Dr Gary Wiren and the Ball Flight Laws were recently written about in the December, 2011 issue of the PGA Magazine. The title of the article is “Ball Flight Laws Stand the Test of Time“. You can read it HERE and then scroll to page 100 to find the article. The article is designed to bring to rest the discussion on whether or not the PGA Teaching Manual has the wrong Ball Flight Laws in it. It describes in great detail how the 5 Ball Flight Laws that are written in the PGA Teaching Manual are correct and have always been correct. Many great professionals chime in, such as Mike Bender, Dawes Marlatt and Jim McClean, to state their support for the 5 Ball Flight Laws as written in the PGA Teaching Manual.
The article goes to great lengths to state that the PGA Teaching Manual, as written by Dr Gary Wiren, is accurate. I can certainly understand this. It (PGA Teaching Manual) states quite accurately that there are 5 laws that influence ball flight. Those are; Clubhead Speed, Centeredness of Contact, Clubhead Path, Position of Club face and Angle of approach. It (PGA Teaching Manual) also explains accurately (on pg 34) that the ball will start closer to the face than it will the path. To quote pg 34 “With greater clubhead speed, the ball’s starting path will move somewhat closer to the swing path line than before, but will always fall in between the face and path direction favoring the face angle. It is sometimes incorrectly stated that the ball starts on the path line. This is true only when the face is at right angles to that line.” Now this is not a law but there has been some confusion in the last 15-20 years or so on this topic. The PGA Teaching Manual does not state anything about initial starting direction being a law, principle or preference.
However, in its (PGA Teaching Manual) description of the 5 Ball Flight Laws, we might be able to see where some of the confusion about what plays majority role for starting direction of the ball (path or face). To quote form the PGA Teaching Manual, pg 47 (Law #3 Path) “The direction of the arc described by the clubhead in its travel away from and then back toward the target. Its line of travel at impact is one of the primary factors influencing direction for a full shot.” Again a quote from the PGA Teaching Manual, pg 48 (Law #4 Face) “The degree at which the leading edge of the clubface is at right angles to the swing path. It will determine the accuracy of the ball’s flight along that line, or produce a left or right curve away from that line.”
To me, I could see how someone could read these two pieces of information as >> the ball starts along the path and if the face is aimed somewhere other than right angles to that path, the ball will curve away from that line. I understand that the 5 Ball Flight Laws do not say this but I can understand how someone could come to that conclusion. It appears a little misleading to me but is certainly not wrong.
Now, I am not writing this post to try to prove that Dr Gary Wiren or the PGA Teaching Manual is wrong as it relates to the Ball Flight Laws or what causes the initial starting direction. Quite the contrary. I feel that the PGA Teaching Manual does an acceptable job of that. Both the article and Dr Wiren himself agree that some of the wording should be updated.
The reason I am writing this is to explain why so many PGA Professionals had/have a different interpretation of what the Ball Flight Laws were for so long and what had the greatest influence on the initial starting direction of the ball (path or face). I will show with multiple examples why the confusion existed and why I feel the PGA of America has disappointed me with their position on this matter as is depicted in the latest PGA Magazine article listed above.
First a little of my history. I was one of the first few classes to go through the GPTP (Golf Professional Training Program) established by the PGA of America to educate new apprentices. By first few, I mean I went through the program in what I believe to be in the first 2-4 years of the program(mid to late 90′s). It is during the GPTP that my confusion began and more specifically during Teaching Golf I. This class, which was part of GPTP Level 1, was designed to introduce the apprentices to the PGA Teaching Manual and the things the PGA of America expected us to understand and be tested on. Inside the workbook were reading assignments and self check questions we were supposed to work through. If my memory serves me, I also think we did some in class training at Level 1 and Level 2 for Teaching Golf I and II when we received some handouts and did some video training. Sadly, I don’t have mine anymore, but I remember receiving a handout displaying the PGA of America’s 9 Ball Flight Laws. They were presented in those exact words with a picture of the 9 ball flight shot patterns similar to pg 33 in the PGA Teaching Manual. These are the Ball Flight Laws I was taught and tested on by the PGA of America. Not the ones on pg 47 of the PGA Teaching Manual. If anyone still has a copy of this handout from their GPTP seminar in the mid to late 90′s, I would love a copy or picture of it so I can display it here.
Some may ask how did you reconcile the fact that the laws in the book were different than the laws you received? A fair question. Let me show you how.
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Below, is a picture from my Teaching Golf I Apprentice manual pg 34. To quote “The PGA Teaching Manual: The Art and Science of Golf Instruction, by Dr Gary Wiren, is the heart of this instructional program. As you read it, keep these points in mind:
1) The book(PGA Teaching Manual) reflects the opinions of one of the most respected teacher’s in golf, Dr Wiren. It was created with the assistance and collaboration of a number of the other top names in the profession. As with any book, however, it is one person’s opinion. As you read, reflect on where you may disagree with some of its concepts and why.” It goes on to mention about right and left handed golfers but is not relevant to this discussion.
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As you can see, the PGA of America is stating that the PGA Teaching Manual is opinion and should be treated as such.
Let’s go on to some of the Teaching Golf I Apprentice Workbook self check questions. Here’s a picture of question 6 in the workbook.
