Toe Hits

[Lbob]

I took a look at my irons and noticed that most of the wear/hit marks were out toward the toe of the club. Bottom line is I don't hit the ball in the middle of the club very often. What caused toe hits? Any cures?

[Dent]

Its just the way you down on the ball, if you have a straight back and straight through swing, and your still getting to hits, you are standing too far away from the ball. Try stand a little closer to the ball. Thats all you need to do, if that doesn't work, there is more to it, which I don't really know about.

[irspow]

There are a lot of reasons for hitting more towards the toe of the club. The first thing that I would check if I were you would be my address position. Are you "reaching" out towards the ball at address? If you reach too far for the ball at address, I am suggesting that they should hang pretty much straight down, then you will probably struggle to get the club that far away from you near impact because of the extra "weight" of the fast moving club. It has been estimated that a 100+ mph swing will produce close to or exceed a hundred pounds of force through impact. Unless you can reach out with that much weight in your hands, I wouldn't recommend that you do so at address either. Your hands will almost always occupy a lower position approaching impact than they were while you were "reaching" at address.

Obviously, there are many other things that can cause your predicament, but without seeing you set up and swing I have to go with what I see most often.

Just my opinion!

Tom

[crawf061]

  irspow said:

It has been estimated that a 100+ mph swing will produce close to or exceed a hundred pounds of force through impact.

That sounds interesting. Do you have any citation? I've never heard that before and would be interested in reading more about it.

[iacas]

  crawf061 said:

That sounds interesting. Do you have any citation? I've never heard that before and would be interested in reading more about it.

E = 1/2 mv^2

Feel free to work out the actual math and units yourself. P.S. Note that this is an energy equation, not a force equation.

[irspow]

It is really just basic physics. The net force in this situation is simply the delta, or change in kinetic energy of the moving club from just before impact to that just after. Since we are dealing with how much "weight" you are holding during impact. You have to break down the change in speed relative to your hands of the center of mass of the club with respect to its radial component. LOL

mv^2(initial)/2 - mv^2(final)/2 = average net force or work

Since v(final) is approximately the negative of v(initial) in this situation you get:

mv^2

Sorry, I will try to find a scholarly article for you to read, and post it here later. Feel free to break down the vector components and make the unit transformations on your own if you like.

Tom

PS You beat me to this one iacas...I'm slow. The change in energy over time will give you the net average force you are looking for. That's the connection that most don't make between a static and dynamic force.

[iacas]

  irspow said:

PS You beat me to this one iacas...I'm slow. The change in energy over time will give you the net average force you are looking for. That's the connection that most don't make between a static and dynamic force.

It wasn't stated what kind of contact this was... I was simply providing the immediate collision energy: if you were to swing a club at a plate that could measure force, the equations are very simple.

If you want to measure how much force is applied to a golf ball, well that will vary with loft of course, but with a driver with a smash factor of 1.5, a 100 MPH swing will send a 1.62 ounce golf ball off at 150 MPH. Anyone can do the math from there. Of course, that won't account for the energy lost due to the transformation of the golf ball (the compression), but your formulas fail to take into account other things as well. The "true" measure is a complex one, and one not suitable for discussion here as it's pretty pointless, really. Let's just get back on topic now? As I type this I realize it has nothing to do with "toe hits."

[BASHERBAKER69]

Iacas majored in Physics?

how about standing closer to the ball to stay on topic..lol.

[Lbob]

Some additional information: When I do the old toe hit the ball goes short and right. I was wondering if I was coming out of the shot. I am in the process of changing my stance/ball position to getting a more upright swing and getting closer to the ball.

[iacas]

  BASHERBAKER69 said:

Iacas majored in Physics?

I have degrees in medicinal chemistry, computer science, and French. You end up taking a lot of physics...

  BASHERBAKER69 said:

how about standing closer to the ball to stay on topic..lol.

Toe hits, in my experience, can be caused by:

a) an outside-in swing b) a club that's a bit too short for you c) standing too far from the ball In no particular order. We can't really say because we haven't seen your swing.

[BASHERBAKER69]

you need to stand closer to the ball- that should generate a steeper plane and more of a descending blow.

[iacas]

  BASHERBAKER69 said:

you need to stand closer to the ball- that should generate a steeper plane and more of a descending blow.

He says that's what he's working on... frankly, I don't know how much more we can help without seeing at least a picture of the setup position or something.

[The Gill]

There's another thing that can cause toe/heel hits: balance.

I used to keep my weight too far on my heels, rock forward on the backswing, then bail out coming down. This bailout became an extra move on my swing. Bail out too much, toe shot. Don't bail out enough, hosel rocket.

1. To check this, find a convex corner in your house (or you can open a door and use the edge).
2. Address an imaginary ball with a club in your hand.
3. Put your forehead against the edge or door edge.
4. Start your backswing and bring the club to the top.

Be careful, I basically headbutted the corner the first time I did this. See if your head backs away or presses against the corner.