Why does your golf ball go where it does??

I have been playing golf for around 20 years and my enthusiasm still outweighs my ability. While I can hit a long, straight ball (and these are the ones that bring you back!) they are still in the minority. It could be something to do with a lack of skill. I struggle to play any game requiring me to hit a moving ball and am still amazed I can hit a golf ball.

I have had lessons and heard my teachers tell me to feel the club head open, or the shaft kick, or my body tense. In truth I struggle with these verbal prompts. I am a physicist by training and I like to understand how things work so the when I found a good set of diagrams in Golf World in February 1995 they helped me a lot, particularly the last two. I slice the ball rarely now, though I do still hook badly at times. I still hit the "full range of shapes", but not on demand.

This makes my game rather unpredictable, but understanding the combination of events that lead to a particular outcome does help my quest to improve.

I came across a digital copy of these diagrams on an old hard disk the other day and in case these are of help to others I thought I would reproduce them here. I hope they will help others who "learn" in this way.