TrackMan Data: Posture's Effect on Path

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In this video, I use our TrackMan launch monitor to show you how my pro student uses RST fundamentals to produce dead straight shots. You'll find out how a quick change in your golf posture can significantly affect your swing path. Check out this video now to attack the flag sticks!

  • Data can be critical when working with a playing professional
  • Zeroing out a path will lead to great ball striking and limited mistakes


I'm going to talk about how we use Track Man and how the RST fundamentals validate all the work that we're working on our golf swings to help you hit consistently straight golf shots.

  I'm going to pull up a professional student of mine and walk you through an example of not only how important the fundamentals are to helping you hit straight shots in RST; but also how using modern technology such as a launch monitor like Track Man can help you understand how to work through these fundamentals.

  I've got three different groupings of swings here. The first one we're going to look at is this guy here. I want you to notice one number here. Notice the club path on this side, this is the column that we want to be focusing on. This is going through in a sequence. We started here, went to this swing, this group of swings, then we ended up with the ones at the top. Notice that the averages went from four point nine to three point two to point six. that's a big difference in a short period of time. Here's what I want you to focus on.

  The first thing is is we look at this swing here, you're going to notice that the blue line that we see here is representing the club, the path that the club is traveling on when the ball was fully compressed on the face. You'll note that the white line here in the middle is the target. That's the target line. The blue shows that the club was working well out to the right, or into out at impact. The club face, the red arrow here shows that the club face was pointing left of the path at impact, but right of the target line. Of course, this is going to create a shot, all things considered equal, that's going to end up well left of the target which is represented by this pink and purple line here. You can see that this is the actual flight of the ball.

  As we walk through this, we're going to notice a couple of things. One that club, the ball's turning around that purple line and then it's going to hook 15 yards or so, 10 or 15 yards to the left of the target. That's obviously going to cause a missed a green. That wasn't necessarily a bad swing, but it's really hard to put all of these pieces together when that club is working this far out to the right. You have to get everything just perfect to get the ball to line up back on the target. Of course, one of the things I talk about a lot is zeroing out that path. What I mean by that is that this blue line would be traveling straight down the target line, that white line, at impact. Then all we'd have to worry about is getting that club face to line up with that. That's the ideal goal on a swing.

  In this student's case, we had a couple of things that were going on. The first one that I wanted to fix, I work through things in sequence here, is I wanted him to feel 100% left arm. That's what this next grouping of swings is here. We made a pretty big jump. We went from about five degrees to three point two degrees, in to out. You can see all of these swings here are a little bit closer. We'll take a look at one here.

  Here's one where he's just feeling 100% left arm dominant. He didn't have the face pointing in the right direction on this one, but what we did see is the path was a little bit better, about 30% improvement. Obviously him feeling a left hand only wasn't being able to focus on the golf swing release. I don't consider this a bad result even though the ball went further off line than we had before on this particular swing. The goal was we were working on getting that path. We can worry about the club face later. That part's the easiest part to fix. Getting that path to work out has a lot of complicated factors into it. So we made progress here.

  As we continue to work through some swings, works through some different shots, we got a little bit closer, a little bit closer. But, one of the things you're going to notice, that we made the biggest change on was going to a much more upright posture for him. If you look at this swing compared to the ones that we were looking at before, he feels like he's standing straight up and down. Keep in mind, your swing plane and path, a lot of it is dictated by your spine angle and how that dynamically changes throughout the shot. As he was coming through, he was tending to lose his posture, lose his tush line, and that would cause his hands to raise up more through the hitting area; and that would cause the club to work out to the right. Now as we walk through, you'll notice now that the club path, that blue line is literally exactly on the target line. This is a zero point zero path. Again, club face was just a hair open here. We work on these pieces bit by bit.

  As we fix the golf club path, now if he gets that club face squared up every time, that ball's going to fly absolutely dead straight and stay on line. More importantly, has the opportunity to start on line rather than always starting right or left of the target, and then having to curve back. That's the hardest way to try and control a golf ball. If we can get it to start on line and stay on line, life becomes a lot easier.

  As we worked on just a postural change, you'll notice a big change in his path. We actually had a couple that went negative, which he never does. He tends to be way in to out. As he's working through these changes, bit by bit, everything changes a little bit. He feels a little different, but his shot deviation became more much more constant as he got closer and closer to zero on his path. That's what we were working on. We want to always try and zero out this path, and get as close ... Here's one where he actually came over negative slightly. You'll notice the difference in the shot curvature, just a tiny little controlled fade. Again, all just basic RST fundamentals.

  How much do you need to be bent over to the ball at golf setup? Well basically, you need to be bent over far enough that as you keep your spine in neutral, you hinge forward far enough that you can see the ball. Which means you don't need to be bent over an exaggerated amount. That's going to cause you to tend to want to come out of your posture as you come through. As you saw here, that's going to affect your plane and path into the ball.

  So, to zero out that path, really pay attention to the fundamentals. The setup fundamentals at RST aren't that exotic or sexy, but they produce quality golf shots. When you set up correctly, you can go from a zero point ... you can go from a five degree in to out path to zero point zero just by feeling the right things in your swing, and getting set up properly and really paying attention to the fundamentals. Don't overlook the fundamentals of any part of RST, especially the setup if you want to hit straight golf shots.

