This year I’ve paid close attention to where the ball is impacting the club face, especially on my driver. Despite lining up the ball on the center, when I actually hit the ball the mark is about a half inch toward the toe, and sometimes even farther. This kills distance big and decreases accuracy as well. Consistency? Forget it.
I told my good buddy and playing partner of many years that I keep hitting my driver on the toe. His comment was so dead-on and made so much sense that I can’t believe I didn’t think of it first. He simply said, “move closer.” So sensible! Since then I’ve been lining up the ball about half way between the driver’s center and the shaft. I’ve found the sweet spot more times this year than in many, many years. One big difference between really good golfers and higher handicaps is proximity to the center of the club face.
My distance is increasing more and more with the same clubs and same balls. This isn’t the technology people. It is simply making sure the ball is hitting the club at the perfect place. Yesterday I had several drives over 300 yards in my round, with an 86% fairway percentage.
In short? Don’t over-analyze. If you hit the toe of the club, move closer. If you consistently miss right, aim left!
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Good points, Tony, but I have to take you to task with your last point: “If you consistently miss right, aim left.”. Most higher handicappers lose it right because of an over-the-top condition. I see them all the time aim further right to correct, which only exaggerates the OTT path and sends the ball even further right with a bigger slice. I guess I just over-analyzed 🙂
Oops, I meant they aim further LEFT to correct.
I see players close the club face to counteract the slice. In reality, it is the swing path which is causing it, not the face or the alignment. But these are topics for another day…