Equipment Insider

Landing angle key with different clubs

By David Allen
Jul 1, 2009 1:49 PM ET

One relatively new term in golf equipment today - thanks to Trackman and other launch monitor systems - is “landing angle.” This is the angle that the ball falls down to the ground. The steeper the angle, the less roll you generate and the better your distance control; conversely, the flatter the angle of descent, the more roll and distance you create. With your irons, you want the ball coming in at a relatively steep angle, so it lands and stops. That’s how you hit more greens. With a driver, you want to maximize distance so the goal is to get the ball to descend on a shallower angle and hit the ground running.

A good landing angle for your irons is around 42 degrees, says Kevin Walker, President of FuZion Golf, a custom fitting company based in Jupiter, Fla. It’s very important to keep that angle fairly consistent throughout your set of irons. “Every iron should have the same apex [highest point of trajectory], and therefore the same landing angle,” said Walker. “If you hit your 5-iron through pitching wedge at roughly 45 degrees, but your 3- and 4-irons come down at 35 degrees, then you need to replace your longer irons with hybrids to give you roughly the same landing angle.”

The landing angle for your driver should be less than 40 degrees, said Walker. A lower spin rate will help bring the landing angle down, maximizing roll and distance off the tee.