The most underrated fundamental in Golf

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When the educational world talks about the basics of the golf swing, similar themes come to the fore. Topics such as posture, grip, alignment (commonly referred to as PGA) receive a lot of attention.

The truth is that they are all variable. There is no right way to grab a golf club or point your feet at the right place. The combinations of golf swings are endless, and what works for your swing may not work for someone else. There is, however, one fundamental that is not negotiable or variable, and I don't think enough is said about it. I'm talking about the location of the collision.

Where you hit the ball on the face of the club is perhaps the most essential basis for getting into your swing correctly. It is a skill that needs to be developed over time, and that means paying attention to your current impact trends and working on improving them. It is not discussed that often.

In this article I want to give you some more information about why impact location is so important, why it makes sense to understand what your inclinations are and a few ideas about how you can practice effectively. It has been something that I have done since I was a teenage golfer, and I believe it has greatly helped my game.

Why impact locations are so important

Golf is a game of proximity – we choose a target, make a swing, and hopefully we land the ball at a reasonable distance from where we focused. The closer you are, the more likely you are to have a lower score.

Sounds simple, right?

Wherever you hit the club's face, this will greatly affect your ability to reach your goals on the course. There is no doubt that golf club technology has come a long way, and clubs are more forgiving than ever in off-center strikes, but the fact remains that the closer you can hit the ball to the sweet spot (also known as the center of gravity) how your ball flight will be better.

I don't want to fend off technical information, but there are several reasons why missing the center of the club face can be so painful on the track.

With wood and hybrids, something called acceleration effect becomes a problem. If you look at the club horizontally, if you hit the ball closer to the toe (outside) of the club, this gives a hook rotation, and if you bring an impact closer to the heel, the ball will cut more.

There is also a vertical element to adjust the effect. The lower you hit the ball on the face of your driver or 3-wood, it steers the ball on a lower trajectory with more spin, which is not a great combination for distance. However, the higher you hit the ball on the driver's face, it adds loft and reduces the spin, allowing you to continue driving. That is why with your driver, shots hit in the middle of the face, or even just above, will usually be your best swings.

For example, consider these two swings:

The first start with 6.2 degrees (very low), runs at 2606 rpm (high for my swing) and performs 213 yards and 240 total.

The second swing starts 14.3 degrees, with 1864 rpm, with a load capacity of 250 yards and a total distance of 281.

These are extreme examples, but you can see that missing the center of the face robs me almost 40 meters away (and accuracy).

Diagnosis of your inclinations

The first step in improving your impact location is to understand your current trends. Some golfers (like myself) tend to hit it more towards the heel, others more towards the toe. And yes, many don't have a pattern and they seem to be completely over the face.

Anyway, most players have no idea where they hit it on the face, and they should take some time to figure it out.

There are various methods that have become popular over the years. Some golfers buy impact stickers, but they do not allow clean contact with the club's face and may change your ball flight. I used dry eraser pens to mark the back of the golf ball, and it leaves residue on the face where you made an impression. However, I noticed that I became lazy and did not continue to mark my ball for every shot.

The simplest method I have chosen for irons and wood is the use of foot odor spray. Years ago, golf instructors realized that it was the perfect material and I am sure that the middle management at various companies probably wondered why they saw their sales peak.

Recently a company called Strike Spray has formulated a compound for the golf market. I've been using it the last few months and I found it a bit "stickier" and longer lasting on the club face than foot odor sprays.

So if you've never done anything like this, your first assignment is to keep track of where you hit with all the clubs in your bag. For myself, if I do not swing well, I float closer to the heel of the bat and see lower in my face with my irons and wood.

This is about 10 swings with my wedge, my misses tend to the heels at the bottom

You will also want to take note of what the shot feels like before you look at the face. You begin to learn what specific impact you feel in your hands, so that when you are on the job, you begin to understand where you miss your strokes in the face (with the aim of correcting yourself).

Ideas for practicing

There are two main reasons why I like to practice with the intention of the target location:

It gives your practice session more meaning and structure.
When you focus on impact, you can organize a fix yourself with your swing that does not require you to think about all the moving parts that are needed to get there.

Although I never tell all golfers that it can fix it for everyone, many players are surprised at the progress they can make if they discover their impact trends and consciously try to hit different parts of the face.

If you see a tendency towards one side of the face, I like to use a "fight with fire" approach. For example, when I'm struggling with heel attacks, I'm just trying to overdo a miss on the outside of the toe. Sometimes I even go with the ball on that side of the face. Interestingly enough, when I try to hit the toe, it shifts my impact from the heel to the center of the face.

I try to move my stroke more from the heel to the toe

You can also experiment with small changes in your setup to see how it changes your attack location – such as closer or further away from the ball.

Another experiment that I enjoy doing is changing the height of the tee. Start by adjusting your tee to low, medium and high positions and see how it changes your impact location on the face of the driver (or other clubs you use off the tee). Your goal is to try to reduce the stroke to the bottom of the face and get them more to the center or above.

Adjusting your tee height can change where you hit the face vertically

The use of physical barriers such as tees can help improve your impact location. A good exercise is to set two tees a little wider than the width of your club – try to clean up the fences with your exercise swings and then while trying to hit a ball. Or you can also experiment with a tee on one side of the ball, depending on where you are missing.

Finally, you can challenge yourself to deliberately hit different parts of the face. Try deliberately to hit the heel, center and toe of the club separately. If you are looking for real bonus points, you can try Andrew Rice's drill, separating the driver's face into four quadrants and trying to hit each card individually.

You & # 39; ll Likely Be Surprised

I think you will be surprised what kind of results you will see if you use one of these ideas or a combination of these. Your goal as a golfer is to increase your ability to access the center of the face, and when you struggle with it, find ways to correct yourself.

Everyone who reads this is at different levels of possession to hit balls, but as always my advice is to look for more and more improvement. Even if you manage to take only 1-3 photos per lap closer to the sweet spot, this can result in a substantial reduction in your scores.

If you are interested in using Strike Spray, you can find more information about the product on their website here. I have arranged a 10% discount for Practical Golf readers with code PRACTICALGOLF at checkout.

Strike is king!