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Anthony
Anyone have any experience with the Mevo Portable launch Monitor?
August 3, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Anthony. I haven't used this device. But, will leave this question up to see if any members have experience with it.
August 5, 2019
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Jeffrey
Won't club length also dictate how upright you can be?
March 23, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Jeffrey. Club length will cause you to have slight adjustments in hinge from the hips. As the club gets longer you will have to be a little more upright.
March 24, 2019
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Thaddieus
I constantly struggle with my posture - rounded shoulders at address. If my biceps reach forward in the slightest bit my shoulders start to round. Should I feel as though my biceps are pinned to my side at address? I can do a “bow” move with my hands in prayer position and my back stays flat. The moment I reach out though it starts to round.
March 7, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Thaddieus. You should sense some connection, but I don't want you to glue the biceps to the chest. Make sure you aren't reaching to a ball too far away. How Far to Stand from the Golf Ball Video.
March 7, 2019
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Chad
Great Video, so I'm a right handed golfer but left handed. So I pull with my left side well but most of my shots are push fades. I don't release the ball very well. When I try to use my right side, I either pull hook it or hit it fat. Any suggestions?
January 10, 2019
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Chad. Sounds like you get great pulling motion from the lead, but don't release it. Take a look at Left Hand Release Drill and 5 Minutes to the Perfect Release Video. When you use the trail side more than like you over use it leading to fat/hook.
January 10, 2019
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Stephen
Is the Smart Caddie sc200 and Arccos Smart Grips worth while investments?
December 1, 2018
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Stephen. For the price the Smart Caddie gives you some reliable info. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but will provide some data. I don't know enough about the Arccos to give you adequate information. I apologize.
December 2, 2018
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Stephen
Not a problem Craig, thanks for getting back to me. Cheers
December 3, 2018
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Dan
Swing analysis at my home course is done with Trackman, but they use ordinary range balls. I'm wondering if range balls significantly impair analytical stats when compared with the golf ball we regularly use. Range balls are designed to not go as far, so would this affect ball speed and smash factor as well as any other important configurations?
April 30, 2018
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Dan. Using regular range balls will definitely change the outcome of your trackman analytics. However, if you use the machine properly. There is a conversion you can put in to make the analysis more comparable to normal golf ball activity.
April 30, 2018
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Brandon
Without Trackman/Flightscope, what is the best way to check if we're on the right track to zeroing out our club path?
September 9, 2016
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
You can use an elbow plane line from down the line to analyze your path. It wont be 100% accurate but can give you a pretty good indicator if you are getting close idea is to where your path is at.
September 11, 2016
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Eric
Craig, have you used SkyTrak?
July 26, 2016
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Eric. I have not used the SkyTrak Device. Chuck uses FlightScope and Trackman. I use the Foresight GC2.
July 27, 2016
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Brandon
Is there a personal trackman that we can buy?
April 15, 2016
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Brandon. You can buy a Trackman for yourself. They are however very expensive. You should also check out FlightScope and Foresight. I personally use the Foresight.
April 15, 2016
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nathan
Awesome video! Chuck said an interesting thing about "feeling" like he was standing straight up. Any chance on getting more track man videos.
September 2, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Nathan. There is a possibility of more TrackMan Videos in the future due to a few request from the members.
September 2, 2015
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Tim
Thanks Craig! It all came together again, after, watching and training the videos you suggested.
August 28, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Great Tim. Keep up the good work!
August 28, 2015
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Tim
I'm currently lost, more accurately my swing is - LOL Training with trackman to be more consistent in my swing; Driver club path 6 degrees, inside-out. Long Irons: tend to be outside-in. Short Irons and wedges: inside-out, straight. I train inside-out path with the help of teeing every shot on the range, to feel the path. But I am somewhat lost, inconsistent due to the fact that I have no idea how to be consistent with my club face - I am a wild cannon now :( Any Ideas?
August 17, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Tim. It seems like you trained the way of feelings versus true motor pattern changes. You need to get consistent with your plane with all the clubs and release. Work on the Stop Coming Over the Top, Proper Muscle Activation, 5 Minutes to a Perfect Downswing and the 5 Minutes to a Perfect Release. Get the sequence coming down correctly and on plane. The good lead arm/hand control into the release. Should get you back on track.
August 17, 2015
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JOE
LOOKING FOR A TRACKMAN ANY GOOD USED ONES AROUND ? THANKS, JOE
July 20, 2015
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hello Joe. I know we don't have any used ones here. If I come about a good place for you to find one I will update you.
July 20, 2015
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Christian
Very interesting. When he started straightening his club path and face path and good smash factor, he dropped his spin rate and increased distance. swing 8&9 are good examples of what smash factor can do for you. 8 was a little closed and 9 was a little open. 9 club speed dropped 5 miles an hour but had a better smash factor and both shots went about the same distance. I love golf statistics.
December 15, 2014
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Craig (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey Christian. I am glad you enjoyed the video. As they say, stats don't lie.
December 15, 2014
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David
I am curious, on the example, of his zeroing out his path, he lost 10yds in distance and went up to 7141 rpms and lost height in the shot as compared to swing 13 where he was at a swing path of plus 1.2. Don't we want a higher launch angle and lower spin rate and greater distance, and does a straighter swing path give us that?
July 2, 2014
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Chris (Certified RST Instructor)
Hey David, this is all going to be club and shot dependent. High launch and lower spin for the driver is optimal. Chuck was working with a player that plays at a professional level, where pure focus on movement patterns is a must. Controlling the starting line, the flight and the shape of the shot become pivotal at that level. Speed was not this student's issue at this point, otherwise the focus would have been primarily on leverage, width or rotation. Angle of attack, path, face to path are critical numbers for control. They can also be important for speed but there are other focus areas when looking at trackman data when just trying to gain speed. Hope that helps.
July 2, 2014

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