What is a lie angle?
In simple terms, it's the angle created between the shaft and the sole of your golf club when looking at it face-on. In theory, players should be looking to ensure that their club is returning to impact in a position whereby the sole of the club is perfectly parallel with the ground, although many fitters will actually utilize 'non-neutral' lie angles to influence a particular ball flight or launch direction.
How can a lie angle influence launch direction?
This is due to a concept called face plane tilt. Essentially this translates to the direction in which the loft of the club is pointing. For example, starting from a neutral position with a clubface perfectly soled on the ground and pointing perfectly squarely at the target, if we raise or lower the handle, you will notice that despite the leading edge remaining perpendicular to the target, the direction that loft of the club points is now not corresponding to the leading edge (gallery below). Face plane tilt becomes more prominent as the loft goes up, which is why arguably the wedges are the most important clubs to get right from that perspective.
How does lie angle influence turf interaction?
Having a correctly fitted lie angle will facilitate a smooth entry and exit with the ground, and can have a significant influence on the impact feel of shots. An incorrect lie angle where the toe or heel of the club enters the turf before the rest of the sole creates more resistance and twisting at impact and as such has a negative effect on the sensation of strike for the player.
How to find the correct lie angle in your irons
As ever we would always recommend a custom fitting with a qualified PGA Professional, but there really is no industry standard in terms of a method for establishing the correct lie angle. Some fitters will rely heavily on the dynamic lie angle data metric that many of the best launch monitors provide, whereas others choose to base their recommendations more on ball flight patterns even if that means forgoing optimal turf interaction.
An impact board is another method of establishing a lie angle whereby a ball is placed on and struck from a toughened piece of perspex, then pre-positioned tape on the sole of the golf club will indicate where the sole impact takes place. This used to be very much commonplace during custom fittings but this seems to be less popular nowadays due to potential discrepancies in readings from having the ball sitting higher off the ground than it ordinarily would.
One of the simplest methods that cane easily be done on your own is to draw a straight line on the golf ball with a marker pen, line this up vertically on the clubhead side of the ball and once the ball is struck it will leave a line on the club face (which can easily be wiped off). If this line is perfectly vertical, that is a very good indication that your lie angle is in a good spot. If this line is tilted one way or the other then it may be a good idea to seek further assistance from a qualified fitter.
Does the lie angle of my woods matter?
The simple answer is yes. While it is true that face plane tilt and lie angle will affect the launch direction more within higher lofted clubs, the additional clubhead speed that will be inevitably present at the top end of the bag can magnify any discrepancies. Many of the best drivers and best fairway woods feature adjustable hosels that allow you to dial in lie angle requirements.
Many of the leading manufacturers will also utilize lie angles to influence the ball flight of their product, for example in draw bias drivers such as the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D or the Cobra Darkspeed Max, lie angles are generally more upright to influence anti-slice properties.
What else affects lie angle?
Clearly, there is some relationship between the length of the shaft and lie angle which is why finding the correct shaft length also forms part of the club fitting process, and indeed, should be considered in conjunction with establishing the correct lie angle.
Taller golfers are more likely to require longer clubs and shorter golfers shorter clubs, but this is far from a given as it's not just height that is a factor, but also arm length. If a tall golfer also has long arms, for example, the two might effectively cancel each other out meaning standard length and lie could be the best option.
In general terms, every extra half inch of shaft length added will make the club play 1˚ more upright and vice versa for shorter shaft lengths. But all of this will be taken into account in a professional club fitting, with Ping's famous color code chart, for example, ranging from 4˚ flat to 5˚ upright, with black as the 'standard' lie angle.
It's worth noting that the more extreme ends of this lie angle spectrum will be required relatively rarely, with most lie angle adjustments within the +/-2˚ band. Finally, it's also worth noting that there is no such thing as a universal 'standard' lie angle, and that the 'standard' figure may vary from brand to brand.
