Hitting a Golf Ball

To hit the ball, the club is swung at the motionless ball on the ground (or wherever it has come to rest) from a side stance. Many golf shots make the ball travel through the air (carry) and roll out for some more distance (roll).

Every shot is a compromise between length and precision, as long shots are inevitably less precise than short ones. Obviously, a longer shot may result in a better score if it helps reduce the total number of strokes for a given hole, but the benefit may be more than outweighed by additional strokes or penalties if a ball is lost, out of bounds, or comes to rest on difficult ground. Therefore, a skilled golfer must assess the quality of their shots in a particular situation in order to judge whether the possible benefits of aggressive play are worth the risks.

There are several possible causes of poor shots, such as poor alignment of the club, wrong direction of swing, and off-centre hits where the clubhead rotates around the ball at impact. Many of these troubles are aggravated with the longer clubs and higher speed of swing. Furthermore, the absolute effect of a deviation will increase with a longer shot compared with a short one.

Poor shots include the hook, in which the ball curves to the left (for a right-handed player), and a slice, in which the ball curves to the right (for a right-handed player; the reverse are true for left-handers.