Sweet spot

[tenaciousdee]

I am needing some advice on my iron play. I play PING i3+ white dot irons. I love these clubs but I am not sure what to do at this point in my ballstriking abilities. I have noticed that although my grip is quite strong I still hit the irons on the toe. Most times I am aware during my swing tht I need to turn my wrists over. I know I am getting better since I lose less balls. However I would like someone to tell me what I can to to hit more on the sweet spot in order to trust my ball flight will be as straight as I envision it. Anything to help with my frustration will help. . THANKS

[Martin Levac]

Re: Sweet spot

To strike the ball properly, you must control the club properly. If there's anything that allows you to control the club properly, do it. If there's anything that prevents you from controlling the club properly, don't do it.


Things that help.

Focus with your eyes on the ball. It is with the eyes that we aim. It's best to look at the ball when we want to strike it. The alternative is to look elsewhere. Good luck on striking the ball properly then.

Plant your feet firmly on the ground. The feet are the foundation of our body. A solid foundation allows us to move precisely. It is much more difficult to move with any precision when our foundation is unstable or weak.

Control the club. We grip the club with the hands. It's best to use the hands to control the club. The alternative is that we refuse to control the club and allow it to control us. Or worse, try to control it with a part of our body that doesn't even touch the club. It just makes no sense to me.


Intent.

You must intend to strike the ball properly and not, for example, send it farther. Oh I don't mean to tell you to not send the ball farther. I mean don't _intend_ to send the ball farther. We must distinguish between intent and action as we will see below.

Intend to strike the ball properly.

As you intend to strike the ball properly, you try to control the club to the best of your ability and as a result you're able to strike the ball better than otherwise.

As you intend to send the ball farther, you try to apply more force. As you apply more force, you sacrifice control and thus can't strike the ball properly. The additional force you applied is lost. It is lost because you did not strike the ball properly.

You know full well that the ball will go farther if you strike it on the sweet spot. You know that it will go not so far if you strike it on the toe or the heel or anywhere else but the sweet spot. So don't intend to send the ball far. Instead, intend to strike it properly and as you strike it properly, it will go farther anyway.


Practice.

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: Sweet spot

It is possible that you are swinging from out to in, or that you are trying to scoop the ball.

In the the out to in swing , the club head is traveling from out side your target line to inside the target line which causes the toe of the club to hit the ball due to the poor plane it is on. This is my problem when hit off the toe. My fix is to focus on a one piece take away.

If you are scooping the ball, this can cause you to be too upright in your posture at impact, which pulls the club head towards your own toes. Don't scoop.......

Here is a drill to help;
No more toe hits: Accuracy: golfdigest.com

I am sure there are other causes that others on here can mention, and will help you with this pretty common swing problem. GJS

[Scragger63]

Re: Sweet spot

What follows "may be" overly simplistic...

If you are consistently hitting the ball on the toe of the club, may be you could try setting up a half inch or so closer to the ball.....????

Some one had to say it...

Cheers

[bill reed]

Re: Sweet spot

hi
having played pings for over 25 years i found one thing is to let the club do the work, don't try and hit to hard, try slowing down a little and give your body time to react and you may find you start hitting the sweet spot more. i did find when i started with my first pings i was trying to power the shots and not letting the club do the work, when i slowed down a little the change was amazing.
lose 5 yards but hit the ball where you want every time.
worth a try.
bill

[BrianW]

Re: Sweet spot

I am needing some advice on my iron play. I play PING i3+ white dot irons. I love these clubs but I am not sure what to do at this point in my ballstriking abilities. I have noticed that although my grip is quite strong I still hit the irons on the toe. Most times I am aware during my swing tht I need to turn my wrists over. I know I am getting better since I lose less balls. However I would like someone to tell me what I can to to hit more on the sweet spot in order to trust my ball flight will be as straight as I envision it. Anything to help with my frustration will help. . THANKS

Please explain exactly what ball flight you are getting. You suggest that you have to rotate your wrists to improve, is the ball going right?

[oldwease]

Re: Sweet spot

I'm amazed! This seems to be an open invitation to another 3 Skills thread!

