Lie Angles

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By TT Member

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  1. TT Member

    TT Member
    Hertfordshire, UK

    Guys, hopefully someone can help me better understand lie angles..

    I was looking through some paperwork and came across the Titleist custom fit spec sheet for my 718 AP2 irons.

    I was fitted in July 18' and have always understood that my irons were 2° flat.. checking the sheet my clubs are 1° upright. I called the fitter and they confirmed from their notes I was 1° upright. How I came to the conclusion I was 2° flat I do not know, but I'm questioning whether that is correct as I remember it from the fitting or was there a mistake with the notes from the fitting.

    I'm 5'7", stand fairly upright, have standard length clubs, a swing with a steep angle of attack/compressing the ball and play off 9.. which sounds more correct between 1° upright or 2° flat lie angle?

  2. Mike M

    Mike M
    Marblehead MA

    Lefty, I also come at it steep, but I flatten out a little at impact. My irons are standard lie.Two really easy ways to tell if your irons are set at the correct lie angle;

    1. Put a piece of black electrical tape on the sole of the club, and hit some shots off a lie board. If the wear mark is pretty much center, you're good. If it's toward the toe the clubs are too flat, toward the heel, too upright.

    2. When you're at the range look at the ball flight your current lie angle is creating. If you're left of your target too often, the clubs are too upright. Right of your target, too flat.

    If I had to guess between 2 degrees flat and 1 upright, I'll bet the 1 degree upright is correct.Hope this helps.
  3. Ben A

    Ben A
    Los Gatos, CA

    At 5'7", I don't see how there is any way that 1 degree upright is correct for you. Clubs are made standard length for above average height.

    WAIT, before you do any of this or think about it too much, is your ball flying how you want it or do you have a left or right miss? If not, stop thinking about it.

    If there is an issue, as Mike said, check what happens when you strike the ball (Dynamic Lie) as that is the one that matters. You can try electrical tape on a lie board, but most people don't have that.

    Try beige masking tape on the sole of your club on a mat or you can try a permanent marker as well. It will start to rub off on the part of the club that hits too hard. SO, if the toe starts to rub off, your clubs are too upright.

  4. Mike M

    Mike M
    Marblehead MA

    BA,I just had a thought; 1 degree upright on standard length irons for someone 5'7"does seem a bit much, unless Lefty chokes up, and then the numbers all go to hell.

    Lefty, do you choke up?
  5. Ben A

    Ben A
    Los Gatos, CA

    No prob... I say the wrong thing all the time... just ask my wife! In fact, in my statement above, I said the wrong thing as well.

    IF THE TOE RUBS OFF, YOUR CLUBS ARE TOO FLAT! (Man, kick me)
  6. Mike M

    Mike M
    Marblehead MA

    No Worried BA. Same with my wife...
  7. I was fit for 2* flat (I'm 5'8") based on my swing. However after watching TXG "Does the Lie Board Lie" video, I did not order my 718 AP2's 2* flat.

    My miss is a bad cut - high and right. After watching the video if I would have ordered my irons flat, my miss would have been even worse.

    Look at you misses before you order!
  8. TT Member

    TT Member
    Hertfordshire, UK

    Thanks for the input guys. Not sure what is meant by "choke up" though. My miss is a straight shot the hooks out to right of target (I'm left handed) if that helps..

    I am going to book myself in with local pro on his launch monitor and see what he thinks as I'm pretty sure from the fitting my clubs were meant to be 2° flat.

    If we discover I should indeed be playing 2° flat, can I have them bent back from 1° upright? Also is there anything I can do to have it rectified by the fitter and Titleist if it is the fitters mistake?
  9. First, to "choke up", you are simply going to grip down on the club a bit, effectively making the club play shorter in length.
    Second, based on your current ball flight, as described above, the clubs very well could be too upright. If they are too upright the heel of the club will dig in causing the toe to turn over. Which will cause, for a lefty, the ball to go to the right.
    Third, the clubs can be flattened out. 3* may be stretching the limits. But, on a forged iron such as the AP2's it's definitely possible.
    A better way to check the lie angle, instead of a lie board, is to place a fresh vertical line on a golf ball and strike it. You can use masking tape on the club face if you want to, but the line that is left on the face from impact should be easy to remove when you're finished. The mark that is left on the face is going to show the position of the club at impact, which should be the concern. See the image that hopefully is attached. A lie board, as suggested earlier is showing you what is happening after you've already hit the ball. That info is irrelevant, as the ball has already left the clubface.

