instance, if you don't take a divot, you could still have a steep angle of attack. But if you do take a divot and it's deep, then you very likely have a steep angle of attack.
Remember, the two components to creating ball flight are "club path" and "club face". The divot can give information for looking at "club path", BUT, just because you see a divot that is slightly left, that doesn't mean that the "path" of the club is left. If you are hitting down enough, the true path of the club will be slightly to the right.
Video Transcript
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.120
this concept video is reading a divot now first I want to give a special thanks
2
00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.420
to a golf instructor in Texas by the name of Chris Como if you're in the Dallas
3
00:00:09.420 --> 00:00:14.680
Fort Worth area please go search him out he's great when I was at the Byron
4
00:00:14.680 --> 00:00:19.440
Nelson we had a great conversation and kind of led to a lot of the inspiration
5
00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:26.040
and content for this video so I think that divots can provide a couple pieces
6
00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:31.080
of useful information the two pieces of useful information is they can tell
7
00:00:31.080 --> 00:00:35.640
you the kind of path of the club not necessarily the absolute path of the
8
00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:40.040
club when it made contact with the golf ball but what's called the horizontal
9
00:00:40.040 --> 00:00:47.200
swing plane or when when you see them on TV and they they draw the line of the
10
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.480
club moving through impact and they say hey there's the swing plane it can
11
00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:55.680
basically give you a really good rough estimate as to where that swing plane
12
00:00:55.680 --> 00:01:00.040
would be pointed now the problem is it doesn't know exactly how much you're
13
00:01:00.040 --> 00:01:06.720
hitting down and say you know with an iron for for every two degrees I'm
14
00:01:06.720 --> 00:01:10.280
hitting down it's going to be about one degree that that's going to adjust that
15
00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:17.680
path so this divot is going to give us the absolute most leftward the path
16
00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:18.000
could
17
00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.830
be so for example you can see the tree in the background there if I were to
18
00:01:22.830 --> 00:01:23.000
take
19
00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:29.160
a swing and have a divot pointed in the general direction in the tree well the
20
00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:32.960
true path of the club when it's making contact with the golf ball could be
21
00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:37.640
anywhere from a couple degrees to maybe even ten degrees right over where this
22
00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:43.240
divot is pointing or if I just barely took a divot it could be roughly where
23
00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:47.520
that divot is pointing so again that's why we can't take a divot as an absolute
24
00:01:47.520 --> 00:01:54.120
path but it gives us a great idea as far as a general range of the most left
25
00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:58.600
that my path could be the other thing that we can use a divot to look at is
26
00:01:58.600 --> 00:02:04.640
angle of attack and unfortunately it can only give us one answer which is if
27
00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:05.320
you
28
00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:10.960
take a really steep divot or really deep divot such as the one shown on the
29
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:16.040
screen right now you can pretty much assume that there was a pretty steep
30
00:02:16.040 --> 00:02:21.360
angle of attack it's a very safe estimate now just because you don't take a
31
00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:25.640
divot doesn't mean that you have a shallow angle of attack you could have a
32
00:02:25.640 --> 00:02:31.640
steep angle of attack that so if it goes way into the ground we're pretty sure
33
00:02:31.640 --> 00:02:35.280
that it wasn't kind of coming in on a gentle slope and then just quickly
34
00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:40.000
change so there's a very good chance that this was a steep angle and we took a
35
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:46.080
huge chunk of earth out of the ground now if I am coming down steeply but I've
36
00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.440
already started to kind of pull up and so I have kind of this narrow bottom
37
00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:55.840
kind of like so I can catch it thin or top the ball and still have a steep
38
00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:01.360
angle of attack so it doesn't give us the one-to-one of no divot is shallow
39
00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:06.480
deep divot is steep but it does tell us that if I tend to take steep divots or
40
00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:11.720
deep divots there's a good chance that my swing gets steep so one of the best
41
00:03:11.720 --> 00:03:15.840
ways that we can look to see if you have a shallow angle of attack is going to
42
00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:16.040
be
43
00:03:16.040 --> 00:03:21.360
kind of the the length compared to the depth so if you have the long skinny
44
00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:25.980
