Loft and Lie

What is loft?

Golf club loft is the angle on the clubface measured when the sole of the club is correctly sitting on a flat surface and the leading edge is square to the target. The loft is measured from a vertical line at 90 degrees to the sole or ground.

The more loft on the club then the more height the ball will have when struck correctly and the more backspin it will have. The more backspin the ball has the less likely any sidespin will have on the ball. This is why some people will pull their short irons and slice their long irons or driver.

Sets of golf clubs are designed to have progressive loft and shaft lengths to allow predictable shot types and distances as you progress through the range of clubs. It is worth checking your loft angles with a professional club fitter or Golf professional especially if you have forged irons and play frequently and are serious about your game.

What is Lie?

Lie is the angle that the golf club shaft sits at when the club addresses the ball in a standard stance on flat ground. The lie angle can be adjusted in many clubs to suit the stance and build of the player. Do not try and do this yourself though unless you are trained and have the appropriate equipment - we do not recommend you start bending your clubs.

It is definetly worth checking out the lie of your golf clubs and how suited it is to your swing. The starting point is at address. The club should rest squarely on the ground and the sole of the club should be slightly raised off the ground toward the toe end of the club head. But it should not be a very big gap. Nor should the heel of the club be off the ground in comparison to the toe.

However, you also need to check out your dynamic lie i.e. what happens when you swing the club. Normally a Professional Golfer or Club fitter will test to see your lie by spraying a special paint on the sole of the club and then asking you hit balls from a special strike plate. This will remove the paint at the point of contact. A similar effect can be seen with the residue marks of some kinds of golf mats at the driving range left on the sole of the club after practice.

If the paint comes off the sole toward the toe of the club this would indicate that your clubs have too flat a lie and need to be adjusted slightly more upright.

Too flat a lie may result in shots that go to the right (assuming right handed player and stance).

If the paint comes off the heel then this means the club is too upright at impact and needs to be adjusted to a flatter lie. Clubs which are too upright may result in the ball going left (again assuming right handed golfer - reverse if left handed).