    I hope this helps. As far as any recourse with Titleist, I doubt it. If the fitter has the ability to correct the issue, they should.
    res.cloudinary.com/.../bh8kbu6c182bn43gvjx4:550:0]
  10. Mike M

    Mike M
    Marblehead MA

    aSorry Lefty. Didn't realize you were, well,a lefty. You'd think I would have realized that right from the get-go. Obviously you're a lefty, Lefty, so things are opposite...if the ball is going RIGHT of target clubs are too upright. Left of target, too flat.

    Better wait till BA checks in because between the two of us, someone's right....
  11. Joseph M

    Joseph M
    Saint John, New Brunswick

    I would caution you to limit the adjustment to 2 degrees flatter than their present lie unless you check with Titleist- they do no not adjust clubs more than 2 degrees, however, where your irons were adjusted 1 degree upright they may be fine going 3 degrees as that will be 2 degrees flat from standard. If your fitter agrees it was his mistake may be possible come to a reasonable agreement with Titleist for the adjustment to be made by them- they take their consumers satisfaction very seriously.
  12. Lie boards can be helpful, however most of the time they will give a false read (if you come over the top and have a sharp out to in swing path you will be toe down no matter how upright you go) - i look at ball flight, posture, angle of club at address (the toe should be slightly elevated in the address position, not severe, but slightly.) If you stand upright and have an upright swing then you are more of a "handle high" player - such as Bernard Langer even though he is not very tall. Lie angles dont affect the "shape" of the shot - your hook will still be a hook, but it will affect the drifting or tail end ball flight. Hard to explain, but i play 2* up to get a straight ball flight and naturally play a soft fade. If my clubs were standard i would start the ball on a straight path and after it reaches its apex the push fade will drift further right, and move anywhere from 4-8 yards away from my target - may not seem like much, but thats a GIR or a bunker on some courses. But your hook is still going to be there, flattening may tamp it down a shade, but i try to avoid adjusting clubs to use as a band aid. A local fitter should be able to set you up with a 7 iron demo and adjust the lie from 2* flat up to 4* upright. You should find your preferred set up doing that.
  13. I would strongly caution against using lie boards. At the end of the day, ball flight is the most important thing, and the only way to determine what the proper lie angle for you is on a launch monitor where you can see the relationships between your dynamic lie angle, club path, and face to path angle and what it does to your ball flight.

    I learned this during my fitting at TPI Oceanside. I had always measured standard on lie boards in the past and had all my clubs standard over the years. But my misses were always left. I was surprised when we started to go flat and the ball flight got straighter and straighter. We ultimately ended up with 2 degrees flat.

    Watch this video and you will understand: www.youtube.com/watch

  14. Michael S

    Michael S
    Apple Valley, Ca.

    Thanks for the video explained a lot to me helped with understanding lie angle. And lie boards..
  15. Joseph M

    Joseph M
    Saint John, New Brunswick

    Don't assume your height alone dictates your proper lie @ at 5'8" I play 3 degrees upright- quite possible a better posture/swing path might change that, however, that's where I am today. As stated using a lie board can be unreliable- below is a technique suggest by many professionals.

    Another way to check lie is the “ink line on the back of the ball” technique. With a Sharpie pen put a thick, heavy ink line on the ball. Position the ball so the line is vertical, facing the clubhead as it would come into impact. Best to put it on a very short tee on close mown grass like on a par 3 hole so no grass can come between the ball and clubface. Hit the shot and look for a faint transfer of the ink line to the clubface. If the ink line is perfectly vertical/perpendicular to the score lines the lie is correct for the golfer at that length. If the line tilts so the top of the line is more toward the toe end of the head, the lie at present is too upright and needs to be flattened. Vice versa if the ink line is angled to the top of the line is toward the heel side of the face the lie is too flat and needs to be more upright. Subsequent hit testing with the ink line after bending verifies the change.

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