divots that looks sort of like a dollar bill and still leave the blades of
45
00:03:25.980 --> 00:03:26.160
grass
46
00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:31.720
or barely take just enough dirt that's a good indicator or leave or I should
47
00:03:31.720 --> 00:03:31.840
say
48
00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:35.600
not the blades of grass but if you leave the roots if you take really deep
49
00:03:35.600 --> 00:03:39.080
divots where a lot of earth gets moved there's a good chance that you're being
50
00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:43.600
steep so while it doesn't give us a ton of information it does give us some
51
00:03:43.600 --> 00:03:46.630
especially when we're on the course and we're trying to figure out what we
52
00:03:46.630 --> 00:03:46.800
might
53
00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:52.640
have done now it can fool you for example I could have a divot that's
54
00:03:52.640 --> 00:03:57.280
pointing right of the target and I could have a golf ball that starts slightly
55
00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.880
left of the target but then fades back for example if I were to hit a closed
56
00:04:03.880 --> 00:04:04.160
face
57
00:04:04.160 --> 00:04:10.060
on the heel I could get that ball flight so we're using these pieces of
58
00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:14.160
information such as the divot to give us feedback and then it's up to you to
59
00:04:14.160 --> 00:04:18.520
interpret that feedback but I don't want to completely ignore the divot we do
60
00:04:18.520 --> 00:04:21.320
want to have them we want them to start slightly after the golf ball for our
61
00:04:21.320 --> 00:04:24.880
stock full swing and we want them to be about the width of the club head and
62
00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:29.160
somewhere around the length of a dollar bill if you have all that criteria
63
00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:29.600
there's
64
00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:33.400
a very good chance that you have a pretty good angle of attack and then it's
65
00:04:33.400 --> 00:04:33.640
just
66
00:04:33.640 --> 00:04:37.760
a matter of getting the club face oriented to the path
Have questions?
Ask Mulligan for helpReading A Divot
As you learn to read the objective feedback, we don't want to neglect the information that a divot can provide. The divot can show you the baseline path of the swing plane (horizontal swing plane) and it can show you if you are steep. However, it won't always show you if you are steep. For instance, if you don't take a divot, you could still have a steep angle of attack. But if you do take a divot and it's deep, then you very likely have a steep angle of attack.
Remember, the two components to creating ball flight are "club path" and "club face". The divot can give information for looking at "club path", BUT, just because you see a divot that is slightly left, that doesn't mean that the "path" of the club is left. If you are hitting down enough, the true path of the club will be slightly to the right.
As you learn to read the objective feedback, we don't want to neglect the information that a divot can provide. The divot can show you the baseline path of the swing plane (horizontal swing plane) and it can show you if you are steep. However, it won't always show you if you are steep. For instance, if you don't take a divot, you could still have a steep angle of attack. But if you do take a divot and it's deep, then you very likely have a steep angle of attack.
Remember, the two components to creating ball flight are "club path" and "club face". The divot can give information for looking at "club path", BUT, just because you see a divot that is slightly left, that doesn't mean that the "path" of the club is left. If you are hitting down enough, the true path of the club will be slightly to the right.
Video Transcript
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.120
this concept video is reading a divot now first I want to give a special thanks
2
00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.420
to a golf instructor in Texas by the name of Chris Como if you're in the Dallas
3
00:00:09.420 --> 00:00:14.680
Fort Worth area please go search him out he's great when I was at the Byron
4
00:00:14.680 --> 00:00:19.440
Nelson we had a great conversation and kind of led to a lot of the inspiration
5
00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:26.040
and content for this video so I think that divots can provide a couple pieces
6
00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:31.080
of useful information the two pieces of useful information is they can tell
7
00:00:31.080 --> 00:00:35.640
you the kind of path of the club not necessarily the absolute path of the
8
00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:40.040
club when it made contact with the golf ball but what's called the horizontal
9
00:00:40.040 --> 00:00:47.200
swing plane or when when you see them on TV and they they draw the line of the
10
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.480
club moving through impact and they say hey there's the swing plane it can
11
00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:55.680
basically give you a really good rough estimate as to where that swing plane
12
00:00:55.680 --> 00:01:00.040
would be pointed now the problem is it doesn't know exactly how much you're
13
00:01:00.040 --> 00:01:06.720
hitting down and say you know with an iron for for every two degrees I'm
14
00:01:06.720 --> 00:01:10.280
hitting down it's going to be about one degree that that's going to adjust that
15
00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:17.680
path so this divot is going to give us the absolute most leftward the path
16