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It states, and again I quote “6) Using the NINE ball-flight laws, match each shot with the right description: *” Already we can see how the PGA of America has taken Dr Wiren’s 5 Ball Flight Laws and converted them into 9. Before we look at the answers to the matching questions, let’s take a look at what that little (*) means in the question. As you can see from the picture(sorry it’s so small), on the bottom of that page it states “*Extreme open or closed face positions can override the normal starting ball flights. In this example, assume that face positions are NOT extreme.” Extreme face positions can override the normal starting flight? Here you can clearly see that the PGA of America is teaching its apprentices that path is the normal starting flight unless extreme open or closed face positions override them. I’m guessing this is where the term clubface override came from. So, now we have 9 Ball Flight Laws and a statement that path controls starting direction unless there are extreme face positions.
Let’s look at the answers and the pages we should reference to find those answers. Here’s a picture of the answers.
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It states that these answers should be found on pages 33-34. How can that be? Pages 33-34 don’t discuss the 9 Ball Flight Laws. Those pages discuss the cause and effect of the 9 Basic Shot Patterns. The 5 Ball Flight Laws in the manual are on pgs. 47 and 48. Strange. Moving on, let’s look at the answers. First matching question: “Path: Inside (also known as “down line”) and Face: Open“. Possible choices include, (Pull, Push Hook, Slice, Pull Slice, Push Slice) Answer in the workbook is Slice. Based on the information about initial starting direction in Dr Wiren’s PGA Teaching Manual the answer should have been Push Slice. Starting closer to the face which is open to a “down line” path means starts right and goes more right. Push Slice. Why don’t those answers match? We’ll come back to that. Matching questions 2 and 3 are correct but matching questions 4 and 5 are not necessarily correct. It is quite possible for an outside-to-in path and face open to that path to create a Pull Slice, Slice or Push Slice depending on the exact relationship, assuming you believe that face plays majority role as explained in Dr Wiren’s PGA Teaching Manual. However, if one believes path plays majority role than Pull Slice is the only answer that fits because “extreme face positions could over ride the normal starting ball flights”. Same thing for matching question 5 but it deals with hooks instead of slices. (UPDATE-I failed to mention that in the Manual it talks about always relating curve to the clubfaces relationship to the path always (right angles or not…..). That is why when the question above says open, square or closed I knew it was referring to the relationship of the face to the path and not the face to the target)
Why don’t they match? The reason is, the PGA of America wasn’t teaching it correctly to its Apprentices. They were teaching their 9 Ball Flight Laws which stated that the ball starts on the path and curves if the face is not at right angles to the path unless the face is an extreme condition which could over ride the normal starting ball flights. They were not teaching the 5 Ball Flight Laws that are in the PGA Teaching Manual. For the PGA of America to write that article in the PGA Magazine and not take any ownership for the confusion they have caused is dishonorable. I am happy to see them supporting Dr Gary Wiren and his manual but to not explain why this confusion exists in the first place is an opportunity missed.
It also seems strange to me that so much time went by (at least 15 years) and Dr Gary Wiren didn’t tell the PGA of America that what they were teaching was incorrect or at the very least opposite of what was in the PGA Teaching Manual. Maybe it’s possible that he did. Wouldn’t surprise me. Since the PGA of America felt the PGA Teaching Manual was just one persons opinion anyway, maybe they thought they had it right all along and that Dr Gary Wiren had it wrong. How many PGA Apprectices went through that program and for how many years did it happen? I think it lasted a very long time and thousands of Apprentices received the wrong information. Only recently has technology been used to confirm that Dr Wiren and his PGA Teaching Manual is correct and the PGA’s 9 Ball Flight Laws were not. This is why this is coming up lately. This argument went on for years without either side being able to prove their view to the other.
Dr Wiren, if you read this, this is for you. I must apologize. I’m sure over the years, I must have made the mistake saying the Ball Flight Laws were wrong and lumped the Manual into the accusation. Your 5 Ball Flight Laws were not wrong Dr Wiren.
Dr Wiren, I am Sorry for saying so.
I do, however, have a difficult time understanding how it took so long for you to notice that what was being handed out to thousands of Apprentices was in direct contradiction to your Manual. Dr Wiren, your frustration should not be with the coaches that said your manual was wrong. Your frustration should be with the PGA of America that undermined your work for so long and now is trying to say they had it right all along with you. Dr Wiren, you did have it right on pg 34 as it relates to starting direction influences. Pages 47-48 could be a little confusing but not wrong. The PGA of America had it wrong. They misrepresented your 5 Ball Flight Laws by calling them their 9 Ball Flight Laws and referencing your 9 basic shot patterns from the PGA Teaching Manual to support their belief. This is the reason you keep hearing about the New Ball Flight Laws. They are new to many of us that were taught the 9 Ball Flight Laws from the PGA of America. Shame on you PGA of America for not taking the opportunity to apologize to the thousands of professionals that came for education and received the wrong information. It has hurt our profession for over a decade and cripples your (PGA of America) attempt to brand us as the experts in the game. I do not hold any ill will for receiving wrong information at a high cost. I am disappointed in my organization that will not admit it’s mistake and tries to hide behind the PGA Teaching Manual to show they’ve been correct all along.
I hope this will encourage the PGA of America to write another article discussing this transgression.
I know this will certainly eliminate any chances of me receiving an award from the PGA of America =) but it had to be done. I also know there are many of you that have seen what I have seen. Please share this with as many Apprentices and Class A members as you can by forwarding this email or using the buttons on the bottom of this post. Like Dr Wiren and the PGA of America, I would also like to end this discussion. Hopefully, the PGA of America will step up and do the right thing.
