How to Correct Heel Strikes

[cnl390]

I have been struggling with a slice, and believe I found the cause.  I find that I am striking the ball towards the heel of my driver.  Any tips on how to correct?

[Bonvivant]

The first thing that comes to mind for me is to put a second tee up, about a ball width to the toe side of the ball. Attempt to make good contact with the ball without hitting the secondary tee. This will put your strike closer to the toe than the center, but as you become consistent with it, you can vary the location of the secondary tee. This trick also works in reverse (toe striker would put the tee about about a balls width from the ball on the heel side). This is just a starting point and could be modified even further with a tee on both heel and toe sides, moving them closer together as you get more consistent. You can also combine this technique with talc spray on the face to really fine tune the results.

Something else to note is that a slice is caused predominantly by an open face, not by location of strike. Can you be sure that you are getting the club back to square at impact? There might be much more here than just strike location that is compounding to create the slice that you see.

I am no expert, but these are just some tips that I have heard of that seem logical to start with. One last thing to note is shaft flex/weight. Do you know your shaft flex and swing speed? If a shaft is too stiff for a specific swing speed, the kick will not close the face all the way for square contact. Picture attached to show what I am talking about. I used to think that a shaft with too much flex would cause an open face, but after slowing down the video that this screenshot was taken from, you can see it is the other way around.

I hope this helps, and that those more knowledgeable can add or correct anything that I have said here.

[iacas]

Heel strikes won't really "cause" a slice. You hit it in the heel because you get the clubhead outside the ball and don't always pull it in enough in time, not the other way around.

Most likely.

Fix the path and the heel strikes will tend to clear up.

[Buckeyebowman]

3 hours ago, Bonvivant said:

The first thing that comes to mind for me is to put a second tee up, about a ball width to the toe side of the ball. Attempt to make good contact with the ball without hitting the secondary tee. This will put your strike closer to the toe than the center, but as you become consistent with it, you can vary the location of the secondary tee. This trick also works in reverse (toe striker would put the tee about about a balls width from the ball on the heel side). This is just a starting point and could be modified even further with a tee on both heel and toe sides, moving them closer together as you get more consistent. You can also combine this technique with talc spray on the face to really fine tune the results.

Something else to note is that a slice is caused predominantly by an open face, not by location of strike. Can you be sure that you are getting the club back to square at impact? There might be much more here than just strike location that is compounding to create the slice that you see.

I am no expert, but these are just some tips that I have heard of that seem logical to start with. One last thing to note is shaft flex/weight. Do you know your shaft flex and swing speed? If a shaft is too stiff for a specific swing speed, the kick will not close the face all the way for square contact. Picture attached to show what I am talking about. I used to think that a shaft with too much flex would cause an open face, but after slowing down the video that this screenshot was taken from, you can see it is the other way around.

I hope this helps, and that those more knowledgeable can add or correct anything that I have said here.

Good point. I bought a new Driver last year that was equipped with an A shaft. I'm older (67), and have been losing clubhead speed and distance, so I thought the shaft might help. It did at first. However, I also embarked on a flexibility program to increase my shoulder turn, generate more speed, and gain back some of that lost distance. 

Eventually I started hooking that Driver! Luckily, my old R flex shaft was interchangeable, so I swapped it out and the hook was gone! 

I also like this pic because it actually shows how the "kick" in the shaft works. I doubt that there are many on this site, but a lot of folks out there think the shaft works in the opposite way! Way back in the day I saw pics of Nicklaus where the shaft was kicking so hard, it looked like a "C" at impact! I even heard some old time commentators write these off as photographic anomalies or optical illusions! Kind of like the spokes of a wagon in an old Western seeming to revolve in reverse. 

And like @iacas said, a heel strike is just a heel strike. Doesn't mean much as far as direction or curve!

[Bonvivant]

I was under the impression that it worked the opposite way until I read about what flex does to strike. Then I had to see it for myself, which is why I had this picture so readily available. Obviously you can adapt your swing to account for it, but that's a good way to develop a slice or hook swing that shouldn't be necessary, and could be tough to correct.