"He caught a flyer"

[Golfingdad]

From what I understand, a flyer is when you catch a lie in the rough that actually causes your ball to fly further than it would from a normal lie in the fairway.  And it happens because grass gets caught between the ball and the clubface.

First of all, is that accurate?

Secondly, and I know there is no easy answer for this because pros aren't even sure all the time, but how do you know when that is a possibility?  Is it only certain kinds of grass?  Or the grass growing a certain direction?  Or ball sitting up like on a tee?  Or is there no way to tell? Just sheer [bad] luck?

[Jimdangles]

To me it seemed like an excuse. Whenever you have decent knowledge of a sport and listen to the announcers make excuses for athletes when they mess up and the fact is they are just human and are going to make mistakes. Maybe not in this particular instance but I cant imagine it flew "further" but maybe he compensated for the rough and it just wasn't as big a factor as he expected.

[Goonsidious]

Grass as a tee would be my bet.

[xmanhockey7]

Originally Posted by Jimdangles

To me it seemed like an excuse. Whenever you have decent knowledge of a sport and listen to the announcers make excuses for athletes when they mess up and the fact is they are just human and are going to make mistakes. Maybe not in this particular instance but I cant imagine it flew "further" but maybe he compensated for the rough and it just wasn't as big a factor as he expected.

Flyers exist. Not so much with square grooves but definitely with V grooves.

[Zeph]

Feel free to correct me, but here's my understanding of the term. A flier lie is pretty much every time the ball is sitting down in the rough or you can somehow get grass between the clubface and the ball. The grooves are there to catch some of the grass, but if it's thick, you'll still risk getting the effect. What happens is that all the grass between the clubface and ball results in less spin on the ball. The starting trajectory will be the same, but it will fly lower, as the ball won't be carried that high by the backspin. Backspin also works as a brake on the ball against the air. Less spin, less braking. The last part is the landing. On a normal shot, the ball will come in high with lots of spin and might stop pretty fast. With a flier, the ball can come in at a lower trajectory and with less bounce, which often results in bouncing off the green and through it. Some of the principles are used when tuning in the driver swing. If you come in too steep, you will create lots of backspin, which will carry the ball high and slow it down. With the ideal launch trajectory and spin, the ball will still fly high, but it won't balloon and drop down quickly because of the spin.

[Paradox]

the type of grass, its direction of growth, and density also play a part in flyers.

light bermuda rough can produce quite a few flyers.  However, if its pretty heavy and thick..it will deaden the shot because it will slow the club down.  Fescue and bent rough work the same way.  If they are pretty thin(think 1st cut) they can get trapped between the club and ball and produce a flyer.  If the rough is thick, the whole flyer is negated by the club slowing down and also the ball having to push its way through the grass on the other side.  The only way to get a flyer in thick rough is if the ball is sitting up enough to not have much grass to contend with.

[bwdial]

What Zeph said.

I think that pros tend to catch more fliers because their swing speeds are much higher, therefore their clubhead doesn't get slowed down in the grass.  The rest of us tend to see our clubhead slow down as it slogs through the grass.

[k-troop]

Dry, longer grass, particularly when the ball is sitting up a bit or grain is growing in the direction of the shot.  They're real; the ball will fly 5-15 yards further on a full shot with a mid-short iron, and will have less spin.

Take one less club or hit a 3/4 shot and try to keep the ball down.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by k-troop

Dry, longer grass, particularly when the ball is sitting up a bit or grain is growing in the direction of the shot.  They're real; the ball will fly 5-15 yards further on a full shot with a mid-short iron, and will have less spin.

Take one less club or hit a 3/4 shot and try to keep the ball down.

They're certainly real and I'd suggest 5-15 is underestimating things. It's not the flight. It's the landing. Flyers tend to happen into greens with mounds. Fly those and you could be hitting your comebacker from beyond the next tee box.

[fredloves2golf]

Definitely real.  Had one today.  I'm starting to recognize them more, now.  As already been said, if its sitting down in light rough where you cant get the club immediately behind the ball, but not so thick that it impedes swing speed there's a good chance it'll jump.

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by k-troop

Dry, longer grass, particularly when the ball is sitting up a bit or grain is growing in the direction of the shot.  They're real; the ball will fly 5-15 yards further on a full shot with a mid-short iron, and will have less spin.

Take one less club or hit a 3/4 shot and try to keep the ball down.

This...I catch them in Bermuda especially when the grain is going with the shot. I usually take a club less and figure for some extra roll out.

[k-troop]

Another way to neutralize the flyer effect is to mis-hit the ball slightly.  I like to line up with the ball about 3/4-inch to the right of the dime-sized wear mark on my iron.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by k-troop

Another way to neutralize the flyer effect is to mis-hit the ball slightly.  I like to line up with the ball about 3/4-inch to the right of the dime-sized wear mark on my iron.

I've taken this approach so many times that now I have two dime-sized wear spots on my irons.

[saevel25]

to me a flier lie is were you get the ball in the rough, and you try to adjust for not making solid contact, but the lie is such that you really didn't need to.

[Shorty]

Me too.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Shorty

Me too.

lol

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Shorty

Me too.

Classic!

[k-troop]

Originally Posted by Shorty

Me too.

All I can say is you guys miss a lot more fairways than I do.