AOA - Angle Of Attack
Should I Sweep the ball Up or Hit Down on the ball?
Angle of attack is based on if your hitting a Driver off the tee, or hitting a ball off the ground. So off the the tee your thought should be to swinging up on the ball. This maximises high launch and low spin, which is the formula for Distance which is needed to hit the shortest shot into the green. Tour players do have more of an angle of attack towards the negative which is downward but they can still hit it well past 300 yards due to 120+ mph in clubhead speed. So if your clubhead speed is less than a 100 mph you'll greatly benifit from swinging upwards in angle of attack of up to +5 degrees.
When the ball is on the ground the general direction towards the ball is slighly more down. You can do this without taking a big divot. Remember that a divot is after the ball was hit so a divot really is not the fool proof evidence of what the swing path was.
So Down when the ball is on the ground (yes all clubs) and UP when its on a tee.
AOA also changes swing paths to be more in to out or more out to in, so schedule a golf lesson with Joe Park to see how much you should go down or up with the Trackman. This makes a HUGE differenece on why your ball curves the way it does.
The chart on the bottom shows different clubhead speeds and the optimal launch angle based on your clubhead speed. You can see big differences in total distance. So if you want to gain extra distance don't waste you money on a new driver, schedule a lesson at Joe Park Trackman Golf Academy. One simple little change could get you 50 - 100 extra yards.
