Hitting near toe

[miffin]

Another fault that I have noticed in my game is that I strike the ball near to the toe on the irons. I set up with the ball in the middle of the club and I am not overstretching. But when I see the mark the ball has made it is nearly always towards the toe. Any suggestions please?
Brian

[BrianW]

Re: Hitting near toe

Hi Brian,

Here are some things to check:

You may be reaching for the ball at address then at impact your hands are pulling naturally closer to your body.

Tension can also be a cause of hitting from the toe, if your arms and hands are tense in downswing it will encourage you to pull your arms closer to your body rather than them extending with a nice loose swing.

[ubizmo]

Re: Hitting near toe

I also have this problem, or at least I had it until recently. I wrote about it on this forum more than once. I'd go to the range and check my club face after every ball, and over 90% of the time the impact mark was more or less toward the toe. The shots that felt pretty good were closer to center, but still a bit off. I tried getting closer to the ball, but that didn't work--at least not consistently. Sometimes it would work for a shot or two, then the problem would be back. As Brian said above, tension can do it too, but even when my swing was very relaxed, I was still getting impact marks closer to the toe.

I finally figured it out, at least in my own case. The cause is swinging outside-in. The club comes at the ball from the outside and because it's swinging to the inside, it meets the ball nearer the toe. It's that same outside-in fault that causes so many other problems. The way I found this out was a few weeks ago, by trial and error. I was experimenting with my takeaway; I wasn't even thinking about the hitting near the toe problem. It was after reading a web site, condition of the arms., and thinking about the position of my elbows, and maintaining the "triangle", that I saw a difference. Instead of letting my left arm fold against my chest, which I had been doing without even realizing it, I took the club back with a distinct awareness of moving both shoulders together. As simple as that, it fixed the problem. I looked at video and saw that this changed the swing plane. No more toe hits, as long as I'm careful to take the club back this way. The interesting thing, to me, is that the key is starting the backswing correctly. Once it's started, I don't have to supervise the whole thing.

It's not that I strike the ball perfectly every time now. I still hit fat or thin sometimes, but the impact mark is generally in the center, even if it's higher or lower than it should be. I'm also about a club longer with all the irons now, which takes a bit of getting used to.

[bulldog2k]

Re: Hitting near toe

The interesting thing, to me, is that the key is starting the backswing correctly. Once it's started, I don't have to supervise the whole thing.

Classic Hogan, though, isn't it? To paraphrase, he roughly says that if you get the backswing right, and initiate the downswing with your hip turn, everything should be hunky dory (assuming fundamentals like grip, stance and posture are 'correct')

The italics are mine, not the hogfather's

[miffin]

Re: Hitting near toe

Just got back from the range. I have a definate improvement using the elbows thing. I could not get it at first. To me, I have to take the club back way inside (that's how it feels anyway) then I can keep my triangle quite well and I was hitting a fair amount of straight shots from mostly the middle of my club. I think that I need a fair bit more practise at it though as I hit a good few bum shots too.

[ubizmo]

Re: Hitting near toe

I could not get it at first. To me, I have to take the club back way inside (that's how it feels anyway) then I can keep my triangle quite well and I was hitting a fair amount of straight shots from mostly the middle of my club. I think that I need a fair bit more practise at it though as I hit a good few bum shots too.

Yes it feels weird at first, as if you can't possibly hit the ball that way. It helps me to remember that it's as much about drawing the right shoulder back as it is about pushing the left shoulder.