Flatter Club Angle is Better? Equipment adjustments that help?

[mhawk709]

Hey folks,

 

Came across this old article from Andrew Rice. Is a flatter lie angle more conducive to swinging the club correctly?

 

What other equipment adjustments have helped your game?

 

 

https://www.andrewricegolf.com/andrew-rice-golf/2011/03/clubs-too-upright-too-light

[ChipNRun]

This is an article written in 2011. Things to take into consideration:

* Andrew Rice is one person to take into consideration. What do other people say?

* Optimum lie angle is influenced by a person's height. Average height of US male in 1960 was 5-foot-8; in 2002 it was 5-foot-9. All things equal taller players can benefit from a more upright lie to get a square hit. Custom-fit equipment is is allowing taller, more athletic golfers to thrive in the sport. Compare this with 40 years ago where everyone had to play with clubs designed for people 5-foot-9, or tweak those standard clubs.

* Besides height, a person's stance and swing dynamics also affect ideal lie angle. To get optimum lie angle for a player, conduct dynamic loft measurements. Club designer Ralph Maltby's video discusses this: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=7bzTrKsaMbQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bzTrKsaMbQ "https://youtube.com/watch?v=7bzTrKsaMbQ")

* Some players get their wedges bent a degree flat. The higher a club's loft, the more a wrong lie angle will pull a shot offline.

[Stuart_G]

It's not the first time that link has come to light here in the forum. You might find other threads on it with with a search - but it's never been well received in any of them if memory serves.

 

But here is the short version of my take on it.

1) the lie angle of the club doesn't _make_ the player do anything with their swing. All those bullet points about what an upright club makes the player do is basically completely unsubstantiated.

2) even if it did, the lie angle should be fit to the players swing, not the other way around - no particular style of swing should be forced onto players - particularly not Hogan's. It might work well for some but certainly not a universally accepted approach - largely due to the fact that Hogan was a morpholocical abnormality with his gorilla arm length.

3) and most importantly, anyone who makes any kind of equipment recommendations for amateurs based on what any particular pro uses doesn't know what they are taking about and should be completely ignored (and that was intentionally toned down from what I really feel :-).

 

[Awainer1]

Ya I read that article on this forum a while back and decided to try to flatten all my clubs. Completely screwed my game up. I’m 2 upright all day and twice on Sunday anything else is a complete mess.

[Evolved]

Taylormade TP line of clubs use to come with flatter lie angles than the non TP stuff. Make of that what you will.