00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:18.000
could
17
00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:22.830
be so for example you can see the tree in the background there if I were to
18
00:01:22.830 --> 00:01:23.000
take
19
00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:29.160
a swing and have a divot pointed in the general direction in the tree well the
20
00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:32.960
true path of the club when it's making contact with the golf ball could be
21
00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:37.640
anywhere from a couple degrees to maybe even ten degrees right over where this
22
00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:43.240
divot is pointing or if I just barely took a divot it could be roughly where
23
00:01:43.240 --> 00:01:47.520
that divot is pointing so again that's why we can't take a divot as an absolute
24
00:01:47.520 --> 00:01:54.120
path but it gives us a great idea as far as a general range of the most left
25
00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:58.600
that my path could be the other thing that we can use a divot to look at is
26
00:01:58.600 --> 00:02:04.640
angle of attack and unfortunately it can only give us one answer which is if
27
00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:05.320
you
28
00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:10.960
take a really steep divot or really deep divot such as the one shown on the
29
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:16.040
screen right now you can pretty much assume that there was a pretty steep
30
00:02:16.040 --> 00:02:21.360
angle of attack it's a very safe estimate now just because you don't take a
31
00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:25.640
divot doesn't mean that you have a shallow angle of attack you could have a
32
00:02:25.640 --> 00:02:31.640
steep angle of attack that so if it goes way into the ground we're pretty sure
33
00:02:31.640 --> 00:02:35.280
that it wasn't kind of coming in on a gentle slope and then just quickly
34
00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:40.000
change so there's a very good chance that this was a steep angle and we took a
35
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:46.080
huge chunk of earth out of the ground now if I am coming down steeply but I've
36
00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.440
already started to kind of pull up and so I have kind of this narrow bottom
37
00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:55.840
kind of like so I can catch it thin or top the ball and still have a steep
38
00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:01.360
angle of attack so it doesn't give us the one-to-one of no divot is shallow
39
00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:06.480
deep divot is steep but it does tell us that if I tend to take steep divots or
40
00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:11.720
deep divots there's a good chance that my swing gets steep so one of the best
41
00:03:11.720 --> 00:03:15.840
ways that we can look to see if you have a shallow angle of attack is going to
42
00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:16.040
be
43
00:03:16.040 --> 00:03:21.360
kind of the the length compared to the depth so if you have the long skinny
44
00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:25.980
divots that looks sort of like a dollar bill and still leave the blades of
45
00:03:25.980 --> 00:03:26.160
grass
46
00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:31.720
or barely take just enough dirt that's a good indicator or leave or I should
47
00:03:31.720 --> 00:03:31.840
say
48
00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:35.600
not the blades of grass but if you leave the roots if you take really deep
49
00:03:35.600 --> 00:03:39.080
divots where a lot of earth gets moved there's a good chance that you're being
50
00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:43.600
steep so while it doesn't give us a ton of information it does give us some
51
00:03:43.600 --> 00:03:46.630
especially when we're on the course and we're trying to figure out what we
52
00:03:46.630 --> 00:03:46.800
might
53
00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:52.640
have done now it can fool you for example I could have a divot that's
54
00:03:52.640 --> 00:03:57.280
pointing right of the target and I could have a golf ball that starts slightly
55
00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.880
left of the target but then fades back for example if I were to hit a closed
56
00:04:03.880 --> 00:04:04.160
face
57
00:04:04.160 --> 00:04:10.060
on the heel I could get that ball flight so we're using these pieces of
58
00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:14.160
information such as the divot to give us feedback and then it's up to you to
59
00:04:14.160 --> 00:04:18.520
interpret that feedback but I don't want to completely ignore the divot we do
60
00:04:18.520 --> 00:04:21.320
want to have them we want them to start slightly after the golf ball for our
61
00:04:21.320 --> 00:04:24.880
stock full swing and we want them to be about the width of the club head and
62
00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:29.160
somewhere around the length of a dollar bill if you have all that criteria
63
00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:29.600
there's
64
00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:33.400
a very good chance that you have a pretty good angle of attack and then it's
65
00:04:33.400 --> 00:04:33.640
just
66
00:04:33.640 --> 00:04:37.760
a matter of getting the club face oriented to the path
Have questions about this video?
Ask Mulligan for personalized guidance on technique, drills, or how to apply what you've learned.
Ask Mulligan