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why does it seem the golf ball always goes to the right on TV

sweet adeline

By sweet adeline,
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sweet adeline Member

sweet adeline

whenever i watch a golf tournament, it looks like the guys are always hitting it to the right. is that some kind of camera illusion? anyone have any ideas or links to explain this?

thanks.

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rmgr Established Member

rmgr

yeah that happens to me, I think the ball is heading towards the trees to the right, and it's always straight.

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sweet adeline Member

sweet adeline

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i'm talking about when i watch it on television. is it some kind of optical illusion?

Driver: Titleist 907 D2 10.5 UST Proforce V2 75
3-wood: Titleist PT 906 F2 15 UST Proforce V2 85
Irons: Titleist 695 MB 3-PW Dynamic Gold Stiff
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GreensDruid Well Established Member

GreensDruid

I've noticed the same thing.

I wonder whether it has something to do with the inside out swing of most tour pros. Perhaps as we follow the clubhead on it's inside out path we naturally assume that the ball is following the clubhead. Or maybe its just the camera angle that is throwing us off.

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sweet adeline Member

sweet adeline

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I suspect it has more to do with the position on the camera relative to the golfer than anything else.

that is my suspicion too. i was hoping someone might have some documentation on this. thanks guys, cool forum btw.

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907golfer12 Great Member

907golfer12

I have been wondering the same thing all year. So finally one day I recorded part of one of the tournaments (forgot which one) and then I played it back on slow. The white thing that shoots to the right is the tee. If you have a DVR record a tournament and do what I did, you will see this if you watch carefully. I think the reason it always goes right is because almost all of the players look for a right to left ball flight, starting to the right. After I watched the slowed down tee shot, I watched KJ Choi in normal and KJ usually plays a power fade, and low and behold no white tee flying to the right. Hope this helps

-Alex-

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iacas Hall of Fame Member

iacas

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I have been wondering the same thing all year. So finally one day I recorded part of one of the tournaments (forgot which one) and then I played it back on slow. The white thing that shoots to the right is the tee.

That really doesn't explain shots from the fairway. They appear to be going 30+° right of where the flag is.

It's just an optical illusion of some sort. What puzzles me is why we don't see the ball going left just as frequently. It's not like every shot we see is a big swooping draw or anything. If the camera man's alignment makes sense, are they 100% consistent in lining up slightly inside the player so that the ball shoots right? You'd think occasionally you'd get one slightly on the other side so the ball would appear to shoot left.

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Tomboys Dedicated Member

Tomboys

ericm is correct. It's the camera angle. I'm not positive where I got the information, but I think it was during a golf tournament on television. The announcers were answering viewer's questions and somebody asked the exact same question.

They explained that a lot of golfers don't like the cameraman standing directly behind them (on their extended target line) because it's distracting. So, they set the camera up off to the side. The angle makes the player's shot look like it's going dead right (for a right-handed player), but, in reality, it's going pretty much straight down their target line.

DT

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  • 3 weeks later...
Jack_2251 Dedicated Member

Jack_2251

Camera angle, Maybe draw/fade the ball back into the fairway even...
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TourSpoon Super Member

TourSpoon

Probably the best place to stand to be the least distracting is in that position (behind and inside). The angle of the camera is deceiving making it look like all tour pros hit big hooks (even the faders). The same can be said on the camera shots that face the golfer. If the angle is off it looks like they are playing the ball either too far forward or backward.

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golfchief Dedicated Member

golfchief

Camera angle makes it look that way as almost all the cameras are off to the right or left. If a camera person does get right behind them them will tell them to move off to one side.

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photobob Member

photobob

Yes, it's the camera angle, but it is also that the cameraperson is not right there up close and personal. They are using a telephoto (long) lens from some distance back. Modern optics can correct for the distortion of the long lens better than they did years ago, but not perfectly. So, what you're seeing is due to the camera angle, exaggerated by the focal length of the lens.

The camera doesn't lie, but it has been known to fib a little....

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crazy_horst Well Established Member

crazy_horst

I've noticed the same thing.

Inside-out path, draw. Not something handicap golfers are used to seeing

That really doesn't explain shots from the fairway. They appear to be going 30+° right of where the flag is.

I read something exactly about this topic at some point, and I remember (vaguely) it having to do with swing path. The reason you don't see them going left is that they would have to be pulls. Some Tour players hit the fade, but none of them rely on the pull-slice.

There is a slight optical illusion element to it - if you think of it, they generally stand to the right of the target line the player is on, so even a straight shot would appear to go slightly right. But I think I know what the original poster is talking about - those ones that start of way right, like, big-time right. Those are draws. Wait, I think I figured it out! http://youtube.com/watch?v=DgOzOxfH8Wk

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