Understanding Attack Angle and Why It Matters for Your Golf Swing

It’s easy to think of golf as a calm, gentle game. And, to a large degree, that would be a fair assessment. Most of the time, golf is quiet and peaceful, as players make their way around beautiful green courses on sunny summer afternoons.

With all of that said, there is something rather violent about the moment of impact. Depending on your skill level and strength, you may be able to swing the club into the back of the ball at more than 100 miles-per-hour. In turn, the ball may leave the club at more than 150 miles-per-hour, rocketing off into the distance. So, while the game as a whole may be peaceful, the portion of the swing that tears through the ball is nothing short of an all-out attack.

The angle of that attack is something we would like to address in this article. Your angle of attack is actually quite important in golf, yet this topic is often overlooked in favor of a variety of other mechanical elements when the golf swing is discussed.

Below, we’ll get into why you should be paying attention to attack angle, and what you can do to make important adjustments.

What is Attack Angle?

Your angle of attack in the golf swing – often referred to simply as the attack angle – is the upward or downward motion of the club as it approaches the ball.

If you are hitting down through impact, as you often would with an iron, you’ll have a downward angle of attack. On the other hand, if you are hitting up – such as you might do with a driver – your attack angle will be upward through impact.

Generally speaking, your steepest downward angle will be with your wedges, and your swings will gradually get shallower as the clubs get longer.

Does Attack Angle Matter?

Simply put – yes, this is a very important topic for golfers who want to improve their level of play. If your attack angle is way out of line for what you are trying to accomplish with your swing, it will be nearly impossible to reach your goals on the course.

For instance, if you are hitting through your wedges on a very shallow plane – or even hitting up a bit – you’ll always struggle to produce the kind of spin needed to stop wedge shots quickly on firm greens. You might get away with it sometimes, but you will likely be limited in terms of how much you can develop your game.

In that case, understanding attack angle and knowing that you need to make a steeper swing could be a big breakthrough.

Divots Don’t Lie

Fortunately, you don’t need a lot of fancy, expensive equipment to get a basic idea of your attack angle. You can use launch monitors for this sort of stuff, of course, but you can also just look at the divots that you are taking out of the ground.

When you make a full swing at a wedge from a fairway lie, what kind of divot do you create? If you are tearing a big hunk of turf out of the ground each time, you can safely assume that you are swinging down pretty steeply. On the other hand, if you often take no divot at all, your swing is very shallow and flat through impact.

Of course, while this rule of thumb is handy, it doesn’t do much for you when it comes to the driver. You aren’t taking divots with your driver – right? – so you can’t really judge your angle of attack on this basis.

If you’d like to check on your attack angle with the driver and make some adjustments as necessary, it’s best to work with a local club pro who can use a launch monitor to get the info you need.

Fixing Your Attack Angle Start with Ball Position

At this point, let’s assume that you want to make some changes with your attack angle. Does that mean you need to tear down your entire swing and start over? Not at all – and please don’t. Rebuilding your swing is a long and frustrating process, and it might not be worth it in the end (depending on your situation). Rather, start by making small adjustments and go from there until you find success.

Specifically, start by altering your ball position. If you move the ball slightly forward in your stance, you might be able to work your way into a shallower swing through impact if you were too steep before. Likewise, you can move the ball back if you’d like to be a little steeper when you make the strike. Play around with your ball position during practice and that just may be all it takes to get yourself on track.

Attack Angle in the Short Game

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that attack angle only applies to full swing shots. This topic is just as important in the short game, both with the putter and with your wedges. However, because of the great variety in the types of shots you can hit in the short game, you will want to be more adaptable than in the long game.

Sometimes, it will make sense to hit down aggressively on your wedges to spin a pitch or chip shot, while other occasions will call for a flat swing path so you can loft the ball gently onto the green.

With your putter, it’s often best to hit up just slightly to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. Whatever you do with the putter, aim for consistency and repeatability. There are a variety of types of putting strokes that can get the job done, but it tends to be the players who repeat their stroke the best that see the ball fall in time after time.

Now that you understand attack angle and why it matters, we hope you are ready to get out and work on your own game sometime soon. No improvement will come from sitting at home and thinking about golf – so get out there and practice!