If you hit regularly off the toe (or too regularly for comfort) yet you've tried the obvious fixes (stance, distance from ball etc), it could well be that you're changing the spine angle too much through the swing, throwing your plane off.

Also, if you really think the problem lies with the hand action, check out your grip. Cmays has posted some good stuff on the correct positioning of the rigth hand.

[BrianW]

Re: Sweet spot

I'm amazed! This seems to be an open invitation to another 3 Skills thread!

I was moving in that direction OW

[tenaciousdee]

Re: Sweet spot

BrianW,

My ball flight varies from straight to slightly right. Although I have taken a few lessons from my local pro ( who has helped me lose about 20 strokes in the past 18 months) I still tend to leave the face open at impact and thereby hitting what I will call a slight slice, that is right but not more than 10 yards. I occaisionally hit the the draw but it generally looks like a hook.
This pro has a website called Golf made easy - guaranteed!. I think he has a good idea and has a good product its just that in person he talks too much in order to try to sell the product. Have a look and tell me what you think.

Tenaciousdee

[bdbl]

Re: Sweet spot

In all seriousness if you have a coach who is helping bring your score down nicely enough (20 strokes in 18 months - most people would buy that) I'd stick with him and not confuse the situation with other advice.

[kevinhendrix]

Re: Sweet spot

Hello everyone,
Kevin McDonald PGA of 3skillsgolf here,
if you are not finding the sweetspot on any club you should refer to the 'Nail It' book written by Joe Hagan PGA.
This tells you everything you ever need to know about how to find the sweetspot with every club in your bag.
Good golfing,
Kevin McDonald PGA

[BrianW]

Re: Sweet spot

BrianW,

My ball flight varies from straight to slightly right. Although I have taken a few lessons from my local pro ( who has helped me lose about 20 strokes in the past 18 months) I still tend to leave the face open at impact and thereby hitting what I will call a slight slice, that is right but not more than 10 yards. I occaisionally hit the the draw but it generally looks like a hook.
This pro has a website called Golf made easy - guaranteed!. I think he has a good idea and has a good product its just that in person he talks too much in order to try to sell the product. Have a look and tell me what you think.

Tenaciousdee

Sounds like your swing is in fairly good shape and you need to work on closing the clubface through impact, feel as though the toe is overtaking the heel.

I looked at the website and what this guy teaches is quite good. The previous post regarding the book "Nail It" is also good and much in line with what your Pro teaches.

[takinitdeep]

Re: Sweet spot

Great post. Had a stronger type grip years ago and an open stance; hit the ball a mile-grip it, rip it, and gouge.
Weaker grip now, more hinge, more release and working the ball; age and wisdom has shown me the way. Lots of fairways and greens distances are still good.

And

Never allow the left arm to fully rotate towards the sky because it will not fully recover and this is also what we see in wedge shots being shanked.

In less than 3/4 shots the left arm is relax and wants to turn clockwise in the back swing too much.

Right Hander.

Left foot back is better used with a strong grip, right foot back is better used with a weak grip. Weak grip allows for less forearm rotation by the hand being in a downward position.

As an engineer and if I was building a building, I would want to know the weight/load forces and the same in golf. I am not an engineer and they can instruct you in that area of expertise. Also Counter-Balance so I do not have a Leaning Tower of Pizza.

Weight and Balance.

[Sumosid]

Re: Sweet spot

There are quite a few Pro on tour that hit shots on their irons more towards the toe. Boom Boom does it.

[golfndawg]

Re: Sweet spot

And

Never allow the left arm to fully rotate towards the sky because it will not fully recover and this is also what we see in wedge shots being shanked.

In less than 3/4 shots the left arm is relax and wants to turn clockwise in the back swing too much.

Right Hander.

Left foot back is better used with a strong grip, right foot back is better used with a weak grip. Weak grip allows for less forearm rotation by the hand being in a downward position.

As an engineer and if I was building a building, I would want to know the weight/load forces and the same in golf. I am not an engineer and they can instruct you in that area of expertise. Also Counter-Balance so I do not have a Leaning Tower of Pizza.

Weight and Balance.

HA!! Sounds exactly like my shanking problem on another thread with the left forearm rotating towards the sky.....Making more and more sense

P.S...........Didn't realize you had already posted that on the page 1........lol