Breaking 100/90/80

The Ball Flight
Tells All

By Matt Killen
With Pete McDaniel
Photos By J.D. Cuban
Photo illustrations by Jim Luft
September 2010

After learning the proper fundamentals (posture, grip, aim and ball position), the best thing golfers can do to develop their games is to understand ball flight. By that I mean identifying shot shape, and then working back to see what caused it. Golfers often misunderstand -- they think a pull is a hook because both shots go left -- and as a result work on the wrong things.

The keys are identifying first where your ball starts and then which way it curves. Let's fix some common mis-hits: the slice, the pop-up and the hook.

Matt Killen, one of Golf Digest's Top-20 Teachers Under 40, is based at The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky. He works with Kenny Perry, J.B. Holmes and a number of other tour players. Read more about Matt Killen.

Breaking 100

An out-to-in swing path with an open face produces the most common ball flight for those trying to break 100: the slice. Slicers typically set up with the feet more closed than the shoulders, then pull across the ball.
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Breaking 90

The pop-up usually results from having no spine tilt at address, or the left shoulder is lower than the right. It's also caused by incorrect sequencing on the downswing.
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Breaking 80

Better players often fight the push-hook, where the ball starts out to the right, then curves hard left. They either drop the club too far inside on the downswing or thrust the hips toward the ball, changing the spine angle. Both faults move the swing path out to the right, usually coupled with a closed face.
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